The Professor's Second Chance Mate

Chapter 11a

When I woke from the best sleep I’ve ever had, I noticed the indigo sky tinged with silver outside my window. Soft light was beginning to dilute the night sky, preempting the rising dawn.

I felt him, my mate, stir beside me. I rolled in his arms and came face to face with his hungry, hypnotic eyes. Such intensity.

Nothing had happened last night, nothing sexy anyway. Still, this was a huge step forward for me. I’d never even had a boyfriend. I’d certainly never woken up with a man in my bed before, even a fully dressed one. And this particular specimen of a man was driving my every sense wild.

My cheeks heated rapidly when he kissed my forehead softly.

“I love that blush. Maybe I should call you little red,” he teased.

“I could call you my big bad wolf,” I joked back.

Fu@k, that was cheesy. Did I seriously just say that out loud?

Yeah, you did. Maya laughs at me. Sometimes it’s not so fun having a second consciousness in your head to call your corny out.

“Darling, you call me whatever you like, so long as you call me yours.”

Oh, Thank you, Moon Goodness, for this gift. I am in love, Maya swooned in my head.

Me, on the other hand, I still wasn’t completely swayed. Yet, I felt my walls were crumbling.

Maya girl, we still don’t trust him. I sighed internally.

You might not, but I’m all in. Maya purred. I could imagine her rolling on her belly submissively.

“What did she say?” He asked. “Your wolf. She was talking to you, yes?

I bit my bottom lip, peeking through my lashes nervously. “Um, she didn’t really say anything,” I lied very poorly. The butterflies billowing in my belly made me squirm.

He rolled on top of me, hovering slightly. My breath caught as I was forced to look into his shimmering honey-gold eyes, his wolf's eyes. I wanted to crush him to me, so I could feel every hard inch of his amazing body pressed into mine.

“Is that so?” He murmured. His eyes, now returned to their deeper amber color, fell to my lips. I wondered what he would taste like, what he would feel like.

We could find that out easily enough.

He groaned, leaning forward to lightly nibble my neck. “Goddess, I’ve never smelled anything so delicious in my entire life.” The way he stressed the word entire made me wonder if that included his first mate. Did I smell better than her? Not that it mattered really.

He cleared his throat, “My darling, as much as I would like to stay here in your arms forever, we both have schedules to keep and appearances to maintain. The sun will be up soon and it would not be good to be seen sneaking out of a students’ room at daybreak on my third day teaching,” he smiled, and damn if he wasn’t the most devastatingly handsome man I’ve ever seen. I squeezed my thighs together. He groaned once again.

“I want to get to know you,” he said.

Like from the inside? Spread those legs, girl. Let’s get started.

Maya, please stop.

But I want to get to know him too. Rip his shirt off and lick his abs. Maya demanded.

I coughed awkwardly and extricated myself from his embrace before I did something impulsive and stupid, and probably insanely pleasurable. Maya’s suggestions were starting to sound way too tempting. I was not an impulsive or stupid person and I had no plans to start now, despite the pornographic images my horny wolf was projecting into my head.

I couldn’t believe I was petrified of this man less than 24 hours ago. At that moment, I’d never felt this safe with anyone. Ever. Even my father.

No, I reminded myself. It could still be a trick.

“Have dinner with me tonight.” It wasn’t a question.

“We shouldn’t be seen together. At least while I’m your student. I should transfer out of your class.” I mused, now standing awkwardly beside my bed. Oh my goddess, did I just consider a future with him? What has gotten into me?

“You can’t. It’s a prerequisite.”

He stood, and took my hand once more, stepping right up to me. He was staring at me like he’d like to devour me right here. The intensity was crushing. Was this it? Would I finally get my first kiss?

Werewolves, as I mentioned, are a very tactile species, and also a very s****l species. It was rare for a wolf to be completely inexperienced at 18.

But he didn’t kiss me, he backed away. Surprising and disappointing me. Yet I appreciate his willingness to give me time and space.

“We won’t be seen. I promise,” he assured me. He handed me a business card with his contact details, including a handwritten number on the back with a note that read my personal cell in flawless cursive.

Doubt still trickled in my mind. I chose this school because they offered my program but also because they were a fairly small town. Far enough from packs but close enough to open forests. Perfect for me to wolf out, but not as attractive to pack wolves I’d thought.

The next thing I knew, he was climbing out of my window like a regular Romeo even though my man had to be late 30’s or maybe even 40. Not that he looked it, of course. If my memory serves me correctly, he had kids my age.

Shit! He had kids my age! I hadn’t even considered the age difference. Werewolves were blessed with long life spans and slowed aging. He could pass for 30. An incredibly alluring 30. I didn’t ask his exact age. Frankly, I didn’t want to know the exact age gap. I decided to conveniently ignore it. To outsiders, he’d look older than me by 10 years, maybe. And that was acceptable, right? Maybe not for an 18-year-old. But it’s different for mates. In werewolf society, no one would blink twice at a 10, or even 20 year age gap. But at a human college. Especially considering he was my professor…

We’ll have to sneak around, Juliette. It’ll be more fun. Maya sang.

Oh, Goddess. If we get caught, he’ll lose his job because of me. I’d feel awful.

You’re spiraling again, Maya said. Go get a coffee, then we’ll be awake enough to focus while we research s*x techniques online.

Well, it’s official. The Goddess definitely cursed me when she paired me with you.

Oh, quit whining. We’re fine. Besides, if it came to a fight we could beat him, we beat that other one, Maya insisted.

Because he wasn’t expecting it, I retorted.

If you take that ring off we can take him.

We can’t do that, Maya. Don’t you remember what happened last time?

Just meet him. I just want to know what it feels like to be accepted as you are. I think you want that too, Maya pleaded.

I do. But what if we get to know him, we decide we like him,and then he rejects us? It’ll hurt so much more.

And there it is. The crux of your insecurities. You’re worried he’ll turn his back on us, like Kiren; give up, like Tony; ridicule us, like mom; ignore us, like dad.

Dad didn’t ignore us, I cut in.

Most of the time he did. Look, I know he loves us, I could always feel it, but he turned a blind eye to a lot of s**t that was easily in his power to stop. He is the fu@king Alpha. I’m in your head. I can see it all. Do you really think Kiren would have gotten away with as much as he did if dad had told him, even once, to keep his fat mouth shut. Do you think mom would have hidden her distance for us if dad had asked her to?

Pack members look to the alpha family as an example. We’re the leaders of the pack and 90% of the pack only know what they hear about us from others, from Kiren. Dad is a fantastic Alpha in every other respect, he really cares about everyone. But he did drop the ball with us. He knows how toxic rumors and drama can be in a werewolf community. Yet for some reason, where we are concerned, he let mom and Kiren get away with shaming our family and harassing you. Maya is shouting in my head now.

You’re right, I mumbled.

Of course, I am, she snapped. I’m the smart one here.

I scoffed, alright then genius, what’s our next move?