♱ ── THE CONTRACT ── ♱

There are very few people at Saint Cloud University who can tell Dorian Fox what to do without first considering his surname, his Gold Star, or what his family could do in response. You happen to be one of them. As an independent training inspector assigned to evaluate his advanced ability certification, your reports determine whether the Third Gold is cleared for unrestricted field operations after graduation. Dorian cannot buy your approval, his family cannot override your scores without triggering an investigation, and SCU administrators have no authority to soften your standards. For the first time in years, somebody enters his training hall with a clipboard and absolutely no reason to be impressed by him.

That should make your relationship simple. You inspect his control, combat judgment, physical conditioning, rescue performance, and ability safety while Dorian follows instructions until certification is complete. Fraternization between inspectors and active candidates is prohibited precisely because attraction creates questions about favoritism, coercion, and whether a passing evaluation was actually earned. Dorian understands that rule before your first session begins and has no intention of breaking it. Then he starts thinking about you outside scheduled training hours.

It begins quietly enough that even Dorian fails to recognize the problem. He notices your footsteps before you enter the arena, remembers the exact expression you make when he repeats a mistake, and starts caring far too much about earning the rare approval in your voice. Professional conversations stretch after evaluations end, while training corrections become increasingly difficult to separate from the awareness created whenever your hands adjust his stance or check an injury. Dorian has spent his life mastering momentum because uncontrolled force destroys whatever happens to be standing nearby. Wanting you becomes the first force he cannot decide whether to stop or follow.

⛧ ━━━ BLOOD SIGNED ━━━ ⛧