Chapter 17
I’ll see you later,Luka.
Fuck yeah, she will.
My first day as acting librarian couldn’t have gone any better. There was no guarantee I’d even see Bailey today, but luck was on my side that she had self-study and decided to come here for it. Even if no studying was accomplished the entire time she was here.
The doors close from behind her as she leaves my little world behind. My heart pitter-patters in my chest like a stampede of raging bulls. I’ve heard from other friends how much your world can change in an instant when you find your soulmate, and damn. They weren’t kidding. It’s been hard as hell to be away from her the past few days, but now that I have basically unfettered access to her, my thoughts are going wild with how else I can get her to come see me.
It would be too damn weird to follow her around for her attention. So hopefully just the little time we spent today is enough to keep her coming back.
Taking my phone from my pocket, I shoot a quick text to Axel.
Me
Hey, fucker. Do you have any books on Curios that Bailey can read? She was just here looking for one.
Nope. Fuck this. I need one more view of my girl to get me through until next time. Yep. I’m a goner already for this girl. My girl. My goddess.
My phone slips easily back into my pocket as I jump off the couch and head toward the main entry. The doors split silently as I pull one open, but instead of looking straight to my girl, my gaze zeros in on the fucker peeking around the corner, watching her. Stalking her.
Not today, Satan.
While the fucker is big, I’m bigger, thanks to my status. A quick wave of my hand makes my scent and any sounds I’d make disappear, and I sneak up on the asshole, who is none the wiser. A subtle whiff tells me he’s a shifter of some kind, and I have to wonder if this is the professor Axel told me about.
The one that hurt my goddess. Broke my goddess. Left her bleeding from puncturing her delicate skin. Then had the brass balls to claim her as his.
It would be easy to use my magic to subdue the guy, but my fists clench with the need to dole out his punishment the old-fashioned way—with sheer brutality.
My muscles quiver in excitement as I sidle up behind the guy, whose eyes are still glued to the retreating back side of my goddess, barely visible now down the hall. The moment she turns the corner, disappearing from view, I jump on his back, my arms wrapped around his neck in a rear naked choke hold.
The bastard bucks like a bronco as I cling to his back, putting more pressure on his throat, waiting for the moment he drops.
An inhuman growl gurgles from his throat as he starts to grow in size, confirming my shifter theory. Massive black claws rip from his fingers, and before I can stop him, he reaches back, impaling me with them.
All he earns is a grunt in return, but I refuse to back down. This fucker needs to know that my goddess is off-limits. And I’ll do whatever I need to in order to protect her. Even if I have to kill him.
His movements quickly turn sluggish, and any hair that started to sprout from his skin recedes until finally, with one last pathetic swipe, his knees buckle, and I jump off his back right before he crashes to the unforgiving ground.
My phone chooses that moment to chime, and I look around to make sure we didn’t draw any attention before pulling it out and checking the reply from Axel.
Axel
I don’t personally have any, but there’s a chance the library in her parents’ estate has a few. I’ll see if I can talk her into going to check it out this weekend.
Me
Perfect. Gotta run.
Axel
You never say shit like that. What the hell are you up to?
With a shit-ass-eating grin on my face, I turn on my camera and snap a picture of the unconscious fucker and shoot it over to him.
Me
This fuck was stalking Bailey as she left the library.
Axel
That’s Hudson. The professor who hurt her. Break a few bones for me.
Me
Will do.
A manic laugh bubbles up my throat as I use my magic to levitate the big fucker off the ground and float his ass into the library. Behind the small couch where Bailey and I were sitting, there is a small room with nothing but a tiny desk and a chair used for private study work. Only that’s the furthest from the truth from what I’ll be using it for.
The fact that the students avoid the library like a plague right now works to my advantage as I easily maneuver him around the main desk and over to the private room. A swipe of my hand and the door opens with a little bit of magic. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have it. It’s hard to imagine myself in Bailey’s position growing up human. All these things I do with ease, she should have grown up doing herself. But she didn’t, and she’s paying for it now by trying to learn so late in life.
With a quick flick of my wrist, the desk in the center of the room screeches across the floor until it slams into the wall, a crack rending the air. Oops. Oh well. Jasper can replace it. My magic falters for a moment, and Hudson drops but I catch him before he hits the ground.
On second thought…
I pull my magic completely, relishing in the way his large body drops like a rock onto the ground. He releases what sounds like a painful groan but otherwise stays unconscious. Just how I want him until I have his ass tied to the chair where he can’t get away.
Some may think it’s unfair that I’m tying him down to where he can’t fight back, but neither could Bailey. She’s barely five-foot-something, and this fucker has almost two feet on her. But then again, he was shifted—from what Axel told me—which means he was even larger than his already imposing size.
So fuck him. He can take what I dish out. And he’s doubly lucky that I don’t plan to kill him.
Just a little light maiming.
My magic makes quick work of getting him off the floor and into the chair, restraining him with golden bands of magic. I doubt the full-blooded gods intended for us to use our magic this way, but what they don’t know can’t hurt them.
