Chapter 231: Recognized
"Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it! Look, there’s a special pedestrian walkway right there, walk on it and no one will run you over," Rita smiled warmly now, familiarly hooking her arm through mine. "By the way, we’re in the same group, I’m a freshman too."
I nodded gratefully, heading toward the institute with her. But my gaze seemed magnetically pulled toward those two. Perhaps it was their imposing presence, or maybe my intuition kicked in, but something deep inside me began to thrum with a wild, uncontrollable panic. The closer we drew, the more violently my nerves vibrated, as if screaming a warning of imminent danger.
"And who are those?" I asked quietly, barely moving my lips as I leaned in toward my new acquaintance.
"The heartthrobs, right? Elite," the girl breathed out in a heavy, envious sigh. "Those are Matthias and Damian Rainn. The town mayor’s sons."
Damian.
The moment that name slipped from her lips, my fingers instantly went numb.
My heavy bag slipped from my weakened hands and crashed onto the asphalt with a dull thud, spilling its meager contents to the world. My phone and notebooks scattered across the ground, and a metal coffee can struck the pavement with a sharp ring, clattering and rolling straight toward the main entrance.
"Oh, goodness, what happened to you?" Rita immediately squatted down, helping me gather my scattered belongings.
But I couldn’t move. My hands were shaking as if in a seizure. The air turned thick again, feeling as though it were made of broken glass.
Was it him? No... it couldn’t be. No, no, no, please!
A student couldn’t pull off something like that. It had to be a mere coincidence. The name might be rare, but who knows—how many such names could exist in a massive city?
I began to rise from the asphalt on stiff, unbending legs, when suddenly a massive shadow engulfed me entirely, blocking out the morning sun. My lungs seized up from a sharp, rich scent.
Involuntarily twitching my nose, I threw my head back and jerked so violently that I almost dropped everything in my hands. Right before my face, pinched between large, masculine fingers, hung my coffee can.
"Here, Amelie. I believe this is yours?"
Pitch-black, utterly empty eyes. A low voice with a velvety gravel that sent an icy dread sliding down my spine. A massive build and an aura that crushed my will to dust.
Standing right before me was my savior. And my most terrifying, now very much alive nightmare.
Damian Rainn.
And judging by the predatory, devilish smirk that slowly stretched across his wicked lips... he recognized me.
***
"I’ll wait for you in the parking lot after classes. Try to run, and I’ll do something very bad to you."
After reading the message, I locked my phone and slipped it into my pocket, surveying the group I had been assigned to study with. This group consisted entirely of girls: werewolves and humans. As far as I had managed to learn, this institute never practiced strict segregation, and the parallel group had guys. It was odd, of course, that they had been grouped this way this time, but it actually made me feel much more comfortable.
Avoiding sideways glances proved impossible after the incident in the parking lot. Not that anyone made a massive deal out of it, but Rita was also curious about how Damian had known my name.
I had no other options, so I lied, saying he probably overheard it when he stepped out of his car. I didn’t want any extra attention.
Life had definitely decided to get back at me for all those quiet years I spent living in my little village without knowing a single hardship. A whole truckload of trouble had overturned on my street, and I had absolutely no idea what to do about it.
The classes were interesting, but they passed as if in a fog. I jotted things down as I moved from lecture hall to lecture hall, taking in the institute, but with every hour, the panic inside me mounted higher. What could he possibly want from me? In the morning, he had simply handed me my coffee and left. Not even ten minutes had passed before an SMS from an unknown number arrived on my phone, and it was definitely him.
If he was the town mayor’s son and capable of carrying out such terrifying business as dispensing brutal justice to criminals, it wouldn’t cost him a thing to find out anything he wanted about me.
But perhaps he wasn’t a bad person and simply wanted to make sure I wouldn’t tell anyone about him? I had heard his name, after all, and he was probably worried I might blab too much.
Though I hadn’t actually told anyone anything at all. My parents had even gone to the police when I disappeared, but the moment I returned home, it turned out no report had ever been filed. My parents were furious and swore, because they had gone to the precinct almost every other day, only to find out that the officer on duty had never entered it into the database.
At the time, the investigator had personally brought a basket of fruit to our house along with a plush bunny, which now sat in my room. Generally speaking, I had always had a soft spot for them. The pale, black-eyed handsome toy was clearly not cheap, since it even sported a tag from a high-end store.
Emboldened by the hope that this formidable champion of justice would simply ask me to keep my mouth shut, I even rehearsed a speech of gratitude in my mind for his help.
Pondering how to convince him that I had no plans whatsoever to expose or compromise him in the eyes of society, I walked with the rest of my group out to the parking lot. Only Damian wasn’t there.
With a heavy sigh as I watched everyone leave, I sat down on a stone bench in the open corridor of the first floor and, opening my search bar, typed in his name.
The more I read, the more I found myself realizing that he was a man to be feared. Judging by the articles, he was no gentle soul, and his record of athletic achievements in martial arts was deeply impressive. Beneath almost every article, girls left comments expressing their adoration.
The Rainn family was a major sponsor across many industries in the city and commanded immense respect among all residents. They were a powerful, feared pack, and this guy was the eldest son. Many wrote that he was exceptionally cruel, while others called him a monster outright.
"Reading about me? Flattering."