by Marian Tee
Alejandro’s lips met in a straight line as he struggled to suppress a smile. It was too easy to know what his student was thinking, the way she was looking at him with acute frustration painted on her face.
A frown started to mar her forehead, and by now Alessandro could see that she was wondering – really wondering – if she had perhaps dreamt it all up. If what happened really happened, and that she was earnestly questioning her sanity did it for him.
Kassia almost gasped when she saw a smile curving on the professor’s cruelly beautiful lips. Seeing it made her want to cry. She had never seen him smile like that before, and because it was so, she became even more convinced she might just have dreamed everything up.
The smile was dark and sexy, like a glimpse of all the forbidden pleasures he could secretly offer. It was definitely not the kind of smile that the Professor Alessandro Moretti she knew could offer, not when he was always so soft-spoken, gentle, and well-mannered.
That smile made it seem like the professor she knew was but a façade, and the real man behind the gentleman’s mask was the kind who would make her feel pleasure from being hurt.
It was very embarrassing, but Kassia’s sex actually throbbed hard at that smile.
“Say it again, Kassia. I want you to say over and over that you want me to fuck you so much you’ll do anything so you won’t forget it.”
“I won’t forget!”
Again, he almost smiled, her fervent tone amusing but also too damn sexy for his cock to hear. He said huskily, “Say it anyway.”
Her blush was winsome, her tone just as husky as she said, “I’ll do anything for you to fuck me, Professor.”
“Do you mean it?”
She gazed at him in helpless desire. How could he even doubt it? “Yes,” she said simply and, unable to stop herself, she reached out to him.
Alessandro captured her hand before she could touch any part of him. He brought her hand close to his lips as he murmured, “Then you will need to work hard for it.”
Kassia blinked rapidly at the last words. Huh? And then she was even more confused when the professor dropped her hand so suddenly as if it was poisoned.
“Midterms are just days away.” His tone had also changed from seductive to businesslike, which only added to her bewilderment. Maybe…maybe she really had dreamt up everything?
Alessandro noticed the blank look in his student’s eyes and almost sighed in exasperation. “You do know midterms are days away, don’t you, Kassia?”
“Umm…” Kassia winced when the professor gave her a killing glare.
“Yes, Kassia, midterms are just days away.” He crossed his arms against his chest. “I want you to study very hard for those tests. I want to hear that you’ve passed those two subjects you’re in danger of failing, and then we’ll see about continuing this.” Suppressing a smile at the dazed look on Kassia’s face, Alessandro walked back to the door and gestured for her to follow. Giving her his usual fake nice smile, he said politely, “It was nice talking to you, Kassia.”
Kassia was in a daze. The professor was now back to his normal gentle self, but was that the real Alessandro Moretti?
A look at his brilliant green eyes told her no, that was not the real Alessandro Moretti. The professor was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and none of them had ever realized it. Her mind was still grappling to get a handle on the truth when the professor unceremoniously ushered her towards the door. He opened it for her. “Goodbye, Kassia.”
The words had her stepping out of his office.
The professor shut the door in her face.
And that was that, Kassia thought. She walked away aimlessly, questioning herself about what just happened, when her phone buzzed in her dress’ pocket. Pulling it out, she saw that an unread message from an undisclosed number was on her screen. Kassia tapped the screen to read the message—
Her jaw dropped.
Do well on your tests so I can fuck you the way we both want me to.
Kassia stumbled to a stop, having to squeeze her thighs together in a futile way to keep herself from getting wet. But it was too late. She only had to think about the professor saying the F-word – the professor whispering “fuck” in that husky, wicked way of his, and she got even wetter, embarrassingly and excitingly so.
A wolf indeed, Kassia thought with a shudder that wasn’t exactly born out of unpleasantness.
Months ago, she had fallen head over heels at first sight with the gentle side of Alessandro Moretti, a side everyone in school had also been treated to. But this wild, almost sadistic and dominant side of him? Kassia was drawn to it like a moth to a flame, and she didn’t even mind if the passion between them would be so explosively hot it would end up burning her in ashes.
****
Kassia had seen him. Alessandro knew the very moment her eyes touched him, and he more than heard the gasp that rose out of her throat when she saw the woman next to him. He could feel her jealousy, but more than that, he could feel her pain.
He had thought it would be fun to know how she would react at seeing him with another woman, but he was wrong. What pained her surprisingly hurt him as well, a fact that unnerved him and one he knew he would brood about later endlessly.
But for now…
Wanting to undo the hurt he had needlessly caused Kassia, Alessandro quickly extricated his arm from Melissa’s hold, which she had so slyly captured when she suddenly appeared at his side and fell into step with him.
His fellow teacher was a lovely woman, with clouds of dark brown hair and expressive dark eyes. She was smart and confident, with the kind of allure that one would normally not expect from a woman who taught Chemistry for a living.
She knew what she wanted and went for it. Right now, he was what she wanted, and Alessandro knew he could have her in his bed anytime he desired. However, it was a tiny curvy redhead he wanted under him. Just the thought of having Kassia under him, legs splayed open for him to fuck to his heart’s content, had Alessandro hard, and he knew he had to leave right away before Melissa started assuming his erection was for her.
