CHAPTER 241: GAZES

Chapter 241

Nima

"So what happened?" Poppy asks, and I choke on my glass of water.

"N-nothing." I croak, heat flooding my face as I avoid her gaze, staring very intently at the wall.

"Uh huhhh." She says, dragging out the sound, her eyes narrowing. Suspicious. Too suspicious.

I can feel her gaze burning into me, stripping me bare more effectively than Daphne ever did. My ears twitch violently, my tail is stiff, and my nails are digging half-moons into the wooden table.

Poppy leans forward, resting her chin in her hands, smirking like a cat who’s cornered a mouse. "You’re glowing, you know that? Don’t think I didn’t notice."

"I am not glowing!" I snap too quickly, too loudly. A couple of students glance our way from the next table, and I shrink down, wishing I could disappear into my glass.

Poppy grins. "Ohhh, you definitely are. Look at you—your fur’s shinier, your eyes all dazed like you’ve been up all night." She pauses deliberately, her smirk sharpening. "You were up all night, weren’t you?"

My ears flatten against my skull. "Studying," I blurt, clutching my notes like a lifeline. "Exams are soon! I was just... reviewing! Hard reviewing!"

Poppy raises a brow, unimpressed. "Reviewing what exactly? Anatomy? Because the scratches on your neck don’t look like textbook illustrations."

I nearly choke again. My hand flies to my throat—where, sure enough, faint marks linger. My face burns hotter than the sun. "T-those are—mosquitoes!"

"In winter?" Poppy says flatly.

I groan, burying my face in my arms. "Poppy, please."

"So I take it," she says sweetly, far too sweetly, "you finally gave the panther what was needed."

My head snaps up, ears shooting straight, tail puffing like I’ve been electrocuted. "Wh-what does that even mean?!"

Poppy tilts her head, all faux innocence, her brown eyes gleaming. "Oh, I don’t know. Maybe that you finally stopped running and let her... pounce." She drags out the last word, smirking.

My claws scrape the table as I hiss through my teeth. "Poppy!"

She only shrugs, utterly unbothered, plucking a grape from the little basket between us.

Heat shoots up my spine, spreading all the way to the tips of my ears. I slap both hands over my face, muffling a mortified groan. "I hate you."

"Anyway," Poppy says breezily, as though my humiliation is just background noise, "look at them. When the big bad panther wasn’t around, they were all talking big. Now that she’s back? Suddenly, they can’t even look us in the eye." She clicks her tongue.

Yeah. I’d noticed it too. Before Daphne left, I was too busy... surviving her presence to really pay attention. But now? Now the difference is glaring. Today, every glance, every whisper felt sharper. Some avoided my gaze altogether, like they didn’t want to risk being caught looking. Others flicked their ears nervously, as if proximity to me meant proximity to her.

"Yeah," I murmur. It’s all I can manage.

"Cowards," Poppy scoffs, standing and brushing imaginary dust from her skirt. She’s always so sharp, so confident, like the world bends or breaks around her moods.

I watch her sling her satchel over her shoulder, her expression already softening into something that makes me ache a little.

"I have to go help Isaac with his community service," she says.

I frown. "I thought you weren’t allowed to help?"

She smirks, her tail flicking. "I won’t. I’ll just be around for emotional support. That’s allowed."

"Right," I say, and it comes out quieter than I mean it to.

She glances back at me once, her smile sly but warm. "Try not to get eaten before I come back."

My ears burn again, and I wave her off furiously. "Poppy!"

But she just laughs, the sound trailing down the hall as she disappears.

And then it’s quiet.

Normally, their gazes would bother me, prickle under my skin until I wanted to crawl out of it. But now? Compared to being the subject of her undivided attention...?

Seriously, their gossiping looks are child’s play.

Daphne Nyxclaw doesn’t just look at you. She consumes. When her eyes lock on mine, it’s like being pinned beneath a predator’s paw—every escape route cut off, every twitch magnified. I could practically feel her gaze carving me open, leaving nowhere to hide.

And the worst part?

I liked it.

My ears burn just thinking about it. Heat crawls down my neck, right into the pit of my stomach, where it coils like some hungry thing.

I flop back against the chair, groaning into my hands. "Ughhh, what is wrong with me."

The quiet room offers no answer, just the faint scratch of the tree branches against the window and the soft rustle of papers in my satchel.

I should be studying. Exams are coming. I should be focusing on my notes, not on the memory of her mouth on me, the weight of her claws pressing into my skin, the way she whispered my name like a secret she’d been starving to say out loud.

But every time I close my eyes, I see her.

I bury my face in my arms again. "I’m doomed."

"Why are you doomed?"

The voice doesn’t belong to Poppy. Or anyone I know.

I freeze, ears twitching, before I jerk my head up.

A woman stands in front of me. Beautiful. Too beautiful. Tall, poised, her clothes too fine to be a student’s uniform—dark silks cut elegantly, the sort of thing staff or nobility would wear. Her presence presses down on me in a way that makes my heart pound like a trapped rabbit’s.

Predator.

My throat dries instantly.

"Uhm..." My gaze flicks around, desperate for an escape route.

Her lips curve, faint but amused, as if she already knows I won’t run. "You looked very lost in thought." She tilts her head, eyes sharp enough to slice through me.

"Care to share?"

I shake my head so fast my ears flop.

"N-no. Nothing important. Just—studying. Exams. You know."