5. Appetite for Risk 

~ Cain ~

Since I was a professor it was very risky for me to be seen in the student’s dormitories. Especially since I knew this Melinda girl wasn’t afraid of public confrontations. She would draw a lot of attention if she got angry.

But a surge of protective rage rose in me every time I thought about the way Kelsie had shrunk in on herself when she looked at that picture. It was very obvious she wasn’t afraid of confrontation either. Yet this simple picture had saturated her scent in shame.

She should not feel shame.

Even if she wasn’t my mate I would have taken her side in this conflict. But with my wolf howling for her, I could barely think straight. I was a bristling bundle of rage. I desperately needed to do something.

So, I ignored the risk and hurried to the dormitories. I would not hurt the other girl. But I would make certain she never hurt Kelsie again.

As I hurried toward the dormitories thought about the way the humans would discuss these things and their strange way of thinking. They would reprimand both people and try to soothe feelings instead of just telling them what to do. 

My nose wrinkled in disgust.

Humans did not seem to understand dominance and how using it could save lives and bring peace to a group of people. They didn’t seem to understand that hierarchy was a necessary tool of leadership, and that harm came not from having one wolf—or human—stand over another. All they saw was that power might be used for selfish gain.

But this wasn’t a selfish act. I gained nothing by helping Kelsie. In fact, it was a risk I should not take. Yet I would help her. Because I was Alpha and Alpha have the power to influence and… persuade.

I smiled at that thought and a male student passing me on the path between buildings flinched.

Using all my senses, I moved through the dormitory as quietly and unnoticed as possible. I could hear all the footsteps nearby, scent anyone approaching, and hear bodies moving in rooms and hallways. It was an easy to thing to avoid most eyes. And my wolf’s natural ability to move quietly and camouflage helped me even in my human form. If only it had been a male dorm none of them would have noticed me at all. But with all these girls around, I stood out more.

Yet, the biggest problem was when I made it to Melinda’s room, because she wasn’t alone. There was two girls standing in the hallway looking in the door of Melinda's room and talking to her.

One of them saw me coming. Her eyes widened and she began to smile.

I scowled. Her smile fell away.

Melinda looked shocked when she saw me. But her two friends seemed thrilled, even though they were a little bit scared. They had no idea how close they stood to death.

“Melinda, I need to speak with you. Alone.”

Her friends looked at each other. One of them grabbed the other by the arm.

“We’ll leave.”

I watched them as they moved further down the hallway, glancing back at me over their shoulders before they turned the corner. Then I turned back to face Melinda.

Oh, god… was that hope mingling with desire in her scent? She thought I had come here to hook up? I swallowed back my disgust and let my expression go flat.

“I won’t invade your private space. I’d like to speak to you in one of the conference rooms please.”

Each floor of the dorms had two rooms for study groups and online conferences. When I turned and stalked away Melinda followed me without a word. That was a relief. I led her into one of the conference rooms at the center of the floor. Then I turned to wait with my arms folded while she took a seat at the table.

When she was sitting down, I crossed between her and the door, flicking the lock on it without her noticing. When I turned back to face her she was watching me and I could smell her desire rising.

I stifled a shudder.

“We need to discuss this morning—”

“I didn’t do anything to her. She just walked up and dumped that stuff on me then tried to punch me. She’s just jealous because her boyfriend dumped her for me,” Melinda said quickly.

I wanted to snap my teeth at her. I had stepped into the class while Kelsie was still walking towards her. I knew exactly how Melinda had provoked her and been the first to launch for attack. But I also knew the school rules would say that Kelsie had assaulted her by pouring the water over her in the first place.

“Regardless of how it happened, I need this to go away. I don’t want my bosses to think that I allow violence in my classroom or that I can’t control my students,” I said, my voice low and hard. 

“But she hurt me!”

“You seemed like you held your own,” I growled.

She smiled.

I didn’t.

“Melinda, I came here because I hope we can come to some arrangement in which you won’t report Kelsie to the school, and I won’t have to discipline either of you.”

“That doesn’t seem fair. She started it.”

“Did she? I’ve been shown an erotic photo that is being shared online. It seems to show Kelsie, even though she didn’t share it.”

Melinda blinked and her smile faded.

“I didn’t have anything to do with that. I just laughed at it. But even if I had, it’s against the rules for her to touch me at all.”

God, she was disgusting.

“Don’t you like to be touched?” I asked very quietly. I leaned towards her, bracing my hands on the table, letting my fingers claw on its surface. But Melinda didn’t notice.  Her eyes were fixed on mine and her breath was getting shallow.

“Depends who’s doing the touching,” she whispered with that awful smile.

I held her gaze and waited to see if she was smart enough to realize the danger she was in. But of course, she didn’t.

When I didn’t move, she licked her lips and placed her elbows on the table, leaning forward to reveal more of her cleavage as her v-neck shirt fell more open to my gaze.

I let the quietest of growls putter in my throat. For a moment she looked confused. Then her smile grew.

