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Chapter 33 : Strictly Business
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Fated to My Professor Chapter 34 : Distant Dreams
Astrid Once we were back in Bridgewater, I dropped Tristan off outside of his apartment. He was oddly quiet and avoided my eyes when he said goodbye. It left a sour taste in my mouth, but after how things went with Charles, I figured he just needed space to cool off. “It’ll be fine,” Eddie assured me as we drove back to the packhouse. “I know,” I said. I didn’t believe it, though. “Thank you for coming with me.” “No problem,” he replied. “I’m glad I could help.” It felt like something had shifted between Tristan and I during the long, quiet drive back to Bridgewater. Tristan had been so angry when we left the apartment. I had expected him to vent, or even argue with Eddie about what happened. Instead, he just looked out the window. I should have thanked him. I was kicking myself for not trying to talk to him about what happened. I was just shaken up by it. When we got back to the packhouse, Eddie insisted on carrying my bags back in for me. I didn’t argue. I just picked
Fated to My Professor Chapter 35 : Moving Forward
AstridI sat up and tried to shake off the cloudy feeling in my mind. The knock on the door came again. It wasn’t loud or demanding, but it was insistent. Pretending that I was asleep probably wouldn’t work. “Yes?” I called out. I grabbed Tristan’s jacket from where it was lying on the bed and quickly shoved it into my shoulder bag. I didn’t want anyone to see a man’s jacket in my room and get the wrong idea. The last thing I needed was for someone to get it into their head that I was sneaking guys into my room. Life was complicated enough without that. “Are you awake?” my dad asked. “Yeah,” I called back. “Come in.” The door opened immediately and he walked into the room. He closed the door, then looked at me. My heart sank. I could tell immediately that something was wrong. Dad’s eyes were stormy and he was avoiding making direct eye contact with me. Did Eddie tell him the truth about what happened? If dad had grilled him about it, I wouldn’t blame him for coming cle
Fated to My Professor Chapter 36 : Seeing Red
AstridThe rumors about Tristan were all I had been able to think about since last night. The more I thought about the impact that stupid kiss was having on Tristan, the angrier I got. I tried everything that I could to distract myself, but nothing worked. When I came down for breakfast in the morning, Eddie was drinking his coffee in the kitchen. He took one look at me and knew that something was wrong. “What happened?” he asked with concern. I groaned and slumped against the kitchen island. “I messed everything up.”“What?” he pressed, setting down his mug slowly. “Did that jerk call you again?” I shook my head. “No, not Charles. Tristan. I messed everything up for Tristan.”Eddie shook his head and lifted his mug back to his lips. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I sighed. I needed to clear my head. I was so mixed up and overwhelmed I was finding it hard just to keep my words in the right order. I looked around to make sure we were alone and then let it out
Fated to My Professor Chapter 37 : Staying Away for Good
TristanI stood outside of the Dean’s office and stared at the door. I couldn’t bring myself to knock yet. The email that he sent to summon me here was brief and gave me absolutely no indication of what was about to happen. I didn’t know what exactly Lilian had done, so I didn’t know what I was about to face. I had hoped that I would have more time to prepare for this. I knew that it was coming, so I shouldn’t have felt so caught off guard. I should have been able to steel myself for the fallout. My wolf was still worked up from dealing with Charles. The rage that had overcome me in that apartment was frightening. I felt like a man possessed. Now, I just felt tired. I knocked on the door. “Come in,” Dean Parker called. I walked in and closed the door behind me. The Dean stood from his desk when he saw it was me. He was a tall, slim man with sandy hair and blue eyes. Right now, his eyes were troubled. He smiled thinly at me. “Good morning, Dr. Ward,” he greeted. I wal
Fated to My Professor Chapter 38 : Giving Up Everything
AstridI was hardly able to sleep the night after I learned about the ethics investigation. I felt so guilty about everything. I thought about confessing to my dad all night. If I told him the truth about what happened, he would understand that Tristan hadn’t done anything wrong. I couldn’t do it though. I just didn’t know how he was going to react. He might be angry with me for hiding it, or he might be mad at Tristan for rejecting me. We had enough going on. Tristan and I were both dealing with so much, I didn’t want to pile anything else on top of it. I skipped breakfast the next morning and even though dad wasn’t happy about it, he didn’t pressure me. I spent the rest of the morning in my room. I felt like a petulant child, or a depressed teenager, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to be alone. The confrontation with Charles kept playing in my head over and over again. The fear that he’d shown when Tristan had threatened him was undoubtedly real, but then there was that s
Fated to My Professor Chapter 39 : What I Want
AstridTristan wasn’t teaching on Monday or Tuesday. I had no idea where he was. I was worried about him. Word had made it around campus that he was under investigation. I was only a little relieved that most of the conversations I had overheard were people in disbelief that Tristan would have actually done anything inappropriate with a student. However, that wasn’t much comfort when he was missing. I was conflicted. He might just want some space from everything, but he also might need support. I didn’t want him to think that he was on his own. I didn’t want him to feel like he had to face it alone, especially when it was mainly my fault he was in this position. I wasn’t sure what, if anything, I could do to help. I wasn’t even sure if he would want to hear from me at all. As I was leaving class on Tuesday, Lilian smirked at me. Her expression was so smug and self satisfied that it took every ounce of my self control not to slap the smile off of her face. When I got home
