Chapter 236: Clever Vixen

"You really are a crafty wolf, aren’t you? A clever, sly little fox. You never liked Maverick. Not for a second."

Kieran stated it as absolute fact, and a heavy lump formed in her throat. Everything was suddenly so blindingly obvious to him. She hadn’t shown up to those extra research tutorials for Maverick’s company.

Asking about Maverick had just been a convenient excuse to stay near him. She had hidden it so carefully, but the glaring truth had culminated in that reckless, impulsive kiss. A drunken mistake he had assumed it to be in the past.

"I didn’t..."

"You’re going to deny it?" Kieran mocked softly, his lips twitching into a cruel little smile. "Even after you gave me your first kiss? A girl doesn’t confess her feelings to one male and then steal his best friend’s breath in the dark that same night."

Her heart skipped a violent beat, the rapid thud echoing loudly in the quiet locker room. She knew he could hear it. Cornered like a wild animal, she pressed her back as flat as she could against the metal table.

"Why Maverick, Yuki?" Kieran pushed, his tone demanding as it dropped lower until it felt like a physical weight pressing down on her shoulders. "You watched me for months. You were obsessed... so why didn’t you say it to my face in the end?"

The memory flashed violently behind her eyes, standing outside the heavy wooden door of the club’s private room that night, holding her breath as she listened to his clear, cold voice speaking of his unwavering, unyielding love for Eloise.

The brutal realisation that his heart was entirely occupied had shattered her before she had even stepped into the light. There was no way she could have confessed after that. Yuki stared directly into his dark sapphire eyes.

Beneath his smug arrogance, she caught a flicker of something raw, a faint desperation, a darker, obsessive edge he failed to mask. A slow, deliberate smile curled the corners of her lips. She tilted her chin up, meeting his suffocating gaze head on.

"I admit that drawing you might have been a bit inappropriate," she purred softly, her voice smoothing out into a sultry, dangerous silk. "But Dr. Ravencourt... why do you care so much whether I liked you or not?"

Kieran’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"I drew you out of pure curiosity," she continued, resting her hands lightly on the edge of the table near his wrists. "You were the most popular, unattainable guy on campus. And I have a filthy mind. I admit it." She leaned in just a millimetre closer, her tone dripping with mock sweetness.

"Haven’t you ever heard that virgins have the dirtiest minds? Yes, Kieran... I imagined what it would be like to see you broken down into those positions. What it would feel like to turn the untouchable genius into my obedient little puppy."

Kieran’s jaw set hard. His knuckles turned white where he gripped the metal table, a sudden, dark spark flaring deep within his irises, but he refused to pull back.

"At times, I do wonder what it would be like to have sex," Yuki whispered, taunting him, her eyes flashing with mischievous defiance. "I’m a normal girl. I have dirty thoughts, and like anyone else, I imagined my first time would be something unforgettable."

"So you imagined your first time... with me?" Kieran asked, his voice dropping into a thick, warning growl.

"Not exactly," Yuki countered smoothly, though the tips of her ears burned hot. "I imagined it with the golden boy of the academy. But then, that night... I heard you swear your eternal love for another woman."

The temperature in the room plummeted. Kieran’s eyes turned icy, but Yuki didn’t flinch.

"I’ll be straight with you, Kieran," she said, her voice dropping into a cool, sharp truth. "I might lust after your pretty face, but I don’t chase after men who don’t want me. So I turned around and chose Maverick instead. Why waste my time on a taken man when I could go after his handsome shadow? He might not be quite as refined as you, but it certainly wouldn’t be a loss. And as fate would have it... dear Maverick is my assigned bodyguard now."

CRACK.

A sharp groan of protesting metal echoed through the room as Kieran’s grip tightened, his claws accidentally indenting the heavy steel lip of the table beneath his palm. Yuki’s smirk widened.

"And who knows? Maybe I’ll get to draw much more accurate sketches with Maverick... once I know every single scar and tattoo on his body."

A dangerous, predatory glow lit up Kieran’s sapphire eyes. "You have quite the appetite, don’t you?" he hissed softly. "Declan isn’t enough, and now you want Maverick too?"

Yuki let out a soft, melodious chuckle. "Even the Moon Goddess knew I had a big appetite. That’s why she blessed me with three mates. So why shouldn’t I have him? I’m sure Maverick is a fantastic kisser. Maybe he’ll even let me sketch him with nothing on at all..." She leaned up, her lips teasingly close to his tense jawline. "Honestly, I can’t help but wonder what he looks like down there. Is he thick? Long? Or maybe he has a nice, cruel little curve at the tip..."

A low, dark rumble vibrated deep in Kieran’s chest, a dangerous, guttural chuckle that sent a shiver straight down her spine.

"You do have a remarkably wild imagination, dear vixen," Kieran rasped, his voice smooth as velvet and sharp as a razor. "But a true artist knows one fundamental rule." He bent his head, his lips grazing the shell of her ear as his hand slid up from the table, his warm, calloused fingers lightly resting against the curve of her throat.

"An artist never abandons a masterpiece of an inspiration for a cheap placeholder, Yuki," he whispered, his tone dropping into a thick, intoxicating murmur that made her heart stop dead in her chest. "Aren’t you even a little curious about what my tip feels like?"

Yuki’s breath hitched, the air trapped in her lungs as his dark aura completely enveloped her.

"After all... I was your very first inspiration," Kieran murmured against her skin, his thumb brushing over her racing pulse. "Lie all you want, vixen. You didn’t draw me just because I was popular."