He coughed to draw Melissa’s attention and when she turned to him, he murmured, “I’m afraid I have to dash, Professor. I have a meeting with a student regarding supplementary lessons.” A lie, but a necessary one to spare the other woman from the knowledge that Alessandro wanted nothing to do with her.
“Of course. Hope I can run into you again next time,” she said gaily.
As he walked away, Alessandro couldn’t help but turn to look up at the second floor corridors, where he had first felt Kassia’s gaze on him.
She was no longer looking at him. Leaning against the wall, Kassia was talking to her friend, but the stiff and almost-defensive posture of her back told Alessandro that she had seen more than enough.
Alessandro had an insane urge to run up to Kassia and comfort her with his touch, to assure her —
His mouth tightened, and he quickened his stride, as if by doing so he could leave the strange feelings that the mere thought of Kassia evoked. She had always amused and exasperated him, the way she never seemed to care about her work in school except when it was something that stimulated her highly creative mind. He had been attracted to her, but it was something he could have easily dismissed if not for her visit to his office, her bold declaration of her feelings, and the unmistakable scent of her arousal.
This was bad, Alessandro thought. If he let this continue, he could end up like his older brother Domenico, a broken man since his wife had left him. It had been almost two years since his wife had disappeared, but the change in his future alpha still appalled Alessandro. Worse, it sickened and shamed Alessandro even though he would never admit it to anyone, not even to his twin, whom he was closest to.
Domenico had once been the strongest and proudest man Alessandro knew, someone he looked up to. Yet love had destroyed Domenico, and Alessandro would be damned if he let it destroy him, too. He wouldn’t let it happen, not even if it meant he w
ould have to hurt Kassia instead.
****
“You can relax now,” Ellie, Kassia’s best friend from childhood, said under her breath. “They’re gone.”
Kassia managed a smile. “Thanks.” It had hurt, seeing the professor acting so friendly with another woman. It felt like her heart was breaking the whole time she had seen them together, forcing her to turn away. If she stared at them any longer, she was afraid she would end up crying on the spot.
Her friend added reassuringly, “They went their separate ways, too.”
Kassia’s smile became more genuine. “Honest?”
Ellie nodded. A small curvy brunette, shyness was the one major thing she and Kassia had in common. Other than that, their interests lay in opposite directions, with Kassia hating to study, for instance, while Ellie was in love with it.
Kassia said slowly, “I haven’t heard any rumors about X dating her. Have you?” X was their code name for the professor, something Ellie came up with because the language professor was pretty much like an unknown factor in algebra.
Ellie shook her head. “But even if they’re not dating, you do know she’s not your toughest competition, right? He’s a Moretti, Kas. He’s from one of the richest families in the world. His kind dates actresses and supermodels.”
Kassia stubbornly shook her head back. “Believe me, they’re not my competition. He’s too levelheaded to be serious about airheads. I’m telling you, if there’s anyone who could be my rival, it’s her.”
“Y,” Ellie said decisively, her math major side kicking in.
“Right. Y. I’m scared of Y. She gets to spend a lot of time with him, and obviously she’s no idiot. If they spend too much time together, it’s possible that he’d eventually develop feelings for her—”
“Then do something. If you can’t figure out an equation, you need to try different formulas.”
****
Later in the day, Alessandro made his way to the library, which – according to the student he asked – was where she had last seen Kassia. Since she had seen him with the female professor this morning, she had been avoiding him conspicuously. He knew it was so because normally, she was everywhere he went.
In the four months she had been his student, she had been like a shy but lovesick puppy, following him from afar. At lunch, she would choose the one table at the cafeteria that was across the faculty’s section, which allowed her a glimpse of him eating. And every time he was teaching a class, she would dash to wherever he was just so she could peek at him through the back door’s peep glass.
When he entered the library, he expected Kassia to be alone and perhaps sulking or crying in the corner. But instead, he heard her talking – to another man.
The wolf in him bristled, and he almost bared his fangs in possessive rage. Even though Kassia and the boy she was talking to were at the farthest side of the library, his extraordinary sense of hearing – a Lyccan gift – allowed him to hear them just fine.
Alessandro slowly walked to the nearest vacant table, sat down, and listened. He would give them a chance. He would listen and decide for himself if he would allow the boy to live despite talking to someone who was his.
It didn’t matter that Kassia didn’t really belong to him, didn’t matter that it was wrong for him to claim an innocent like her.
The moment she had come into his office and told him she wanted him, her fate had been sealed.
“Please stop following me.” Kassia was pleading.
“Then just say you’ll go out with me.” Alessandro finally recognized the voice. It was Jacob, another one of his students in his Beginner Italian class. One of the most popular players in the university’s football team, good-looking, charming, and with decent grades.
Someone who was surely fit to die, Alessandro thought idly. Anyone like that should know better than to come within a mile’s radius of his property.
“I can’t go out with you.”
“Why not? Do you have a boyfriend?”
