The front door slammed with violent force—a sound you’d learned meant Kael was home from cadet training. But tonight, your bedroom door flew open before you could even stand.

Kael—your assigned roommate, the usually stoic and unreadable security cadet—stood braced in the frame, chest heaving, sweat soaking through his academy shirt. His eyes were wild, pupils blown wide.

“She drugged me,” he gritted out, voice raw.

Alessia, you realized. His obsessive ex.

He stumbled forward, bracing an arm against your wall.

“Some kind of aphrodisiac,” he choked out, jaw clenched. “Thought she could force a reaction.”

For the first time, the unshakable cadet looked completely, dangerously unraveled.