Chapter 8: The Desktop Battle

The glass-encased bulletin board in the main corridor of Riverdale Prep always drew a crowd, but on morning rank-list days, the space transformed into an absolute battlefield.

Scores of senior students packed the hallway shoulder-to-shoulder, their blazers rustling loudly as they pushed forward to find their placement in the school's brutal hierarchy.

Ash stood near the very front of the crowd, his boots rooted heavily to the polished marble floor as his stormy blue eyes locked onto the crisp white paper behind the glass.

The printing was sharp, black, and completely unforgiving.

Right at the absolute apex of the sheet, the name

Sebastian

sat in pristine, bold lettering with a flawless cumulative score of ninety-nine percent.

Directly beneath it, occupying the number two slot for the first time in three consecutive semesters, was

Asher

.

The difference between their names was a single, crushing, agonizing point.

Ash stayed perfectly still, his breath caught tight in his throat as the loud murmurs of the surrounding students began to rise behind his back.

"Did you see that? Ash got dropped to second..."

"No way... by a single point?"

"Northmont wasn't a joke after all..."

The whispers clipped the edges of his ears like tiny, sharp razor blades, causing a sudden, violent flush of heat to stain the tips of his ears a dark, furious pink.

His fingers bunched into tight, heavy fists inside his uniform pockets, his nails digging into his palms until the sharp pain anchored him to the floor.

It wasn't just the loss of the academic crown that made his jaw lock until the muscles in his cheek twitched with a visible spasm.

It was the terrifying, undeniable reason behind the drop.

As he stared at the complex breakdown of his advanced physics score, the numbers blurred, his mind instantly racing back to the endless hours he had spent trapped at his desk over the last three weeks.

He hadn't been able to focus on a single multi-variable field equation.

Every single time he closed his eyes to study, his senses had been completely, utterly occupied by the thick, freezing memory of Seb’s cedar pheromones.

The scent had invaded his mind, wrapping around his thoughts like a heavy fog, his own newly awakened Omega biology secretly craving the protective shield of his nemesis instead of concentrating on the curriculum.

His own body had betrayed him, trading his intellectual dominance for a primitive, submissive distraction that had ultimately cost him his throne.

...

A sudden, freezing draft cut through the humid crowd behind him, the loud murmurs of the students dying out instantly as the rows parted.

Seb walked up through the center of the corridor, his tailored black blazer entirely free of wrinkles, his posture displaying that rigid, cold discipline that characterized his every movement.

The fine gold chain of his glasses chimed softly against his crisp collar as he stopped exactly one inch behind Ash’s right shoulder.

The proximity was immediate and suffocating.

Seb leaned down, his broad frame completely blocking the view of the bulletin board for the students standing to their right, his chest nearly brushing the fabric of Ash's uniform jacket.

The sharp, dominant scent of cedar rolled off his skin, a dense chemical wall that instantly blanked out the standard classroom air and locked Ash into a private, claustrophobic prison.

"A distracted mind cannot hold a crown, Ash..." Seb whispered, his low, smooth velvet voice vibrating directly against the shell of Ash's burning ear.

He didn't look at the paper behind the glass, his gray eyes remaining fixed on the rapid, frantic jump of the pulse point in Ash's neck.

"If you spend all your nights thinking about my scent... you'll find the view from second place gets very crowded."

The mockery was a direct physical strike, sending a sudden, intoxicating wave of liquid heat straight up Ash's spine.

Ash's entire frame trembled with a mixture of raw mortification and furious, unyielding pride.

He hated the fact that Seb was right.

He hated the way his body instinctively relaxed the moment the cedar scent filled his lungs, his knees feeling dangerously soft despite the absolute anger roaring through his temples.

Whack.

Ash snapped his body around, his shoulder clipping Seb's chest with a violent force that forced the taller Alpha to take a half-step back on the marble.

He glared directly into Seb's mocking gray pupils behind the gold-rimmed lenses, his face flushed a brilliant, combative crimson as he stepped completely into Seb's personal space.

Their buttons clinked together in the narrow gap between their chests, two rivals refusing to cede a single millimeter of territory in front of the entire senior class.

"Enjoy it for the next four weeks, Sebastian," Ash spat out, his voice dropping into a vicious, gravelly register that shook with the intensity of his competitive fire.

He reached out, his hand slamming flat against Seb’s chest, his fingers bunching into the dark fabric of his blazer to anchor his own shaking frame.

"Because next month... I am going to tear you down from that board, and I am going to take back what belongs to me."

Seb didn't pull away from the aggressive grip on his lapel, his gray eyes darkening with a sudden, deep predatory amusement that sent a shiver straight down Ash's back.

He slowly reached up, his long, pale fingers settling over Ash's white-knuckled hand, his smirk widening as he felt the wild rose sweetness flaring up underneath the synthetic cover-up.

"I'll be waiting, Ash..." Seb murmured smoothly, his fingers tightening over the grip with an absolute, unyielding possessiveness.

"Don't make me wait too long."