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Chapter Twenty Two
Damien’s POV-
I hadn’t felt this miserable in weeks.
+25 BONUS
Not since Elara caught me with Sabrina and everything went to hell The rumours on the campus message board I saw about me dating Sabrina had only made matters worse, and I hadn’t slept well, tormented that Elara had read them.
All I wanted was to visit her, to speak with her, to discover some way to bridge the gap between us. But she’d also been avoiding me like I was some kind of plaque, always rushing off to this or that class or meeting, leaving me with nothing but passing glimpses of her in the halls.
So when I entered the lecture hall that morning to teach, my heart skipped at the sight of her seated near the back, her head bent over a notebook.
As I stood at the podium, I could see her, her dark hair spilling over one shoulder, her brow knotting as she concentrated She was gorgeous, even with that closed–off look she had on now, the look she’d not had in our past life when she’d looked at me like I was everything to her. I held on to the edge of the podium, my knuckles going white, trying to pay attention to the lesson. But f’kept glancing at her, looking for signs that there was still one iota of feeling, however little, for me.
Our eyes met for a quick moment and I held my breath. Her sharp, hazel eyes met mine before they slid away, her posture blocking me out. It felt like a stab to the chest, but I wouldn’t allow it to deter me. If she couldn’t talk to me outside of class, I’d make her notice me here.
I began asking questions about the material–pack dynamics, werewolf history, anything to get the room involved. But I continued aiming them at her, my voice possessing just enough bite to draw her in.
“Elara,” I said and nodded toward her. “What’s more important about the Alpha’s position in keeping the pack together?”
She recoiled in her chair, her lips drawn flat “It’s a matter of trust,” she snapped, a catch in her voice. “An Alpha must earn it,
not command it.”
There was dead silence in the room, and I felt the weight of her words as if they were issued as a
neutral smile and sent another question her way.
challenge, I nodded, forced a
“And how does an Alpha rebuild trust after it has been broken?” I was unable to stifle the question, it escaped, too intimate,
too raw.
Her eyes narrowed, annoyance crossing her visage. “No, they don’t,” she replied.
“Some things can’t be fixed.”
A murmur rippled through the class, but I didn’t hear it. The anger, the defiance that was better than the flat indifference. For the first time in days, she was looking at me, really looking, even if there was fire in her eyes.
A peculiar cascade of pain and relief tightened in my chest. I’ll choose her rage over her silence, any day.
As if on cue, Sabrina’s voice interjected, bright and eager. “In fact, I believe that an Alpha can try to earn back trust by demonstrating loyalty putting the pack first.” She smiled at me, and her eyes hung on a beat too long, and my teeth clenched Elara’s face grew dark, and I could nearly feel the tension oozing off her
I asked, directing if at Elara, but Sabrina interjected before she could answer, her hand going up. “I know this one!” she said, before launching into a rambling answer. Elara’s jaw tightened, and I wanted to shout at Sabrina to be quiet, but I couldn’t. And here, I was the professor, not just their Alpha, and the students were not required to participate. Yet with each word that came out of Sabrina’s mouth, it felt like a wedge being driven, one that drove Elara farther away.
As the lecture drew to a close, I spoke up before Elara could slip into the crowd. “Elara, would you come with me to my office? I need to discuss something” My voice was even, but my heart beat fast. I had to speak with her–alone.
+25 BONUS
Sabrina stood straight up, her chair scraped the floor. “I can help too, Professor Scott” she said, her voice too eager, too predictable.
I looked at her, my patience expended. “No, Sabrina,” I said coldly. “This is between me and Elara.” Her face fell but I didn’t care. It was time to stop letting her make things complicated.
Elara trailed silently behind me to my office, resisting each step. When we arrived. I shut the door and offered her a seat, but she remained standing with her arms folded. I leaned against my desk, looking for some way of talking to her without making her run.
“How… how have you been?” I winced at how awkward it sounded.
“Fine,” she said, flat, offering me nothing.
I tried again.
- “Is there anything in the course you are struggling with? Anything you don’t get?”
She shrugged and glanced at the door. “It’s all clear. I’m keeping up.”
Her brief replies struck me and a wave of helplessness came over me. I didn’t want her to go not yet. My brain raced trying to come up with anything, anything, that would get her to stay a moment longer. “Elara, I just-
“I should be going,” she interrupted, moving toward the door. “You have nothing to say, do you?”
–
Impulsively I reached and took her wrist, halting her. Her skin was warm under my fingertips, and the contact jolted me. We both stiffened, and our eyes met, and for an instant, we were back in that other life when she was mine when I could touch her without fear. “Ellie,” I said quietly, the old pet name escaping me before I could stop it, soft and intimate, how I’d whispered it against her skin when we were all twisted up and tangled in the darkness
She blinked and furrowed her brow. “Did you say something?”
My heart raced as 1 shook my head, quickly. “No, nothing,” I said, relief sweeping over me that she hadn’t heard. If she heard that name, she’d know know how much I still felt, how much I couldn’t shake off.
She pulled her wrist out of reach, her face closing down. I couldn’t allow her to leave here like this, not when it hadn’t occurred to me to attempt to reach her. “Elara,” I said, low.
“Are
you… are you dating that guy? Julian?”
Her eyes went wide, then squinted. “What’s it to you?” she snapped. “Why do you care?”
“I’m just looking out for you,” I said, and the words sounded feeble even to me.
She moved closer, her voice incisive. “Looking out for me? What kind of fucking relationship do we have, Damien, where you feel justified in ‘looking out‘ for me?”
right – I had no claim on her, not anymore. I was left speechless, it hit me
I said nothing and opened my mouth. She was right like a punch in the face.
“He’s not
a good person,” I said at last, grasping in the dark. “We should be careful around Julian”
She laughed a bitter sound. “And you’re a good person? who should be lecturing me on who I should trust? Her voice grew louder, sharper with each word. Stay out of my business.”
ag in my head, as it
I could do nothing but watch her turn and walk out, the door swinging closed behind her. Her voice rang sounded bitter and sharp and I felt the heaviness of my past mistakes crushing me down again.
I lowered into my chair, staring at the shut door, fists at my sides. I hadn’t known how far he’d gotten with her, how close he came to taking her from me.
*Twenty Two
+25 BONUS
The stroke of the possessive heat rose my chest and made my blood boil. My teeth clenched, and I promised myself, Elara is mine! Nobody can take her away from me! And then my voice came out in a low growl, It’s time I take back what belongs to
