We’d gone to see her in her office after the lecture, but she wasn’t there. I’d tracked her everywhere on campus, and when I couldn’t find her, I sprinted outside, leaving the truck behind. I probably should have taken it to track her faster, but I was too angry with myself.
The look on her face when we entered the class would haunt me for the rest of…for the rest of the time we were allowed together.
I’d done something highly inappropriate and very dangerous. For her. For us. Kayden was right. I might have ruined my chances with her this time.
What had I been thinking following her to the club last night? Talking to her? Fucking her against a fucking wall?
I wasn’t. I did not stop and think about what I was doing. I couldn’t resist staying away. On her birthday. I had to be there. Seeing her inches away from me, smelling her, watching her dance… How was I supposed to keep my distance? How was I supposed to wait?
I knew the rules well, and what I did was cheating, but I didn’t care. That parasite worked with her. He was given a head start. I had to do something. I had to make her see me first. I only thought if I did, she’d feel me, like me, bond with me so that she would choose me when the time came.
But it was a mistake. I hurt her, put her in danger, and now she wouldn’t even look me in the eye. I let my lust and love for her overtake me. I fucking bit her for moon’s sake.
What if it was more than a love bite? What if I had really bitten her?
“Hey,” Kayden nodded at the coffeehouse across the street, “I found her.”
Stopping in my tracks, I jerked my head toward the glass walls where she sat behind. Her forehead rested on her hand as she stared vacantly at the table. Then her finger wiped under her eyes. Was she crying?
My heart hurt with all the pain I’d caused her. She’d seen enough. It’d killed me she had to be out there alone all this time with that motherfucker without any interference from us. It was her path that would lead her here to the pack. To me.
Now, instead of making it up to her, wiping away all that shit she’d seen, I’d made her more miserable.
She was probably afraid I’d tell someone about what we did last night. The student who would brag about tapping the teacher, stupidly exposing her. The rumors that might cost her the job and the reputation she’d just gotten back. But the only danger I posed to her was the beast that had once…
“Come this way before she sees us.” Kayden dragged me from where I stood and my pitiful monologue, and then we hid behind a few trees in the park across the coffeehouse.
“Now what?” he asked.
“I’d go talk to her, but she wouldn’t listen to me.” I yanked my gaze from her and peered at him. “She might listen to you, though.”
He glared at me, snorting. “You want me to clean up your mess?”
“Aren’t you Alpha?”
“Yes, which means I kick your ass for what you did, not clean up your fucking mess.”
“C’mon, bro…”
He crossed his arms over his chest and let out a low growl. My ass of a twin was stubborn as fuck. I knew that look on his face by heart. It meant he wouldn’t change his mind willingly.
My shoulder lifted in resignation as I backed away from the trees. “Fine. Then I’ll go tell her everything. It’s the only way she will—”
He gripped my shirt, his hand too strong on the back of my neck, and set me back where I’d been. “Are you out of your mind?”
I shrugged him off me. “I don’t know what else to do. All I know is that I need her to understand. I won’t let that parasite win her over. I just can’t.”
He shook his head, his jaw twisting, eyes distant as if he was deliberating what I’d said with himself. “We’ve got to ease her through it, not dump it all on her head like that.” The shaking of his head grew faster. “No, Alec. She’d hate you even more.”
“Then go talk to her before that fucker steals her away!”
He was about to protest again, but a certain foul stench choked me and made him look like he was about to hurl his guts out.
“Speak of the bloodsucker.” He prowled out of the park. “Keep him busy while I go talk some sense into our Belle.”
CHAPTER 12
KAYDEN
