by N J Adel
“Now what?” he asked.
“I’d go talk to her, but she wouldn’t listen to me.” I yanked my gaze from her and peered at him. “She might listen to you, though.”
He glared at me, snorting. “You want me to clean up your mess?”
“Aren’t you Alpha?”
“Yes, which means I kick your ass for what you did, not clean up your fucking mess.”
“C’mon, bro…”
He crossed his arms over his chest and let out a low growl. My ass of a twin was stubborn as fuck. I knew that look on his face by heart. It meant he wouldn’t change his mind willingly.
My shoulder lifted in resignation as I backed away from the trees. “Fine. Then I’ll go tell her everything. It’s the only way she will—”
He gripped my shirt, his hand too strong on the back of my neck, and set me back where I’d been. “Are you out of your mind?”
I shrugged him off me. “I don’t know what else to do. All I know is that I need her to understand. I won’t let that parasite win her over. I just can’t.”
He shook his head, his jaw twisting, eyes distant as if he was deliberating what I’d said with himself. “We’ve got to ease her through it, not dump it all on her head like that.” The shaking of his head grew faster. “No, Alec. She’d hate you even more.”
“Then go talk to her before that fucker steals her away!”
He was about to protest again, but a certain foul stench choked me and made him look like he was about to hurl his guts out.
“Speak of the bloodsucker.” He prowled out of the park. “Keep him busy while I go talk some sense into our Belle.”
CHAPTER 12
KAYDEN
A few groups of people were milling around, waiting for their coffee orders, and the noise coming from inside the coffeehouse is a discord of conversations, clattering cups, dishes and country music. I easily picked Belle’s sniveling voice in the chaos. “…Katrina, I fucked up. I really need your help, but I hate to ask you to drive all the way back. So if you haven’t left Forest Grove already, please come over. I’m at this…Red Moon Café, a few blocks from campus.”
It wasn’t hard to know who she was talking to on the phone. I took several deep breaths to calm down the fury roiling inside. First it was the bloodsucker’s stench, now hearing Belle asking for help from the…
My head went blank when she lifted her eyes from the table and landed on me. The way her big eyes bulged made me fear for her health. Seriously, she had enormous hazel eyes; she’d make a cute lemur.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered between her teeth, her gaze wandering right and left. “Isn’t it enough what you’ve done already?”
I raised my hands up in surrender. “Uh…wrong twin. Kayden, not Alec. I come in peace.”
She looked like she was about to cry again. “That’s…”
“A little creepy that you can’t tell us apart?” I rolled my eyes as I grabbed a chair and sat at her table. “I know, right? Tell me about it.” Then I took off my jacket, showing her my full sleeve. “To make it easy for you, I have this, while Alec only has a tiny tattoo on his left shoulder.”
Here came the lemur eyes again. “You can’t sit here. I can’t be seen with you.” She shook her head. “Either of you.”
I rested my arms on the table and leaned forward. “I’m sorry, Professor, for the nuisance my brother must be causing you right now, but we really need to talk. Do you have a book?”
She scowled. “What?”
“I’m your student. You’re my teacher. If you worry so much what people will think when they see us together outside school, this conversation will look more than normal to them if we have a book on the table.”
She blew out a long sigh. The she bent to get her bag on the chair next to hers. Some…cleavage went on display. Even though I had full visual before, knew exactly what these beautiful tits looked like and would love to see them again and again, I was surprised my first instinct was not to look but to find out if anyone else was looking. And gouge their eyes if they were.
Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology textbook replaced the view and landed between us on the table. She opened it then buried her nose in. “Fine, you want to talk? Why don’t you start with why neither of you were surprised to see I’m your professor?”
That was a tough one to answer without revealing the whole deal. I should lie. I must lie.
Why was it so fucking hard to lie to her?
I was taking forever to answer. She must have noticed because she lifted her nose a little and fixed me with a death glare. “He knew who I was when he…”
Here we go. “You’re a national celebrity. The whole country followed your case. Everybody knows who you are, Belle. It’s—”
“Professor Ferro to you,” she hissed. “And even if you knew about the case, how did you know I was teaching at your university?”
“Your name is listed on the course.”
“No. They haven’t had the time to change it yet. Only Professor Asher’s name is listed for that course. I checked it myself.”
Fuck. Time for some reverse psychology. “Professor, you’ve done nothing wrong. You’re both adults. You weren’t his teacher last night. You’re making a big deal out of this for no reason.”
If I thought that glare she was giving me earlier was her death glare, I was wrong. This one was. “No reason?”
“I’m sorry. That came out wrong.” Tactically. It stopped her from asking about how we knew her. “With the case and just getting your job back, I understand what is at stake here for you.”
“No, you don’t. How could you understand? You’re just a boy whose brother tapped the teacher’s ass.”
What she said was legit, but it did hurt. I fought so hard not to tell her the whole truth so she would understand and put us all out of our misery. But it would only bring up a bigger misery, especially on her.
