I can breathe through it, close my eyes and find my center. I can will myself not to struggle, which will only wind the vines tighter, dig the thorns deeper.
This time, I don’t lose my grasp on my scribe. This time, I’m able to cast the nullification spell necessary to break the trap.
Only, the trap doesn’t break.
Ian startles. “Cast it again.”
I trace through the sigils, thorns digging into my skin, but the trap holds.
“Omega traps were never meant to be escaped by those they trapped,” Mai says softly. “Ian, nullify the hex. Now.”
“Not yet,” I grit out, swallowing down the cry of pain clawing up my throat. “I want to try something else.”
I trace the inverses of the seven sigils Ian cast to set the trap, but with each sigil I cast, the thorns wind tighter and my blood flows faster. I’ve just cast the fourth sigil when the vine wraps so tightly around my wrist that my bones grind together.
“Enough,” Ian growls, quickly casting the nullifying spell.
I drop my scribe and cradle my sore wrist to my chest, bloodying my blouse.
“Let me heal you, dear girl,” Mai murmurs, kneeling on the bloodied floor beside me.
I give myself over to her care and by the time she leaves for the night, I’m bound up in enchanted bandages, just like I was after my first day at Fairhaven.
I’m just picking up my bag when Ian finally finds the words he’s been meaning to say all night.
“What happened last week… it can’t happen again.”
Saints, knowing the blow was coming didn’t lessen it in the least, and I wish I was still numb. I wish every nerve in my body didn’t light with pain at his words.
“Why?”
“Juniper, I’m your professor! It’s inappropriate. Just because you’re an omega and I’m an alpha and our instincts—”
“You said it was more than just instincts.”
“It was. It is.”
“Then be with me. It doesn’t have to be complicated unless we make it complicated. Saints, Ian, you know how I feel about you, and I know how you feel about me.”
“How we feel doesn’t matter!” he says, his voice louder, sharper.
“Then what does?” I challenge, going toe to toe with him, staring up into his blue eyes, my own blazing.
“My ability to protect you,” he growls, turning away sharply.
“If you want to protect me, then be my alpha.”
“I can’t,” he grits out. “Not when I’m your professor and... and fuck, you don’t realize how badly I need this job to be able to do that.”
“I never asked for your protection,” I say, my throat burning with tears. “All I ever wanted was you.”
He scowls, expression thunderous. “Then you don’t know how badly you need to be protected. You’re in danger, Juniper. Every fucking day you’re here. And I won’t compromise your safety. Not ever. Do you understand?”
I screw my lips shut tight and force a nod as I pack up my bag. “I understand,professor.” I spit out the last word, glare daggers, turn on my heel, and stalk from his office, my heart shattering in my chest.
* * *
Leigh surveys us warily.“For some of you, this is your first Lunar Ball, but that is no excuse for inappropriate behavior.”