Fated to My Professor Chapter 40 : Alone
AstridI was still gathering my paperwork when my dad came into the library. I started to greet him, but then I noticed the look on his face. He wasn’t quite angry, but it was clear that he was unhappy about something. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Nothing,” he replied unconvincingly. “I just wanted to see how the meeting went.” “Great,” I answered. “We made a lot of progress. Tristan is going to set up a meeting with the head of the financial aid department so we can finalize a few things. It won’t be much longer before we’re ready to announce the program. Why?” “How was Dr. Ward?” he asked. There was a strange quality to his voice. I was starting to get the feeling that he wasn’t a big fan of Tristan, but I had no idea why. I stared at him in confusion. I didn’t expect him to ask about Tristan. I didn’t think that he cared. “Why?” I asked suspiciously. He sat at the table and looked at the stack of papers. “What do you think of him?” he pressed. I frowned at him in con
Fated to My Professor Chapter 41 : Stick to the Plan
AstridThe past week was miserable. Ever since the conversation with my dad, I could hardly stand to be in the packhouse. I wanted nothing more than to get out of Bridgewater and do my best to pretend it didn’t exist. I didn’t belong here. I never had and the fact that I had allowed myself to be guilted into coming back filled me with shame. I thought that I knew better. It was completely predictable that dad would blame me the second things got complicated. He had always done that. I thought that just because he said he wanted me here, things would be different. I should have stayed away. Things with Tristan weren’t much better. He was back in class and I was glad to see that he was able to have at least that semblance of normalcy as the investigation was underway. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t dealing with complications because of the rumors, though. People were skipping or dropping out of his classes and I heard a few complain that they should be able to get their tuition bac
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Fated to My Professor Chapter 80 : An Announcement
AstridThe festival had continued the next morning just as Solomon promised, but it was obvious by the increased guard that something was going on. The visiting Alphas and Lunas had arrived that morning at the packhouse demanding answers, and Solomon was the one to give them. He explained that the threat had been neutralized and that he gave his personal guarantee that there wouldn’t be any other issues. He offered to arrange a guarded escort for anyone who wanted to leave early. After a private conversation with Slade, it was decided that everyone was staying. I didn’t ask Solomon about what else was said, I was just glad that he was able to handle it. That night, while the party raged in town, I met with Solomon and dad alone. I wanted Tristan to be with me, but I understood why he couldn’t be there. Having Solomon there was going to have to be enough. I sat alone in the chair across from dad’s desk. Solomon was standing near me with his arms folded tightly across his ches
Fated to My Professor Chapter 79 : Confession
AstridVictoria was handcuffed to a wooden chair in dad’s office. There were guards outside of the window and the door and a patrol was rotating outside of the building in case any more of her creepy friends showed up. The house had been cleared room by room, so we knew no one was hiding inside and waiting for a signal to attack. We were all standing in the office in tense silence. I had no idea what was going to happen next. I was confused and scared. That attack was aimed at me. I had no idea why she would go to such lengths to try to hurt me. I had cleaned the blood off of myself, but I could still smell it and it made me nauseous. Tristan had his arm firmly around me, but he didn’t say a word. I couldn’t imagine how hard it was for him to face Victoria right now after everything that she did to him. Dad stood awkwardly In the middle of the room. He hadn't made eye contact with anyone since we entered and I wasn't sure what to make of that. The only person who seemed le
Fated to My Professor Chapter 78 : Fighting Back
AstridThere were dozens of people gathering in the garden. It was hard to see what was going on ahead of us, but I knew from the sickly sweet smell of perfume that Victoria was here. I hadn’t realized how strange it was that she wore perfume until Tristan had pointed it out. He said that he smelled it during his kidnapping and it was the thing that tipped him off to his kidnapper's identity. “It took a while to figure out where I’d smelled it before, but almost no one in the pack wears perfume. The artificial smell is too abrasive,” he explained. It hadn’t struck me as strange because perfume is so common in the human world. I was used to it. But Tristan was right—wolves often didn’t wear perfumes or colognes. The smell was too overpowering.I cursed internally. If I had realized it was strange earlier, I might have figured out that something was going on with Victoria before it got this far. She must be using the scent to cover up something, probably the toxic herbs she w
Fated to My Professor Chapter 77 : A Scream
