Someone got lucky last night.
The doors at the back of the room creak open, and my chest suddenly tightens. I take a breath and scent Alistair before I see him, the taste of crisp pines and fresh air hitting my tongue in a heartbeat, quickly followed by summer rain and damp earth as Revyn trails in behind him
“By all means,” our professor drawls, his eyes narrowing as both men walk into the lecture hall. “Do come in.”
My pulse races as they both turn to me, each one of them sporting a nasty black eye and matching split lip.
“Damnnn,” Gemma whistles. “What’re they doin’ looking like they just fought over...well,you.” She smiles cheekily as Revyn cuts a path through the students, stepping over them until he reaches us, and takes a seat at my back, forcing whoever was sitting there to move.
“What happened to you?” I ask, giving him a once-over. “Why haven’t you healed?” The cut on his lip closes while I stare, but the black eye takes longer to disappear.
Like Callum did earlier, Revyn ignores my question. Reaching for me, he brushes his knuckles across my cheek before tucking my hair behind my ear. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine.”
He purses his lips but doesn’t push.
I’m grateful because our professor isn’t amused. His eyes flash bright scarlet as he scowls at us. “If your mate is finished, Dire, why don’t you show her why you’re here?”
Alistair wastes no time joining our professor at the front of the class, looking every bit of an heir to an alpha bloodline as one can get. His auburn hair is perfectly coiffed, his midnight dress shirt smooth with buttons gleaming gold, his spine straight, shoulders rolled back, eyes glittering amber in the sunlight. Confidence radiates off him...until our eyes meet, and he slams the doors to his more positive emotions. All that remains is an icy glare that cuts straight to my core. “Get down here, mate.”
I glare right back. If he thinks I’m going to be made a spectacle to our peers, he can go fuck himself.
A wicked grin curves on his lips. “I said,come here.” The alpha order in his voice cracks like a whip, and every muscle in my body screams at me to move. The shifters in the room shuffle in their seats, a few of them unable to stifle whimpers as their bodies urge them to obey.
“You see,” the professor speaks, his eyes burning into mine, “Alistair and Sienna are what shifters calltrue mates.Some of you may know them asfated. For those of you unaware, a true mate is a very rare bond. Even when incomplete, it should be stronger than your average bond, and yet...” He tilts his head to the side as he assesses me. “Theirs appears to be broken.”
Alistair stiffens, and I have to fight a smirk.
Dick behavior deserves dickish call-outs. If Professor Aesir continues our classes by humiliating Alistair, I might be his number one fan.
“If we are to understand what makes a mate strong, we have to address all of its parts. The mind—” Our professor taps his temple. “The body.” He grabs Alistair’s shirt and tears it from his chest, exposing his chiseled abs and pecs to the room. My eyes flare as they shift, and I have to swallow a growl threatening to rise. We may not be on good terms, but Alistair shouldn’t be treated like a walking meal.
The rumble of appreciation from the crowd makes me want to claw everyone’s eyes out.
Our professor’s lips curve into a sharp smile. “And lastly, the bond.” He nods toward me. “See how his mate doesn’t react?” Clicking his tongue, he shakes his head. “A pity. Were she a vampire, she would be a disgrace to our kind...and to whoever chose her as their mate.”
Callum doesn’t flinch, but tension radiates off him in waves. I slip my hand into his and give a gentle squeeze, although I’m not sure who it’s for: me or him. Thankfully, unlike Alistair, he doesn’t give mixed signals. He laces our fingers together and rests them on his lap.
“My name is Professor Aesir.” Our instructor grins at the class, and the shadows at our feet undulate as though they have a beating heart. “Welcome to survival of the fucking fittest.”
Chapter 28
Sienna
“That professor is a monster!”
As we walk the halls to our next lesson—a blessed reprieve from Professor Aesir’s decimation of everyone’s individual performances during the Winter Mating Games—Gemma fumes, her cheeks a dusty pink that highlights her vibrant red curls. “That poor mergirl was crying when she left. He had no right to call her out like that.”
“He called everyone out,” I remind her, sighing. Including me, but at least he praised my running leap before tearing my confidence to shreds by calling my assault little more than a tantrum thrown by a child.Too much ferocity, not enough precision. I could have completed the same movements with half as much energy, he chastised, pulling up the battlefield on a holo-stone for the entire class to review. Everyone got front row seats as Revyn and I tore into a bear shifter four times my size, but it didn’t feel nearly as gratifying as it did in real time, especially when Revyn pulled me in for a bloody kiss afterward.
Not with Alistair silently screaming at me from across the classroom. He was never dismissed from Aesir’s lesson—despite his topmost scores during the Games—a fact that I’m sure madehim just as furious as witnessing my kiss with Revyn in full view of a crowd.
Some fated mate I am.
But even worse than that is knowing that Professor Aesir is right—I’ve never had to be efficient with my energy, because in the wilds, there’s an abundance of it pent-up and raring to get out in any way possible—usually by fighting, but sometimes by sex. Furthermore, targets are rarely packed together like they were during the Winter Games, so there’s minimal risk in taking flashy moves. Shredding a few enemies is the most fun Revyn and I had while traveling.
At least until we tore each other’s clothes off for the first time.
