“You should have,” he says. “We were being stubborn alpha idiots, and I’m sorry for that. I’d say it’s our instincts that make us utterly stupid, but it’s you, Juniper. Not because you’re an omega that we need to protect, but because you’reyou.Our coffee-fiend, sweet-toothed, bookworm, brilliant, beautiful love. You’re you and you’re ours.”
I snuggle into him, letting bergamot and cedar wrap around me. “You’re much better at apologizing than I am. And I love you.”
He nuzzles me, marking me with his intoxicating scent. “I wish I could stay by your side like the others. I wish we didn’t have to spend every day acting like nothing more than a professor and his student. It feels so much harder this term.”
I nod against his chest, because it does. I miss the carefree, delightful days of winter break when we could just be Juniper and Ian, not Miss Rose and Professor Reinhardt.
“Luca told me something very wise last night. It was about Rad, but I think it applies here, too. It’s hard now, but it won’t always be. We have our whole lives ahead of us. We havetime.”
“Very wise,” he agrees. “You picked a very smart pack, my darling. And very strong, very handsome…”
“Very sexy,” I add with a wink, and that’s all it takes. Our fight is forgotten, and after a quick glance at the clock on his nightstand, we realize we have time right now.
Ian doesn’t waste a minute of it.
* * *
After getting ready for class,I know I can’t avoid my mate any longer. Still, I drag my feet as I slowly descend the stairs to the kitchen, trying to find the right words to say to him.
I’m shocked to my core when he meets me at the stairs with a fresh, hot stack of pancakes and an apology of his own.
“You were right,” he says, leading me to the dining table. “We weren’t thinking. It seems we often don’t when it comes to you. Simon gave me an earful when we went to bed last night, and I get it now. He asked me how I’d feel if he gave his life to save yours. It’s easy to be a hero and sacrifice yourself for your mate. It’s much harder to be the mate left behind. I didn’t realize that, but I do now.”
“Come join me?” I ask, nodding to the bench seat beside me.
My alpha grabs two coffee mugs off the counter and then slides in next to me, pressing up against me.
I melt into his touch and nuzzle against him. “Where is our very wise beta this morning?”
Cassian nods toward the ceiling. “Still up in our room. I woke to find him at the desk, surrounded by circuit boards and swearing up a storm. I think he’s trying to soup up his laptop so he can find the facility, but that’s only a guess. I asked him if what he was doing was working and he snarled at me, and asked if it looked like it was.”
“Like either of us could tell. I still think the cloud is some kind of unfathomable sorcery.”
“I know, right? Anyway, after I see you and Marcus off, I’m going to take him some breakfast and then kiss him until that frustrated little wrinkle on his forehead goes away.”
I smile, because I know exactly what he’s talking about. “When you do, remind him that he’s not allowed to heroically sacrifice himself either, all right? He means the world to me.”
“And he knows how to fix your phone when it does that weird thing.”
“How does he always know?”
“Sorcery,” Cassian decides. “Definitely sorcery.”
* * *
The newsof my mating spreads quickly that first week of term. I’m offered congratulations in the halls by students and professors alike, but it seems that of everyone, the happiest person for me is Leigh.
I rarely look forward to Omega Seminar, but I’ve come to respect Leigh now that I understand her better. She was once mated to a man like the vile alpha my father tried to mate me to. Perhaps better than anyone, Leigh knows how hard it is to be an omega, and she’s trying to protect us in her own way.
She’s ecstatic when she sees the bite on my neck and jumps up from her seat to hug me.
“Now you’ve got two students mated to unconventional alphas,” Bitsy observes with a teasing smile.
“My alpha cooks!” I say as I take my seat.
To my surprise, Leigh laughs. “Well, thank the saints for that. Otherwise, you both would have starved.”
“His mother said she made sure not to raise a ‘useless son.’”
