Chapter 3 Dangerous Connections

Zara's POV

Zara's hands shook as she wrung out her mop for the third time.

She couldn't get the image out of her head, those silver eyes staring at her through the classroom window.

She'd seen him earlier that morning, stepping out of the black SUV.

Even from a distance, she could tell he was different.

Taller than most students, with the kind of perfect features that belonged on magazine covers.

Dark hair, strong jaw, the confident posture of someone who'd never known failure.

Everything she wasn't.

But when their eyes met through that window, something had happened.

For just a moment, she'd seen... something else.

A burning city, creatures screaming and herself, but not herself.

Someone powerful and terrifying.

"Get it together, Zara," she muttered, pushing her cart toward the next classroom.

"Rich boy looks at you for two seconds and you're having hallucinations."

But it hadn't felt like a hallucination.

It had felt like a memory.

The morning classes were starting, which meant the hallways would soon be full of students who'd look right through her.

Zara quickened her pace, hoping to finish the upper floors before the first period ended.

She was almost to the stairwell when she heard voices coming from the computer lab.

"...complete destruction. Every terminal except one."

"Any idea who did this, Professor Hayes?"

Zara froze.

That was Dr. Voss, the academy director.

A woman who never spoke to janitors unless they'd done something wrong.

"Security footage shows nothing unusual," Professor Hayes replied.

"Just the cleaning staff making their rounds."

Zara's heart hammered.

They were talking about the lab she'd cleaned last night.

The lab with the strange computer that had somehow understood her touch.

"Check the cleaning logs," Dr. Voss said coldly.

"I want to know exactly who was in that room."

Footsteps headed toward the door.

Zara quickly pushed her cart around the corner and tried to look busy, but she could feel Dr. Voss's eyes on her as the director swept past.

This was bad.

If they suspected her of vandalism, she'd be thrown out of the academy.

And then where would she go?

Back to a pack that didn't want her?

"Excuse me."

Zara jumped, spinning around to find herself face-to-face with the transfer student.

Up close, he was even more beautiful than she'd thought.

Perfect bone structure, flawless skin, and those strange silver eyes that seemed to look right through her.

"You're Zara, right?"

His voice was deep, smooth, with just a hint of an accent she couldn't place.

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

Students like him didn't talk to students like her.

Ever.

"I'm Kai Storm," he said, offering her a small smile.

"I just transferred here."

"I know," she managed, then immediately regretted it.

She sounded like a stalker.

But Kai didn't seem bothered.

If anything, his smile widened.

"I was wondering if you could help me with something."

Zara blinked.

"Help you?"

"I'm looking for the library.

I have some research to catch up on, and the other students seem more interested in showing me the party spots than the academic facilities."

She stared at him, waiting for the punchline.

This had to be some kind of joke.

Maybe a dare from his new friends.

Get the broken omega to embarrass herself by thinking the hot transfer student actually wanted to talk to her.

But Kai looked sincere.

And there was something in his eyes - a sadness that she recognized.

Like he knew what it felt like to be alone.

"It's on the third floor," she said quietly.

"East wing.

Take the main staircase up two flights, then turn left at the portrait of the first academy founder."

"Would you mind showing me?" Kai asked.

"I'm terrible with directions."

Zara glanced around the hallway.

A few early students were starting to appear, and she could already see them staring.

Whispers would start soon.

The broken omega thinks she has a chance with the new alpha heir.

How pathetic.

"I have work to do," she said, gripping her mop handle tighter.

"Please," Kai said, and there was something desperate in his voice.

"I could really use a friendly face right now."

Against her better judgment, Zara found herself nodding.

She parked her cart in a supply closet and led him toward the stairs.

They walked in silence for the first few minutes.

Zara was hyper-aware of every step, every breath, every time their hands almost brushed as they climbed the stairs.

She'd never been this close to someone so... perfect.

"So," Kai said as they reached the second floor, "how long have you been at Shadowmere?"

"Five years," Zara replied, then immediately wished she hadn't.

Five years was a long time to be stuck at a school most students graduated from in three.

"That's a long time," Kai observed, but his tone wasn't mocking.

"Do you like it here?"

Zara almost laughed.

Like it?

She lived in a basement room smaller than most people's closets, spent her days cleaning up after people who treated her like she was invisible, and hadn't had a real friend in years.

"It's fine," she said instead.

They turned the corner toward the east wing, and Kai suddenly stopped walking.

"Zara," he said slowly, "this might sound crazy, but... have we met before?"

She looked at him, startled.

"No.

I would have remembered."

"I know we haven't," Kai said, running a hand through his dark hair.

"But when I saw you this morning, I had the strangest feeling that I knew you from somewhere."

Zara's pulse quickened.

She'd felt the same thing, but admitting it would make her sound delusional.

"Maybe you just have one of those faces," she said weakly.

Kai stepped closer, and Zara caught a whiff of his scent.

He smelled like pine forests and thunderstorms, with an underlying sharpness that made her think of metal.

It was intoxicating and wrong at the same time.

"I keep having these dreams," Kai said quietly.

"About places I've never been, about things that can't be real and in some of them, there's a girl who looks just like you."

Zara's breath stopped for a second.

"What kind of dreams?"

"Cities made of silver, creatures that aren't quite human and you..."

He paused, his silver eyes intense.

"In the dreams, you're not like you are here.

You're powerful and dangerous."

A chill ran down Zara's spine.

She'd been having similar dreams lately, though she'd tried to dismiss them as wishful thinking.

Dreams where she wasn't broken, where she could shift into something magnificent and terrifying.

"That's impossible," she whispered.

"Is it?" Kai moved even closer, close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from his body.

"Because right now, looking at you, I feel like I'm about to remember something important.

Something I'm not supposed to know."

Zara stared into his silver eyes and felt something shift inside her.

A strange warmth spread through her chest, followed by a sensation she'd never experienced before.

Like something inside her was waking up.

"I should go," she said quickly, taking a step back.

"The library is just down this hall.

You can't miss it."

She turned to leave, but Kai caught her arm.

His touch sent electricity through her entire body.

"Wait," he said urgently.

"I need to ask you something else."

Zara looked down at where his hand touched her arm.

His skin was warm, but there was something odd about it.

A faint metallic sheen, like his blood wasn't quite the right color.

"Have you ever felt like you don't belong here?" Kai asked.

"Like you're meant for something else, but you can't remember what?"

The question hit too close to home.

Zara had felt that way her entire life - like she was a puzzle piece that didn't fit anywhere.

"Everyone feels that way sometimes," she said, gently pulling her arm free.

"Not like this," Kai insisted.

"I mean really don't belong.

Like you're not even the same species as everyone else."

Zara stared at him, her heart was pounding.

There was something in his voice, in his eyes, that made her think he wasn't just making conversation.

He was testing her and looking for something.

But what?

"I really have to go," she said, backing toward the stairs.

"My supervisor will be looking for me."

Kai watched her retreat with an expression of frustration and longing that made her chest ache.

"I'll see you around, Zara," he called after her.

As she hurried down the stairs, Zara could feel his eyes on her back.

And despite every instinct telling her to stay away from the perfect transfer student with the strange questions and the silver blood, she found herself hoping he was right.

She hoped she would see him around.

Because for the first time in five years, someone had looked at her like she might be worth knowing.