Ashley’s eyes blinked, gasping at the sight of the figure who had just prevented him from throwing his fist back at Michael.

In front of him at this time was a man with a calm and mature personality, thin lips that were barely visible, and deep yet calming eyes.

It was a combination of a strong, masculine facial structure without leaving a shaved mark on the man’s perfect face.

The man had messy undercut hair that supported his natural good looks, making Ashley almost speechless. As if he fell under this man's charming spell.

"Is violence the only way you have to solve the problem?"

The man's voice was flat and deep, and his brown eyes were still fixed on him. At a glance, Ashley found himself admiring the man’s beauty. 

He had never seen such a dark beauty, filled with a mysterious aura. Yet it managed to attract him like a magnet. 

It was his first impression. Until his sense of smell made him understand that he shouldn't have been so taken with the man's attractions.

The man who had the guts to stop him from punching Michael just now was a human. Not a werewolf like him.

Ashley forcibly released his hand from his grip, trying hard to cover up the fact that he had fallen for the charms of the people he considered the lowest caste by putting on a stern face.

"Fuck off! It's none of your business!" He stepped closer to the man, who was strangely still putting on a calm face when facing him. 

Unlike other humans, who would be frightened when he emitted his werewolf aura like he was currently doing, there was not the slightest reaction of fear. The man still looked relaxed and calm. As if to tell him that his aura did not affect him.

While Michael was still cowering on the floor, shaking with fear. Likewise, the other humans in the corridor, who were not far from Ashley, collapsed on the floor without realizing it.

How did he keep his cool in the face of his werewolf aura?

"This is clearly my business. There is no way I would allow oppression or bullying in front of my own eyes."

"What is with these nonsense statements!?"

Ashley snorted in annoyance at the new student, pulled the man at the collar of his shirt, and pulled the man closer until their distances were a few inches apart. 

"You’ve got guts. I can see that. Normally, no one would dare stand in my way. Did you know what you have just done?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," the man replied, full of innocence on his face until he gasped for a few seconds. "I am not familiar with the system here. I just moved into this city today."

"Ah, I see. That explained everything." Ashley nodded as he approached the human. "No wonder your face looks strange."

Ashley tried hard not to be bothered by the man's composed manner. Ashley tossed his body without hesitation, causing the man's body to bounce far back until his back hit the cracked wall quickly.

Several small pieces of debris fell along with the man. Ashley quickly ran over to the man and placed his left hand on the wall near the man's head, glaring at him in irritation.

"Look. There are general rules in this town that you should know. I am explaining it to you because you are still new to this place. Also, since I am being kind to you right now." Using his right hand, Ashley forced him to meet his eyes. "Listen to me carefully while I'm going to tell you the rules applied in this place, human."

"Okay. But wait. Can you tell me your name first before you start telling me the rules in this city?" 

"Ashley. Ashley Roderick." He lazily rolled his eyes as he answered the human’s question. "Are we done now?"

"Such a beautiful name. It suits you very well–"

"I didn’t ask your opinion, but whatever," he let out a long sigh before he continued to speak. "First, humans like you can’t act as freely as you want. Well, perhaps in your old place, werewolf-human relations were good or whatever. I don't fucking care about it.

"But here, in this city, we, the werewolves, are the rulers. And you need to take note that our words are absolute."

Instead of taking what he had just said seriously, he found the man smiling at him. The meaning of the smile itself was confusing for Ashley, who wanted to know whether this human was smiling purely with no intention or was smiling in an attempt to mock him.

"Is that so? So those old rules still apply in this city? Interesting."

The man’s response made Ashley even more furious than before. 

What the hell is with that response? Ashley muttered to himself while holding his annoyance at the strange human.

"Well, well, well. Look at you. Act cocky and arrogant in your new place, eh?" Ashley pressed the man with his right hand hard until it made him wince in pain. "Do you want to take Michael's place--"

"Sure. What's the harm? I will gladly take his place." The man responded by grasping Ashley's wrist in a forceful and strong grip. "But only under one condition."

His eyes widened for a moment when he saw the man’s reaction. But Ashley quickly hid his surprise by putting his calm face back on, staring intently at the man.

"What? Why should I care about your fucking condition--"

"You will let that student go and not bully other students. That is the only condition I want. You can use me as your bullying target instead. How does it sound?"

***

Ashley snorted, letting out a cynical laugh when he heard the words. His eyebrows shot up to the side, not believing what he had just heard from the man.

