Hunter Academy: Revenge of the Weakest-Chapter 937 - 215.3 - Finally

Astron stared into her eyes, his own gaze calm, steady—unwavering as the silence stretched between them. He could feel the warmth of her breath against his skin, could still sense the lingering traces of her fangs from where they had sunk into his neck. Yet, he didn’t move. He only watched.

Her reaction to his touch had been unexpected. The way she had trembled—not from hunger, not from need, but from something else. Something more fragile. More uncertain.

And as he stood there, feeling the weight of the moment settle around them, memories began to stir.

The first time he met Senior Maya.

It had been nothing out of the ordinary at the time. A simple exchange—though he had thought of her as someone who was a bit different….

But things had taken a turn.

At some point, she had changed.

She had needed his help—and he had given it.

At the time, he hadn’t thought much of it. He had simply acted, as he always did, in the most efficient way possible. She had been captured, her life threatened by a vampire. He had intervened, and in the process, she had been turned into something else—a half-vampire, something neither entirely human nor fully monster.

And that had set everything into motion.

Her visits. Her sudden fixation. The way her presence began to weave itself into his daily routine, how she would always look at him with those expectant eyes, waiting—watching.

He hadn’t understood it then.

But now, looking back—seeing the way she looked at him now, the way her body trembled not from thirst, but from something deeper—he began to piece it together.

There was something unnatural about the way she gravitated toward him.

Something missing.

And that’s when it hit him.

Love.

It was an emotion he had never fully understood. It was something abstract, something foreign—something that had no place in his life. In the past, when people spoke of love, it had always seemed distant, unattainable, irrelevant.

But then, Irina had entered his life.

And Irina—she had begun teaching him things. Things he had never thought to learn.

She had made him realize that emotions weren’t always logical, that sometimes, people acted in ways that defied reason. She had shown him that love wasn’t something that could be categorized neatly—it wasn’t about obligation, or dependence, or instinct.

And now, as he looked into her eyes—the one who had been trapped in Maya’s body, the one who had waited in the dark for so long—he understood.

This wasn’t love.

Senior Maya’s feelings… were not love.

It was something else.

Something built on instinct. On obsession. On hunger.

A bond formed not out of choice, but out of necessity. A connection forged not in understanding, but in need.

His presence, his existence, his very blood—he was the first thing she had ever tasted.

And she had latched onto him, because he was the only thing that had ever felt real to her.

It wasn’t love.

It was fixation.

Her breath trembled against his skin.

Astron could see it—feel it. The way her fingers tightened against his shoulders, the way her pupils dilated, how her body remained close, unsure if it should pull away or press further.

Something was changing within her.

Something neither of them fully understood.

For the first time, this other side of Maya wasn’t just driven by hunger, wasn’t just overwhelmed by the need to consume.

She was experiencing something new.

And it terrified her.

She had never trembled before.

Not from thirst. Not from fear.

But from this.

Astron’s thoughts remained steady, his violet eyes unwavering as he observed every shift in her expression, every flicker of emotion that passed through her mismatched gaze.

She was trying to grasp what had just happened. The blood—his blood—had given her what she had craved, but it hadn’t been everything.

The way she had reacted to his touch—that had been different.

It wasn’t hunger.

It wasn’t instinct.

It was something else entirely.

And that was exactly why Astron couldn’t act as he had before.

Before, he had entertained the thought of Maya’s feelings—had taken them into consideration because she had helped him when no one else had.

Even Irina hadn’t been there in those moments when Maya had.

Back then, he had lacked the strength to look deeper into what her attachment really meant. He had assumed, perhaps foolishly, that there was truth in her emotions, that she had chosen to feel the way she did.

And so, he had hesitated.

He had let things continue as they were, because Maya had been there.

But now…

Now that he understood, he couldn’t do the same anymore.

Because he had learned.

Because Irina had taught him.

She had changed things. Shifted his perspective.

She had done things for him—things he hadn’t even realized he needed.

And because of that, he couldn’t simply brush aside her presence in his life either.

To continue acting as he had before—to treat this side of Maya with the same consideration, the same careful indulgence—felt wrong.

Because it would mean disregarding Irina’s efforts.

And he couldn’t do that.

Not anymore.

But he was still unsure.

He had learned much—but not enough.

He needed more.

More understanding. More time. More observation.

And perhaps, more research.

Because this—whatever this was—was something unprecedented.

Maya was not just a half-vampire.

This side of her…

It was something entirely different.

And Astron needed to know what.

****

His hand moved again.

Slow. Steady.

This time, it didn’t just rest on her head.

It slid down, gentle but firm, pressing lightly against her back.

A silent gesture.

A silent acceptance.

Her breath caught, her body frozen in place as the warmth spread further, deeper, curling around her spine like something insidious, something inescapable.

He’s… embracing me.

Not tightly. Not possessively.

Just—there.

A touch that wasn’t forceful, wasn’t demanding.

A touch that told her he was listening.

A slow, unbearable heat rose to her throat, choking her in a way his blood never had.

And then—

His voice, quiet, steady.

"Talk to me."

She shivered.

She hadn’t realized how much she wanted to hear those words.

How much she had wanted someone to say that—to her.

Her fingers twitched against his uniform, gripping lightly, grounding herself in the solid warmth beneath them.

For a moment, she hesitated.

Not because she didn’t want to speak.

But because she didn’t know how.

The hunger, the thirst, the desperation—those things had always been simple. Raw. Instinctual.

But this?

This new, trembling, unfamiliar sensation curling inside her, making her chest tight, her throat ache—

This was something she had no name for.

And yet—he was waiting.

Not forcing, not demanding.

Just waiting.

A slow exhale. A steadying breath.

And then—she spoke.

"When I first opened my eyes… the first thing I saw was you."

She felt him listen.

Felt the way his presence remained steady, unwavering.

"I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. I didn’t even know what I was."

Her fingers clenched lightly against his shoulder.

"I just knew that you were there."

Her voice grew quieter, like a confession slipping through the cracks of a long-buried secret.

"I could only watch through Maya. See through her, hear through her, feel through her."

Her throat tightened, her breath turning uneven.

"But no one could see me."

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Her arms trembled at her sides.

"No one even knew I was there."

The weight of those words pressed against her, curling around her throat, squeezing tight.

"I screamed." Her voice broke, just a little. "I screamed, and no one heard me. I cried, and no one answered. I existed, but I was nothing."

She swallowed hard.

"Except when I was near you."