AstridIt was a cool autumn day and the garden was still in bloom. The scent of foliage was carried across the city on a gentle breeze. The streets were buzzing with excitement as the Lunar Festival officially got underway. Tristan had spent the better part of the morning preparing the garden for our presentation. Dean Parker had arrived early in order to help him. I was busy inside greeting the Alphas and Lunas that were going to be watching the presentation, and hopefully agreeing to take part in the program. “Welcome to Bridgewater,” I said for the sixth time in a quarter-hour. “Thank you so much for joining us for the festival this year.” “Thank you for having us,” a tall, robust woman with dark hair said. She was the Luna of Moonriver, Gwendolin. I had met her once before when I was a little girl and I remembered being struck by how strong and beautiful she was. I felt the same way seeing her now. Almost a little starstruck. “It’s our pleasure,” I assured her. “And
Fated to My Professor Chapter 76 : A Moment of Calm
Tristan The amount of time that had passed without answers about Victoria's whereabouts was concerning at this point. The Alpha was operating under the assumption that she had fled into another territory. This put him in a difficult position because as much as we needed to find her, he had no desire to alert the other packs of what was happening. Reporting her as missing would look almost as bad as reporting her as being on the run—there was no way to address the problem without causing a scandal. So, with the Lunar Festival fast approaching, the packhouse was focused on preparations rather than the missing fugitive that had killed the Luna and kidnapped me. It was maddening to everyone in the packhouse except for Alpha Anthony. He was the only one who seemed confident that Victoria wouldn’t show her face. I was grateful for the Alpha's decision to allow me to stay in the packhouse because I didn't think that I could handle being away from Astrid right now. I was having a h
Fated to My Professor Chapter 75 : Bed Rest
AstridAfter Tristan's rescue, it became clear that he was not going to be able to finish the semester. Dean Parker agreed to approve medical leave for him and Dr. Sanchez agreed that he would take over his classes for the remainder of the school year. The Dean was disturbed to learn that Tristan had been kidnapped from campus, and as a result of that and the incident in the bathroom with Lilian, the school was investing in a series of new security cameras. They were also considering updates to campus security and increasing the number of emergency call boxes on campus.Dean Parker was a lot more willing to implement changes than dad was. Unfortunately, the only change he’d agreed to make was to allow Tristan to temporarily stay in the packhouse.Solomon was taking things a lot more seriously. I was grateful that he was willing to take matters into his own hands when necessary. I couldn’t believe how incredibly stubborn dad was about this. Lilian had confessed that Victoria was
Fated to My Professor Chapter 74 : Never Letting You Go
AstridDad brought down the full force of the pack on Bethany's house. Within 10 minutes of our phone call, the guard had filled the house. Dad was personally interrogating Bethany in a side room. I couldn't hear anything but the occasional sob from her. I'd seen him angry before. I knew how he could be and even I had never faced him in the state he was in now. I wasn't entirely certain that Bethany was going to walk out of that room. The healer arrived shortly after dad. She came directly to Tristan and knelt in front of him. I moved aside to allow her to work. Her long, thin fingers moved deftly as she checked his eyes, looked into his mouth, and checked his vitals. The look of concentration on her face was as emotionless as a statue. About 20 minutes after the guard arrived, there was a commotion from upstairs. I heard a woman shrieking and men shouting. The side room opened and dad stepped out. “What the hell is going on?” he demanded. Just at that moment, a guard came
Fated to My Professor Chapter 73 : Time To Pay
AstridTristan was in this house. His scent was strong, and I knew deep down, that he was still here somewhere. I should have gone for help, I should have waited for dad or Solomon, but I just couldn't. I'd been looking for him for days. There was no telling what state he was in. Bethany would be suspicious about my coming here. They would move him as soon as I left, I was sure of it. I couldn't take the risk. ‘Take me to him,’ I told my wolf. ‘Quickly.’ My body moved at her discretion. We went down a side hallway to a locked door. I twisted the knob as hard as I could, but the lock wouldn't give way. I growled in frustration, but this wasn’t going to stop me.I slammed my shoulder into the door, not caring if Bethany heard. The sound was dull and muffled. I did it again and again. I put my full body weight and strength into the wood of the door. It cracked and then flew off of the hinges. A dank, damp smell met me as I looked down a set of wooden stairs into a dark basemen
Fated to My Professor Chapter 72 : Family Resemblance
Astrid I was even more tired than I realized, and I slept until the next morning. When I did get up, I quickly dressed, and then I groggily made my way down to the kitchen. My stomach was growling. I hadn't eaten anything in over a day. I wasn't sure what I was going to find, considering Solomon's promise yesterday about having everything replaced. What I hadn't expected was to see that he had taken my comments about pre-packaged food very seriously. Everything in the freezer, the refrigerator, and the pantry was in an individually sealed packet. But that didn't guarantee that Victoria couldn't tamper with anything. It sure made it a lot more difficult for her, though. I gratefully took a freezer pack of smoothie mix and made myself breakfast.Once I ate, I found it a lot easier to think clearly. I should have waited for Solomon, but I couldn't. That didn't mean I had to be careless about how I went about this. I knew that there was something about Victoria that I didn't know.
