Her Professor Mate

by Tasha Black

  “Okay, moment of truth,” she joked.

  Mac offered her his hand.

  She took it and pulled herself to her feet.

  Her ankle was sore, but it didn’t give out when she gingerly put a little weight on it.

  “Don’t try to walk on that,” Mac advised. “Just hang on for a minute and I’ll get the rest of our stuff.”

  She watched as he cleaned up the fire, folded the sleeping bag, and folded her bra and panties neatly and placed them in her jacket pocket

  “Here you go,” he said, holding out the jacket for her to put on.

  “Thank you,” she replied.

  He brought Shadow over after that, leading her gently by the bridle. Parker looked up at the horse, wondering how she would mount without hurting her ankle again.

  “Ready?” Mac asked.

  She nodded.

  The next thing she knew, he had lifted her again, and placed her gently on Shadow’s back.

  “Keep her onboard this time, please,” Mac whispered to the horse.

  Parker stroked the creature’s velvety neck.

  It wasn’t Shadow’s fault she had been spooked.

  Parker watched Mac mount Marshmallow, a pang of guilt in her stomach.

  She hadn’t meant to drag him into her mess.

  Thank goodness they’d been okay, but Mac didn’t deserve to be running from the shadows all his life. He was a really good guy.

  Keep away from him, Parker, she told herself. Figure out your shit before you get him entangled in it.

  They rode slowly back to the stables.

  The soft pink light of dawn filtered through the bare branches, lending a sentimental glow to the frosting of snow that blanketed the world.

  “We never had our dinner,” Mac said as the stables came into view.

  “I’ve got something important to do today,” Parker said quickly.

  She couldn’t spend any more time with him without winding up in his arms. She knew that now.

  “Tomorrow night at seven then?” Mac asked.

  “Sure,” she heard herself say.

  Damn it, Parker.

  But she could always cancel. It was just too hard to reject him right now, with the morning light dancing in his eyes.

  10

  Mac

  Mac drove as close to campus as he could before parking.

  He cradled the shoebox in his arms as he fumbled for change at the meter.

  Ainsley liked to tease him about not getting the parking app for his phone. But something about the app seemed unsporting. The poor meter maid didn’t stand a chance anymore. He didn’t mind getting one of her five-dollar tickets once every couple of months.

  His friend Bonnie, and her mate, Tokala, had agreed to meet him at the amphitheater.

  Bonnie was new to town. She’d been the librarian for the Copper Creek pack before the town had shut down and all the wolves had moved to Tarker’s Hollow.

  And Tokala was even newer to town.

  Well…

  Not really.

  He had been here before any of them. Tokala was the only real Tarker’s Hollow native in town.

  Bonnie had rescued Tokala’s trapped spirit from inside one of the small carved animal figurines Mac held in the shoebox.

  Tokala had lived here hundreds of years ago as part of the local Lenni Lenape tribe, long before the little village grew up around the college campus.

  An evil spirit had trapped Tokala and the remaining members of his tribe in the wooden carvings.

  Tokala’s love for Bonnie had brought him physically into the present instead of releasing his spirit with the others.

  That was the last time Mac had met Bonnie and her mate at the amphitheater.

  Tokala had really integrated well since then, all things considered. Maybe better than Bonnie had.

  Mac hoped that the two of them could help him get his head around what he’d seen in the woods last night.

  To their credit, they’d agreed to meet him, no questions asked.

  He reached the two stone monuments that signaled the entrance to the amphitheater. As always, a shiver of magic seemed to hover over this place.

  He started down the granite seating rows.

  Bonnie waved up at him from the grassy stage area, her chestnut hair shining in the sunlight.

  Tokala sat, typing madly into a laptop on the bottom step, his long black hair fastened up messily in what Mac understood was referred to as a ‘man bun’.

  “Thanks for coming,” Mac said as he joined them.

  “Anytime,” Bonnie said warmly.

