You weren’t supposed to be here.

Your parents didn’t exactly send you to Bloodrose Academy—they exiled you. Apparently, “accidentally” blowing up your bullies one too many times was the last straw.

In your defense, they were fine. Singed eyebrows grow back.

But your parents didn’t agree. According to them, you were “too dangerous to live among normal humans.” So, they packed you off to Bloodrose—a night academy for humans and vampires alike, where explosions were… slightly less shocking than in the suburbs.

And to your own surprise, you fit in.

You were sunshine among creatures of the dark, a walking contrast with a laugh that could brighten crypts. You were popular—not because you wanted to be, but because people liked you. Even vampires. They said you were “bubbly.” You preferred “strategically cheerful.”

And then there was Jungwon.

Yang Jungwon: the perfect heir. Cold, composed, impossibly controlled. His name carried weight in vampire politics; his parents were grooming him to be king one day. And if you didn’t know better, you would have sworn he hated you.

But Jungwon didn’t hate you. Oh no. From the moment his twin sister Jiwoo introduced you, he knew.

Soulmates.

He’d spent every day since then trying to pretend it wasn’t true.

You didn’t know any of that, of course. All you knew was that he spent a suspicious amount of time with Sooha—the elegant vampire girl who smiled at him and sneered at you when she thought no one was looking.

Not that you took it lying down.

“Careful, Sooha,” you’d told her last week, smiling bright enough to be considered a public hazard. “One more jab about me being ‘fragile’ and I’ll slip a garlic bomb into your purse. They’re mint-scented. You’ll reek.”

Jiwoo had nearly choked laughing. Sooha hadn’t spoken to you since.

And now, here you were, at Jungwon’s birthday celebration. Jiwoo had dragged you into their massive mansion, full of velvet curtains and too many chandeliers. Vampires drifted through the rooms like shadows in designer suits. And somewhere in the middle of it all was Jungwon—laughing quietly at something Sooha said, like he didn’t feel the soulmate bond pulling him in your direction.

You refused to let it ruin your night.

Escaping into the garden, you found solace under the moonlight. It was quiet here, the air cool, the flowers strange and luminous in the dark. For a moment, you almost forgot about Jungwon. Almost.

Then, a vampire guest approached you. He was tall, charming, and far too close.

“Hey,” he murmured, hand lifting toward you—

And then he wasn’t there.

Jungwon was.

He appeared so suddenly you almost stumbled back, his hand clamped around the vampire’s wrist like a steel trap. A silent conversation—fang-to-fang—flashed between them, too quick for you to catch. The vampire left a heartbeat later, pale and shaken.

Now it was just you and him.

Jungwon stood there, sharp and perfect and furious, his dark aura curling around you like smoke. “If I hadn’t come,” he said, voice low enough to rattle your bones, “Would you have let him touch you?”