Zevaros was in a rare mood that morning. Not just calm, not merely amused, he was radiant with a cruel kind of joy. As he took a shower and wore the uniform belonging to Genesis Academy, his kind was circulating around a certain blue eyes silver haired male.
His little silver wolf had walked straight into his trap in the VR game Mortal's Heaven, so eager to chase a breadcrumb trail that he hadn't even considered the bait. And then from his carefully planned trap, when the wolf's snout got close, it snapped close. Auren's Character got eliminated. His hours of careful building erased in a single instant.
The smirk lingering on Zevaros's face was sharp enough to cut. He walked out of his room and headed down to the his zone within the academy. His personal assistant, a thin, pale boy who is a snake Therion walked with him slightly behind.
The assistant looked at his boss and he, who had worked for him long enough to know what such a smile meant, kept his eyes down as he organized Zevaros's morning itinerary. The PA's fingers trembled as he placed a gave Zechariah a pile of documents and fetched his morning drink.
The PA was busy preparing when he heard a purr emanate from Zevaros. The sound terrified him so much that his whole temperature cooled more and his trembling worsened. He quickly put Zevaros' cup of bitter black tea on the desk, terrified of spilling a drop.
[Who would it be this time?] The PA wondered. [Which unfortunate soul had doomed themselves to death, now that Zevaros was smiling like that?] The silence stretched. Then, the PA's voice cracked as he dared to speak. "Y-Young Master, your class begins in fifteen minutes."
Zevaros's golden eyes flicked lazily toward him. "Mm. I remember."
The assistant nearly collapsed with relief as he opened the door for the king of the underworld.
Genesis Academy was a kingdom in itself. One of the highest-ranked institutions across the Eight Dominions, it housed monsters disguised as students, scions of noble houses, prodigies blessed with deadly talents, bloodlines heavy with ancient power and even underworld heirs.
And among them, Zevaros stood untouchable. As an underworld prodigy who raised his own clan to the highest level, he became a person whom nobody could cross easily unless they had sufficient background.
He was a boss as well as an upperclassman, one of the youngest to reach the Academy's elite tier, a performer who excelled in every field placed before him. To some, he was an idol; to others, a nightmare in human skin. Half the school revered him. The other half feared to even whisper his name.
Wherever Zevaros walked, students parted before him. The aura Iof other students bent around his presence. Voices were hushed and eyes were lowered. Not a soul had dared meet his gaze....except one.
His wolf, Auren.
The first time Zevaros had seen him, he hadn't thought much of it. A new face, striking, but no more than that. Like finding a beautiful toy in a shop window. Something to play with, maybe break, then forget.
That should have been all.
But Auren hadn't behaved like the others. He didn't cower. Didn't avoid him. He moved closer. Brushed against Zevaros's shadow, as though testing its weight. His defiance wasn't reckless, it was sharp, deliberate and calculated. Every resilience, every refusal to bend, had carved itself into Zevaros's mind.
And slowly, without meaning to, interest had curdled into possessive want. By now, Zevaros had already claimed him. Not out loud, not in words. But in his heart, Auren belonged to him. No one else. Thus he deployed his elite spies to give him detailed information about Auren's daily life.
Some thought Auren was the next target and wanted to eliminate him to earn ranks within Zevaros' clan but that ended with them burnt to death from the inside while hanged upside down in front of all the clan members. Zevaros didn't say much but his right hand man spoke for him having understood his boss for many years. Auren is their boss' mate hence he should be called boss too.
Zevaros scoffed and walked away then. Flash forward a few weeks and Zevaros is busy wondering how Auren is reacting to his death in mortals heaven. Class was a blur for him. The teacher spoke, chalk scraped the board, but Zevaros barely heard. His golden eyes half-lidded, ears flicking from the chalk noise, his mind wandering.
The thought came unbidden, what if he broke Auren? Truly broke him. Mind, body and will. What if he chained Auren at his side, tore away his independence, forced him into obedience? Would the wolf still glare at him with those cerulean eyes? Would he still spit venom and defiance even when bound?
He tried to picture it. No matter how he spun the fantasy, no matter how he twisted the chains in his mind, Auren never bent. And that...gods, that made Zevaros's blood burn,he couldn't help but think, [I want to ruin him.]
He shifted slightly in his seat, a dangerous heat coiling low in his stomach, his pants pitching up a tent. If he weren't in the middle of class, surrounded by idiots who couldn't handle the mere sight of his smile, he might have groaned aloud.
Instead, his smirk deepened. His PA, sitting nearby, to the left side about 3 seats down, to take notes, paled and clutched his pen tighter. He saw the tent and the bright look in those golden eyes, the way Zevaros' tail whipped back and forth rapidly and looked away. [I saw nothing.]
By lunchtime, Zevaros was still simmering with anticipation. He sat alone at his usual table in the cafeteria, untouched food laid neatly before him. The area around him was nearly deserted,the students had learned to clear out when the lion came to eat. Silence pressed heavy, broken only by the scrape of his fork.
Then his terminal buzzed. From the day he started communicating with Auren he set a unique tone for his messages and his calls. When Zevaros picked it up he saw that is was a message from Auren.
[Finally.] He thought a slight rumble echoing from his chest scaring the weaker students.
Zevaros's lips curved, slow and hungry. He read the simple reply, and his chest tightened with something dangerously close to satisfaction. The corner of his mouth lifted, and instantly, the upperclassman cafeteria zone froze.
Conversations cut off mid-word. Forks paused halfway to mouths. Every upper class student within sight stiffened as though the temperature had dropped ten degrees. The weight of Zevaros's smile was unbearable. That smile, it was the kind of expression that meant ruin for someone, somewhere.
But only Zevaros knew the truth.
This wasn't for them. This wasn't about Genesis Academy, or the fools around him, or even his rivals in the Dominion courts.
This was about Auren, his Auren.
Zevaros leaned back in his chair, eyes glinting gold, replaying the words in his head as though savoring a private melody. Even as the rest of the day crawled by with more classes, more duties, the endless drone of responsibility, his mind never left the silver wolf.
Because now the game was deeper. The VR world of Mortal's Heaven was just the beginning. Auren had taken the bait, yes. But Zevaros had left more than a trap. He had left a path. A riddle. A truth hidden beneath layers of shadow.
[Would the wolf chase it again? Would he dive headlong, reckless and hungry, no matter the cost?] Zevaros closed his eyes briefly, allowing himself one indulgent thought. The wolf was impossible to break. But perhaps… perhaps he didn't need to break him.
Perhaps he only needed to bind him, chain not with iron, but with the thrill of the hunt. And if Auren came willingly into his jaws, if he chose to remain even knowing the danger...
Then he would truly be Zevaros's.