  “Sure thing,” Tokala said, lowering the lid on the computer and rising to shake Mac’s hand.

  “What are you working on?” Mac asked.

  “Chemistry,” Tokala said with a grin.

  “He’s studying for his RN,” Bonnie said proudly.

  “Wow, I guess that’s the closest thing to a shaman in this time, isn’t it?” Mac asked. Tokala had been his tribe’s healer back in the 1800s.

  “Sure,” Tokala said, as if he hadn’t thought of it. “I’m more interested in the flexible hours and benefits.”

  Bonnie’s hand stroked her belly once and Mac wondered if they were expecting.

  “So why did you call us here?” Bonnie asked, before he could mention it.

  “Did you need some dating advice?” Tokala asked with a wink.

  Dear Lord.

  Literally everyone knew about his date with Parker.

  Bonnie unsubtly elbowed Tokala in the ribs.

  “Well, it’s not exactly that,” Mac said. “But something happened on the date last night.”

  Bonnie giggled.

  “Okay, I guess I walked right into that one,” Mac allowed, smiling at her. “What happened was pretty crazy though.”

  He described the ride, the shadows stretching out of place, behaving strangely.

  “That’s really odd,” Bonnie agreed.

  “I was worried that it might have something to do with the animals,” Mac admitted. “I brought them today. Just so you can make sure no one else is trapped inside them.”

  “We saw them all escape last time,” Bonnie said sadly.

  “Humor me?” Mac asked.

  “You know what to do,” Tokala said.

  Mac opened the box, and then laid out the little animal figures in a circle around the grassy stage.

  Tokala stood in the center.

  Mac watched intently, Bonnie by his side.

  “Bonnie,” Tokala called to her.

  “You want me to sing too?” she asked.

  “You did it last time,” he said. “You saved me. You saved all of us.”

  Something strong and sweet passed between the two of them. It made Mac feel a little warm and fuzzy just to be near them.

  He longed for that same connection with his own mate.

  Until you figure this out, you’re not claiming her as your mate, he told himself.

  Bonnie and Tokala began to sing the beautifully haunting song in the Lenape language.

  Mac swore he felt a shiver in the leaves around, though it could have been the breeze.

  But the small wooden figures remained motionless in the grass.

  There were no misty souls rising from the animals.

  And there was no inky black demon swirling around them.

  They had freed all the souls last time. All was well here.

  He allowed himself to get lost in the lovely melody.

  “Thank you,” he told them when it was finished.

  Bonnie helped him pick up all the tiny animals, tenderly smoothing off the stray grass from them with her sweater.

  Something occurred to Mac that had been bothering him since the last time they’d been here together. There had been so much going on, that he’d gathered up the figurines and tucked them away in his own bag without much thought.

  “Bonnie, I think you and Tokala should keep these now,” he said gruffly.

  “They’re
very valuable,” Tokala said.

  “But they were never really mine,” Mac said. “Memories don’t have a price.”

  “Let us pay you for them,” Bonnie said immediately. “They’re worth a lot of money to collectors.”

  “No,” Mac growled.

  His friends looked a little taken aback.

  “Sorry,” he amended. “It was a long night. I’ll feel better if you two have them. Just promise you’ll guard them with your lives. I promised Helen Thayer I’d make sure they were always safe.”

  “Of course,” Bonnie said. “It will be our honor.”

  Her cheeks were flushed with pleasure, and even stoic Tokala looked very pleased.

  “You know, I wonder if Ainsley Connor might be able to help you,” Tokala suggested. “What you’re talking about sounds more like a moroi.”

  Suddenly the air seemed to go cold as Mac thought about the supremely evil creature they had all sacrificed so much to do away with.

  Could such a thing be free in Tarker’s Hollow again?

  And if so, what did it want with Parker Everly?

  11

  Parker

  Parker sat on her yoga mat, holding her ankles, stretching her knees to the floor to open up her hips, and trying very hard not to think about J. D. MacGregor or the date they’d been on.

