“Phoenix?” Concern flashes across Dr. Anderson’s face, but it vanishes as quickly as it came. “Well, sit. We should discuss my requirements, Miss Grant.”
Guess we’re just jumping right in, then. I take the seat closest to the door and cross my legs.
“You can dig in the cove, but only under direct supervision from me.” Dr. Anderson stays standing, his large frame towering over me. I feel almost as if I’ve been sent to the principal's office. The firm tone of his voice just adds to that feeling that I’m about to be punished. “I don’t want you climbing the cliffs by yourself, playing the lone ranger. Do you understand, Madison?”
Usually it annoys me when people use my full name because it sounds so formal, but coming from him it feels right. Commanding but sensual. A departure from the distance he usually keeps between us by calling me Miss Grant. The direct way he’s speaking now sets something burning in my blood. The intensity in his eyes has me crossing and uncrossing my legs.
“I understand.” Why is my voice so breathy? “But Dean Anderson, do you really have time to supervise an undertaking like this?”
“I’ll make time.”
Warmth spirals up my spine as our eyes lock. He looks at me like he wants to devour every part of me. And I’m ready to let him. The room still feels unbearably hot, so I unbutton my cardigan and shuck it off.
Dr. Anderson clears his throat and looksaway. Pushing off his desk, he circles behind it and takes a seat. “We’ll partner on the project. Your name would come first on all the research, of course, but?—”
“Wait, you want your name on this? Why?” We both know how investigating something as obscure as Ocearus can make or break a career. If it turns out I’m wrong, he’ll be laughed at and ridiculed by his colleagues. His position at the University could even be called into question. “Why not just let me quietly do my research? There’s no need for you to risk your name too.”
Dr. Anderson doesn’t answer right away. He spins his chair away from me, looking at the wall of books behind his desk. “Did you know your aunt was the lead on my first expedition?”
I shake my head, then realize he can’t see me. “I didn’t.”
He spins back around, resting his interlaced fingers on his desk. “I wish I’d stood up for her more. She was a brilliant woman.”
“Is that what this is about?” Did Dr. Anderson have a crush on my aunt? He’s taught here for years, so he would have been teaching here when Aunt April was a professor. They wouldn’t have been that different in age. Less than the age difference between us. Was he on her last dig with her? Maybe he feels guilty?
“No.” He shakes his head, a small smile toying at his lips as if he knows what I’m thinking and is amused by it. “This is about you. And me. Us.”
Us.He can’t mean that the way it seems. There is no us. He’s so out of my league. He’s got his act together, his life figured out—he’s the dean of the department!—and I’m… well, I’m me. A hot mess, trying to find a city most people don’t believe in, newly bonded to a man I only just met.
But there’s no mistaking the tension in the air. My mouth feels dry, clothes uncomfortably itchy. I need to defuse this energy somehow. “Um… here.” I gently set the bracelet on the desk and stand up, pacing a few steps away to the window. “Does this open?”
Dr. Anderson looks up from the bracelet. “No. They seal all the windows.”
Figures. Pulling at my shirt, I use it to fan myself, while Dr. Anderson picks up the bracelet.
“It opens,” I say. He gives me a curious look, maybe thinking I’m still talking about the window, so I point to the bracelet, hand shaking a little.
He turns it over, but there’s not an obvious latch, and I realize he’s gonna need help. I cross back to the desk, this time standing next to him, so I can show him how it works. I dig my nail between the two grooves, and there’s a distinct click as the mechanism gives way and the two parts of the bracelet separate, revealing the relic inside.
“Incredible,” Dr. Anderson leans closer, his shoulder brushing against my arm. “Where did you find this?”
“Aunt April gave it to me. I only just figured out it opened this weekend.” I lean closer and pull out the stone, twisting it one way then the other. We’re almost cheek-to-cheek, hunched over to look at the runes etched into the surface.
“These are directional symbols.” Dr. Anderson points at each one. “North. South. East. West.” Of course, he recognizes them. The man is brilliant.
I nod my agreement. “We’re not sure how to use it, but we think it’s some sort of compass. When Caspian–” I cut off my words just in time. I can’t explain to him how Caspian knows what this is and how it works. “Uh,Caspian has also studied Ocearus and made an educated guess based on the symbols.”
He turns his head to look at me. Our faces are so close I can feel his breath on my lips. My heartbeat is loud enough to drown out any other sound. My skin feels clammy and warm. A whimper I can’t control slips from my lips, and a sudden stab of pain twists low in my gut. I crumble, curling in on myself.
The alpha says something, but the words blend together. The gentle depth of his voice is soothing, though, and I move toward it like a flower to the sun, sinking to the floor by the desk and instinctively resting my cheek on his knee. There’s some reason I shouldn’t be doing this, touching him like this, but I can’t think of it now. His big hand comes to rest on top of my head, the pressure calming me enough to focus on his words.
“What’s Caspian’s phone number, sweetheart?”
I shake my head. The mention of my mate has my insides spasming and twisting in a painful knot. Where is he? I need him.
“Okay… okay… shhh. I’ll call Phoenix, okay? Breathe, baby, sweetheart. You just have to wait a little bit. It won’t be long. You’re gonna be fine.” The tension in his voice says something different though, and the heat in my belly demands to be dealt with now. Not later.
“P-please, Dr. Anderson.” I barely manage to get the words out.
