Jervis P.O.V.

At times like this, I wanted to punch Zach's face over and over again. He had her full attention and I had nothing. Nothing but her silence.

Then again, the sane me reasoned out that my mate did the stunt a while ago for the sake of her friend, Rose.

She can't be interested in Zachary, right?

'But she gave him a pet name; white hair. And us? She did not even bother to acknowledge us!' My wolf roared.

My nose twisted at the new found fact and I saw Zach eyeing me cautiously as he mind-linked me 'if it makes you feel better, she actually hated me to guts.'

I growled, demanding him to shut his mouth and the latter raised his hands up in surrender.

Interested or not, I don't give a flying . Now, I will make sure her attention is only on me. Even if it meant keeping her away from Zach. Regaining my confidence back, I shooed Zach like a pest. Although he protested, but he left either way. He whispered an excuse into Rose's ears as she nodded in understanding.

"Remind me not to get on Arianna's bad side in the future." Jackson finally found his tongue, said out of a sudden.

"I'm sure she will make a good Luna." Jamie added and I smacked him on his head. "Sorry, I mean good girlfriend material."

I sneaked a peek at my tiger as she frowned at Jamie's statement. She seemed to be pondering about the word 'Luna' and I cannot help but feel hopeful. There is a chance she might know about our kind.

"What you did just now was, hot and y." I intruded her thoughts and stared at her with adoration. She was so infuriating and I am curious about her life before she came to this school.

I want to know everything about her.

What did she go through that made her so defensive now? Why did she rarely smile and distant herself from everyone? Why is she so protective over Rose?

What exactly happened to her?

Many questions yet no answers.

I sighed, too caught up with my own thoughts that I forget to shut my wolf out. He started to introduce himself to our mate by making a snarky comment, "It , tiger." Buros' voice was so low that I think Arianna couldn't hear it but to my uttermost displease, she did. Crystal clear.

"Go for a boxing show then. I'm sure it will satisfy your needs." She said, filled with disgust in her voice.

"I will only go if you are one of the contestants. I can imagine you wearing the one-piece outfit." Buros retorted without wasting any seconds and I felt amused with the idea, too.

'You dog.' I said slyly.

'We're the same. You know it, I know it." He retorted.

"Keep dreaming then." She dismissed us and I let my thoughts wandered around, fantasizing the things I could do to her...

Unexpectedly, I heard a buzz coming out from her phone and her eyes twinkled at the replies. Being her soul mate, I felt the need to know what caught her attention as I closed the gap between us and leaned over for a quick glimpse.

From: Your Favourite Boy

Oh, I'm not so sure... Anyways, do you miss me? Darling <3

My eyebrows knitted together after I read the message. Who is this? I scooted even closer than before since I am dying to know who the hell is this man, trying to snatch my tiger from me.

To: Your Favourite Badboy

You're hiding something.

From: Your favourite badboy

Ha-ha... I got to go. Ttyl, love you!

To: Your favourite badboy

Fine, I will figure out myself. Miss you too x.

My eyes bulged out in sockets as I clenched my fists tightly. Chill, Jervis. You do not want to scare her and screw it up. Taking a deep breath, I questioned her.

"You miss him?"

She jumped up in surprise and threw me an accusing look. No, I am not invading her privacy; I have the right to know who she was talking to.

"None of your business." She moved herself away from me and my frown deepened.

"Is he your boyfriend?" I deadpanned, wanting to know. If he is her boyfriend, I will bite him into shreds so that I have zero competitor.

"Why do you care? We are not that close for me to share my personal life with you."

"I will take that as a yes." My eyes narrowed like a viper.

"So be it."

That was enough to trigger me as I let my anger take charge. I slammed my fist onto the table and violently snatched her phone from her grasp. Without considering the aftermath of it, I smashed the phone into pieces and threw it to the ground.

'She belonged to me!' my wolf howled, supporting my actions.

"Mine." I snuck my right arm down her waist and pulled her to my lap, feeling satisfied with myself.

"What the hell?" She gasped at me, her face turning red. It did not intimidate me. With the tomato face, she looked even more adorable. I will take it as her blushing for me instead of being mad at me.

"I will buy you a new one." I soothed her hair gently while breathing in her scent, to calm myself down.

"You mother er!" She pushed herself off me and slapped me hard on the cheeks.

"What was that for?" I held onto my cheeks and yelled.

She scoffed, "I don't know which dimension you lived in but you do not get to go around and throw people's phone as you pleased! Worse still, claiming some random girls as yours!"

"But you're not some random girl!" I countered.

"I know you might be a prince and always get everything you want. But this is not how it works." She threw her hands up.

"What is wrong with that? I want you, so I act it out. It's as simple as that." I furrowed my eyebrows, not knowing what the commotion is about.

"In my country, if you want someone, you ask for permission. Not behaving like a barbarian or a wild animal!"

