If Mack of all peopleis calling me out, I know I’m losing it. I know I’ll have to come clean to my pack mates sooner rather than later, especially with this whole omega nonsense, but for now I shrug him off. “I’m fine. Lots going on, new stressors and all that. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
He looks skeptical but then his watch beeps, saving me from further interrogation. “Shit, I gotta catch the bus. But good luck today! I’ll call you when we get there.”
At twenty-two, Mack doesn’t owe anybody anything when it comes to his whereabouts, but he’s always been conscious of our pack’s feelings and made it a mission to keep us updated when he can. It probably has to do with his lingering guilt over our pack taking his last name and not mine. Typically, a pack will use the last name of the lead alpha as their pack name, but because of the trust fund stipulations put in place by his grandparents, Mack had to be twenty-oneandhave his own pack under the Madden name before he could claim it. None of us cared one way or the other about our pack name not being Carter, but for some reason it’s really stuck with our big guy.
I nod, a small smile crossing my mouth for the first time in days. “Thanks, Mack. Have fun.”
He scoffs, waving over his head as he rushes out. My next class is starting in about ten minutes, and students are already trickling in, which means I need to focus. And for about five minutes, I do exactly that.
Untilsheenters the room.
She’s too far away for me to scent her, so I have no logical reason to assumethisis the girl who belongs to that calamitous scent, but my alpha knows. He’s screaming inside of my mind, begging me to get closer, to claim her right this second. I shove him to the back of my mind, shutting that shit down immediately. No matter how hard I try to push him back though, my body reacts. Today was the worst day to wear my light gray slacks, considering even the memory of her scent is making me harder than I’ve ever been in my life.
Fuck.
I quickly move behind the podium at the front of the classroom, praying it covers me well enough that I won’t get reported to the dean for pitching a tent in the middle of a biology lecture. I swear internally when she heads my way and paste on my most severe expression. Thank god I remembered to wear scent blockers today, or my kettle corn scent would be giving away my natural but unwanted reaction.
I try not to stare, but she’s so fuckingcute. I don’t know what I pictured my scent match looking like, but it sure wasn’t this. Her long hair is a pastel pink color and pulled up in a clip of some sort at the back of her head, and her outfit is straight out of my most sordid schoolgirl fantasies with that short skirt and dainty little pink sweater. She looks like a goddamn fairy, if a fairy had smooth, tan legs and freckles on her beautiful face.
“Hi, Mr… um, Professor. I missed the first week of classes and I was just wondering if I could trouble you for any notes or homework I missed? I can ask a classmate as well, I just thought it might be best to go straight to the source first.”
Good god, she just had to have a sweet little accent, too.
Clearing my throat, I give her a frosty glare. “It’s Professor Carter. And unless you have a damn good reason for missing class, you’re on your own for anything you missed.”
Her cheeks go bright pink, and I immediately feel like an asshole. But I do what I do best and push the guilt down. I don’t know this girl, and I have no desire to. I’m speaking to her like I would any other careless student who missed the first week of class.
The color on her cheeks quickly spreads to her neck and chest, which makes me raise a brow. What excuse could possibly have her so flustered?
“I, um. It should be in my attendance file. I was told it would be sent out to all of my professors.”
I don’t have any reason to check student files, but it’spossible it was emailed to me and I missed it. With a heavy sigh, I wave the girl off and watch with mild amusement as she scrambles to find a seat.
At least until she takes the seat next to Lucky Daire. There’s nothing inherently bad about the school’s star quarterback. I think he and Mack are even friendly, but like fuck do I want her anywhere near the younger alpha. I briefly consider taking the time to make a seating chart and start enforcing it on Monday that way they’re as far apart as possible.
What the fuck am I saying?
It doesn’t matter that my scent matched omega is in my class, or that I can feel her bright blue eyes on me at any given moment. It changes nothing. I don’t want an omega, and I sure as fuck can’t want one as sweet as her. Not with the way the Alpha Rabidity is slowly decaying my brain and body to nothing more than a feral creature who will eventually have to be locked up for the safety of everyone around me.
“Alright class, please open your books and read chapter two. Fill out the questions at the end of the chapter and turn them in via the online dropbox by the end of class.”
Once I’m sure all eyes are off me, I practically leap out from behind the podium and land in my desk chair, scooting it as far under the desk as I can without cutting myself in half. My cock is throbbing on my thigh, and it’s a relief knowing no one can spot it now. I’m going to need some lube and a very cold shower when I get home later, but for now I do my best to ignore my traitorous erection and the pulse of pain in my canines.
As I wiggle my mouse to wake up my monitor, I can still feel her eyes on me. But when I glance up, she seems entrenched in her work. Scrolling through my emails, I come across one from the very first day of classes, sent around 10 a.m.
Primrose Hale has been granted heat leave and is notexpected to return to class until Monday, 9/12. We ask that all notes, classwork, homework, or test materials be forwarded to her student email [email protected] in compliance with the Omega Rights Protection Act. Thank you for your cooperation.
My mouth has gone completely dry, and my dick pulses painfully in my jeans even as my alpha roars in my head. It’s all I can do to suppress the growl building in my chest at the thought of this girl,Posey, going through a heat without my pack. Did she go to the clinic? Use an app? Or, god forbid, was shealone?
I’ve heard going through a heat alone as an unbonded omega is excruciating without proper medication to numb the effects. That must be why her scent was so strong we could smell it in our apartment.
Jesus Christ, if that was her heat perfume through theventsjust how strong would it be in the room with her?
Not your problem, Jude. She’s not yours.
And I’ll keep reminding myself of that until it sinks in, because for better or worse, that little omega can never be mine.
As soon as I get back to campus after the last day of hell week, I’m ready to lay in bed and sleep for the entire weekend. No one tells you just how sadistic college baseball coaches can be when it comes to conditioning, but you find out quick once you make the team. At least three rookies puked after running lines this week, and one actually passed out. Coach just laughed.
