by Marian Tee
“Yes.”
Her jaw dropped. “Excuse me?” Surely Alessandro didn’t think she was that stupid to buy the same excuse?
“It was my brother who—”
“Are you freaking serious?” she cried out. “Can’t you even be more creative? Or even realistic with your lies?”
Alessandro shook his head. “It is no lie. My brother needed my help—”
“In the middle of the night? What kind of help did he need?” Bitterness assailed her. “Did it involve another woman and a quickie?”
“No!” Alessandro was aghast at the turn her thoughts had taken, but of course he knew he only had himself to blame for it. “Kassia, listen to me—” He tried to take hold of her shoulders, but she struggled against him violently. “Kassia, dammit, I don’t want to hurt you—”
“You’ve been hurting me from the start!” Her voice broke, her control snapped, and she started to sob. “I don’t understand what you want from me.”
“I’m sorry.” He wanted to haul her into his arms, but the way she had furiously struggled left him powerless while he watched Kassia drown under all the pain he had inflicted on her. His voice thickened as he repeated the words. “I’m sorry, Kassia.” He held her gaze captive, willing her to see that he meant it. “But if you give me this one last chance, I swear I’ll never hurt you—”
She was already shaking her head before he even finished, and desperation ate at him. “Kassia. Give me one damn chance—”
But still, she shook her head. “I don’t think you ever mean to hurt me,” she whispered. “But I also don’t think you’ll ever be capable of loving me—” She stopped, her gaze searching, and again she was wearing her heart on her sleeve.
He knew then. He only had to say those three words, and she would run back to his arms. He wanted to say the words, but they eluded him. It was as if the words made up his last wall of defense against heartbreak, and even now, he couldn’t completely rid himself of the fear that love would force him to his knees the way it had with Domenico.
A sob suddenly escaped Kassia, and his gaze jerked back to her.
Her face was ravaged with pain, and Alessandro whitened, realizing that his silence had made Kassia think he didn’t love her still.
“Kassia—”
“Don’t bother explaining.” She choked back another sob.
“It’s not like that, baby.” He tried reaching for her again.
“Don’t touch me,” Kassia screamed.
Alessandro froze.
Kassia trembled, horrified at how she had completely lost it. “S-sorry.” She was drowning with humiliation. She had just given herself away, had just let Alessandro know how much it had meant to hear the words and how much it devastated her to realize that Alessandro was incapable of saying them.
She closed her eyes. “You have to let me go now, Professor. I don’t want to…” She forced another sob down before it could claw out of her throat. “I need to learn how to move on—”
“I don’t want you to move on,” he gritted out.
Her eyes flew open. “Then what do you want?” she demanded painfully. “That I just be content at warming your bed—”
“No, goddammit! You’re not like that – you were never like that—”
“Liar!” God, what kind of a fool did the professor think she was? She tried to shove past him, but he caught her wrist and whirled her back to face him. “Let me go,” she screamed.
“Never,” Alessandro rasped out. “Listen to me, Kassia.” He cupped her face and forced her to look at him. “It was never like that between us. You were and are the only one I want in my life—”
She laughed hysterically. “You really think I’m that stupid?” She kept laughing, knowing that when she stopped, she would start crying, and she just didn’t want that to happen. “You’ve been playing with me—”
“No. I wasn’t.” But still she kept laughing, and Alessandro’s unease deepened. “Kassia, stop—”
“I can’t.” She gasped the words out. “If I stop, I’m going to cry and…” She laughed and laughed. “The moment I cry, it’s over, Professor. It’s completely over.”
His blood chilled. “Don’t say that,” he said in a low, harsh whisper.
“But it’s the truth.” She blinked and blinked, keeping the tears away even as she found herself struggling just to continue breathing and not hyperventilating. “I’m your flavor of the month, someone you’ll eventually lose interest—”
“You are more than that—”
“Then prove it.” Her lips twisted. “But you can’t, can you? Because it’s not…” She stopped speaking when Alessandro suddenly released her, leaving Kassia dazed and confused.
He took another step back. “You’re saying…you need proof that I think of you as a permanent part of my life?”
She had never heard him speak such words, never even thought he would have a reason to say it, and she found herself nodding. “Y-yes.”
“And if I give you this proof, you will stay with me?”
Unease stirred. “Professor, I don’t—”
His voice turned hard. “Answer me.”
When she nodded, the professor’s face turned grim.
“Then so be it.”
Confusion deepened. “Then so be…what?”
The professor took several steps away from her.
“Professor—”
A second later, the professor was gone, and Kassia found herself staring at a wolf.
MY WEREWOLF PROFESSOR 4
Playlist
Locked Away – R. City feat. Adam Levine
Prologue
Not all Lyccans were born honorable or courageous.
All his life, Rocco had known he was different from the other members of his race. In instances where Lyccans would rise to fight for what they believed in, Rocco would be the first to surrender and even kiss the feet of his enemies. While most Lyccans embraced the opportunity to avenge victims of injustice, Rocco only felt secret relief that he was alive.
