4. Naughty Girl

~ Kelsie ~

Cain looked furious, like I had put him in this situation on purpose. Yet, I had the sudden urge to lean into his chest and… hold him?

As if he heard the thought, he stiffened. Then he lifted his head and raised his voice to speak to everyone in the room.

“I am your professor for English Lit 202 this year. You can call me Professor C, or Mister Cain, I don't mind. But unfortunately, I need to take care of this... incident,” he said with a disapproving twist to his lips. “While I'm gone, please take your seats and begin the reading for today. I'll return as quickly as I can.”

The fact that everyone did as he asked while he marched me out of the room just proved the difference between college and high school.

When he got me out of the room, he stopped to look up and down the hallway. But there were still students everywhere. Lots of them recognized me. All my embarrassment from that picture made my cheeks go hot and I wanted to hide. I turned my back to the hall and dropped my face in my hands, horrified.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Cain hissed in my ear. “Why are you hiding from these people?”

I made myself lift my chin and meet his eye as I hissed right back at him.

“Because they all saw the soft porn Melinda made to humiliate me and they're laughing at me!”

He blinked, then frowned. “What?”

It was so embarrassing. I knew the school would consider my actions to be an assault if Melinda reported me. I had to defend myself.

I pulled out my phone which still had that awful image on the screen and showed him.

He stared at it and went very still. And his hand on my shoulder tightened. 

“Is that real?”

“No! They photoshopped it to look like me, but now everyone is seeing it! It's mortifying! And she did it!” I whispered urgently. 

“Who?”

“Melinda! The girl I threw my water over.”

His eyes went dark with understanding and he looked at the phone screen again, his knuckles going white as he gripped the phone like he might crush it. 

“This is... unacceptable,” he growled.

“I know! That's why I went for her!”

“But… Kelsie, there are rules… God, can nothing in my life be easy?” he muttered under his breath.

I folded my arms and glared at him. 

“I’m sorry that the fact that my cheating boyfriend’s dick-slapper makes life hard for you. But since you ran me off your porch yesterday just for giving you cookies, I’m going to take a wild guess that if someone did this to you, you wouldn’t just take it sitting down either.”

He stared at me. There was no expression on his face but his eyes were flashing. 

“It’s possible if I was in your shoes I might… do something about it.”

I snorted in my throat, but I wasn’t laughing. I felt sick and I knew as soon as he went back into that classroom all these people were going to be staring at me. And they would be laughing.

“Look, I get that as a professor you’re supposed to stop us fighting and whatever. But can you just… help me?” I said. 

But he was glaring at the phone.

“Cain?!”

He looked up from that horrible image and I snatched the phone back from him.

“Sorry,” he said. His voice was a lot gentler than it had been any other time he’d spoken to me.

“I know you have a class, but can you please march me to the office, or something? If I have to walk across campus alone they’re going to crucify me!”

He didn’t lift his chin, but his eyes cut up to scan the hallway behind me. Whatever he saw must have convinced him that I was right because he sighed.

“I have a better idea,” he said darkly, the little muscles in his jaw twitching.

*****

~ Cain ~

I cannot kill a student. I cannot kill a student. I cannot kill a student…

I kept silently screaming the statement at my wolf who had gone crazy fighting for release from the moment Kelsie showed me that image—so erotic, and yet so… ugly. I gathered she was embarrassed because the picture showed her naked. Humans had strange feelings about that.

But I couldn’t think about that right now. Right now the female that the Creator was trying to leash me to was under immense pressure. One of her peers was targeting her for their version of ridicule.

Rejection from the pack could destroy you. No one knew that better than me. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

Well, except for my brother.

I took a deep breath and turned back towards the classroom door. I had to get her out of here and figure out how to stop any further ridicule from her peers.

But then something she’d said registered in my head.

“I’m sorry, did you call Melinda your cheating boyfriend’s dick-slapper?”

Kelsie’s head went down.