"But I am the prince and I don't ask for permission." I explained, feeling confused with her outrage.

She rolled her eyes at my replies and said, "Then you can start practicing now!"

Before I could retaliate, a hand muffled my mouth and I knew who he is.

"I sincerely apologised for his misbehaviour. As you can see, he forgets to eat his medicine today which explained his.... rowdiness." Zachary disclosed. I swat his arms away but he threw me a stern look instead.

"Please, forgive him."

As a soon-to-be alpha, I sneered at his words while he whispered harshly to my ears, "Do you want your mate to reject you? Or worse, lose your mate because of your stupidity?"

"N-o" I said between the muffles.

"Good. Then let me do the talking and listen to me for one time." He snapped.

"Why are you back here?" Arianna questioned and I felt a tiny bit of jealously. She was concerned about his whereabouts and not me.

"I left my wallet." Zachary lied smoothly.

"Ask your friend to leave me alone. No. Scratch that, he should be one radius away from me." She requested and Zachary nodded his head while I tried to protest.

"Before that, he better buys me a new phone." Ara demanded and Zachary agreed with no hesitation.

With that, she marched away with Rose tagging closely behind.

*********

"Why did you do that for! I almost had her!" I grumbled in frustration as we entered the private room that was specifically made for us.

"You almost lost your mate! God, Jervis. You were doing fine but what's gotten into you? You acted on impulse!" Zachary reprimanded.

"I did nothing wrong! I only told her I wanted her! Isn't that what we always do when we meet our mate?" I defended.

"Jervis, like you said. She is a human. A human! Do you see me forcing myself onto Rose?" He shouted, beyond agitated.

"But she has a boyfriend! I wanted to let her know she is mine! I don't think I am in the wrong. Also, she slapped me! She slapped her soul mate. Me. The crown prince!" I pouted and crossed my arms like a little child.

"Oh yeah? If I am her, I would be throwing you off the London bridge!"

"Enough! Leave." I used my alpha tone to command him and he pinched his temples in frustration.

"Ok. I will be right outside the door in case you need me." He stomped out of the private room, giving me space to reflect what I had done.

I paced around the room as I tried to rewind the incident just now. Yes, I met her for merely two days but to me, it was enough to bypass the 'get to know each other' stage and dive straight into the mating process. Sure, she has a boyfriend now but that does not mean I do not stand a chance with her. She was made for me, I am sure that after some time, she would be by my side.

Apart from that, I was being honest and genuine, isn't that traits which girls wanted from their other half? Gosh, this is so difficult. Why are girls so hard to understand? I pulled my hair, feeling baffled by the outcome. After an hour or two, I cleared my throat and decided to ask for some advice.

"Zachary!" I called out for my beta as he appeared in front of me within seconds.

"Yes, your highness?" He said with sarcasm.

"What should I do now?"

"Oh, you finally think that it is your fault?" He arched an eyebrow at me.

Yes.

"No." My pride is too high for me to admit that I messed up big time.

"Whatever. Now, all you can do is pray to the moon of goddess that she is not the type of person who would hold a grudge." Zach shrugged his shoulders.

"You're very bad in giving advice." I cast a black look at him.

"Then do it your own way! You never listen to anyone anyway." He rolled his eyes.

"Actually, I do have a plan. I would call...." I finished and his mouth formed an 'o' shape.

"See. You got it all figured out."

"What do you think of my plan?" I grinned, feeling proud of it.

"Well, it's... a bit freaky." I glared at him and he quickly rephrased, "Actually, it's a good idea. You have my 100% support."

"It's a perfect plan! I will get on with it." I announced and chirped joyfully.

"You just want me to agree with you, not really asking for my opinion." Zachary murmured to himself and I ignore his little complains.

My plan was simple: I will link everything in her life to mine.

***********

The next morning, I started first by stomping my way into the principal's office, demanding him to change my time-table so that I could be in the same class as my tiger.

"Uhm... Crown Prince, we need at least one week to settle the administration before you can switch class." The principal stuttered.

"No. I want to change class now." I ordered.

"But – We need to re-organise the list and swap someone out so that everything would be in order." He wiped the sweat formed around his forehead and replied.

"Hand me the class list." The principal passed it to me instantly, with his hands trembling in fear.

I scanned all the names and my eyes rested on one that called Matt Anderson. The prick who flirt with my tiger on the first day of school. Yes, I do have my sources even though I am not in school.

"Kick him out of the class and put me in." I pointed at his name and threw the paper back to the principal.

"But the subjects he took is only available for this class. How about someone else?" The principal suggested.

"Ask him to transfer school or expel him then. I don't care. Just get it done."

"Yes, crown prince." The principal replied and I gave a curt nod, before leaving his office.

Afterwards, I demanded Zachary to threaten all the teachers to pair her up with me. Although I did a background check on her but I couldn't find anything useful as the details were very limited. In turn, I asked the private investigator to follow Ara everywhere she goes so that I could grab hold of her daily routine.