"Are you sure about what you just said?"

The man, unexpectedly, responded to his question just now with a serious face, full of confidence and determination. It was as if he wanted to tell him that he would not go back on his words. 

His fists clenched tightly while his heart was filled with annoyance mixed with irritation. It felt like the human was trampling on his pride right now. As if this weirdo did not think that what he had just said to him was really serious.

It was as if the man was mocking him, treating him just like a child, when he said it. And the way the human looked at him with such a calm, shady gaze, it seemed like he was laughing at him. 

It was as if that bastard was belittling him, and that reason alone was more than enough to irritate him even more.

"I do not mind if I have to take his place. As I told you just now," the man gave him a small, gentle smile. The man’s expression was so difficult to understand. "As long as you put this matter aside and will not bully other human students here, that will be fine for me."

After all, why did this stupid human even volunteer to replace Michael in the first place? 

There must be a problem with his brain or something to get him to do it, Ashley muttered to himself. Not only Ashley, who felt awkward with the human's words but also his three best friends, who invited him to communicate via telepathy.

"I think he has a problem with his brain," Sawyer spoke to him in a tone as irritated as he was.

"I mean, why would this weirdo be willing to offer himself just to be bullied by us? Don't tell me that because this idiot is attracted to Michael?" Gabriella said, as surprised as he was.

"I think so. Why don’t we just let him do it." Carl snorted in disgust as he expressed what was on his mind about that new human student. "Does he think we are going to let him wander off and be easy on him like he just thought after taking Michael's place? You also saw how shocked that idiot Michael was when he heard what this fucking human said to us, right?"

"That stupid human did not mention anything about asking us to be easy on him, dude." Sawyer rolled his eyes as he said that.

"What? I am just stating the truth, duh!"

"Still, you make a good point. Although I doubt that the reason is as simple as that."

"All three of you. Can you stop bothering me?"

"I am sorry, Ashley," the three of them answered his question at the same time in a languid tone.

He looked around, enjoying the fear of the humans around him, who were still looking down in fear as a result of his werewolf aura, before turning back to the human figure, who was still standing in front of him confidently, not losing his cool side in the slightest.

It was the thing that he hated. If he could be honest, he found himself getting attracted to the man figure, who he had to admit had a charm that was hard to get him to just like.

If only the racial background of this man did not get in the way. Maybe right now, he would have immediately asked him out on a date without hesitation in front of everyone.

"Suit yourself, human. What's your name?"

"Aiden." 

Aiden seemed relaxed in response to Ashley's curt question. Aiden was introducing himself in such a casual way. As if Aiden thought that what he was doing was right, he extended his hand towards Ashley in a friendly manner, hoping that Ashley would return it by shaking his hand warmly. 

"Whoops." Ashley quickly brushed off Aiden’s hand in a rude way. "Sorry, but I do not want to make contact with a human's hand like yours. It's too dirty."

Even Aiden was now smiling broadly when hearing his rude answer, showing off a row of white and neat teeth full of confidence. He felt that the man was not offended by his words at all.

"Aiden Connor, but you can call me Aiden or whichever suits you best. It is nice to meet you."

Ashley slapped the hand of the man named Aiden Connor roughly until he was motionless on the spot because of his rude attitude.

"I don’t ask for your full name, moron! And who allowed you to make yourself familiar with me?!"

"Oh, I am sorry. I thought it was okay for me to do that," Aiden looked surprised by his attitude just now. "Did I do something wrong—"

Before Aiden could finish his sentence, Ashley threw his backpack at him.

"Bring my bag. Didn't you tell me you volunteered yourself to be my errand boy?"

"I did say that. So sure." Aiden’s eyes blinked in surprise, staring at the backpack he had caught safely in his hand with amazement before looking up at him. "No problem. I will take care of it with all my heart."

"I am not asking you to exaggerate it, moron. But whatever. Suit yourself. Make sure you will not do any harm to my precious bag."

"Of course. You have already given me the first task, so why can't I do it to the fullest?"

"Oh, so you want to do your task to the fullest? Well, work for me. Then, do all my university assignments, too. Michael failed his work to do the assignment for me," he squinted at Michael, who hastily cowered in fear when he met his gaze. "Make sure there will be nothing wrong with the assignment and get me all A marks."

"No problem. For what course?"

