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It doesn’t help either when I finally arrive that my classroom door is already open. There shouldn’t be any reason for that to be the case. I always make sure my door is locked before leaving every evening. I even have the digital key for the door on my holo to be sure I don’t forget the key at home—which is something that happened a few times when I started teaching.

My first thought is that someone came overnight to steal all the holo-puters integrated into the desks. But then I hear noise inside the room, and my blood freezes.

Are they still inside?

Fuck. I’m not armed to stop a burglar.

What am I supposed to do? Get in and yell? Find something to hit them with?

I only have my handbag with me, and there’s nothing heavy enough in there to cause any damage. I don’t think I’d have enough strength to do so either.

Why did I stop reading physical books? That would have been heavy enough, even though I’d have hated damaging any book I owned.

Instead, I slowly creep closer to the door. If I want to raise the alarm, I need to know what we’re dealing with here.

Except, when I finally get to the door, it’s not a thief I find in the room.

It’s Louis.

I only see the back of him, but I recognize him all the same. He’s toying with something on my desk, and now I’m eager to know what he’s planning.

“How did you get in?” I ask, and he slowly turns my way. There’s no surprise in his eyes at me being here already—I think he heard me well before I entered the room.

“Well, hello to you too, Constance. And I have my ways,” he says with a shrug.

“Yes, hello. But, no. Really. I need to know. If there’s a breach in the school security, it needs to be dealt with,” I tell him, and maybe he can hear the hint of panic in my voice, because he hurries to my side. As he walks, I quickly catch sight of what he’s done on my desk—it’s covered in tiny flowers, and in the middle there’s another box that looks a lot like the one he came with last week.

When Louis reaches me, he stops right in front of me and cups my left cheek softly.

I should be batting that hand away. I should be making sure to put distance between us, but I must be weak, because there’s nothing inside of me that wants to do that, and the hand stays right where it is.

“There’s no breach,” he tells me. “I’ll give you back the key I lifted from you last night after class.”

I’m expecting him to add a condition, something along the lines of “if you agree to go on a date with me,” but nothing comes after it.

“How?” I ask instead. I have no recollection of anything that could have led him to get in possession of my keys last night.

My latest class on Friday was indeed one with the first years, but I closed after everyone was out, and Louis only walked with me until we crossed the threshold of the school, and then we parted ways. I allowed it because, after the soft way he pressed on the crook of my arm, he stayed far enough away from me not to look intimate. To anyone watching us, he was just a student chatting up his teacher on his way out of class. Nothing looked amiss.

But now I realize that the elbow he grabbed was on the same side as my handbag, and I don’t need him to answer my question.

A human wouldn’t have been discreet enough to pull that off, but I have a feeling Louis can manage whatever he wants when he decides it.

And he’s a shifter, so that has to count for something.

I haven’t found out what kind he is yet, but more and more I imagine him in the form of a predator—one who’s used to hunting prey in the dark and in absolute silence.

I watch him watch me, and the second recognition sparks in my mind of how he managed to trick me, a teasing smile spreads on his lips.

He doesn’t need to answer my question. He knows that I know.

“I thought I could surprise you with breakfast,” he says instead.

“Is it really a surprise if it becomes a habit?” I mutter for myself, but of course, he hears it.

“Two occurrences don’t make a habit,” he says with a devilish smile, and I can’t help but think about his hand that still hasn’t left my cheek. “But if you want it to be, I can make that happen.”

Do I? Want him to make it a habit? Do I want him to bring me breakfast every Saturday morning?