I turned around, the carefree smile fading from my face. "Your family?" I creased my brow. "I didn’t picture an Alpha heir investing in amusement parks. I assumed your pack’s business was... different."
"Our territory spans far more than this," Magnus explained, stepping past me down a dim, echoing corridor. I followed closely behind his tall silhouette. "We own the majority of the commercial real estate in the upper city—shopping districts, luxury hotels, fine dining, corporate towers."
"Only in the upper city?" I asked softly.
Magnus came to a sudden halt before a massive, floor-to-ceiling aquarium tank, the blue water casting shimmering ripples across his angular features.
"Yes," he said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, quiet register. "My family is banned for life from stepping foot into the lower city."
For some reason, I didn’t want to push the conversation any further. I didn’t want to dig into the reasons why. I could feel a dark, dangerous truth lurking behind his words, and I wasn’t ready to face it tonight.
I stared down at the sprawling landscape below us from the top of the Ferris wheel. From this height, the entire city looked impossibly small. The house lights flickered like a sea of grounded stars, and the cars crawled along the avenues like children’s toys.
We had spent several hours roaming the amusement park, riding almost everything multiple times. But I had deliberately saved the Ferris wheel for last.
"Why wait until nightfall for this one?" Magnus asked, leaning back beside me inside the open-air gondola.
The cold night wind whipped through our hair and chilled my cheeks. Even wrapped in my warm jacket, a gentle shiver ran through me at such a high altitude.
"I wanted to see the city lights from up high," I murmured, leaning against the safety railing to take in the view.
Without a word, Magnus slipped his arms around my waist and pulled me directly onto his lap. He wrapped his broad frame around me, resting his chin lightly on my shoulder. His intense heat washed over me, chasing away the bite of the wind. Held tightly in his grip, a sudden, unfamiliar sense of absolute peace settled over my chest.
"Hey, Jane."
I tore my eyes away from the shimmering skyline and turned my head toward him. Our faces were so close I could feel the warm pulse of his breath against my lips.
"What?"
He didn’t answer with words. Instead, he captured my mouth in a kiss—slow, lingering, and exquisitely tender. It was unlike anything he had ever forced upon me before. The sheer gentleness with which his lips traced mine made my heart flutter wildly. Somewhere in the distance, I could have sworn fireworks were detonating in the night sky, because there was no way that deafening thunder was just the pounding of my own pulse.
When he finally pulled back, he rested his forehead against mine, his breathing as ragged and breathless as my own. Every instinct urged us to lean back in and close the sliver of space between us, but Magnus slid his hand up to the nape of my neck, his fingers tangling softly in my damp hair.
Whispering directly against my lips, his voice dropped to a low, breathless rumble:
"So? Will you be my girl?"
My heart leapt into my throat, threatening to burst into a million glittering pieces. The words bloomed inside my chest, radiating a profound, searing warmth through my ribs.
"Yes."
***
Annie and I sprinted as fast as our legs could carry us, scrambling desperately through the university halls. Our feet tangled at every sharp turn, and my lungs burned with ragged, agonizing gasps. But despite our mad dash, we were hopelessly late for physical education.
To make matters worse, the professor was absent today, leaving Lina to run the class—a nightmare scenario. Lina was already insufferably neurotic and dripping with arrogance. I was certain she held a bitter grudge over the time we nearly missed the mandatory calling mark registration at the start of the semester, and she would relish every second of tearing us apart in front of the entire group.
As we sprinted, Annie dissolved into hysterical giggles, stopping dead in the middle of the hallway to clutch her stomach. She doubled over, tears of wheezing laughter streaming down her cheeks.
"She is going to murder us, Jane!" Annie wailed through her giggles, wiping the tears from her face with the back of her hand. "Let’s just ditch! Screw class! Let’s go feed the ducks at the pond! We can stuff our faces with sweet buns in honor of round waists and chubby little rolls!"
Her desperate attempt to derail us made me snort, even though our impending doom was anything but funny. A sharp stitch flared in my side, forcing me to press a hand against my ribs.
"Annie, I get it, but eating buns right in front of the ducks is playing with fire," I panted, bending over to rest my hands on my knees as I caught my breath. "We’ll incite an avian rebellion. The Duck Gods will strike us down for tormenting the poor birds."
My absurd warning set Annie off even harder. She shook with laughter, nearly gasping for air. We broke into a run once more, rounding the corner toward the gymnasium.
Suddenly, Annie tripped over her own feet, her arms flailing wildly as she lost her balance. At that exact moment, the Principal—a tall, formidable Alpha dressed in a sharp, immaculate suit—stepped out from around the bend.
Annie crashed into him at full speed, her forehead slamming directly into his chest with a dull, echoing thud.
The man caught her by the waist with both hands—strong, steady, and unyielding—stopping her from crashing onto the hard floor. He held her firm until she managed to catch her balance.
"Oh! You’re so strong!" Annie squealed. Her face flushed a brilliant crimson, her ears turning bright red and blotches of heat spreading down her neck.
She was obviously in shock from the collision and blabbering nonsense. Still, Annie stared up at the Principal with wide, glassy eyes that practically sparkled with sudden adoration.
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