Chapter 47
My eyes immediately dart to Rafe and Jesse across the room, but they’re caught
up in their conversations with Jackson and Tony.
“No no,” Aivez says, his voice soft and pleased. “Don’t shout for your brother,
Ariel. That would be a poor choice.”
I turn my eyes back to the professor as, inside me, my wolf’s hackles raise.
“Don’t misunderstand — I am excited that you are here, highness,” Alvez
murmurs, giving my hand a little squeeze. “I’m looking forward to working with
you, developing your powers. But, of course, if anyone were to discover that I
knew that a young woman had infiltrated the academy…l would lose my job.”
I stare at him, instantly realizing the trap that he’s laid for me here. If I reveal to
anyone that he knows who I am even my brothers — he’ll have me expelled, even
if it means he goes too.
“Mutually assured destruction,” he murmurs, seeing me process the
consequences. “So, I think it’s best that the two of us work together, don’t you?
Trust, after all,” he says, his voice low and luxurious, “is the foundation of any
great relationship.”
“Fine,” I say, my word hardly a whisper as I nod. “Please just…don’t…”
“Ariel,” he murmurs, moving closer, his eyes slowly drifting over my face. “Your
secret is safe with me.”
I exhale slowly.
“But,” he continues, “you could thank me for my generosity.”
“Thank you,” I say instantly, the words falling from my mouth, and the way that he
grins…
Instantly I realize how under his thumb I am.
How much he likes forcing my hand, making me his little puppet.
“You are welcome, my Princess,” he purrs. Alvez takes another moment to stare
into my eyes before turning to look at the marble, his entire demeanor changing
in an instant. I stare at him, shocked a little to see that he is again the mind-
mannered professor. “Now,” he says, grinning. “I’ll do my best to push my power
Chapter 47
towards you. What do you think, should we try to levitate it? Or push?”
“Um,” I reply, still staring at him, a little shocked.
“Let’s try push.” he says, glancing at me with a friendly grin. “Concentrate now,
Clark. See what you can do.”
I stare at him for a moment longer, still rattled by his revelation and the way that
he took control. But then I loose my breath and concentrate because…what else
am I going to do?
Any way this turns, if I do anything at all beyond what he says, I’m kicked out of
school. So…I comply and focus on the marble in front of me.
To my surprise, my hand where it’s clasped in Alvez’s begins to heat — and more
than the usual body heat produced by two people holding hands. I flinch a little,
turning towards him.
“Nooo,” he murmurs, giving my hand a squeeze. “It’s totally normal — don’t get
distracted. Concentrate, Clark.”
I turn my attention back to the marble, and I do willing it first to lift, and then to
move, and then to…I don’t know, do anything.
My whole body is sweating after about fifteen minutes of concentration, but then
Alvez sighs and drops my hand. “It was good work, Clark,” he says, smiling at me
with encouragement as he claps me on the shoulder. “It may just be that our
particular magics do not speak to each other. Shall we switch it up?”
Alvez claps his hands in the air and asks for results, but when no one reports any
ability to make the marble do anything at all, he just sighs and puts us in new
couples.
I’m with Tony this time, who gives me a friendly nod. “Hands okay?” he asks,
offering his.
“Sure,” I say, taking it. It’s completely different this time, and a coolness rushes
through me as Tony and I stand for a long, long time looking at the marble before
me. After awhile I find myself almost in a… meditative state. I’m calm, and
relaxed, and honestly I feel like I’m almost…floating. All of the heat which
resulted from my experience with Alvez is wiped from me, replaced by utter calm.
I jump when Alvez again claps his hands — because, how long was that? It felt
like
Chapter 47
about three minutes…
But as I glance at the clock, I realize that about half an hour has passed. I gape.
“Any results?” Alvez calls out to us, and Rafe begins to murmur something about.
the marble maybe moving a little bit as I look up at Tony in surprise.
He blinks down at me, a smile on his lips, and I instantly grin as I realize that his
experience, somehow, matched my own. “I kind of forgot about the marble,” I say,
smiling up at him.
Tony laughs. “Me too, but…”
“That was cool wasn’t it!?”
“I feel like I’ve been at the spa all day,” he whispers back, laughing more now
with the joy of it. “I’m so cozy, warm in my soul. I’m so fucking relaxed.”
“I know! I =”
“Results?” Alvez says, pitching his voice louder to interrupt us. Tony and I both
turn to him and when Alvez flicks his eyes down to our still-joined hands, I blush
a little and pull my hand away.
