Chapter 5 Did the Young Alpha Catch On!?

Chapter 5

[Alstorin]

Every single pair of eyes in the auditorium snapped to me. Below me, my tablet lay shattered on the floor, its screen fractured into a cobweb of broken glass.

I couldn't move. I couldn't look away. My gaze was pinned entirely on Orion.

Orion; the campus billionaire, the hockey team captain, the infamous campus playboy, and the single biggest reason I despised the entire athletic department. 

Well, perhaps not the sole reason, but he was certainly the fuel to that fire. Orion was everything I abhorred: arrogant, entitled, a spoiled rich brat who cared about no one but himself. And worst of all, he was a jock.

Yet there he stood, right in the middle of my classroom, revealed to be my masked hookup from that night.

And worse of all... my mate. What are the odds?

My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird, panic spiraling through me so fast my hands began to tremble violently at my sides. 

I swallowed hard, frozen in place, utterly unable to break eye contact no matter how frantically my brain screamed at me to look away.

But then I saw the subtle shift in Orion’s face. His brow furrowed in deep confusion, a sharp, puzzled look entering his eyes as he stared back at me.

"Professor?"

The voice jolted me out of my trance. Two well-meaning students had crouched down, gathering the shattered pieces of my tablet from the floor.

"Thank you," I muttered numbly as they set the broken remnants onto my desk.

I turned back toward the room, forcing my facial muscles to lock into my best cold, detached professor expression, even as every organ inside me felt like it was collapsing.

"Someone please take him to the infirmary," I said, gesturing toward the student who had just thrown up.

One of the other hockey players hoisted the sick student over his shoulder and hurriedly escorted him out the side doors. 

Meanwhile, Orion had pulled his dark team jacket back over his bare shoulders, zipping it up.

I turned toward the whiteboard, picking up a dry-erase marker. I needed to teach. I needed to pretend everything was fine. But my mind was totally blank.

Was why the scent of fresh book pages was so overwhelming earlier, I realized, a cold sweat breaking out across my neck.

I raised my right hand to write on the board, but it shook so terribly I had to clamp my left hand around my wrist just to steady it. I exhaled a shaky breath against the glossy white surface.

This wasn't the plan. The plan was simple: I was never supposed to see that masked Alpha again. 

But now he was sitting right here in my lecture hall, so dangerously close that my body was already threatening to betray me.

Had Orion noticed? My chest seized. Did he catch the faint, hidden scent of my real pheromones beneath my suppressants? 

If he did, the fragile illusion I had maintained for years would shatter. 

Everyone would find out who I really was. Mercy’s life would be put at immediate risk, and everything I had suffered to build and hide over the past eleven years since arriving in America would crumble into ashes.

I swallowed hard and tried once more to press the marker to the board. My arms felt so leaden and weak they threatened to drop to my sides.

Giving up, I turned back to face the class. "Um..."

I brought the back of my hand up to wipe away the beads of cold sweat gathering on my forehead. 

Taking a deep breath, I lifted my chin, trying to project absolute authority even as my knees buckled beneath my suit trousers.

"Class is canceled for today," I announced firmly.

A collective gasp rippled through the room, half the class groaned in protest over the disrupted schedule, while the other half eagerly packed their bags, thrilled by the sudden free hour.

I consciously kept my eyes averted from the back row, avoiding Orion at all costs, even as my core hummed with an agonizing pull to look at him. 

I fought it with every ounce of willpower I possessed. As the students flooded out the doors, I began frantically gathering my files and papers into my leather briefcase.

When I finally lifted my briefcase and turned around, my breath hitched.

Orion was standing just a few steps away from my desk.

My spine went rigid. Every cell in my body flared to life, hyper-aware of the suffocating, dominant aura rolling off him in waves. 

Instinctively, I took a sharp step backward. Orion took two steps forward.

My heart slammed against my breastbone as I watched him narrow the distance between us. 

My body instinctively recognized the proximity of its mate, sending a dangerous spark of heat straight through my blood.

I forced myself to look up. Orion was staring down at me, the dark intensity in his eyes making the air catch in my throat.

He took another step. And another.

His massive frame towered over me, forcing me to tilt my head back just to keep him in sight. 

Panicking, I took another retreat backward, only for the small of my back to smack hard against the edge of the wooden podium.

Fuck, I cursed silently under my breath. I’m trapped.

Orion took one final step, bringing himself into my personal space. 

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze trailing over my flushed face, and a slow, knowing smile spread across his lips.