Aria’s POVI absentmindedly tapped my fingers on my desk, with my eyes riveted on the fancy wall clock hanging on the wall, at the front of the class, way above the teacher’s head. It was almost five minutes until the close of school for the day and I could barely wait to get out of the class. I’d had a very eventful day, from having to open up about my real identity to the shocked principal, to becoming the discussion amongst every group of students, all thanks to Shane.At first, I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me when I kept meeting with their stares. While some screamed of curiosity, especially from the male students, the females looked like they wanted to shoot lasers at me. It was no secret that they all had their eyes on the alpha but now that he was close to me, they were beginning to see me as a competition.It still felt strange to be pulled from the shadows I’d always hidden in and to become the center of attention but I didn’t care as long as they weren’t going

Shane’s POV“That’s it,” Chase pointed at the dilapidated building opposite the street as we parked at the curb. The house was in the quiet residential part of town. I could understand why the family could have gone missing for an entire week without the neighbors finding out. The neighborhood was more like an estate where everyone minded their business.Together, with the sentinels that had followed us, we alighted the cars and approached the building with visible soot stains and with half of the roof gone from when it had been burning. The front door was blown open and even the glasses on the windows were gone, with the shards scattered about. It seemed more like an explosion, rather than just a natural fire disaster.“You think this was set up?” I asked Chase, just to confirm my thoughts. He glanced at me and his eyes returned to the building again, just as the Sentinels approached the open entrance. I raised a hand for them to stop and they did.I didn’t want to risk any of my men

Aria’s POV“You can’t keep running away,” Hailey voiced out but I ignored her.Yes, I’d found an excuse to quickly escape from Shane’s presence when things started getting intense. I hated that I was always flighty around him, but I couldn’t help it. I could feel my body slowly giving in to the deep feelings that arose within me. Whenever I set eyes on him, my heart leaped and when he smiled at me, I could feel butterflies setting off in my stomach and I couldn’t even explain the warmth that always spread through me and the deep feelings of comfort that surrounded me whenever I was in his presence. But even at that, I was still struggling against all of these feelings.“Not every man is like George,” Hailey spoke again, and I released a deep sigh as my shoulders slumped in defeat. For the first time, I acknowledged her words but my fear of falling into the wrong hands and landing into the same situation I’d barely gotten out of was far too great to let me believe those words. Instead,

Aria’s POVOne minute I was looking into his intense forest-green orbs and the next I was sealing my lips to his for a kiss. The moment my lips touched his, I felt him tense and his hold on my hips tightened. For a minute, he remained still, not making any move to deepen the kiss. Disappointment and mortification crashed into me and I quickly pulled away, trying to put some distance between us but then he grabbed my hips tightly and pulled hard, jerking me forward until my chest was pressed tightly to his and a gasp of shock flew out of my lips. But before I could get a chance to gather my scattered thoughts, his lips were on mine, kissing me passionately and possessively as though he couldn’t get enough. One of his hands gripped my waist tightly while the other traveled up my back, to the nape of my neck to hold it in place as he continued kissing me, allowing his tongue to taste me and mate with mine. It was so heated that I couldn’t hold back the whimper that escaped my lips but he

Shane’s POV A wave of jealousy washed over me, crowding my sense of reasoning, with my palms tightly balled into fists as I watched Chase’s car roll out through the gates. There was a sour taste in my mouth, just from watching Aria interact so well and freely with him. Memories of all that happened the previous night flooded my thoughts, the moment I laid eyes on her. I could recall how soft her lips were when they had touched mine. How pliant her body was against mine and how soft she’d felt. How lovingly her touch had been and how her lovely scent had sated me. I’d found peace and all of my worries were forgotten in those few minutes she’d spent in my arms but it all came crashing down when she’d admitted she wasn’t good enough for me and had run out of my bedroom even before her words could make sense to me. Her words and her sudden change in character came as a shock to me, that I was lost on what to do. It seemed that shitty bastard had done more damage to her than I ever gave