Professor And The Feisty Human

Finding Willow

Leo

“Can I help you?” she frowns.

I prepare myself for an uncomfortable conversation. The icy voice and unwelcoming face make me forget my words for a second. This is going to be fun.

“Hello?” she says impatiently, her eyebrows knitted and her lips pursed.

“Your life is in danger, Willow. You need to stay away from Liam.”

She doesn’t respond, which makes me wonder if I used the correct name. Her name is Willow, I think. That’s what that i***t, Liam kept calling her at the forest. I thought if I used her name, she would be a little more welcoming, but she seems even more pissed.

“Wow! Did Lucy send you?” She rolls her brown eyes, and for the first time, I notice that they are puffy.

Guilt gnaws at me for a second. She had been crying for him.

“Why would Lucy send me? I’m here to save your life.”

The horizontal lines doesn’t leave her forehead. “Really? Thee Doctor Brown is so bored that he decided to become a fake psychic?” She chuckles. “Wait?” she gasps. “Did you get fired? Because that would really make my night.”

Shit! I do by all means to keep my face off the campus portal and social media. Her look tells me we've crossed paths before, and I didn’t leave a good impression. “How do you know me?” I ask anyway.

“You don’t remember me, do you?” She raises her eyebrows.

“Uhm?” I blink, and then I open my mouth, but I find my brain struggling to string up a sentence.

“I once sent you a lengthy email, asking you...” She shakes her head. “No, begging you to re-read my paper and your response was that I was ‘entitled and lazy’.” She makes quotation marks with her fingers.

“Oh?” I wince. “How long ago was this?”

“It doesn’t matter, because I still hate you!”

I draw in a sharp breath.

‘Way to go, brutal professor,’ Asclepius, my wolf, chimes in, amused as usual.

She speaks, and I let her ramble. My eyes focus on her lips as she rattles words like “ego, hate and narcissist.”

I zone in and out. I'm mostly in disbelief that I’m letting a student yell at me, and take her frustrations about her boyfriend out on me.

‘Desperate times...’ Asclepius comments, and I hate him a little at that moment.

“I’m sorry,” I try to sound sincere. “Can we talk about this, and then you can tell me how to fix it?”

She rolls her eyes. “Look, I would like to stay and chat," she says in an overly polite tone and a fake smile. “But I have to go, and keep those psychic visions to yourself.” She locks the door and tries to walk as fast as she can, but I easily catch up.

“Fine, I’ll leave, but we both know that tonight, he would’ve killed you if he could. You saw it in his eyes.”

She laughs without a hint of fear or alarm, she makes no effort to stop, and it shows that she's not interested in my useless story. She looks me up and down before getting in the car.

“Please take me to LKE,” she says when she opens the door of the cab.

As soon as the cab drives off, I run to my car, bumping into a few students on the way and mumbling apologies.

“Going somewhere?”

I growl at the sound of Liam’s voice. “I have errands to run,” I say dismissively. “I don’t have time to entertain you.”

“Stop stalking Willow,” he says between his teeth.

‘You wanted to kill her! Why do you suddenly care?’ I send him a mind-link.

‘I just wanted to reject her!’

‘But you don’t know how your rejection might have affected her. She's human.’

‘You rejected three mates. You have no right to judge me.’ He grumbles. ‘Why are you concerned about her? Do you want her?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous!’

‘I didn’t know you could be so heartless. I was trying to set her free!’ He glowers at me. 'But, you had to ensure that she stays attached to me.'

‘You are not going to reject her!’

‘Because you need her for your mission,' he chuckles.

I realize how strange this could look to people who are passing by. Us glaring at each other, growling and chuckling, without anyone uttering a single word. We probably look crazy.

I ignore him and get in my car. I waste no time in driving as fast as I can to the airport. When I find Willow, I easily eavesdrop on her conversation at the check-in counter. That's how I find out that her flight would be leaving in two hours.

I book a first-class ticket with a different airline that would be leaving in two hours as well, and I almost give up as I think about the amount of time I will be spending at the airport.