And this jackass sure as shit ain’t going to say anything.
Jasper’s lucky I don’t go after his ass next for keeping this fuck employed here.
My footsteps are light as I walk around him in a circle, eyeing my prey like the piece of shit he is. His muscles start to twitch as he slowly comes around, and I take a spot on the wall behind him, ready for the show to start. It’s always entertaining to watch the moment they realize how fucked they are.
Just as I suspected, it doesn’t take much longer for my captive to start awakening. Hudson comes to with a groggy moan, shaking his head as he tries to reorient himself.
“What the fuck!” His words leave his lips with a guttural growl that feels like it shakes the very foundation of the academy. He inhales deeply, most likely trying to find the culprit responsible, but my magic is still working overtime to keep me hidden. “Very funny. I know you’re there, even if I can’t fucking smell you.”
I cluck my tongue, watching gleefully as his muscles bunch in anticipation of the hit that won’t come. Not yet.
“You don’t know who you’re messing with, asshole. Let me go, and I’ll let you walk away unharmed.”
My bellowing laugh echoes around the confines of the small room, making the fucker flinch.
“You mean the way Bailey walked away unharmed when you dragged her across the academy?” He stiffens at her name, but doesn’t refute my words. “Or do you mean when she walked away just now while you were being a sick fuck, stalking her in the hall?”
“She’s my mate!” he roars, renewing his fight against my bindings holding him place.
I huff out a breath. “And that makes abusing and stalking her okay?”
“I. Didn’t. Know.” He says each word slowly, like that might earn him a pass on actions. This isn’t news to me, though. I know he couldn’t see through her glamour to know who or what she is, but it still doesn’t make any of it right. And I won’t pass up a chance to test his willingness to keep what she is a secret.
“You didn’t know,” I chuckle, shaking my head. “Was your nose broken at the time? Is that why you couldn’t smell your mate from a mile away? I thought you shifters were better than that. Or was there another reason? Did you just not want to claim the dark-haired goddess?” My taunting riles him up even more, bringing a smile to my face.
“It’s none of your fucking business why I didn’t know. That’s between me and my mate.”
Slowly, I push off the wall and walk around Hudson, revealing myself to him. His eyes widen a fraction, knowing exactly who I am—what I am. Why I’m able to hold his substantial bulk like it’s nothing.
Leaning down, I put myself eye to eye with him before I let my own secret fly free. “Newsflash, asshole. It is my fucking business because she’s my mate.” I watch as the wheels spin in his mind until what I said finally penetrates his thick skull.
His gold eyes flash with malice before silver starts to eat away at the shining hue. Ahh. Ole boy is a lycan. How fun.
“Now, wolfie.” I tap my chin as the use of the name earns me a growl. “I think it’s time for you to learn that you don’t touch what’s mine.”
“Fuck you. She’s mi—” His words cut off with a howl of agony that drowns out the crack of the bone in his wrist snapping in two. My fists fly, battering every inch of available skin.
The snaps and cracks of bones and the moans and groans of the lycan create a beautiful cacophony to the carnage being left in my wake.
Blood splatters in every direction from a particularly vicious hit to his mouth as a manic grin spreads across my face. I relish in the destruction of the man who thought he’d get away with hurting my mate.
More times than I can count, he’s opened his maw to say something, but I’ve quickly shut him down each and every time he’s tried. There is nothing that can make me stop doling out justice for what he’s done to my goddess.
My chest heaves as I finally step back and shake out my trembling hands. Hudson’s head is down, hiding the damage to his face, but he no longer attempts to open his mouth and defend his actions.
“Let this be a lesson. The next time you put your paws on my mate, you’ll get it ten times worse. So your best bet is to stay the fuck away from her. Don’t look at her. Don’t think about her. And if I find you stalking her in the halls again, I gouge your fucking eyes out.”
A barely-there nod answers my words. That’s good enough for me. Hopefully he’s smart enough to take the advice and adhere to it.
With a wave of my hand, my magic bindings disappear, leaving him free to move. But he doesn’t. He stays rooted to the chair, not budging an inch. He’s probably waiting for his healing to kick in before he leaves, but he’ll be waiting for a long while. The golden bindings served two purposes in this instance. To hold his ass down. And to halt his regenerative abilities. He’ll need to see the healer if he wants all remnants of this beatdown to disappear quickly.
Just a second little fuck you to him.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I take that as my cue that it’s time to go. It’s probably Axel, looking for an update to the Hudson situation. Shit. I should have gotten another picture. But it’s too late for that now. He’ll just have to live vicariously through my words.
The second the door closes behind me, a howl of agony chases me through the library until I leave it behind, heading toward the small apartment they gave me when Axel finagled my position here.
A tiny—albeit small—part of me feels bad about what just occurred. I wouldn’t take it well if someone told me I could never see my mate again. But then again, I would never put my hands on her like that, regardless if I knew she was my mate or not.
So, turnabout is fair play.