Chapter 10
Lucian
I really need to end this charade and get my life back.
It’s clear there’s nothing here for me to find. Based on her responses during class, I don’t think she even knows about the angel blood flowing through her veins. To her, she’s a human through and through, and the things we’re reading about, while fascinating, are all myth.
I get the sense she wishes some of the creatures and legends were true, but that’s as far as it goes.
Now that I have my answer, I should leave her apartment. I’ve spent far too much time here since she adopted me. She’ll get over the loss of her pet Cooper, and we can both move on. Hell, I’ll even leave the blasted nametag for her as a keepsake.
Last night, after watching her write the first draft of this week’s assignment, I tried to leave once she went to sleep.
I even made it all the way to my apartment, but then I found another email from her waiting for me.
I lasted just long enough to schedule a reply before my hound’s melancholy forced us back upstairs to her apartment.
I spent the rest of the night thinking about her question.
She had asked for a list of books I’d recommend reading for a few of the flying creatures we discussed previously in class.
I wish I could talk to her about all of this face to face.
The excitement she portrays in her emails is something I want to observe in real time, outside of class where I can take her in without worry.
I want to witness how animated she is while talking about dragons or leprechauns.
And I want to see what type of emotions flash across her face when we talk about other shifters.
One type in particular.
I both love and hate our email exchanges.
This is all so new to me. I’ve never communicated outside of class or office hours with a student before—aside from the odd extension request—but with Cara it’s just so easy.
She ends every email with a question, and it makes me wonder if she’s doing it to keep the conversation moving or if it’s purely out of interest on the topic.
The way she talks about me—or Professor Lucian—with her friends, I feel like she’s not interested, but then when I read her emails, it’s like we’re connected somehow.
Fuck, this is all too messy.
My hound won’t shut up about her being our mate. We’re constantly around her at her apartment, and then when I’m finally in my human form, I’m seeing her in class or talking to her through emails.
This obsession is going to kill me.
She came home to check on me—her pet, Cooper—after class this afternoon and told me she had to do something with her mom for the evening, so she’d be home late.
I wish I could ask her why she dislikes her mom so much, but since her pet can’t talk and she doesn’t know her professor can shift from human to beast, I’ll just have to settle for supporting her when she comes home.
I should take this time to grade papers, but my pack is getting worried about me after I missed our usual hunt on the weekend.
My best friend, the real Cooper, demanded I meet him for a burger and offer proof of life so he can report back.
I made sure to remove the tag so he wouldn’t see it and wonder why I had his name around my neck.
That’s the last thing I need.
He’s late, but that’s not unusual for Coop. If there’s an animal in need, he’ll delay pretty much everything to help it, whether it’s a feral stray, domestic pet, or shifter.
“Sorry, sorry. Evan got his paw caught in a snare, so I had to help calm him down while your mother bandaged him up,” Coop says as he sits down across from me.
“Again?” This has to be the fourth time our younger packmate Evan has gotten caught in one.
Coop nods but doesn’t elaborate because the server comes over to take our order.
We’ve come here so frequently that neither of us needs to look at the menu.
We always get the same thing. The peanut butter smash burger with a side of loaded curly fries.
Where we come from, the Obsidian City, there’s nothing like this kind of food.
We’ve become what many may call obsessed.
“Your mother is forcing Evan to train with Harry so he can get better at spotting them.”
“Maybe he was too young to come with us,” I muse out loud, but even as I speak the words, I know them to be false. His age is precisely why we brought him with us. The demon king would have corrupted him, and none of us could live with ourselves if that happened.
“Better he have a few run-ins with snares than lose his soul. Now where the hell have you been?”
“The semester just started, man.”
“No, don’t try to pull that shit. What’s really going on?”
I take a sip of my beer while I figure out what excuse to give him. There’s not a chance in hell I’ll tell him about my petscapades, but I don’t really want to lie to him either. He’d see through a blatant lie too quickly anyway.
“That really is part of it, but you’re right. There’s more. It seems I have a rather troublesome student this term. Suffice it to say, she’s gotten under my skin.”
“Troublesome how, exactly?”
“She’s, uh, needy. Constantly emailing me about extra credit.”
Coop laughs, and we’re silent for a moment while our food arrives. When we’re alone again, he says, “I hate to break it to you, but that kind of sounds like part of the gig as, you know, a professor.”
I roll my eyes and pick up my burger, but before I take the first bite, I look directly at him and say, “My hound is attached.”
He chokes a little on the fry he just ate, coughing as he clears his airway. When his coughing fit turns into laughter, I know he’ll survive. “Well, holy shit, Luca. I never thought I’d see the day where you mated, and I certainly didn’t expect it to be a student. Your mom is going to freak.”
“She’s not my mate,” I tell him, making my hound’s hackles rise. He hates when I deny it.
“Right. No wonder you haven’t joined us for a run.
You are so screwed.” He laughs again before diving into his burger.
We eat in silence, and I try not to let his little excited glances get to me.
Even though mating bonds aren’t as strong in this realm, they’re still a big deal.
It’s one thing to fall in love with someone, but to find your true mate is a magical experience.
Depending on who you ask, anyway.
“So, is this why you haven’t joined us for a run?” he finally asks.
“Yes, and no.”
“Uh huh. And since when are you so against a mate?”
“It’s not that; it’s just this girl. She’s—” I stop myself before the words she’s something we hate leave my lips. That alone would amp up his curiosity, but even if that weren’t the case, I think maybe, deep down, I know that’s not really true.
Fuck. What’s happening to me?
“Don’t sweat it. I’ll cover for you with the pack until you’re ready. Besides, it’s not like there’s a shortage of things to focus on. Between Evan’s snare troubles and the nephilim—”
My eyes flash to his. “Nephilim?”
“I didn’t tell you? Shit. This woman came into the sanctuary with traces of angel blood in her system. She’s a student at your university, actually, so you may run into her.” He pauses to scan my face before adding, “She’s harmless, Luca. I looked into her already, so chill.”
He thinks I’m on edge because there’s a nephilim at my workplace, but it’s so much more than that. Fuck. I should have realized when I scented him on her that they’d met. This goddamn mate bond is clouding every ounce of my fucking judgment.
“Do the others know?” Coop is more like me than some of our pack members, which means he’s more level-headed when it comes to angelic creatures, but there are some who wouldn’t want someone like Cara living so close to us.
He rolls his eyes. “What do you take me for, a fool? No, she’s not a threat, so I don’t see the point in riling up the others. I don’t need Harry going rogue and putting us in jeopardy for his revenge.”
I nod, trying to act as nonchalant as possible so my best friend doesn’t notice the relief coursing through me.
Cara’s secret is still safe.
“And if you want my two cents,” Coop says, pulling me back from my thoughts.
“As hot as the teacher/student thing is, maybe try to distance yourself a little. At least until after the semester. Then you two can explore the whole mate bond all summer without fear of getting fired. You know how the humans can be.”
He’d probably change his tune if he knew the full story, if he knew she was the nephilim he met. “I’ll shut it down, but I have no interest in exploring anything.”
“Right. Leave it to you to bond with a university-aged human. You’re like her grandpa in dog years,” Coop teases, washing away a little of my anxiety over the fact that he’s met Cara.
“Ha ha. For that comment, you can pay for the food, dickhead,” I tell him as I get up to leave. “I’ve got to go grade papers.”
“If you need an unbiased friend to grade your mate’s work, just let me know,” he calls after me, and I lift my middle finger in answer. While Coop may not know everything, he’s right about one thing. I need to cut all of this shit out until I’m not her professor.
The problem is, I don’t know if I’m strong enough to do it.