Rocco might have a Lyccan’s strength and power, making him inherently capable of killing a dozen men before they could even see him coming, but it was power he wouldn’t ever be using.
He was weak where it counted, and this had never been more evident when he saw his own mother being murdered before his very eyes…and he had done nothing.
Remembering the way she had cried for his help made Rocco shudder even to this day, but he knew that if he had the chance to turn back time, nothing would have changed. He hated what those monsters had done to her, but he hated the thought of suffering a violent death even more.
When Rocco realized it was his turn to die, panic had led him to do the one thing that would guarantee his execution from the Lyccan Council.
He had shifted form in the presence of humans not bound to an oath of loyalty by blood.
They all fired their guns at him as soon as he shifted, and as the shots rang out and bullets pierced his body, Rocco had fainted, not from loss of blood but out of sheer fear of what the Lyccan Council would do once they found out about his foolishness.
When Rocco had woken up, he was on the floor, his wrists and legs manacled. But he hadn’t been alone. A well-dressed couple stood in front of him, and they almost reminded him of vampires, with their murderously cold eyes.
They had offered him a choice then.
Be one of them or die.
Rocco had chosen to live.
And so he had lived, but now he was also a slave to the same humans who were behind his mother’s assassination.
The door in front of him finally opened, and the memories of his past disappeared. Trying not to quake with fear, he entered and bowed at the presence of his employers.
Little smiles played on their faces, the couple finding the Lyccan’s penchant to scrape and bow amusing.
The man spoke first. “Tell her what you’ve learned.”
At the man’s nod, Rocco said nervously, “I’ve rea
son to believe Kassia Summers will soon be announced as the future mate to Alessandro Moretti.”
Rocco’s other employer drew her breath sharply, hatred contorting her beautiful face into something unattractively evil. “How sure are you of this? Paparazzi follow the professor everywhere. Shouldn’t they know about this if it’s true?”
“N-not necessarily, madam.” Rocco’s answer came out a stammer. He hated having to contradict his employers, knowing their tempers were so rash they could turn on him at any moment. “Masking our identities is second nature—” Rocco stopped speaking as a sudden memory jarred him.
He saw his mother dying in these people’s hands—
“Rocco?” The man’s voice was tinged with irritation.
Rocco quickly shook the thought away.
It was his mother who had signed her own death warrant, not him. She had chosen to stay loyal to the Council despite the threat to her life. That was her fault, not his.
Repressing another shudder, Rocco hurriedly continued, “Most of my race avoid spending too much time with humans as a preemptive measure for avoiding detection. But the girl has Alessandro Moretti’s scent all over her. That much time spent with each other can only mean one thing.”
Silence, coldly contemplative, followed Rocco’s words.
Mel said finally, “This can be the break we’ve been waiting for.” Tall and distinguished-looking with flashes of silver threading his hair, he was bodyguard to one of the state’s richest citizens, whose wife he fucked in secret.
“See for yourself.” He handed his lover his phone. Its screen displayed a list of their most prominent targets and the bounty placed on their heads by a criminal organization so secret even Interpol hadn’t ever heard of them.
The woman’s eyes widened at the amount stated next to the photo of Alessandro Moretti. “A billion dollars?” she read incredulously.
“I’ve sent inquiries about this, and I have received confirmation that they’re willing to advance us $100M on the spot if we commit to this.” Mel paused. “But this won’t work without your full cooperation.”
Her lip curled. “You want me to play prodigal mother, is that it?”
His answering laughter was pleasant, but his words were not. “For one billion dollars, sweetheart, I’d make you fuck your own daughter if that’s what it takes.” Closing the distance between them, he cupped her chin and, pressing a bruising kiss on her mouth, he murmured, “What do you say, my beautiful whore?” He bit her lower lip, hard enough to make her bleed. She gasped, a mixture of pain and pleasure glittering in her eyes, and his lips formed a ruthless smile.
“Bastard,” she spat in a low whisper, but the way her nipples pebbled against her dress belied her anger.
“You’ve done much worse than this as Dresden’s wife,” Mel pointed out. Turning to Rocco, he ordered the cowering Lyccan to continue with his surveillance. “I want to know all the places Kassia Summers goes to, the people she hangs out with. I want to know everything, and if there are times when you can be sure she’ll be alone, tell me immediately.”
When Rocco left, Mel raised a brow at his lover. “Have you made up your mind about how badly you want that billion-dollar bounty?”
Three Days Ago
Continuing from My Werewolf Professor 3
18-year-old Kassia Summers was going crazy.
It was the only reason that could explain why, one second, the professor had been standing right in front of her, and then the next second he had disappeared and Kassia found herself alone in a park office with…a wolf.
And it wasn’t just any kind of wolf.
Big was a gross understatement, and so was badass. Resting on its haunches, the black wolf in front of her was even taller than Kassia. Lethal power emanated from the creature, and it was so terrifying that if the wolf thought of baring its fangs, she had a feeling she’d faint on the spot.