I depend on her distinct scent to guide me when we arrive in Minnesota. The moment she gets in a cab, I rush to another cab.

“Follow that cab,” I say to the first cab driver I come across.

“Dude, are you a stalker?”

I take five hundred dollars and hand it to the driver without saying a word.

“Let’s go!” The cab driver grins.

‘Why are we following her again?’ Asclepius asks, a little bored.

‘To convince her that Liam wants to kill her. If she stays away from him, he won’t get a chance to be near her to reject her.’

'I'm so bored,' Asclepius says and I ignore him.

I watch Willow disappear through the doors, and I follow at a safe distance.

“Mom,” she paces to a woman who I suppose is her mother, and the way they embrace pulls at my heartstrings.

“I’m a terrible mother,” she cries.

“No," Willow shakes her head vigorously. "You will never be a terrible mom, and Marcel is going to be okay. Go home to freshen up. I'll stay here.”

“Are you sure?” Her mother asks, her voice breaking.

“Yes, please go. He'll be fine. Okay?” she says gently, as if talking to a child.

“Okay, I hope I’ll be here when he wakes up.”

“You will be,” Willow offers a reassuring smile.

The woman gives her a faint smile, and then they hug before she leaves.

Willow sits on the chair in the waiting room, anxiously tapping her foot. There's something about this that makes her look vulnerable, making me fight the urge to hug her.

She gets up when she sees the doctor. The doctor's face is unreadable for a moment, but a second later, she gives Willow a look that I know too well as she speaks in a low voice, and a scream that could probably be heard throughout the entire hospital assaults my ears.

A nurse hugs Willow, and I watch her, sobbing and looking helpless in the nurse’s arms. Her cries pierce through my heart, bringing back unwanted memories, and suddenly, I feel protective of her.

I reluctantly walk to them, and I ask to hold her. The nurse allows me, probably thinking that we are close, and luckily, Willow doesn’t look to see who is hugging her.

“You are going to be okay.” I keep whispering when the screams have turned into sniffling.

“Willow?” A 5'8" blonde woman walks towards us. Her confidence unmasked. I feel a strange pull toward her, the one I’ve felt when I met my mates before, but I can’t tell if she is my mate or not.

‘I hope this isn’t my mate,’ I say to Asclepius.

‘How are you going to know when you keep making my senses weak with this masking potion of yours?’ My wolf snarls.

The stranger shamelessly looks me up and down, a small smirk playing on her lips.

“Willow?” The stranger stares at my arms, which are wrapped around Willow.

I let go of Willow, who obviously seems confused that I’m in Minnesota with her, but she doesn’t say a word.

“What happened?” The stranger asks.

“Limbicus overdose,” she wipes fresh tears with the back of her hand.

“What’s limbicus?” I regret asking the moment the words leave my mouth. I was okay with being invisible, and I just had to remind them I was there.

“What do you want, Doctor Brown?” Willow glares at me.

“Who is he?” The woman whispers.

“He used to be a professor, but now says he is a psychic or something,” she says dismissively. The woman doesn't stop staring at me. “Seriously, Chloe?” Willow says impatiently. “You want to flirt with Professor Coldheart at a time like this?” Willow purses her lips, and they glare at each other. Their resemblance and bickering tells me they are sisters.

I silently walk away, wanting to slip out of the scene as quietly as possible.

“Where are you going, professor?" Willow asks. "Why are you here?”

I turn around to face her and her eyes are still on the person I assume is her sister. They both turn, and they look at me, seemingly expecting a reply.

“Uhm...” I trail off. My phone rings, and although the caller ID makes me frown, I sigh with relief. “Excuse me,” I say to them as I walk away.

“I heard Willow’s brother died after a limbicus overdose,” Liam's cheerful voice says at the other end of the line.

“And why are you calling me instead of her?”

“Because this is your fault, and you'll soon find out why.” His cackle rings in my ear, long after hanging up.