Years pass and Morgan and Lira grow into their bones. She is groomed to be elegant, strategic, and desirable. He is groomed to be lethal.
On her first official day at Duskwind College, newly arrived, draped in silk, posture flawless, she makes her way to the Alpha estate again after hiding from him all day.
She finds him in the training yard.
He is no longer elbows and mischief. He is taller, broader, a predator coiled into a man's shape. There is blood on his knuckles. He wipes it absently against his shirt.
"You came back," he says.
"As if I ever left," she replies, though they both know the years have been long.
He does not waste time. "I want you."
Her breath catches. "My father says I'm to be matched with Amias since he's the firstborn."
Morgan shrugs. "Publicly."
He steps closer, voice lowering. "But I want you as mine."
It should horrify her. It does not.
"What are you planning?" she asks.
"To rule."
She laughs softly, thinking it a jest. He does not laugh back.