Across the office, the wolf stared at her, unmoving, unblinking. A pool of Alessandro’s clothes lay on the floor next to it, screaming a truth Kassia didn’t think she could make herself believe.
Dry-mouthed, Kassia whispered, “A-Alessandro?”
The wolf nodded.
No. Way.
She swallowed. “Alessandro Moretti?”
The wolf’s familiar green eyes gleamed with amusement, as if asking if she knew any other Alessandro who shapeshifted, and Kassia’s cheeks flamed even as her head continued to spin with disbelief.
Alessandro Moretti had turned into a wolf.
The wolf staring at her now was Alessandro Moretti.
She pinched her arm, as hard as she could, just to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. It hurt, but it didn’t make the world around her waver.
This was real then.
She was in love with a professor who had turned out to be a werewolf.
Pain struck her head, as if the thought of the professor being a werewolf was too much for her brain. What if this was all an elaborate million-dollar prank, Kassia wondered wildly. Maybe, if she asked him to do it again, the professor would be forced to reveal the truth.
Yes, that was it. This was a prank. It had to be.
“Change back,” she blurted out before she could think better of what she was asking.
The wolf inclined its head to the side, as if contemplating the validity of her request. A second later, the wolf disappeared, and a completely naked Alessandro Moretti stood before her.
Kassia jumped back in terror. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.” She knew she was freaking out, but she couldn’t help it. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.” Had she really just seen that? No, she couldn’t have. She was imagining things. Heartbreak had made her delirious. Or high. Whichever. This couldn’t be—
When the professor took a step towards her, she screamed again. “Stop!’
The professor stilled.
“Change back.”
The professor turned into a wolf.
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!
“Change back to a human.”
The naked professor returned.
She still couldn’t believe it, and she found herself ordering him to shift forms again.
Wolf, man, wolf, man, wolf, man—
Alessandro had had enough after he changed for the tenth time. “Dammit, Kassia, stop making me shift like you’re asking a dog to play dead.”
A nervous, shrill giggle escaped her at the unexpected words, and as she watched the professor bend down to pick up his clothes from the floor, her heartbeat gradually decelerated, and she started breathing again.
When the professor was fully dressed, appearing as handsome and elegant as he had always been, she almost felt like pinching herself again. Had it really happened?
Alessandro saw Kassia start to open her mouth, and his eyes narrowed. Just one look at her expressive face told him exactly what she was planning to ask, and he said immediately, “No.” He shook his head in exasperation. “I’m not a fucking Transformer.”
She choked back a laugh. “N-no. You’re definitely no Transformer. You’re more like a Wolve—” She shut up when she saw the professor glaring at her.
“Try to say that one more time,” he warned pleasantly, “and I’ll bite a chunk out of you. Got it?”
She remembered his fangs and paled. “Yes, sir.” She couldn’t say it fast enough. She expected him to laugh or even just smile, but instead the professor remained silent, his gaze brooding but unreadable.
Never a patient man like his twin, Alessandro forced himself to stay still and wait. As the seconds passed, he watched Kassia’s nervousness visibly turn into unease, with the way her brown eyes darkened and she started biting the tips of her hair again. He could read her every thought as various emotions flitted over her face, and he knew the exact moment when the truth hit her, and the need to ask became inevitable—
“Why did you let me see you shift, Professor?” Kassia’s voice was tremulous and her body stiff, as if expecting to ward off words that migh
t hurt her.
Holding her gaze captive, he answered simply, “Because you wanted proof that I think of you as a permanent part of my life.”
****
Kassia couldn’t sleep.
She had tried to do so for the past two hours, but eventually she had given up and simply lay down in the bed.
Staring into the dark, she was unable to keep the professor’s last words from her mind.
After the professor’s staggering revelation of his true nature and why he had chosen to let her know, Kassia had succumbed to another shock that, even now, she wasn’t sure had completely worn off.
Alessandro Moretti was a werewolf – no, a Lyccan. That was what his kind was called, the professor had said to Kassia, and he didn’t like being called a ‘werewolf’ because it made him feel like a pop star with fangs.
After – Kassia wasn’t really sure how or why – but the professor had been able to make the necessary excuses to take her away from the rest of the class. He had said something about personal emergencies and makeup classes, but Kassia doubted anyone had really asked for an explanation. The professor’s family owned the university, after all. His word was law.
The professor had then taken her to a waiting limousine, and inside he had made no attempt to touch her or even sit next to her, as if sensing Kassia’s need to think things through on her own.
During the ride, the professor had explained other things to her in his soft, beautifully accented voice. Even knowing he wasn’t human, Kassia had clung to the sound of it. Listening to him speak, she had gradually realized that what he was made no difference.
He was not human, but she still loved him.
He was not human, but it didn’t excuse the way he had kept hurting her, blowing hot and cold that the love she felt for him had turned into a weapon that hurt no one but…herself.
She closed her eyes, and the sound of professor’s voice played in her mind like an addictive melody.
You must not speak to anyone about this.