“Do you know how my ex-monster got me fired from the university?” she continued. “Without my consent, he had taken a video of me while I masturbated for his pleasure, under his commands, in his office. Then he coerced a student to fabricate the video to make it look like I was masturbating for said student.”
Disgust flipped my stomach. “What?”
“He gave the video to the faculty. They forced me to resign, and as a courtesy to Professor Montgomery, they kept it confidential provided that I’d never teach anywhere else.”
I should pay that fucker a visit at whatever dump he was at and punch a hole in his face. “I’m so sorry you had to go through this shit.”
“You want to know what’s really at stake here, Mr. Beastly? If your brother told anybody I was involved with him, the whole country that followed my case would turn on me in a heartbeat. Instead of being a victim of power abuse, I’d become the whore who slept with her teacher for good grades and professional gain, and fooled around with her students behind the poor guy’s back, then falsely put in him in jail so she could screw her own students.” She kept her voice low all the time, looking around to make sure no one was in a hearing range.
“But—”
“It wouldn’t matter if I didn’t know Alec was my student at the time or that I wasn’t his teacher when it happened. And all the horrors Professor Montgomery did to me would be portrayed as fabricated lies by the whore. Not only would I lose my job…again…but also the monster that made my life a horrific tragedy could walk freely.”
Sadly, this was the world humans lived in. In my world, which soon would be her world, things were settled differently. I couldn’t wait for the day when Belle was finally one of us so I would put an end to that fucker who hurt her once and for all.
I meant…so Alec would end him.
My gaze traveled to where I knew my brother was hiding. These feelings sneaking up on me, this overprotectiveness for Belle growing inside me with every moment I spent looking into her eyes…were treacherous.
“Alec will never hurt you, never l
et you be hurt.”
She snorted. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She didn’t know it yet, but once she chose a mate from our pack, he would be her protector and everything she needed. It was how we were wired. Swoon head over heels with our mates, unable to see anyone or anything else. Possessed and obsessed with them. A blessing and a curse all in one.
“It means exactly that. He won’t hurt you.” My gaze returned to her as if I couldn’t stay away for another second. “Neither will I...Professor.”
“Even if I believe you’re good people who wouldn’t hurt their professor like that, should I convince myself neither of you would get drunk at a party, blurt it all out, brag around?”
“You have my word,” I promised. “No one will ever know. I’ll help cover it up, too, so you can still be together.”
Her jaw fell. “What are you… It was a one time thing. Will never happen again.”
“You know as well as I do that is not what’s going to happen. He likes you.” Loves you to bits. “And I believe you like him, too. There’s no reason in my book why the two of you can’t be happy.”
“No.” She blinked and swallowed. Her gaze dropped to the open pages. “It doesn’t matter if I liked him. It’s wrong. Taboo,” she whispered, and jealousy stabbed me hard. “Besides, he lied to me. About not knowing me, about his age—”
“One day you will know why he had to, and these standards will no longer matter.”
Something flicked in her eyes when she looked back at me. “What does that even mean?”
The vampire’s stench filled my nostrils, suffocating me. Damn it, Alec. You couldn’t hold him back a few more minutes?
“Oh my god.” She hid her face with one hand. “Please, don’t see me.”
Anger pulsed through me. “You shouldn’t be afraid of that…Asher. Not when I’m here.”
She didn’t seem to be listening. Her hand moved away from her face, and she stole a glance up. “Oh my god. He’s just walked in. Kayden, please leave. If he sees me with you, I’ll get into so much trouble.”
“Professor Ferro!” The bloodsucker’s filthy voice penetrated my back.
I held my breath, my fists clenched so hard my knuckles went white. Then I tilted my body to the side, spreading my legs to the tiny aisle, hoping he would trip over my feet.
He threw me an obnoxious smirk as he glided away from my trap, then he lifted Belle’s bag and helped himself to the chair. What a dick!
“Kayden.” He glanced at the open book. “So eager to learn on your very first day. I’m impressed.”
I blocked my nose as long as I could. “It’s hard to pass the opportunity when one finally gets a decent teacher.”
His ugly mouth twisted with a full smile, fangs and all. I wanted to pluck them out of his jaw.
Belle, who was sitting as a ghost, pale and silent, since the blood sucker set foot in the place, cleared her throat. “You know each other?”
“We go way back,” Asher said grimly. “The Beastly twins have been my students from day one.”
“I see.” She grimaced. “Anyway, I was just explaining a few things and telling Mr. Beastly that he needs to refer to you from now regarding any further explanation.” She looked at me, her face stern. “I will no longer be teaching your class.”
“What?” She can’t just push us away while this bloodsucker has her all to himself. “No.”
“It’s for the best.”
“You can’t do that,” I snarled, the beast threatening everything.
“Kayden,” Asher grumbled a warning.
Her chest heaved as she glared at me. “Excuse me?”
Shit. I can’t lose control like this. Not here. “I’m sorry. I mean…we, your students, will be devastated to see you go.”
She snapped the book closed and stood. “Thank you, but it was just one class. Regardless of how much we both enjoyed it, no one gets that attached to their teacher when they’ve only taught them once.”
“True. You sound so creepy sometimes, Kayden.” The fucker smirked again.
