Chapter 18: ¹⁸: The deal.

Still shocked, I looked at her face, which clearly showed that she was struggling to breathe under the tight grip I had around her throat.

My gaze traveled over the fine beads of sweat forming on her forehead before dropping to her lips, which had still not parted to protest against my grip. Then I raised my eyes to meet hers.

What did she want? Why was she here?

Looking at her clothes, I realized that she was the woman from earlier—the one I had mistaken for a teacher.

No wonder I had felt that strange sensation from our first meeting again.

So, she had disguised herself as one of the children’s teachers just to gain access to my office building.

Clever. Quite clever. But why?

"Are you going to ask me to let you go, or do you want to die by my hands, Miss Moonvel?" I asked, pinning her against the cabinet behind her while loosening my grip around her throat just enough to give her a little room to breathe.

Soon enough, she began coughing, desperately trying to pull air into her lungs as her eyes reddened.

"You aren’t as strong as you pretended to be, Miss Moonvel." I smiled, finding the furious glare she was sending me strangely amusing. "Look at you, coughing and gasping like a fish thrown out of water."

"I wasn’t pretending anything!" she shot back before pushing my loosened hand away from her throat.

For a brief moment, I was distracted by her eyes. They strangely reminded me of the early dusk, trying to swallow the last vibrant rays of the setting sun into its darkness.

"Whether you were pretending or not is none of my concern," I replied calmly. "What concerns me is why a college student like you is trespassing inside my office."

I folded my arms. "Do you realize that I can revoke both your scholarship and your admission within seconds for this? After that, I can hand you over to the disciplinary committee for questioning, just like anyone else foolish enough to trespass into the Alpha’s office."

I had assumed she was being used by someone to get close to me.

I thought that if I threatened her future at the academy, she would panic. After all, she was only a gullible nineteen-year-old, just like my brother.

Yet...Her eyes never wavered.

She looked straight into my eyes as though she wasn’t afraid of a single word I had just spoken and threatned her with.

And even though I didn’t want to admit it...

I found it intrusting.

Whoever had chosen her for whatever mission had brought her here had remarkable foresight.

Because despite knowing that this couldn’t possibly be as simple as a college student sneaking into my office, I found myself becoming more and more intrigued by this defiant little creature.

"I am not here as someone’s lackey or as a college student," she said, looking directly into my eyes with unwavering confidence, and not even a little bit of fear. "I am here as a citizen of the Starlight Empire to discuss a deal that you yourself had proposed not too long ago."

That was... Strange.

I couldn’t remember the last time someone had looked me in the eyes without even the slightest hint of fear.

Normally, the aura my wolf emitted alone was enough to force others into submission.

Who exactly was this little girl?

Wasn’t she supposed to be just another insignificant omega from that tiny pack we had once taken under our protection?

"Which deal are you talking about, Miss Moonvel?" I asked, finally stepping away from her. I gestured toward the chair in front of my desk waiting for her to sit down before taking my own seat.

"I don’t recall ever saying anything that would concern a little girl like you."

I genuinely couldn’t remember anything that would connect me to her.

"I am not a little girl!" she snapped, slamming both hands onto my desk as she stood. "I am a legal adult, and I have been one for over a year now!"

I raised an eyebrow. Was it bravery... Or simply recklessness? Either way, not many people had the courage to slam their hands onto my desk.

"Miss Moonvel," I said, my voice growing colder, "I am being lenient with you because you are the bearer of the Dravera. But that does not give you the right to be disrespectful in front of me."

I leaned back in my chair.

"So either sit down and behave like the legal adult you claim to be..."

"...or I assure you, I know exactly how to discipline a willful teenager like you."

I fixed her with a glare that would have made an ordinary omega tremble in fear.

Yet strangely...She remained completely unaffected.

I frowned. The more I interacted with her, the more exceptions she continued to present. What exactly was going on?

I was still pondering the unusual nature of her wolf when her next words left me completely stunned.

"I would very much like to be disciplined..."

She paused, her eyes never leaving mine.

"...if it is you who is disciplining me, Alpha Dreven."

Not even the slightest tremor could be seen in her gaze while she said those words, as though she had just spoken the most natural sentence in the world.

"What did you just say, Miss Moonvel?" I asked, leaning forward in my chair.

"Do you even understand what those words mean?"

For a fleeting moment... I wondered if I was the one interpreting those words the wrong way.

She was still standing in front of my desk, dressed in that white shirt that tightly highlighted her figure and the blazer that concealed it.

She slowly took off the blazer that had been hiding her goddess-like curves and tossed it onto my desk before unbuttoning her white shirt until I could see the red bra she was wearing underneath.

My eyes darkened as I took in the sight before me. My body reacted against every restraint and resolution my mind was desperately trying to impose on it, and my wolf was going crazy.

So crazy, in fact, that the feeling was completely foreign to me, making me question my own sanity.

I forced my gaze back to her face, looking straight into her eyes. They stared back at me as though they were challenging me.

Challenging me... Challenging my wolf...

Daring us to reject her when we both knew she was irresistible.

"Do you even know what you are doing, Miss Moonvel?" I asked, my voice lower than before. "Are you trying to seduce me? Me—the Alpha of an Empire of which you are merely an insignificant omega? Do you understand that you are trying to seduce Alpha Kael Dreven?"

I kept my eyes locked on hers, trying to force my body to understand that everything about the seductive Athena Moonvel standing before me screamed danger.

From head to toe... She was danger.

Yet, strangely enough, I found myself craving the thrill that walking into that danger might bring.

Her next words only made me more certain of just how dangerous she truly was.

"Mr. Dreven... in fact, Alpha Kael Dreven..." she said steadily, never breaking eye contact. "You are right. I am trying to seduce you, and I am here to sign the deal of becoming the breeding vessel for your heir. I agree to all of your conditions, provided that I am allowed to stay by your side until I give you a child."

I could hear my own heartbeat echoing inside my head. My fists slowly clenched.

My nails dug into my palms as her words fully registered in my mind.

"What did you just say, Miss Moonvel?" I asked as I rose from my chair, still unable to believe what I had just heard.

Athena Moonvel didn’t flinch.

Without the slightest hesitation, she stepped forward until she was standing directly in front of me, her lips only inches away from mine as she looked straight into my eyes.

"I am willing to become your breeding vessel, Alpha Kael Dreven."