The Professor's Second Chance Mate

Chapter 10

I don’t know when I fell asleep exactly. It was dark outside when I woke up. Thankfully, the headache was gone. Sometimes my migraines last for days. I was glad this wasn’t one of those times. I felt surprisingly well rested.

Goddess, what was I going to do about my mate? My mate who most likely wanted to kill me.

You’re spiraling again, Maya’s sleepy voice disturbed my inner ramblings.

Yep, I was, but not without reason, right?

Right?

I could sense Maya’s annoyance with me. She had every right to be frustrated with me. Hell, I was frustrated with myself.

I hadn’t been able to get him out of my head all day. Hell, even my room smelled like him: delicious, addictive, earthy, spicy. Amazing.

Fuck! My room smelled like him! Why did my room smell like him? I bolted upright in bed so quickly that my head ached a little. My eyes scanned my dark room and quickly located him sitting in my armchair. His eyes glowed slightly as they held my gaze.

“I asked you to meet me so we could talk.” His voice had a deep, sexy quality that made my stomach clench, my mouth dry up, and my mind race with unexpected dirty thoughts.

Stop it Maya, we need to remain aware, not….

Oh, knock it off. If he wanted us dead, he’d have killed us in our sleep. Stop being so dramatic. I swear if I could physically slap some sense into you, I would.

I’d rather be dramatic than dead. I snapped back.

Really? Because those were your own dirty thoughts a minute ago.

As I stared at him silently, a range of scenarios flicked through my head: I could run for the door, run for the window, attack, defend, call dad, … then I imagined this handsome professor in front of me. n***d. His strong arms wrapped around me as he climbed on top of me while fu.cked the fear out of me.

Yes, I like that last one, Maya hummed.

Stop it Maya!

Oh, honey. That was all you.

He sighed. Suddenly, I remembered that male wolves had the ability to detect the scent of arousal. And fear. Right now, I was sure my room was flooded with a hearty dose of both.

Whoops.

“I was never going to hurt you.” He sounded so damn sincere. I wanted to trust him. I really did.

“But you kill rogues. That’s what you do. No mercy, no questions. It’s what you’re famous for.” I whispered, finally finding my voice. My voice hadn’t sounded so fragile in a very long, long time. He might be distractingly sexy as all hell, but my mind was still functioning well enough to register that he was also incredibly dangerous.

“Rogues killed my mate, my first mate, many years ago. They killed my parents the same day. Suddenly, I was responsible for the safety of the whole pack, and I had two small children on top of that. I was angry and that earned me a reputation. I was 19. But I have never killed someone who didn’t deserve it. I never killed anyone without investigating them. You don’t deserve it,”

“How do you know that?” I scoffed. “I could be anyone.”

“I called your father.”

“You what!” I yelled. “How dare you call my father? Why? Wait, would you have killed me if you hadn’t spoken to him? What if I didn’t have family or if I weren’t an alpha’s child! Would that have made a difference? And how did you even know my name? I didn’t give it to you.” I don’t know where this fire came from, especially since ten seconds ago I was sure I was about to die horribly. I’d even considered calling my father for advice. But that would be my call. MINE. Not his. This infuriated the heck out of me. I felt like I’d been sent to the principal’s office despite being wrapped in my own bed.

“Why does someone else’s opinion of me affect your opinion of me?” I added. “What if you’d spoken to my mother or brother? Neither of them would have anything nice to say. Would I be dead right now? Would you just have killed me in my sleep like it was nothing, like I was nothing?”

Finally, my rant ended and I found myself crying again. Hot, angry tears this time. I felt like a massive pathetic i***t, and I hated that. Goddess, I was so mad. Not just at him, but at my father too - for never standing up for me enough - at my mother for hating me for no reason - at my brother who loved me until he was 12 and then suddenly pulled a 180 and decided I was the epitome of all things evil and wrong with the world.

I was a mess of unfathomable emotions. It had been a long time since I’d felt like this, this out of control. I hated it. Actually, I wasn’t sure I’d ever felt this confused and volatile. I liked feeling in control of my own life, despite my sad reality. I’d learned to bottle-up and suppress my emotions long ago. This sobbing thing was so unlike me. And that further exacerbated my annoyance with myself, with him, with my family.

“You don’t want me as a mate,” I eventually sighed. “My wolf and I… We’re not… I’m not even sure we’re normal… just get it over with.” I sighed.

No, not this one. Don’t reject this one. Please.

Maya was pleading and pacing in my head. She wasn’t this distressed when she first arrived, and I announced my intention to reject whoever my mate was. Nor was she this distressed when we met our first mate and realized his immediate intention was to reject us. Why was she so frantic now? She’d waxed poetic about his body earlier, but she knew mates were more than that.

My breath hitched as he approached me slowly, more like prowled toward me, graceful and powerful. The epitome of dangerous attraction. And damn, was he attractive. When he sat down on the edge of my bed. He took my hand in his so gently. My breath caught again.

Goddess, you’re going to die of oxygen deprivation at this rate. Just use your words girl. Maya huffed, finally halting her frantic pacing.