“The marble didn’t move,” I say, my voice solid. Tony looks down at me, perhaps
wondering why I’m not sharing more, but I just stand straight and don’t look at
him, hoping he holds his tongue.
Good, my wolf says, though she’s laying languidly in my soul now, her eyes half-
lidded in her relaxation. Let’s not tell the professor anything until we know more
about what he wants.
I nod, agreeing with her.
“Shame,” Alvez says, quirking his head to the side. Then he looks up at the clock.
“We are out of time,” he says with a little chagrin. “For homework, I’d like each of
you to get into your last pairing and try again for longer this time. At least a full
hour. Come to our class in two days ready to report your results. Sinclair? Please
come over here to arrange a time to meet with me privately.”
Alvez nods around to us before moving to his desk, starting to pack up his bag as
Rafe approaches to arrange a time.
My eyes immediately move to Jackson, who turns to me.
Because he’s the only one who’s left.
Tony leaves my side, heading for Jesse as Jackson slowly moves over. I have to
crane my head back on my neck to look up at him as he moves close.
“I’m glad to see you made it into the Academy,” Jackson says quietly, his voice
gruff as he stares down at me, his expression stony and unkind.
I can’t help it, I burst into a grin and laugh, just a little bit.
“What?” he asks, frowning now, confused.
“You just said something really nice,” I answer quietly, shrugging one shoulder,
“even though your tone and your expression still say you want to rip me to
shreds.”
Jackson flinches back a little and stares at me. “Wait, really?” he asks.
4.4.
“Yeah,” I say, laughing a little more now. “Are you now aware of it? The fact that
you’ve got like, murder in your eyes pretty much all the time?”
“Oh my god,” he murmurs, dropping his head and scraping a calloused hand
down the length of his face. “No, I guess I wasn’t.”
“Well, ‘m glad I’m here too,” I say quietly, more serious now. “And thank you for
“Don’t mention it,” he murmurs, and as he glances around I realize that it’s as
much a desire for secrecy as it is a downplaying of his generosity in the obstacle
course. “So, we have to…”
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I » .
Yeah,” I say, clearing my throat a
. “ 7
little awkwardly. “Um, do you want to
come up to our room for dinner? You
PB “
could eat with us and then…” I reach
out and grab the little marble still
qu Pp :
sitting on the desk. “Try to blow this
: ”
to smithereens, or whatever.” The
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Jackson smirks at me and glances over his shoulder towards Jesse and
Rafe.“Yeah, Jackson,” Jesse says, and I smile as he appears at Jackson’s side,
holding my
Chemistry textbook out to me. “Come to dinner — you can have your food sent up
with ours.”
From the other side of the room, I hear Rafe groan as he hears the invitation.
“Ignore him,” I say, stepping closer to Jackson and shaking my head as I look up
into his face. “He’s being a dick. Seriously, come!”
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“pr . en
I’ll think about it,” Jackson says,
glancing over his shoulder at the
5 )
crown Prince who so clearly doesn’t
: “ ’
want him to do that. “If not, I’ll send
word about my schedule. See if we
) . ”
can’t make a time to meet.” The
content is on Novelxo.org! Read
the latest chapter there!
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« n . :
Okay,” I say with a shrug, taking my
books from Jesse and smiling up at
my mate, kind of unable to help it.
)
Because…honestly, I’m not scared of
him at all anymore, even if I probably
should be. After his apology in the
bathroom, and then how he helped
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I don’t know. I’m starting to realize that there’s more to Jackson than just his gruff
surface.
For a second, my mind flashes to Luca —
But I push it away, not letting myself go there.
Jackson nods to me and Jesse, not bothering to say any other words of goodbye
as he grabs his satchel and heads from the door.
“He’s not all bad, that one,” Jesse says, considering Jackson as he disappears.
“Even if he is mildly terrifying even at the best of times.”
“I agree,” I say, contemplative. Jesse just grins at me and nods towards the door,
where Rafe is waiting at Alvez’s side, Alvez patiently holding the key to the
classroom in his hands.
“Good luck!” Alvez says to the three of us cheerfully as we move through the
door. “Rafe, I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. Jesse, Ari, please don’t hesitate to
get in touch if you need anything.”
“We murmur our thanks to our professor, turning away —
And honestly, I thought it was all finished, until I feel fingers trace down the length
of my spine as I turn away.