Professor And The Feisty Human

Chapter 6

Leo

‘Is she our mate?’ I ask Asclepius. A feeling of dread washing over me, but she can't be. She is Liam’s mate, but why is her scent suddenly stronger? Did Liam reject her?

‘How should I know?' Asclepius responds. 'The masking potion is not out of my system yet.'

‘You don’t have to be such a diva!’

He growls in response.

I follow the jasmine scent that leads into the noisy club.

“She is mine!” One of Mike’s bodyguards roars.

“Ppplease, don’t fight.” Her words are slurred.

Alcohol masks the jasmine scent a little, but it is strong enough for me to still notice it.

“Who do you wanna go home with? Baby girl?” Marcus, the bodyguard, asks.

I slowly walk towards Willow, who is sandwiched between the two men, and a protective growl escapes my throat.

“What the hell are you all doing?” I prepare myself for a fight that might break out.

The men get startled, but they quickly regain their composure, and a guy with curly hair gets up and puffs up his chest. As if that could help him in any way.

“Who the hell are you to ask that?” He eyes me with his stoned eyes.

“I’m her brother.”

“Leo?” Marcus smiles sheepishly. “Sorry, bro, you know how much we respect you.” He pats my shoulder.

I worked at the club when my father disowned me. I was a broke student who wanted to prove that I would be fine without him, but I have never visited the THC Club since I got my first job on campus. However, the staff and I have always had a mutual respect for each other.

“Then I need to take my sister home, bro,” my voice comes out more unfriendly than I would like.

“Sure thing. I really apologize.” Marcus holds his hands up.

“Let’s go, Jasmine, you are going to be in so much trouble.” I scoop her up.

“I’m not...” She trails off, her eyes closed.

I stare at her as I carry her to the car. She is beautiful, but that’s not what I should be thinking about right now.

“You look handsome.” She smiles with her eyes half closed and places her warm palm on my cheek.

I smile awkwardly as people stare at us, and then they look away.

"Put her down!" A voice says behind me.

I slowly turn around.

"Don't worry. I know him. He likes to act like he's my brother," Willow says to a lady who eyes me suspiciously. "It's okay, really," Willow says, her eyes slightly open.

The lady nods, and I nod back. She looks at my license plate as we get into the car.

Kit, my driver, gives me a strange look, but he is probably saving the questions for later.

I carry Willow to my apartment, still getting weird looks and having to explain to a few people that we are close.

“What happened?” I ask as I gently place her on the couch. She looks weak and struggles to sit up.

“I just needed to forget about everything," she cries. "You won’t understand what I have been through. I really wanted to forget.”

“Yeah, I know what you have been through,” I mumble, feeling a little guilty for eavesdropping on her conversation with her sister and her mother at the hospital. I hold her, clueless of what else to do. “What do you want to forget?” I ask, but she doesn't respond.

Her eyes are still closed, and she looks pale. How much did she drink? She had just gotten back from Minnesota. "Willow?" I say gently, just to keep her awake. “What do you want to forget?”

“Everything about my life. I wish I could sleep and wake up when it is all over. I can’t anymore.”

“Can’t what?” I ask her.

“Yes, I’m tired.”

“Willow?”

I feel her pulse on her wrist and I count the beats per minute. It's a little low.

“Willow?”

*************

When I arrive at the hospital, they take her on a stretcher. I fish for her ID card in her handbag and head to the reception to give them my credit card to pay for her medical bills.

“No one should go to her room except me,” I say to the lady at the reception.

I briskly walk to my car, somehow afraid of leaving her alone, but the fire of rage bubbling in me needs a release.

*****************

I head straight to THC club and the moment my eyes meet Marcus and his friend's eyes, they look like they have been caught naked. I immediately move across the room, with as much speed as possible, and I aim for Marcus' neck.

“What did you give her!?” I growl at Marcus.

“We..." he wheezes, his finger pointing at his neck. My grip on his neck losens a little. "We gave her the stuff that you make.” He tries to breathe.

“That I make?” I let go. He holds on to the wall to find his balance.

“Yes, your limbicus. The one that you sell to our boss.” He places his hand around his throat.

“You guys know, too?" I ask him.

He nods with a grin.

I am an i***t.

I storm out of the club, passing the bouncers, who are looking at me with startled expressions on their faces.

I practically fly to Mike’s office, and I find Danger standing outside, talking to another bouncer.

“Where the hell is he?”

“I was wondering where you went,” Danger says casually, unbothered, and then opens the door.

I throw myself in Mike's office, my hands itching to slam him against the wall. “What the f**k, dude? I thought we had a good thing going.”

“Calm down," he exhales. "You sound just like Laura when I tried to break up with her.”

“Whiskey?” he points at the bottle on his table.

I glare at him.

“Okay, you are no fun,” he rolls his eyes.

“What the f**k is limbicus?”

He winces for half a second. “Oh! That?" he shakes his head. "I’ve been trying to get these drug dealers to get that thing away from my club.” He gets up from behind his desk, calm as if I’m not raging.