“I told you I would never hurt you and I meant it. I wanted to talk to you this afternoon. That’s all. Just talk. When you didn’t come, I was worried about you. I tried to find out as much about you as I could. I would have much preferred to talk with you.” His seductively smooth voice and the soft circles his fingers were drawing on my skin were working magic to calm me. As were the tingles speeding from his touch and his intoxicating scent. Hell, his proximity was doing stuff to my insides that I’d never experienced before. My body pulsed with an unfamiliar carnal need. Traitorous mate bond. Or perhaps that was my wolf.

I’d always been told the mate bond was irresistible. Though I was not prepared for the intensity of these feelings. I felt undeniably completely drawn to him, far more intense than with that first alpha brat.

I had no idea what to say about any of this. I had no idea what to think. My brain had been throwing wildly conflicting ideas at me since I first saw him. He still hadn’t spoken, except to assure me that he had no intention of hurting me. He just waited patiently for my crazy to pass. Silently comforting me while he waited for me to get it all out.

“There are too many reasons why this is a terrible idea,” I said, my voice a breathy moan. I didn’t mean to sound like that. Like a desperate lovesick girl.

His lips twitched in a tiny smile as he slowly traced the bare skin of my arm, shoulder to fingers.

That felt magical, Maya purred.

I had to concentrate to bite back a moan. Up ratcheted the i***t meter.

“Somehow, I don’t think this is all about me,” he spoke again after a few minutes of silence.

Don’t deny it. Maya coxed me from within.

I scoffed and looked away. Partly because he was right, this melt down was about everything and it was long overdue. And my damn wolf had clearly taken his side.

Eventually, I nodded but I didn’t answer right away. His hot gaze felt like it would sear my soul. When the ex-mate Alpha brat stared at me it was nothing like this. In his flat gray eyes there was judgment, anger, annoyance, and a bit of l**t. Whereas, this guy’s comforting whisky eyes swirled with gentleness, intelligence, l**t, and something that looked a lot like love. That was new. I liked it.

“Yesterday I had a plan. I thought I knew what I wanted. I expected I’d be safe here, away from any wolves. I could finish my studies in peace, get a good job, and live my own life free of judgments and expectations of a duped and jaded pack. Today it felt like whatever fragile hold I had on forming my own future was smashed. I met you and I realized I could never outrun being a wolf. People would always find me, judge me. I twiddled my ring not wanting to meet his eye. I’d had these conversations with Maya many times, but I’d never admitted my vulnerability so openly to another person out loud before.

He tucked my hair behind my ear, “Can I hug you?”

Aawwww…do it! Maya howled in my head.

I flopped into his arms, “you must think I’m an emotional basket case. I’m not usually. I swear. It’s just … this was just all too much.”

“You’ve been through a lot,” he softly kissed my forehead. As I rested against his chest it felt like his voice vibrated all the way to my bones, soothing me completely. The mate bond was working its magic to put me at ease. Then I remembered something.

“What exactly did my father tell you?” I sat up straighter and glared at him again.

“Everything.”

I huffed, I doubted that.

“Good. Then perhaps you can fill me in.” I said before snuggling back into him. Goddess, he felt good. Steel hard muscles, yet smooth and warm.

His laugh sent a little ripple of pleasure down my body. Everything about him was alluring.

“Mmmmm….you smell delicious, little darling. What I wouldn’t give to taste you right now.” Damn. That was hot. I was hot. My cheeks were flaming with sudden blush.

I thought I’d hate it if someone called me darling, especially from an older man. I thought I’d find it condescending and old fashioned, but I didn’t. He’d infused so much love and affection into the way he said it, that when he said it, I thought I’d melt right there and then.

“I’m not little,” I scoffed finally. Deliberately ignoring the rising need in my core.

“No, not for a she-wolf but compared to me you are.” He pulled me into him a little tighter for a second. It felt strange hugging him. This was pretty new for me and amazing.

When we were young, my brother would hug me. My dad wasn’t much of a hugger so after my brother abandoned me I grew up almost completely lacking tactile affection. Which is bad for wolves. We crave physical touch, like it’s our love language. We need it. Wolves are typically a touchy feeling breed. Constantly in need of physical affection. I needed to learn to ignore it but it was now smashing me with the strength of a tsunami.

I vote we keep him. Maya announced.

I smiled to myself internally, hoping this wasn’t a trick to lull me into a false sense of security. As a little tick of paranoia surfaced.

And that’s how I ended up in bed snuggling the first man that had ever shown me the slightest bit of attention. A much older man. My teacher for Goddess’s sake.

As we snuggled up together on my bed, I realized I felt safer and more relaxed than I could ever remember. At first, I was hesitant to sleep. I still wasn’t wholly convinced he wouldn’t hurt me, physically or emotionally. That was the pattern of my life after all. Distrust was a deep part of my psyche. Yet at the same time, I felt whole with him, like I knew for certain that I would be loved from now on.

I closed my eyes and let myself enjoy the moment.