“No—”
“Then go out with me.” The boy’s tone had taken a pleading note.
Smart boy. Jacob had realized that girls like Kassia would be too shy, too nice to refuse when he spoke that way.
Too bad for him, Alessandro knew exactly what he was thinking.
Before Kassia could speak, Alessandro was already striding into view.
When Jacob realized he was the focus of Professor Moretti’s narrow-eyed gaze, he quickly placed a respectable distance between him and Kassia. There was something about the professor’s gaze that made him oddly nervous, like he just might be at the receiving end of the professor’s much-lauded kick if he didn’t move away from Kassia. Maybe it was because the professor was Italian, Jacob thought, and that was why he seemed very conservative when it came to his female students.
Alessandro had the satisfaction of seeing Kassia freeze at the unexpected sight of him, but it was not enough to soothe his temper.
It was his first time to see up close what Kassia was wearing. Although she had on but a simple sweater and jeans, the sweater was loose enough to hang low on one side, revealing the creamy skin of her shoulder. The sight of it made him want to bite her, and he was sure even human cubs would feel the same way about it. Knowing it was so made him want to snarl and snap his jaw at Jacob so the little boy would run away.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that. This was his family’s university, after all, and Jacob was one of his students.
“Good afternoon, Professor,” Jacob mumbled.
Kassia didn’t say a thing, only nodding in greeting.
Impertinent chick. If she thought he would let her get away with it, she would soon find out how wrong she was.
Striving to keep his tone even, he asked, “How are you two doing with classes?”
“We’re good. Kassia might just pass her first test—”
“Jacob!” Kassia was red-faced.
Alessandro mentally counted to three. He intensely disliked the way the boy took it upon himself to answer for Kassia, like they were already one. “Is that true, Kassia? You’re about to pass your first test?” And was that because she had Jacob to tutor her? Perhaps it wasn’t the only thing the boy was teaching her.
Kassia had lifted her chin and was glaring at him defiantly.
God, it made Alessandro want to kiss her hard. One kiss, and she would remember who her master was.
“Yes.” Her tone was just as defiant.
Oh, so she was being proud now? She thought she had it better with a boy compared to him?
Kassia said fiercely, “I’m going to pass and you can’t do anything about it. I’m going to ace all my exams, and I’ll get what I want!”
Alejandro froze.
Jacob was just as still, his eyes darting between Kassia and Alessandro. Finally, he asked hesitantly, “Umm, why would the professor not want you to pass?”
Kassia let out a squeak, as if only realizing what she had just let slip.
Later, he would punish her. But for now, he was too much in a good mood to so, having finally understood why Kassia wanted to pass all her exams.
So she really was serious about the bet.
The realization made him feel…
It made him want to fuck her.
He said smoothly to Jacob, “You misunderstand. I’ve been threatening to kick her out of my martial arts class if her grades don’t improve. That’s all.” He glanced at Kassia, frowning, as if her grades still worried him. “Speaking of your grades, your grade in my class is also starting to slip.”
Her eyes widened. “It is?”
Ah, such innocence. It would be the most amazing feeling to conquer that innocence and see her awaken to womanhood in his arms.
He nodded briskly. “Yes. Please follow me to my office so we can discuss what you may do about it.” Alessandro nodded at Jacob. “I hope it’s okay I talk to your friend for now?”
“Of course, Professor.” Jacob smiled charmingly at Kassia. “S
ee you around, Kas.”
The smile made Alessandro want to knock the boy’s teeth off, and the way he used a nickname to call his girl made his teeth gnash.
Perhaps he could turn into a wolf tonight and bite this boy’s hand to teach him a lesson. That – or fail him in his class. Jacob had to learn not to bite the hand that fed him, had to remember that in Moretti University, Alessandro was god.
****
“Professor Moretti, wait.”
Kassia was barely able to catch up with the professor as he walked out of the library and headed towards the stairs.
Unable to match his long-legged pace, she found herself running when the professor disappeared as he went down another flight of stairs.
“Professor!” She hurried down—
Kassia screamed when someone suddenly pulled her from behind, a hand covering her mouth.
When she turned around, she saw the professor and he was pulling her inside the tool closet at the mezzanine—
Alessandro pulled the door shut. This was one of the carefully selected places in the university that none of the CCTVs in the area was able to record. It was a contingency, a place where shifters like him could turn during emergencies.
Right now, he had found it useful for another type of emergency, one just as important.
He switched the lights off, plunging the tool closet into almost complete darkness. Kassia’s human eyes would prevent her from seeing him clearly, but Alessandro had no such problems. Lyccan vision was a thousand times better, and it allowed him to reach for her unerringly.
She gasped when he clasped her waist, gasped again when he lifted her off her feet so he could settle her on top of a waist-high shelf.
“Professor, what—”
He swallowed the rest of what she had to say with his kiss.
For a moment, Kassia couldn’t move, too shocked at what was happening. One moment the professor was with another woman, the next moment he had whisked her into the darkness and was kissing her—
He lifted his head. “Kassia?”
She touched her lips. Bruised. It definitely felt bruised, and yet this was not a dream.