My Werewolf Professor (17 page)

Alessandro wordlessly pulled his sister into his arms. “It’s fine, sweetheart. We’ve all been living under stress for some time now.”
And that
, he thought grimly,
was a fucking understatement if he ever heard one.

When Esmeralda only nodded against his chest, he asked carefully, “Can you truly not tell me what the fight was about or even just what it was you’ve done?”

With her eyes closed, she could easily replay the entire incident in her mind. “It was a girl in class.”
Rica,
the blonde beauty who almost every guy in school had or once had a crush on. “She came up to me and asked how much was Domenico selling for since she wanted a pet.” She lifted her head so Alessandro would see how much she
didn’t
regret what she had done. “I slapped her.” She bit her lip. “She slapped me back, and well, that was that. We didn’t stop fighting until some of the teachers came to break it off.”

“As a teacher, I’d like you to remember that violence is
never
the answer. But as a Moretti…” An ominous light glinted in his eyes. “I’d have to say you did good, little sister.”

She grinned.

“Is that all then?”
 

Esmeralda forced herself to keep her grin in place. “Yup.” But it wasn’t. Her fight with Rica was
nothing
compared to seeing Rica’s older stepbrother looking so grimly disappointed at her afterwards. It had crushed her so much that she had found herself taking refuge in her temper flaring up. Remembering the words she had so rashly thrown at him made her wince now, and she was miserably certain he wouldn’t talk to her after today.

Alessandro noted the way his sister started biting her nails. “Are you sure there’s nothing else that’s troubling you?”

Esmeralda stopped biting her nails. “Nothing.”

They had reached their home by then and as he helped her out of the limousine, Alessandro said, “I shall let Domenico know about this.”

She froze. “Can’t I be the one to do it instead?” She looked at him pleadingly. “I don’t want you and Domenico to keep fighting. It’s not right.”

“There’s nothing to worry about, Esme. Nothing I say can hurt Domenico.” He smiled mockingly. “I’m sure you know about how he wiped the floor with me in the fighting hall.”

Esmeralda shook her head. “You know I don’t mean it that way. Let me please—”

“No.” His voice was final.

“Just please don’t blame him for this. Everything’s
my
fault.”

Alessandro frowned at the unhappy expression on his sister’s face as she turned away to head up to her room. He reminded her dryly, “You do remember he’s the eldest among us and that he doesn’t need your protection? No one dies of hurt feelings—”

Pausing mid-step, she swung around to look at him and said, “Then either you’ve never been in love or you’re deliberately blinding yourself to it.”

She marched off after that, and Alessandro had to admit that her last words made a grand exit. He mentally shook his head.
Teenagers.
 

Alessandro was on his way to Domenico’s property within their compound when he belatedly remembered to check his phone. He swore when he saw several unopened messages, all of them from Kassia.

Kassia:
Can you tell me more about how you grew up?

Kassia:
Are you suddenly busy?

Kassia:
Sorry if I bothered you.

He called her right away, but after the third try, Alessandro knew that Kassia wouldn’t be picking up the call. He hesitated for one moment before deciding to send her a text message.

Alessandro:
I apologize for not answering right away. An urgent family matter came up, and I had to take care of it first. May I call you now?

He waited for a full ten minutes, but there was no response.

Fuck it,
he thought.
 

Turning around, he decided that his talk with Domenico could be done another time. This –
Kassia –
was more important.

****

Someone was knocking on her window.

Pushing her chair back with a frown, Kassia stood up and headed to the window. Raising the blinds, she almost tumbled back in shock when she saw the professor balanced on a sturdy branch of the tree across her building.

He gestured for her to open her window, and after a moment’s indecision, she moved to do his bidding. Even though he was the last person on earth she wanted to see right now, it didn’t mean she wanted him dead, which was what he’d certainly be if she left him outside her window.

The professor leapt into the opening without trouble, landing on his two feet with such uncanny grace that Kassia was left blinking. Even if she practiced
ookami-kata
for years, she didn’t think she’d ever be capable of doing the same thing.

The professor was dressed entirely in black, but the shirt and jeans combination made him look a lot less aloof and serious. He was still gorgeous and sexy, but now his appeal was more rugged than princely.

Even so, it still made her heart pitter-patter like crazy, making Kassia realize with a sinking heart that how the professor looked would never matter.
 

She loved him, whichever side he showed to her.

She loved the professor, the man
inside
her dorm room right now.

The realization made her gulp and step back.

Alessandro watched Kassia move away from him, as if desperate to place some distance between them. Dressed in a tank top and the skimpiest pair of denim shorts, Kassia made the most alluring figure, and the sight, combined with her intoxicating scent, messed him up in a way no other woman had been able to.

Striving for control, he resolutely kept his gaze on her lovely face as he asked, “Did you receive my message?” If he allowed himself just one more damn second of staring at her tender, heaving breasts, he would be done for.

Kassia shook her head, unwilling to answer his questions while she still had some of her own. “W-what were you doing outside my window? What if someone saw you here?” Even as she spoke, her dazed mind remained caught up by the professor’s presence in her room.
He was here. He was beautiful. He was here.

