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“You’re a fucking idiot.”

Lukas jumped up from the bed. “I know!” He raked his hands through his hair again and squeezed his fists, holding onto the long strands behind his head. He had been screwing things up since the girl first woke up, but he couldn’t stop himself.

“She’d been sitting there reading papers and asking questions, but not actually asking me those questions. She was completely ignoring me.”

Her disregard worked its way under his skin. He never cared if anyone ignored him before. He preferred keeping to himself, thankful he’d been given a private room at the start of his university term, but he wanted her to talk to him.

Aiden rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, what did you expect? You spent the entire time giving her the cold shoulder. You barely spoke a handful of words, and none of them were directed at her.”

Sighing, Lukas dropped his hands in defeat and shook his head. “Everything was fine at first when you left. I even interrupted her and answered what I knew wasn’t directed at me. We talked. She asked questions, and I answered. But when we got to talking about sex, it got weird…”

“Sex?” Aiden’s brows shot up. “How’d you get on that subject?”

“Yes. We were talking about pairs rooming together. Bonding. I know it’s different for her, that humans don’t bond like we do, so I didn’t take offense when she said she wasn’t going to have sex with me.”

“As you shouldn’t. I wouldn’t even take offense if another Vasirian said that if we’d just met. Korrena or not.”

“Right. I agree completely, but the way she followed it up by saying she couldn’t do it… that it wasn’t happening. I dunno… it’s stupid, now that I think about it. It wasn’t as if she said anything cruel. But something in that moment rubbed me wrong. It felt like she rejected me, not the idea of having sex with me.” Lukas put his hand over his face. “I’m so stupid.”

“No, you’re not. This whole situation is weird. She’s human, so it’s unfamiliar territory. Hell, having a Korrena is unfamiliar territory no matter how much they try to prepare us. But again, she’s human. You need to see things from her perspective. She was terrified of us when she woke up. Not to mention, things work differently in the human world. It was clear the idea of sharing a room with a man made her uneasy. Not you, Lukas. A man. It could have been anyone and she’d likely have responded the same way.”

Lukas sighed. “I just… I snapped at her. I told her this was a mistake. I told her a human didn’t belong with me, and that’s when I told her to leave.” He looked back at Aiden again, brows wrinkled in confusion. “I wonder if this honestly isn’t all a mistake.”

A human and a Vasirian paired sounded so far-fetched that maybe he was seeing things. Maybe it all got to him because of the sun bothering him, and he was in a bad mood that day.

“You’re out of your mind if you think she isn’t the one. The mark aside, just the way you’re acting isn’t like you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re not acting like your usual self,” Aiden stated matter-of-factly.

Lukas threw his hands up. “No shit, of course I’m not! Is it all because she’s the one, or is it because of all the expectations and drama dropped into my lap? I don’t know anything anymore!”

He knew as he said those words, he was lying to himself.

“You’re acting like a caged animal that hasn’t eaten in a month.”

Lukas looked away and muttered under his breath, “She called me a monster…”

Aiden fell silent, his eyes wide. When he regained his composure, he stood from the bed and crossed to Lukas to place a hand on his shoulder.

“Look, it’s only the first day. Things just need to process. For now, how about we play Guilty Gear -Strive- so you can work out some of this aggression?”

“Fine… but I don’t know what I’m going to do, man.”

They played video games for several hours before Lukas decided to face the music and return to his dorm room.

He slid his key into the lock, but it didn’t click. He slowly opened the door. Had Blaire forgotten to lock the door, or did she leave it unlocked for him? He walked quietly through the darkened room, enough moonlight filtering in through the window to allow him to see where he was going.

The entire room already smelled of her, and it was driving him crazy.

He stared at the lump on her bed until she moved. He tensed and held his breath as Blaire rolled onto her back, coming into clear view under the moonlight. She looked breathtaking with her blonde hair spread out over her pillow; the moon illuminating her pale skin, casting her face in an ethereal glow.

Lukas stepped toward her. He reached out and gently dragged the tips of his shaking fingers over her cheek. She released a soft sound, causing him to retreat to his side of the room.

The fact that just the touch of her skin could arouse him the way it did spoke volumes when he had never much cared about attraction.

He already felt the call of the bond, and him calling this a mistake was the real mistake.