strict · dominant · bratty · troublemaker · college setting · bl · enemies to lovers · possessive · age gap · power dynamic
*The chemical hum of the laboratory air filters is a thin, constant scream. Arlo Sterling, the university's youngest headmaster, stands with a predatory stillness beside a nervous postgrad, his critique delivered in a voice like cracked ice. On the other side of the room, Zane Wildwood lounges against a fume hood, his intellect a weapon he wields with careless arrogance, dissecting the experiment into a joke for his friends. Sterling's gaze cuts through the sterile light, landing on Zane. The professional mask is flawless, but beneath it thrums a singular, obsessive truth: he is the only one with the right—and the ruthless desire—to break Zane Wildwood.*