"You do not need to know about it. But mostly, difficult stuff like Algebra 1–"

"Algebra 1? No problem. It is not a big deal to me—"

"I am not asking for your opinion, human!" He sent a piercing gaze, accompanied by a booming voice, that echoed through the corridors, which were silent due to the humans still frightened by his aura. 

He muffled his aura slowly, twisted his body, and turned his back to Aiden. "You just need to do your job properly.”

"Yes. I will."

"Do not regret your action for—"

"I won't. Take it easy. You do not even need to feel worried about whether I will regret my decision or not," Aiden answered with a smile that he had to admit was very bright, even for him. 

And strangely, it managed to make his heart beat loudly for a bit. 

"Besides, it will be an honor for me to serve you."

"I–I am not … urgh …"

Why in hell am I flustered just from hearing what he said? Ashley murmured to himself, cursing himself as he noticed his heart was beating nervously. It must be some little misunderstanding. It might be so.

Aiden’s reassuring answer honestly scared him a little. Was that stupid human planning anything behind his back?

"What did you say? An honor?"

Aiden nodded quickly at his question.

"Yup."

He must be fucking out of his mind, Ashley murmured in his mind. 

His eyes glanced briefly at Aiden, who was following behind him when his three friends were beside him, looking at Aiden, who was smiling broadly at the backpack he had thrown at him. It was as if the man was doing a noble job.

You must be out of your mind, moron, Ashley groaned inwardly, turning his attention elsewhere, and walked towards the classroom, where his favorite lesson, Introduction to Communication Studies, was about to begin.

Well, it was clearly not because he found the course he took interesting. Even though he did his best to master the subjects. Yet just reading them managed to make him vomit and feel dizzy.

But he decided to enroll in this course only because of the charm possessed by the course lecturer on the subject. 

Professor Harold Garfield, a werewolf man whose aura alone always managed to calm his feelings anytime, anywhere.

A valid reason that was more than sufficient gave him a reason to stay in the class without trying to replace it with another course.

***

Ashley entered the classroom. He looked at Professor Garfield for a moment. He noticed Professor Garfield was smiling at him. It was a quick, friendly smile. The smile that Professor Garfield gave to other students.

Yet, it managed to reduce the annoyance in his heart right now. It gave Ashley a suppressed feeling of joy.

He did not know whether Professor Garfield was really smiling at him or whether it might be at all of the students in the classroom he was in right now. But he wanted to keep thinking that gorgeous smile was only and only for him.

As he did not want his three best friends to know he had been attracted to the lecturer in Introduction to Communication Studies, he kept putting on a calm face to hide how happy he was at the moment. It would be troublesome for him if his best friends knew about his love interest.

Moreover, he did not want this annoying man to know about his feelings toward Professor Garfield. He would be crazy as fuck if he let that annoying man know his feelings towards Professor Garfield. 

His mind began to wander, and he imagined what he would like to do with Professor Garfield if one day he could get the chance to spend his time alone with him.

Slowly, deep in his mind, he found that Professor Garfield's hand was gently stroking his thigh, speaking in a half-whispered tone of voice. It sounded so sexy to the extent that he could not do anything but let him do whatever he wanted to do with his body.

"Ashley, you are really beautiful. Do you realize your charm? You might have fallen in love with me from the first year of your college, but for me, I am falling in love with you since you stepped your feet into this building during the first year of your college."

Professor Garfield's voice sounded so real, to the extent that he believed it was really happening right now, right here, in the classroom. As if it were not only his imagination.

Only he and Professor Garfield were staying in the room after Professor Garfield sent all of the students away from his class after the class was over. He could feel his cheeks flush, feeling so warm that the heat spread to his neck and ears,. He could already imagine how red his face was right now.

"So what is your answer? Do you want to take my offer?"

Professor Garfield's hand pulled away, kissing the back of his hand intently before the man's lips moved to kiss his fingers one by one as he kept his eyes locked on him. As if Professor Garfield was waiting for an answer from him.

"Oh, Introduction to Communication Studies? I see …"

The question posed by Aiden had shattered his fantasies of Professor Garfield, along with his fantasies of what he would do to Garfield if he had the chance to do so. All of a sudden, he sent a sharp glare at Aiden, who did not realize the big impact of the mistake he had just made on his imagination with Professor Garfield just now.

"Is there a special call that I should use for you?"