“Mike! Someone is dead because of that thing! Another person is in hospital because of it. Don’t you dare f*****g play that game with me...”

“So, this means you know?” He raises an eyebrow. “Dammit! These bouncers can’t hold their tongues,” he mumbles.

“f**k!” My fist slams into his coffee table in the centre of the office, it breaks into two uneven pieces, which results in me wincing in pain.

He yawns.

“This is my fault for trusting you?" I ask him. "You said you were working on a science experiment that could change lives.”

“And I did. We are making money with that thing, and I'm also making you money, aren't I?”

“How many people have been through hell because of something I created?” I growl. “If you weren’t under your pack’s protection, you would be dead right now.”

“You are so emotional,” he says flatly. “This is the reason I didn’t tell you at first. I had a feeling you might react this way. I’ll talk to you when you are calm.”

“Someone looks like she drank 20 000 galons of alcohol, and she is in a f*****g hospital!”

“You mean your sister? You’ve made things easy for me, you know,” he laughs without humor. “I’ve always been worried that if you found out, you were going to walk away. That sister of yours is very pretty,” he grins. “I saw her on the surveillance cameras. I didn't know about her. Is she your cousin sister? She doesn’t smell like a wolf.”

Great, I put Willow's life in danger.

“Anyway,” he grins. “She is going to be the reason you keep making the f*****g limbicus if you want her to stay alive. She's not protected by any pack, is she?”

I glare at him.

He goes on about how hard it is to trap someone who has nothing to lose, and that he is glad to have finally found someone I would want to protect forever, especially someone who isn't under any pack's protection.

“These youngsters never listen," he shakes his head like a concerned brother. "But we are not responsible for their actions, they choose to buy these drugs.”

“What about those who are drugged without their knowledge?”

“Oh! That? I heard about that. I heard that when they use an enough amount of limbicus in alcohol...” He whistles.” I will keep an eye on them through my surveillance,” he says dismissively.

“You f****d up piece of s**t! And you dragged me into your mess.” I before I can think about it, my fist collides with his jaw.

He winces in pain and places his forefinger where the punch had landed, and then he glares at me. “Stop with this self-righteous behavior!” He growls.

“I trusted you!”

“And that was the best decision you made. I made you! You made your first real money through me. You had nothing when you got here. Look at you now.” He motions towards me with a hand holding a glass of whiskey.

“To think that I felt sorry for you. I just wanted you to make a name for yourself in the science world again. I thought this was your breakthrough." I chuckle, laughing at myself for my stupidity. "You are going to pay..."

“If you are done, you may…”

My phone vibrates, the hospital’s name flashing on my screen.

“I’ll be back!” I storm out of Mike’s office, rush to my car to call them back, and I notice my hands shaking as I try to dial the number. If something happened to her, her mom and sister would never forgive themselves for what they said to her, and I would hate myself forever.

“Hello.” The voice on the other end says.

“Hello, this is Willow’s...” I trail off. “Is she okay?”

“Thank goodness we found you, sir. A certain Liam wants to see Miss Willow Gordon. He said you two are friends.”

“Don’t let him!"

*********************

“I’m here to see my girlfriend. Stop stalking her and find yourself a real hobby.” Liam walks towards me in the parking lot.

“She is not your girlfriend. Did you forget about Lucy? Your mate?”

“Lucy knows,” he shrugs. “Anyway, you don’t have to worry about me rejecting Willow. I have other plans for her. I have decided to keep her around for some time.” His eyes have a mischievous twinkle that means one thing: trouble.

“What are you up to?”

“Nothing serious,” he shrugs. “How does it feel to be the Limbicus hero?” he grins, placing his hand on my shoulder.

My body goes rigid, and I want to yank his hand off, but I have suddenly forgotten how to move. Liam is going to use every opportunity to remind me that I killed Willow’s brother.

“Willow is probably so mad right now...” He shakes his head with a chuckle. “She and her poor brother were very close. I’m going to use her rage to my advantage. If I play my cards right, we are going to land you in prison.”

“I think your heart is somewhere in the pits of hell,” I grumble. I shake my head in disbelief, regret washing over me. I shouldn’t have stopped Liam from rejecting Willow. “You are trying to take advantage of her pain...” I clench my fists.

“Just to give you a heads-up, she is a psycho. If she finds out you are the creator of limbicus, she is going to go nuts.” He grins.

“She needs you, i***t!” I try to grasp at some non-existent hope that he might at least feel something for his mate.

“You don’t care about her either. You want to take her to Alpha Hunter.”

“I am going to do everything in my power to ensure that it happens,” I say half-heartedly, not sure if I want to put her through that anymore.

“I know you were with her last night.”

“I know. How was the pain? Did you feel it?” I ask with a smirk. “Her lips are so...”

“Stop!” he grimaces. “We’ll see who will win this battle,” he chuckles bitterly. “I will be back when my girl wakes up, and she is going to choose me over you.”