  With any luck, Van Blanco would be brutal on the beginner’s kickboxing class today, and before long, she’d be unable to think about anything other than continuing to breathe.

  “Hey, Parker,” a familiar voice called.

  “Hey, Ashlyn,” Parker replied, looking over her shoulder to find one of her fellow middle school teachers.

  Ashlyn tossed her blonde ponytail over her shoulder and rolled out her purple mat next to Parker’s.

  “De-stressing after the PSSA testing?” Parker teased.

  “More like trying to recover from whoever keeps leaving homemade chocolate chip cookies in the teacher’s lounge,” Ashlyn said, shaking her head sadly.

  Ashlyn was short, curvy, and wildly sexy. All the single male teachers were crazy about her. It drove Parker a little crazy that the good-natured teacher saw her physique as something that needed fixing.

  “You look fabulous as always, Ashlyn,” Parker told her. “Eat as many cookies as you want.”

  Ashlyn grinned and started stretching.

  “Oh, I’ll bet I know why you’re in a good mood,” she said in a sing-song voice after a moment.

  Oh, brother.

  “It was your date with J. D. MacGregor,” Ashlyn said triumphantly.

  “Hmm,” Parker said noncommittally, wondering which, if any, parts of the date she could possibly talk about.

  She really should have seen this coming. It seemed that there was literally nothing else to talk about in this town.

  “Keeping your mouth shut to protect the guilty?” Ashlyn said with a pirate’s grin.

  “I’m not sure,” Parker allowed. “Are we off the record?”

  “Scout’s honor,” Ashlyn said, raising the wrong hand.

  “Either you weren’t a scout, or you’re planning to dish my dirt to the highest bidder,” Parker remarked.

  “I’m not really the outdoorsy type,” Ashlyn sniffed. “But you already know I’m a vault, so give up the goods.”

  “We went riding, just like we planned,” Parker began. “But it started to snow.”

  “Oh yeah, it sure did,” Ashlyn said, eyes wide.

  “My horse got spooked by something and I fell,” Parker added.

  “Oh-em-gee,” Ashlyn said. “Hash tag: worst date ever.”

  Parker stifled a giggle. Ashlyn had a habit of talking like the notes she confiscated in class.

  “Anyway, I hurt my ankle, the horses ran off, and we spent the night in a camping shelter,” Parker said.

  “You hurt your ankle?” Ashlyn asked.

  “Yeah, he had to carry me to the shelter,” Parker said.

  “Ohhh, so romantic,” Ashlyn said.

  “Not really,” Parker said, trying not to let on how amazing it had felt to be in Mac’s arms like that. “It was just embarrassing.”

  “Oh wow,” Ashlyn said sympathetically. “If you hurt your ankle, what are you doing here?”

  “I want to stretch it out,” Parker said. “It wasn’t all that bad when I woke up.”

  “So you spent the night together?” Ashlyn asked.

  Parker nodded, kind of wishing she’d left that part out.

  “Sooooo, did you…?” Ashlyn asked.

  “Not really,” Parker said.

  “What does that mean, not really?” Ashlyn demanded.

  “Okay, people,” Van Blanco’s voice came from the back of the room, mercifully putting an end to her conversation. “Who’s ready to turn up the heat?”

  The room came alive with students cheering.

  Van jogged out, looking resplendent in his jet black gi.

  “Saved by the bell,” Ashlyn quipped, raising an eyebrow at Parker.

  Parker grinned back and got on her feet.

  If she could get through this class without re-injuring her ankle, or spilling too many details to Ashlyn, she’d consider it a win.

  “Are you going to see him again?” Ashlyn whispered.

  Parker shrugged.

  “How could you not see him again?” Ashlyn whispered. “He’s so hot.”

  “Are we ready, ladies,” Van said, looking pointedly in their direction.