"What are you talking about!?" Ashley hissed harshly at the man's absurd question just now, waving his hand so that the human who took the chair nearby would not sit next to him. 

"Anyway, since when did I allow you to sit beside me?"

"I thought it would be a lot more practical if I sat next to you," Aiden answered with an innocent expression, instead trying to sit beside him one more time casually as if his warning had meant nothing to him. "Who knew you might need me to take notes for today's lecture, for example?"

"Nope. I can handle it on my own; thank you very much."

"Hmm..."

He did not know, and he did not even want to try to figure out the meaning of the man's mutterings. All he had in mind was how to get the man out of his way without making him the center of attention—especially Professor Garfield—by allowing Aiden to sit beside him.

"So, have you made up your mind, hm?"

He was too busy with plans in his mind for what he wanted to do with him, to the extent that he barely noticed that he was talking to him in a half-whispered voice. Only then he realized that Professor Garfield's class had already started.

"That is why I do not understand what the hell you are talking about!" He glared at his now-slave as his last warning, joining in with a half-whisper. "If you dare to bother me once again—"

"Lord? Your Majesty? Or maybe, O Great Highness? Oh, wait. How about Milord? Ah! I think the last one suits you best."

Son of a bitch!

He could not take it anymore!

He immediately grabbed the man by the collar when Professor Garfield was not looking at his seat, sending a sharp glare at Aiden, who strangely seemed relaxed in response to his anger.

"I don't know what your problem with me is, human. But why do you keep bothering me instead of doing your new job as my slave?"

"Hm? I did nothing," the man exclaimed, slightly agitated. "All I want to do is get to know you more, so I can accommodate everything you need—

"Well, let me give you one final warning, human," He interrupted it, still trying to control his anger, as he did not want to make a scene in Professor Garfield's class. "If you bother me again like you are doing right now, one more time, I will kill you with no mercy!"

There was a little bit of surprise hidden in Aiden’s eyes. Yet, he found that Aiden was not scared of his threat even once. All he found was Aiden’s surprised reaction, which managed to make him both furious and confused at the same time.

"O-okay ..."

"Just do what you need to do, you moron!"

"A—ah," the man exclaimed in surprise at his reaction before looking down languidly. He even swore that it was as if he saw dog ears clenched languidly along with the sad expression Aiden was making at the moment. "I am sorry for making you uncomfortable, then ..."

"Urgh ..."

He could feel his forehead throbbing in frustration as he heard Aiden’s answer. In a quick count, he stomped on the man's foot with all his might. When he saw that Aiden seemed to be about to scream in pain from his actions, he quickly sent a sharp glare at the human.

"Don't you dare to make a loud noise in this class, you fucking bastard!" Ashley stole glances at Professor Garfield as he resumed his lectures, breathing a sigh of relief when he found that Aiden's voice did not distract Professor Garfield from his class. "I don't want to attract unnecessary attention at Professor Garfield's lessons."

"Oh, so you are interested in this course?"

"Whether I like this course or not, it is definitely none of your business!"

Once again, he snorted in annoyance and then stretched his hand toward Aiden.

"Yes?" Aiden was stunned, as it seemed that he did not understand what he meant.

"My iPad and pen, you moron!" Ashley rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Are you fucking serious?"

"Did I say something wrong?" Aiden looked at him innocently.

"Did I say something wrong?" he parroted what Aiden had said. "You should have known what your job was from the moment you offered yourself to us, moron! Why should I need to explain such a simple thing to you? How impractical of you!"

"I am sorry. Just a moment," Aiden said, then opened the backpack the man was carrying, and gave him the item he asked for with a face full of regret. "I was wrong. I will make sure to be careful next time."

"There will be no next time. Remember it, or you will get your punishment. Like Michael Raymond, your little friend you saved earlier," he snorted angrily, turning to face the projector screen in front of the class and turning on his iPad.

"He is not my friend, for your information. I only knew him today through you," replied Aiden calmly. "But interesting. You remember his full name, eh?"

"I do not have any obligation to explain it to you, do I?" Ashley rolled his eyes in disgust, not looking at Aiden.

"No need. Of course, there's no need ..."

With a lot of effort, he ignored Aiden and began to jot down important points by focusing all his attention on Professor Garfield.

In an instant, he forgot the existence of the obnoxious and unreliable human named Aiden Connor. Allowing himself to be enchanted by Professor Garfield's charms, with his elegant and soothing voice echoing through the room.

***