“Yes,” she muttered.

My hackles rose at how she kept making herself smaller because of these people. 

“He cheated on you? With her?”

She nodded miserably. 

“I walked in on them together.”

Rage and offense flashed in my chest and my wolf renewed its efforts for release. Fuck. Fuck. I hadn’t struggled to control my beast like this since I was years older than she was. What the hell was happening to me?

I stopped with my hand on the door back into the room, fighting for control.

Kelsie looked up at me warily. 

“What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong is that the person you should be slapping is the male who cheated.”

“He’s not the one who spread that picture around the school.”

She had a point.But she shouldn’t ignore the offense. Why were women always so willing to accept that kind of disrespect from a man?

“Well, he still holds responsibility here,” I said darkly.

“Look, I’m not trying to find more drama, okay? I just… I’d only just seen that photo when I walked in this morning and she was there and being all smug and…”

“Kelsie?” I sighed. The urge to reach for her, to comfort her was so strong I had to speak through gritted teeth.

“Yeah?” she muttered, not raising her eyes.

“You have nothing to be ashamed of. These people… they’re the problem.”

She finally looked up, but it was to search my eyes, like she wasn’t sure if she should believe me.

I sighed again. 

“I’ll help you. But… you can’t tell anyone else,” I said softly.

Her eyes widened, but she nodded. 

“I won’t,” she murmured.

God, wanted to pull her into my chest and stroke her hair and—fuck.

“Wait here, please,” I said bluntly, because my jaw was clenched so hard against my wolf that I was struggling to speak.

I stormed into the class, letting them see my anger because it would make them more likely to behave. As I picked up the piece of paper from my desk where the other girl had written her student ID, I spoke quietly to them all. They had gone silent.

“It has been a dramatic beginning to our year together, and I am sorry for that. I’d planned an introduction and class discussion for today. However, these events need immediate action. Since I may not return before the end of the session, I’ll allow you to leave class after you’ve finished the reading. However, please access the online notes and assignment and hand it in tonight. We’ll have our discussion tomorrow, and that will give me a sample of your writing skills to assess where each of you stand. Thank you for your patience. Please finish the reading and pick up your assignment from this pile on your way out of the room.”

I tapped the stack of papers on my desk then scanned them all to make sure none of them thought that I would go easily on them if they didn’t do as they’d been asked.

They all stared at me silently. I nodded, then folded the paper with the other girl’s details on it, thanked them and left the room.

When I got outside, Kelsie was standing with her back to the wall, frowning fiercely at her phone.

“Follow me,” I said as I turned down the hall.

She hurried to keep up with me, her short—and likely weak—human legs making it a difficult task.

Grinding my teeth, I forced myself to slow so she could keep up without trotting.

“Where are we going?” she asked carefully.

“You are going home. Safely. I’ll walk you to your car if you give me your word you won’t stay on campus and won’t return until tomorrow.”

She looked behind her, then back to me. 

“This is the only class I had today anyway. So… I mean… thanks?”

I nodded but didn’t look at her. I was forced to clench my hand to a fist to stop myself reaching for her and pulling her closer against me. Even the dull human instincts of the other students would sense that she wouldn’t be hurt while I protected her. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t let myself touch her because I knew if I did, my wolf would take her.

I walked her silently out of the building and across campus to her car. When she showed me where it was and unlocked the door, I held it for her, watching for any males who might mock her. But none did.

“Thank you, Cain,” she said quietly as she slipped into the car and sank into its seat. 

She took hold of the steering wheel, but her shoulders were hunched like she still expected an attack. She looked very small. It made my chest squeeze, and made my wolf leap forward again in defense.

I snapped at it to back off.

“Go home. Ignore any calls you might receive. Come back tomorrow with your head held high,” I instructed her. She nodded, then bit her lip. 

“Thank you. Again. But… if I’m leaving, where are you going?”

“To fuck shit up,” I growled, then shut the door on her shocked face and stalked away.