Hearing the stammer in her voice, Alessandro made sure to keep his voice calm and soothing as he answered her. “No one did. Trust me.” His gaze remained on her face, unwavering, Alessandro wanting her to see in his eyes that him coming to her room wasn’t going to get her in trouble. It was all he could do, knowing that an explanation would involve revealing his Lyccan side to her, and that he wasn’t yet willing to risk.

When he took another step towards her, she took a step back. He saw where she’d end up, and he didn’t stop moving towards her. Three steps later, and she gasped as she tumbled back into her bed.

In a second, he was on top of her, his hard body trapping hers under him, her face between his braced arms. He looked down at her. “Gotcha.” It was such an insanely amateurish thing to say, but when the professor said it, the word almost sounded elegant.

Then the professor’s lips started to curve, and she jerked in realization that he had cunningly contrived to make her fall. “
Beast!”
She tried pushing him off her, but the moment her fisted hands hit the wall of his chest, everything backfired, the powerful strength of his body enslaving her senses.

This close, Alessandro could feel her heart beating hard against her chest, could smell the way heat claimed her body as she attempted to wriggle away, and his smile turned into a smirk.
 

She gasped. “I hate you!” But what she found herself despising more was the way her heart raced at the feel of his weight pressing down on her.

“No,” he refuted calmly. “You don’t.” He captured one fisted hand as he spoke and brought it to his lips.
 

She tried to tug her hand away, but he didn’t let her.
 

“I hate you.”

This time, he didn’t only smell her anger and desire. This close, the scent of her confusion and hurt also reached him, and his smile faded. “I’m sorry for making you wait,” he said quietly. “I received an urgent call from my sister, and I had to go to her school. She was involved in a fight with another student, and it’s resulted in her suspension.”

The explanation eased Kassia’s hurt, but only to an extent. She couldn’t make herself forget how abandoned and foolish she had felt, waiting for Alessandro to message her back.

Sensing her pain, Alessandro pressed another kiss to her knuckles in silent apology. “I’m sorry,” he said again. Releasing her hand, he stroked her hair, tucking loose strands behind her ear. “Forgive me?”

Kassia remained silent, but her eyes spoke volumes. The scent of her emotions changed, the sharpness of her pain fading as the musky fragrance of her desire tinged the air.

A low sigh escaped him at how sweet she was, and he said roughly, “I know I don’t deserve you, baby.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “But I don’t think I can ever let you go.”

Kassia swallowed, having never imagined that the professor could say such things. Of course she had dreamt he would, but those had been dreams. It had been wishful thinking, and there had always been a part of her that believed the professor would never really be able to love Kassia, the way her own mother couldn’t love her.

Taking a deep breath, she said slowly, “I forgive you, Professor, but…” Kassia bit her lip. “Surely you know by now…” Her chest heaved as she struggled to take another deep breath. “Surely you know how much power you have to hurt me?”

Alessandro’s chest tightened at her words. He remembered the last time he had used the power she spoke of, his mind tormenting him with the devastation on Kassia’s face when she realized he had slept with Melissa. He said grimly, “Yes. I know.”

“Then…” Kassia mustered the courage to raise her hands and frame the professor’s face. Even as he stiffened, making her nervous, Kassia didn’t take her hands away. Looking into the professor’s eyes, she said shakily, “Please don’t hurt me again, Professor.”

The words twisting his heart, Alessandro tried to find the right words to say but couldn’t. There weren’t any, no words enough to describe the way seeing her pain had ravaged him. And so he did the next best thing.

Taking her hands from his face, he placed them on his shoulders.
 

Heeding the silent invitation, she moved her hands up, clasping them behind his neck. He lowered his head, and she raised her face to meet his. Their lips touched, and the whole world disappeared.

With every second, the kiss became hotter and sweeter, deepening until she felt it reaching all the way to her heart. Her toes curled even as she moved restlessly under the professor, wanting
more
even though she knew he was already giving her all of him. She knew it by his ragged breathing, the almost painful, rough movement of his hands over her body as he divested Kassia of her clothing. His every guard was down, the professor wanting her to know that she, too, wielded power over him.

Her body arched when he cupped her breasts, Kassia’s eyes drifting close in ecstasy. The professor was touching her breasts. The professor was running his hands over her naked body. On and on her mind went, as if hoping a play-by-play of the professor’s actions could calm her down.

It couldn’t.

When the professor’s lips left hers, Kassia cried out in protest. But she quieted when she felt his lips return to her body, caressing the side of her neck before moving down until his lips latched onto one proudly pouting nipple. She gasped as he started to suck, and again her body arched against his.
 

“Professor,” she whispered.
 

When he sucked harder, her voice came out a moan.
“Professor.”

His entire body growing taut at the alluring sound of Kassia’s moan, Alessandro moved to her other breast, making sure to bestow it with the same devoted attention. He laved her nipple with his tongue before he started sucking and biting, Kassia rewarding him with her moans and the restless movements of her body.
 

Her hands rushed down his back, cupping his buttocks, her innocent touch spiking his desire. “
Kassia
.” He couldn’t stop himself from saying her name, feeling like he was able to claim her as his with it. Releasing her breast, he moved down once more, and this time he parted her legs open with his hands.