Which was when I let my wolf eyes flash and unleashed the wild side of my nature just enough that even her human instincts would be able to sense it...

Take the throat. Taste the blood. Teach her a lesson. Remove the threat from my mate—

I stifled my wolf’s drive before it got out of control, but not before Melinda had jerked back to put as much space between us as possible, reeking of fear.

“Wh-who… what are you?” she said in a tiny voice.

I smiled the same smile that had made the guy on the path flinch from me and she closed her mouth so fast her teeth clicked.

I nodded my approval.

“You are perfectly safe. I want nothing from you except that you become kinder. Does that sound like something you could do?”

She trembled from head to foot and her eyes were so wide they were white all the way around, but she nodded.

“Good,” I purred. “Now that we understand each other, I’ll repeat: I have no interest in you, Melinda. But I do have an interest in keeping this quiet. So… after I leave here, you’re going back to your room. You’re going to do anything necessary to make sure that image of Kelsie is taken down—whoever put up the original post is going to delete it and never even talk about it again, are we clear?”

She nodded.

“You are never going to target her in person or online. And if I ever find the slightest hint that you were involved in someone else targeting her, I will find you. I have the means to find you. Do you understand?”

There were tears in her eyes now. But she swallowed nervously and nodded, her chest rising and falling very fast.

“Excellent. Then you have nothing to fear. Go delete that post and leave Kelsie completely alone and you will never hear from me again.”

Her forehead pinched into lines and I could smell her fear peak.

“What is it, Melinda?” I said very calmly.

She swallowed hard and a single tear rolled down her cheek. 

“It’s j-just that… other people will have th-the picture and… I c-can’t… if it shows up again it won’t b-be from me.”

It was true, I knew. The internet was forever. That image would never die entirely. But at least we could take some fuel out of the fire.

“You make certain the original is taken down and you leave her alone any time you see her. Leave the rest to me.”

She nodded quickly, but she looked like she was going to burst into tears.

“B-but her ex… We just got together—”

“You can have that piece of shit. He never deserved her anyway.”

She took a deep breath and I couldn’t help smiling again. I had a feeling that little jerk-off was going to discover his new girlfriend suddenly a lot less excited about being close to him.

“Don’t worry, Melinda, all I’m asking is for you to be a kinder person. If you can manage that and stay out of Kelsie’s way, you can sleep easy and know you won’t see me again.”

Then I leaned just a hair closer.

“Just one thing though… in a few days when you convince yourself that this was just a dream, or a trick, and I’m nothing but a professor that you can report to the school board… just remember: No one will believe you. But I’ll still be here.”

I let my wolf eyes flash one more time.

She stiffened and whimpered. So weak.

I held her gaze for another few seconds to make sure she was terrified. Then I straightened and gave her a casual smile.

“I won’t take up any more of your time.”

And then I left, closing the door quietly when she started to cry as I walked out.

But later that day, back at home, I was pacing and fighting my wolf again. The fact that I had showed that girl any part of my wolf was a huge risk. I couldn’t afford to draw that kind attention to myself.

The problem was that my wolf instincts screamed at me to find Kelsie, to protect her, to take her, to keep her close. Fighting that all day had been exhausting. Now I was weary and hungry and…

Hungry.

I couldn’t feed the hunger for my mate, but I could feed the rest of my body.

I prowled into the kitchen to find the box of cookies Kelsie had handed me the day before. They were sitting where I had left them on the kitchen table.

It was going to take some time to cook a full meal. My wolf’s insistence on finding Kelsie was getting harder to fight. It wouldn’t hurt to eat one or two of the treats while I cooked.

While I gathered food to cook and heated up the stove, I tried one of the cookies and enjoyed it a lot. But my wolf’s tension didn’t get easier with that little food in my stomach, so I took another.

It wasn’t until I reached the third cookie and felt my wolf surge forward with such force that my hands shook and my fingers clawed that I realized what was happening.

I stared at the half-eaten cookie in my hand with horror.

Kelsie had said her mother had told her to bring the cookies. I had assumed her mother had baked them. But if Kelsie was the one who had cooked them…

When a wolf fed their mate it strengthened the bond.

My wolf actually howled and I felt my head sink back and my mouth open.

Fuck. NO!

Throwing the cookie away from me like it was poison, I forgot the rest of the food and raced around the house, locking all the doors and windows.

I almost didn’t get the front door locked before my body shuddered and I shifted into my wolf against my own wishes.

In my wolf form, I paced the house because there was so much pent-up energy in my body I felt like I might jump out of my own skin. I howled again.

Holy shit… holy shit… I hadn’t shifted without meaning to since I was fifteen years old. This was all because of the matebond? Because I was resisting it? Because I’d eaten her food?

I was just passing the large window in the living room when movement outside caught my eye and I froze as my sharpened wolf eyes caught sight of Kelsie inside her own home, standing at that kitchen window again.

My nostrils flared, sucking at the air, desperate for her scent.

My heart beat against my ribs.

I was desperate for her.