Nope, I am not a stalker or a creep. I concluded that this was me, getting to know her better.

I hummed happily as I skipped to my new class and took a seat next to Zach which happened to be right in front of Arianna's.

As if on cue, Arianna walked in with Rose. When she saw my presence, she inquired immediately. "What is he doing here?"

"There was a technical error as the principal swapped me back into this class." I explained and she let out a breath.

"You got to be kidding me." She grimaced and I gave her a goofy grin. "Did you eat your medicine today?"

"I am perfectly fine." I assured her.

"I find that very hard to believe."

"Good morning class!" Miss Douglas walked in with her big arse trotting behind her.

The class groaned out loud, including me.

"I believe you know who I am." She gave us a smug look and I rolled my eyes. Every school definitely has that one teacher which we all hate. She happened to be that teacher.

"I am your calculus and biology teacher. First rule, no sleeping in my class unless you can get full marks for my paper." Miss Douglas hollered and Zachary sat up a little straighter, wanting to leave a good impression.

"Next, I would assign you into pairs. You will be doing plenty of discussion with your partner. So, if the partner is someone you dislike, I suggest you start dealing with it."

"First up, Amy and John. Next, Zachary and Rose......"

"Finally, Arianna and Prince Jervis."

I closed my eyes, waiting for my tiger to scream, to throw tantrum or voice out her violent objection. But nothing came out from . Feeling curious, I tilt my head around and saw her sleeping soundly, with her head down on the table, elbow supporting it.

I smiled inwardly, she must be exhausted from yesterday series of events.

"Arianna? Arianna Neo!" The evil witch yelled at her.

"Do not disturb her!" I snarled.

"Prince Jervis. With all due respect, she has to be awake in my class. If not, I can fail her for it." Miss Douglas said with a timid voice.

"You will give her an A." I scowled at her but she stood rigid on the spot and gulp in fear.

"Shut it, stranger. I do not need your help." Arianna finally spoke and for a moment, I thought she would apologise to Miss Douglas like a goody shoes I expect her to be.

Yet, she declared, "Yes, I will get full marks for your papers so let me sleep."

"Are you sure about that?" The witch persisted.

"Yes. Now shut up and carry on with your class." Arianna snapped which cause Miss Douglas' eyebrows to twitch.

"We shall see about that. As for now, no sleeping." She continued her lesson as per normal while Arianna rested her head on her palm, looking bored.

"Where did you pick up that arrogance from, light bulb?" Zachary questioned.

"How is that being arrogant, white hair?" She countered back.

"You talk back to every teacher that you had encountered!" He stated.

"I'm only telling them the truth."

"Oh Zach, you're mistaken. Arianna is actually a genius." Rose said.

"Define genius, Rose." He replied in a gentle voice.

"She has an IQ level of 180, propped with photographic memory and she can read 10,000 words within a minute." Rose beamed.

Zachary choked on his saliva while I stared at my tiger with a new found admiration.

"That's my girl." I praised and she threw me a dirty look.

"So I was saying, please sit with your partners that I assigned." Miss Douglas cut short our group's conversation.

"Who is my partner?" Arianna asked.

"Jervis." Rose replied, wiggling her eyebrows.

"What? I'm going to ask for a change of partners." She stood up but Rose harshly pushed her back to her seat.

"You had successfully pissed off so many people that I lost count. What made you thinks that Miss Douglas will actually listen to you?" Rose continued, "If you do not want to lose any more marks, it up and live with it."

Arianna blew her fringe as she sat down, trying to contemplate the pros and cons.

"Come on, I promise I won't bite."

Yet.

She ruffled her hair in annoyance as she slumped herself next to me.

"So..." I begin.

"Shut up."

"But I want to get to know you." I said with sincerity.

"Do me a favour. Pretend that I am not here!" Arianna tilt her head towards the other side and disregard my presence.

I waited for her to cool down a little before I start to poke her left arm. As expected, she continued to ignored me and I changed my tactic.

I crumpled a few pieces of worksheet and aimed at her head.

"What do you want?" She gave in and hissed.

Great. Now her attention is on me. I looked around the surrounding, making sure no one was anywhere near us to eavesdrop.

Then, I cleared my throat and said, "I'm sorry for acting inappropriately. Forgive me, please."

The words 'sorry' and 'please' were foreign to my tongue as I never apologise to anyone, not even my own biological parents. If me saying these magic words would get my mate to start talking to me, by all means, I will say it over and over again.

"Pretty please?" I pleaded with one of my eyes closed, hoping that she could sense my profound and earnest apology. 
 

She took a quick glance at me and sighed, "It's fine."

"Am I forgiven?"

"You still owe me a phone, though." She mentioned and I broke into a huge grin immediately.

"Yes, I would have it deliver to you soon." I disclosed and she returned it with a small smile.