Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
We reach Caspian's building and he pauses at the entrance, still holding my hand.
"Stay tonight," he says.
I think about the pull from Knox still humming under my skin, about Julian who I haven't seen since the claiming, about the complexity of balancing two mates when I can barely handle one.
"I can't. I need to process everything and I need some space to think."
His jaw tightens but he nods. "Okay. But tomorrow night you're mine."
"Maybe," I say with a small smile.
He growls low in his throat, pulls me against him, and kisses me again. His mouth moves on mine slow and certain, his hand tilting my face up exactly where he wants it. By the time he pulls back my breath comes in soft, uneven gasps.
"Tomorrow," he says, then takes my hand. "Come on, I'll walk you back."
"I can walk myself," I say softly.
"I know you can." He takes my hand, ready to guide me away from his building. "But I want to."
I squeeze his hand and stop walking. "Caspian. I really need to do this alone tonight. I just need a little space to process everything."
He studies my face for a long moment, then nods with understanding. "Okay. But text me when you get back so I know you're safe."
"I will," I promise, rising on my toes to kiss his cheek. "Thank you for understanding."
He watches me walk away and I can feel his eyes on my back until I turn the corner.
I stand there for a moment, touching my lips where I can still feel him. The claiming bite on my shoulder throbs in time with my heartbeat, a constant reminder of what we did. What we are now.
Then I turn and head back toward my own dorm.
The quad is mostly empty at this hour. Most students are in their rooms or at the library. The few I pass do double takes when they see the claiming bite, but I ignore them. Let them stare. I'm past caring what anyone thinks.
I'm halfway across when a figure steps out from behind one of the stone pillars.
Nico.
I stop walking. "Are you following me?"
"No." He pauses. "Well... yes. Kind of."
"That's not creepy at all."
"I just wanted to talk to you. Without everyone around." He takes a step closer and I can see the tension in his shoulders, the careful way he's holding himself. "For what it's worth, I haven't told anyone what you are. Your secret is safe with me."
The words should comfort me but they don't. "Am I supposed to thank you for that?"
"No." He runs a hand through his hair. "I just wanted you to know."
We look at each other for a long moment. The broken bond aches between us, twisted and wrong. Then his eyes drop to my shoulder, to the claiming bite visible above my collar.
"What you did..." I start, and I'm back in that moment when I realized his friendship was a lie.
The humiliation of it, the betrayal cutting deeper because I'd started to trust him.
Started to think I had at least one person who cared.
"You got close to me just to spy for them. To report back on the outcast."
He looks pained, tortured. "It wasn't all a lie."
"How am I supposed to know that? How am I supposed to trust anything you say when you lied from the beginning?"
"I don't know." His voice cracks. "But what if I could prove it? What if I could show you that's not who I am?"
I'm about to reply when voices carry around the corner. Male voices. Dominion.
Three of them round the corner and stop when they see us. Louis at the front, flanked by Arthur and another male.
"Nico?" Louis's eyebrows rise. "What the hell are you doing with the outcast?"
"Talking," Nico says flatly.
"Yeah?" The third one laughs. "Even though she's Caspian's thing now, doesn't mean she belongs here with the real wolves."
"She's still pack less trash," Louis adds. "A claiming bite doesn't change that."
Nico and I are looking at each other. I can see the choice written on his face, the moment he has to decide which side he's on.
I'm disappointed before he even makes it.
"Go," I tell him. "Go follow those mindless shits if that's all you know how to be."
I turn to walk away but he grabs my arm to stop me. "Nova..."
The moment his hand touches my skin, something jolts through me. Energy, electricity, the broken bond sparking to life for just a second. We both jump apart like we've been burned.
I back away, heart pounding. "I have to go."
"Nova, wait..."
But I'm already jogging away, leaving him standing there with his Dominion brothers, leaving behind whatever that spark was.
I pause outside Julian's office, catching my breath. Processing what just happened with Nico.
I want to hate him to my core. His betrayal cut me deep because even though he was Dominion, even though I knew better, I'd let myself trust him. Let myself believe I had at least one other person on my side.
And it was all a lie.
Or was it?
That spark when he touched me... the broken bond trying to reconnect...
I shake my head and knock on Julian's door.
He's at his desk grading papers. He looks up when I walk in and his expression shifts when he sees me.
For a long moment we just stare at each other. I can feel his emotions through our bond: jealousy sharp as a blade, hurt that goes bone deep, acceptance layered over anger, love threading through it all like silver.
"So he claimed you." His voice is meticulously neutral.
"Yes."
Julian stands and crosses to me slowly. His hand reaches out and tilts my head gently to see the mark better. When his fingers brush the wound I wince because it's still tender, still healing.
His jaw clenches. "It's bigger than I expected. Did it hurt?"
"Yes. But I wanted it."
"I know." He steps back and runs a hand through his hair, messing the usually neat strands. "I could feel it. You choosing him. The moment his bond snapped into place and connected to yours." His voice cracks slightly. "It hurt. But I expected it."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry for what you are." He crosses behind me toward the door. "You're Silverpelt. Four mates written into your DNA. I knew this when I claimed you and I knew Caspian would come eventually with others after him."
I hear him look up and down the corridor, then the soft click of the door closing. The lock turning.
