Page 3 of Phantom Flower

Dimitri was a devil. He even scared me. I’d never talked to him before, but I wasn’t about to bow down.

I stood up fast and grabbed my bag. “Let’s go, Marco.”

Marco jumped up, ready to run.

But the second I tried to walk past Dimitri, he grabbed a fistful of my hair from behind and yanked me back hard.

Pain exploded across my scalp.

“I didn’t say you could leave, little fairy,” he murmured.

Fairy? This motherfucker.

I gritted my teeth and twisted just enough to glare up at him, refusing to show how much it hurt. “Let. Me. Go.”

“Mm.” He hummed, tightening his grip until my eyes watered. He looked amused by my defiance. “No.”

I raised an eyebrow even though my scalp was burning. “No? Does the big bad mafia prince need to yank people around by the hair just to feel important? What’s next?”

I saw real surprise cross his face. His eyes narrowed.

Big mistake.

Before he could react, I drove my knee up hard between his legs.

Dimitri grunted and doubled over. His grip loosened just enough. I ripped free, grabbed Marco’s wrist, and we ran.

Everyone gasped behind us.

I glanced back once before we disappeared down the hallway.

Dimitri was still standing there, one hand pressed to his crotch, slightly hunched over. But his eyes… fuck. Those eyes were locked on me like a blade sliding under my skin.

And for the first time since I stepped into Bloodburn Academy, I knew I’d just made a terrible, irreversible mistake.

Chapter 2

Dimitri Morozov

That little fae-looking thing hadn’t just glared at me like a deranged psycho in the cafeteria. Maybe he knew the boy I was choking against the wall. To be fair, that worthless piece of shit had called Ilya a “little femboy” behind his back a few days earlier, thinking no one would hear.

But I had ears everywhere.

No one had disrespected Ilya.

His family was no joke, and even if he had a softer, more feminine face and wasn’t as bulky as Alexei or me, he was still one of ours.

He was under my protection.

So when I saw that same idiot in the cafeteria, I was more than ready to teach him a permanent lesson.

Then someone distracted me.

Not only did that pretty Japanese boy have the nerve to glare at me, but he actually kicked me straight in the balls in front of the entire fucking school.

It was far from a pleasant experience.

He would pay for it.