“I can’t agree more,” she said.
Are you shitting me? I needed to get out of here before I destroyed everything. Literally. “Fuck you,” I mouthed at him without her seeing me as I got to my feet.
“Can I please have my bag, Professor?” She extended her hand toward him.
He was hugging it on his lap like a sick stalker. How could she think I was the creep here? “Of course.” He handed it to her as if he did absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.
“Thank you.” She shoved the book back in the bag. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m a bit tired and need to go home.”
“How about I give you a ride, Professor?” I asked.
Her brows hooked, her eyes alarmed. I really needed to tone down this protective shit a notch or two. “Thanks. I have my own car.”
Asher left his seat. “Then allow me to drive.”
I’m going to kill this pretentious bastard.
“No.” She stared at both of us in disbelief. “I don’t know what’s happening here, and I hope it’s just an Oregon thing for all the men to be so…” Her fingers clawed and retracted in the air. “I don’t know what it is, but I’d like you, both of you, to take a step back.” She left the table, practically jogging away out of the place.
The moment she left, I channeled all my rage at the vampire. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You just have to ruin everything, you bloodsucking shit?” I was boiling, yet I kept my voice low. A habit when talking about anything involving fur or fangs.
His lips curled up in a low snarl. “Everything is already ruined because of you. What the fuck were you doing sticking your stinky dicks in her? And the bite? This is not the deal, Beastly. If you’re not going to play fair, I won’t either.”
Damn it, Alec. I hated the position he’d put me in. What my brother did was wrong. Cheating, like the asshole just said. And now I had to stand here, get lectured for it by a fucking vampire.
“The bite is merely a graze. A human could have left a deeper one.” She would be transitioning by now or, at least, her smell would have changed if it had been a shifter bite.
I pushed my chair away, leaving the table. Then I held my breath as I gripped his shoulder. “Back off, Asher. Belle is Alec’s fated mate.”
“That was never true.” His disgusting breath and voice fell too close on my ear. “And something tells me…you want to believe I’m right.”
A chill ran through me. Did he notice? If he did, Alec might have noticed, too.
Fuck this shit. He was playing dirty mind games like vamps always did. I glared at him, contemplating clawing up and ripping his throat apart. That would be quite a mess to clean up, though. He wasn’t even worth it.
“I see the way you look at her, Kayden. But save your breath.” He pushed my hand off him. “Rena has always been mine.”
“Not this time, leech.” I shoved him out of the way and stormed back to Alec.
His heavy brows hitched. “I know you’re mad, but I couldn’t hold him off any longer.”
“It’s okay.” This wasn’t the reason my blood was simmering. It wasn’t the bloodsucker either.
I was mad at myself.
The feelings I had for Rena…Belle were wrong. It was happening so fast, invading me like an unpredicted storm. I couldn’t allow myself to fall for my brother’s mate. That would ruin us and the pack.
“Did it work?” he asked. “I saw her leaving, and she was pretty upset.”
“Don’t worry, Brother. She will come around,” I mumbled, a lump in my throat. “I won’t let anyone come between the two of you.” I held both his arms and looked him straight in the eye. “Anyone.”
Not even me.
CHAPTER 13
BELLE
I drove aimlessly for hours, trying to wrap my mind around the day’s events. Then it fucking rained—poured—and I had no idea where to go. Katrina had gone AWOL. I didn’t have a singl
e person to talk to or seek help from. Even my therapy started in two weeks in Portland; I didn’t want to spill my heart out to a therapist that currently worked at the university, and that was the earliest appointment I could find in Portland.
At times like these, I missed my mom more than the norm. The one who raised me, not the one who dumped me as a baby. I’d never met my real parents, and I knew so little about them. They were Italians. Some said they died in an accident. Some said they just took off. The bottom line was that they had disappeared, and I was left alone.
I never wanted to dig around and find what really happened. Sometimes, the truth was the worst. Besides, Mom was enough for me. She took me in when I was three. It was just the two of us in a cozy home that was always clean with plenty of food.
She was a great mother and a great high school French teacher. She used to live in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Then she moved to California to be a teacher. That was how I met Katrina. She was a student of Mom’s and visited a lot to be tutored…and when things got rough at home.
I didn’t remember much of what was going on with her family, but I remembered her father used to beat her. Then one day she became the rebel she’d always been and exploded in his face in the middle of our street. I was too young to remember what she’d said, but the man never laid a hand on her or anyone else after that night. In fact, he’d never spoken again either.
Then Mom died when I was eighteen, and everything went south. If it wasn’t for the college scholarship, I wouldn’t know how I’d have wound up.
Still, I’d married a man twenty years older than I was, who beat the hell out of me and almost killed me, but marrying Declan was a normal outcome for someone like me. I didn’t want to be the bitch who analyzed herself to make up pathetic excuses, because I wasn’t. Suffice to have said, I had serious abandonment issues and daddy issues to say the least. These alone would cause anyone to make some serious mistakes, like falling for the first daddy figure I’d met or staying in an abusive relationship afraid of being alone.