  Ashlyn’s eyes went wide, then she nodded and zipped her lips.

  Van turned down the lights for the warm up and Parker found her eyes moving to the shadows in the front of the room.

  They seemed to be behaving normally enough.

  At times like these, it could be hard not to wonder if she might just be going crazy. After all, no one ever saw the roiling shadows but Parker. Maybe her vision was going. Maybe it was a sign of something more serious, like a brain tumor. Or maybe her quiet loneliness was just busy looking for movement where there wasn’t any.

  Some nights her house felt so empty it hurt. No one ever told you that growing up and having your own place didn’t always make you feel queenly.

  Her hand moved to her neck to finger the amulet, an unconscious habit she had whenever she was sad.

  But it wasn’t there. She never wore it to work out.

  “Fifty push-ups,” Van yelled.

  There were a few groans, but the whole place hit the deck.

  “You have to see him again,” Ashlyn murmured quietly as she got into position.

  Parker smiled, but didn’t answer.

  Though the idea that maybe she didn’t need to cancel that dinner after all was tickling at the back of her mind.

  Van began the push-up count and Parker forgot her worries as she settled into a good workout.

  12

  Mac

  Mac accepted his change from the waitress and smiled at Parker, who sat across the table from him.

  She was exquisitely beautiful, her eyes twinkling merrily in the candlelight.

  Mac couldn’t believe he’d seriously thought she was going to ghost him.

  They had just finished the most unbelievable dinner, and shared a lot of funny teaching stories.

  And now he was going to walk her home.

  Or maybe to his place.

  Parker stood and he got up too, holding out her coat for her.

  “What a gentleman,” she murmured teasingly.

  He was pleased anyway.

  Mac prided himself on being a gentleman. Though Parker inspired very ungentlemanly feelings in him.

  The wolf groaned inside him - the physical nearness to his mate without claiming her wasn’t easy.

  It was the emotional proximity that Mac found overwhelming.

  He had been alone for so long. But here was a woman who understood him, who understood his passion for teaching because she shared it.

  He placed a hand on the small of her back and led her from the restaurant.


  It was cold and clear outside, a million stars twinkling over Tarker’s Hollow.

  “Would you like to come over for a drink?” Mac asked her.

  “Yes,” she said without hesitation.

  “I like that,” he told her as they headed off toward his place.

  “What?” she asked.

  “That you don’t play games,” he said. “You want to come and have a drink with me, and you don’t pretend you have to think about it or tell me you have to be up early.”

  “Are you saying I’m easy?” Parker asked.

  He almost fell over, then realized she was kidding.

  “I’m kind of counting on it,” he joked. “I don’t actually have any drinks at my house.”

  She laughed and for a moment everything was perfect.

  Then his wolf went on high alert.

  Mac was scenting it again - the same cold sharpness that had been in the woods when they’d gone riding.

  He scanned the sidewalk behind them and caught movement.

  “Everything okay?” Parker asked.

  Whatever he had seen was gone.

  “Sure,” he said, distractedly.

  They continued down along Yale.

  The feeling of being followed grew stronger, but there were no footsteps, nothing but occasional movement in the shadows.

  Mac’s protective instincts were in overdrive now. Every sound, every flicker of the street lights had him on edge.

  Parker was completely vulnerable out here, exposed in the lamplight with darkness all around them.

  And Mac couldn’t shift to protect her in full view of the street.

  “Hey, let’s take a short cut through the woods,” he said.

  “Short cut?” she asked.

  She was right to be suspicious. His house was on the other side of Yale.

  But she went along with him readily enough.

  It was almost as if she knew they were being followed too.

  “I left something in my classroom,” he said, taking her hand and leading her toward the college woods. “We can just cut through campus to grab it before we head back to my place.”

  She held his hand like it was a lifeline and they strode into the trees together.

  Mac had been exploring these woods since he was a little boy. He knew them like the back of his hand.