The female human had returned to the library the very next day. At the same table. Chin up, eyes focused on her reading, only the small tremors of her hands betrayed his nervousness. And that pissed him off. Ethan felt like she was trying to challenge him. He had managed to scare her away the first time, but this time she seemed ready to take possession of the place, completely ignoring him.

He didn't want her here. He didn't want to see her strutting around with her pretty little face and destroying his little peace sanctuary. He didn't want to constantly struggle with his inner Vila screaming at him to initiate contact with her. And he didn't want anyone, especially not his colleagues, to find out that his Vila had chosen her. So he just stood there, sitting in his chair, glaring at her, never taking his eyes off her. She seemed unfazed, but he could occasionally see her long, slender fingers resting on the back of her neck to scratch nervously.

"You look nervous Darcy, your mother demanded that you find a worthy mate as soon as possible again?" asked Jericho sarcastically, a Vila from a lower caste than his.

Perhaps he should have been much tougher on his peers if they thought they could afford to use sarcasm to make fun of him like that. He didn't like to have to remind them of how old and hierarchically superior his family was, but if there was one thing he liked even less, it was being disrespected in this way.

The soul mate of his hierarchical subordinate was clinging to his arm which she pulled discreetly to summon him to stop his impertinent comments, a worried pout on her face. At least she knew where to stand, unlike her soulmate. He had nothing against her in particular, but he couldn't let Jericho go without tackling his insecurities so that he would learn the lesson.

"How about you Larson? How did your parents take the news when you told them your soulmate was an Inferio?" Ethan replied acidly.

His comrade's gaze ignited immediately upon hearing the hidden insult towards his soulmate. Touché. He seemed about to throw himself on Ethan before the young woman verbally told him to stop and brutally grabbed his hand. She then forced him to move away from the conflict before the situation escalated.

Wise decision.

Vilas were proud creatures, and honor and purity were very important to their families. Their political games and their caste system were essentially based on these elements. Ethan showed little interest in politics and his peers, much to his mother's chagrin, but he also knew that no Vila family escaped the agonizing preoccupation that was the revelation of their children's soulmate. Individuals deemed physically weak or socially inferior systematically created great disappointment in their Vila partner's parents, even though they knew that their offspring had no say in the choice of their soulmate. And Jericho had hit the jackpot when his inner villain had chosen his mate from the lowest caste among the vampires.

No, I'm the one who hit the jackpot for the worst soulmate imaginable. I would have preferred an Inferio a thousand times over a human.

After about thirty minutes of watching the female human intensely while trying to kill her with his gaze, his patience, already quite stifled by his altercation with Jericho, began to seriously break down. His inner Vila wasn't planning to let him rest. It was like an itch so bad it was impossible not to scratch. Ethan was doing his best not to give in to his instincts.

It took him three more minutes to finally surrender. If his mind was torn between talking to her and getting her out of the way quickly, he could very well do both.

Maybe she didn't see him coming or was ignoring him on purpose, but she jumped when he suddenly put both palms on the table. The knock on the wooden furniture caught the attention of the few students in the library, but they all knew that it was better to concentrate on their own business when they were in the same room as a Vila. Despite their curiosity, everyone plunged their noses back into their book.

Finally, the female human deigned to meet Ethan's gaze with her green eyes. He read there a mixture of fear, mistrust, and uncertainty which unsettled him for a second. In a way, he hated himself for what he was going to say to her, but it was easier to hate her, since, if she had never come into their world, he wouldn't have needed to act accordingly.

"Little humans like you don't belong in Istarea. There are people here who wish they could read quietly without having to bear the sight of your disgusting weakness wandering between the shelves as if the place belonged to you. It would be nice of you to just get out of here," he said in an icy, subdued tone.

The young woman's fists clenched and the expression on her face was torn between stupor and rage. Not exactly the fear reaction he expected.

"No," she replied so quietly that he had trouble hearing her.

"What did you say?" he retorted, flabbergasted.

"I said no," she repeated, this time more confidently. "If the sight of me bothers you that much, just close your eyes. The library isn't mine, but neither is it yours."

He leaned down until he was only inches from her face, gazing into hers. She had that glint of defiance in the back of her eye that he would have loved to replace with terror. The small vein in his temple throbbed with the muffled anger rising within him.

"If you're not going to get out on your own, I'll help you," he growled, grabbing her wrist. She yelped at the violence of the gesture and he immediately loosened his hold, enough not to hurt her, while maintaining his grip. His inner Vila was roaring now, unhappy with his action towards his soulmate.

"Let me go," she muttered.

The blonde abruptly got up from her chair, knocking it down in the process. The thunderous noise once again attracted the inquisitive looks of students who missed nothing of the scene taking place a few meters from them. She put her hand on Ethan's and dug her nails into it to get out of his grasp.

"I said get off me! You fucking psychopath!" she screamed hysterically.

Ethan's whole body froze for a second, his mind repeating to him mechanically: let her go, let her go. It was like a defense mechanism that, once triggered, overrode his reason and free will.

Finally, he untied his hand from her wrist. The first thing that came to his mind was to run away. Without a look for the young woman, he rushed towards the exit as she continued to yell "don't you ever come near me again", "nutter" or even "completely crazy".

This first contact left him with a bitter taste, halfway between frustration and shame. Part of him felt pitiful that he hadn't been able to get her off the hook, and the other part was enraged that he had made the young woman hate him deeply in seconds.

He sincerely hoped that none of his fellow Vilas had witnessed the exchange. They weren't stupid and would easily understand why he lost his temper so quickly and let go of her suddenly. However, he greatly underestimated the observation and analytical skills of the other students who had witnessed the scene. For him, the other races were not a threat.

When he got back to his room, Ethan couldn't stop his mind from wandering over the memory of the warmth of her soft skin against his.

Fuck, he told himself.