Before I can turn around, he presses me back against the wall. His body is close to mine, so close I can feel the heat radiating off him. His lips brush against my jaw, not quite kissing but close enough to make my breath catch.
"I miss you," he breathes. "I hate that I can see you across a room and not be able to touch you. That I have to pretend you're just another student."
His hand reaches down and runs up my thigh, under my skirt, squeezing my ass. The touch sends heat flooding through me.
"I'd take you right here right now if I could."
"Do it," I breathe.
His eyes change, pupils dilating until they're almost black. He stares down at me and I can see the mental gymnastics playing out across his face. The war between what he wants and what he knows he shouldn't do. Fighting the urge.
He gives a low groan, the sound rough and desperate. "You know I'm your teacher, Miss Bardot."
I hold his hard cock through his trousers, rubbing it and enjoying how he moans. "And you know what I want, Professor Harmon."
I go to undo his zip and for a moment he lets me, eyes dark with want. Then his hand covers mine, stopping me.
He leans in until his lips graze my ear, his voice a rough whisper. "You have no idea what it does to me, knowing exactly what you feel like, knowing every sound you make, and having to stand in front of a classroom and pretend I don't."
The words send a shiver down my spine, but before he can say more, I turn my head and capture his mouth with mine.
He reacts immediately, his lips part under the pressure, and he kisses me back with a hunger that borders on desperation.
One hand slides up my back, pulling me flush against him, while the other grips my hip with a possessiveness that promises bruises.
The kiss deepens, his tongue tracing the seam of my lips before tangling with mine, slowly.
..demanding. Every shift of his mouth, every ragged breath he steals from me, feels like a claim.
My fingers curl into the fabric of his shirt, anchoring myself as the world narrows to the heat of him, the taste of him, how his body tenses like he's fighting the urge to take even more.
His phone rings on the desk.
He freezes, conflicted, and lets it ring off.
It starts again immediately.
"Damnit," he mutters against my lips.
Before he pulls away completely, he leans in close to my ear. "You were mine first. And you always will be."
His voice shifts to professional, clipped. "I'll see you bright and early tomorrow for class, Miss Bardot. Good night."
He strides across the room to answer the phone, his voice already reverting back to that measured, professional tone.
"Harmon speaking."
I stay where I am, watching as he turns his back to me, his shoulders squaring as though he's stepping into another version of himself.
I move without rushing, my steps silent as I close the distance between us.
By the time I'm standing in front of him, he hasn't fully noticed, his focus still on the call, his free hand resting absently against the desk.
I let my fingers trail lightly over his hip, just enough to make him glance down, then our eyes meet, and something dark and hungry flickers in his gaze before he can hide it.
I don't give him time to react. My hands go to his belt, then the button of his trousers, the zipper easing down with a soft metallic whisper. His breath hitches, his words faltering as he looks down at me.
"No, I...yes, I'm still here," he forces out, his voice already tighter. "Just going over some...some notes."
I sink to my knees in front of him and his entire body tenses, his grip on the phone white-knuckled.
I take him into my mouth, slowly at first, letting my lips drag along his length before my tongue swirls around the tip. His breath shudders out, his free hand slamming against the desk so hard the wood groans.
"Mmhmm. Yes, I understand," he manages, but his voice is thick, his words clipped.
The person on the other end keeps talking.
Something about deadlines and meetings, but Julian's responses grow more fragmented.
"I'll....yes, I'll have that to you by..
.by..." His hips jerk forward slightly as I take him deeper, my tongue pressing flat against the underside of him.
A strangled sound catches in his throat and he clears it quickly, his fingers now moved from the desk to twisting into my hair.
"I'm sorry, could you...could you repeat that?" His voice is thin, strained. "No, no, it's fine. Just a...just a distraction. Yes."
I hollow my cheeks, pulling back before taking him fully again, and his breath stutters. His body is rigid, his muscles coiled tight, like he's fighting to keep still.
"I'll need to, yes, I'll call you back," he says abruptly, his voice breaking. "Something's come up. Yes. Thank you." The phone hits the receiver with a sharp thud, his hand trembling as he slams it down.
I don't stop. My mouth works him in long, slow strokes, my tongue teasing the sensitive ridge beneath the head before swirling around it again. His hips rock forward involuntarily, his breath coming in ragged bursts.
"Nova..." My name is a warning. "If you don't stop, I'll come in your mouth."
I ignore it, taking him deeper until his thighs tense and his fingers tighten in my hair. His body jerks as he comes, a low, guttural groan tearing from his throat, his release spilling over my tongue.
"Fuck," he breathes, his chest heaving as he looks down at me. I pull back slowly, swallowing before wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. His gaze is fixed on me, dark and dazed, as though he's trying to memorize every second.
I rise to my feet, smoothing my skirt as if nothing happened. He reaches for me, his voice rough. "Nova, wait..."
I flash him a smile, light and knowing. "See you in the morning, Professor Harmon." Then I slip out the door, leaving him standing there. Breathless, undone, and aching for more.
I'm rounding the corner from his office wing when I see Chase Valemont walking toward the headmaster's section. Our eyes meet across the hallway.
He gives me a weird satisfied smile, like he knows something I don't. Like he's figured out a puzzle I didn't realize he was solving.
My high from Julian's office is replaced with a huge sense of dread.