My Forbidden Mate is My Professor

Chapter 2

THORNE’S POV

Ice clinked against the crystal of my whiskey glass as I sat in the circular VIP booth of the city’s most exclusive lounge, watching my friends laugh and toast to my success. To the world, I was the man who had it all.

After years of studying abroad, I had finally returned with a PhD in my pocket and a prestigious faculty position waiting for me. Yet, looking around this room filled with expensive suits and forced smiles, nothing seemed to have changed.

“Come on, Thorne. Lose the funeral face,” Marcus said, clapping me on the shoulder with a force I didn't even feel. “You’re back as the youngest professor. That deserves a celebration!.”

I shot him a cold, sidelong glance, my expression unreadable. “I’m back to work, Marcus. Someone has to show these pups how a true Alpha conducts himself.”

“Always so serious,” another Alpha teased, gesturing toward a group of women watching us from the edge of the dance floor with hungry eyes. “Look at that redhead over there. She’s been devouring you since we walked in. She’s high-ranking, beautiful, and perfect for a welcome-home distraction.”

A smirk of cold arrogance touched my lips as I made a dismissive gesture with my hand. The truth was, despite my academic and social success, my wolf, Fenris, had been unusually restless. He had spent the entire night pacing the cage of my ribs, growling at every female who dared to catch my eye.

Fenris didn’t want a temporary distraction. He wanted the only thing the Moon Goddess had denied us for twenty-six long years: our Mate.

“I’m not interested, Marcus,” I replied flatly, taking a sip of my whiskey.

“Come on, man, are you seriously still waiting for your mate?” another one mocked, tilting his glass.

“Buddy, you’re twenty-six. At this age, most of us just choose a suitable female and move on,” Marcus suggested again.

I didn't answer. I finished the last drop of alcohol, feeling it sear my throat, and stood up to leave.

However, the moment I crossed the threshold out of the VIP lounge, a sweet scent exploded against my senses, piercing through the club's pollution like a bolt of pure light: vanilla, fresh rain, and a sharp hint of wild cinnamon.

Fenris, who had always been a disciplined and silent beast, let out a roar so powerful I nearly lost my balance.

“MINE! SHE IS HERE!”

Those words vibrated through my skull with such force that the room seemed to dissolve into a blur of neon lights and muffled music. My eyes scanned the crowd with predatory voracity until I found her.

She was leaning against the bar, wearing a dress that clung to her curves in a sinful way. She looked small, fragile, but her aroma screamed authority over my very soul. She was an Omega, I knew it by the softness of her features, but the bond pulling at my chest was that of an Alpha finding his Queen.

I wanted to run to her, to carry her away and claim every inch of her skin in the privacy of the night. But my heart stopped when I saw her sorrowful eyes.

“Someone hurt our mate…” my wolf roared, scratching the walls of my chest.

Unable to contain myself, I felt my feet gliding toward her, carving a path through the crowd. However, when I was only a few meters away, she turned toward me, swaying.

Her eyes struggled to focus, but the soul-bond recognition was instantaneous for both of us. I watched her pupils dilate until they were black voids of desire. Her breathing became erratic, matching the frantic thumping of my own heart.

“Mate…” she whispered.

I stood frozen for a second, fighting the urge to pounce on her, but she didn't wait for introductions or courtships.

With a bravery that could only have been born from a bottle of whiskey, she reached out and pressed her small, burning palms against my chest, right over my thundering heart.

“I don’t know who you are,” she slurred, her voice heavy with an urgency that set my blood on fire. “But you smell… delicious.”

I didn't even have time to respond before her small, warm hands tangled in the lapels of my jacket, pulling me into the shadows of a secluded corner. The contact was like an electric discharge; every hair on my arms stood on end.

I wrapped my arms around her waist, crushing her body against mine, feeling how perfectly her curves fit into the hollows of my hands. It was as if the Goddess herself had designed her specifically for me.

She leaned in, brushing her nose against mine, leaving her lips a mere millimeter from my own.

Shit! Desire hit me with the force of a tsunami. I buried my nose in the crook of her neck, while my fangs began to press against my gums, demanding permission to mark that porcelain skin and claim her before the world. My gums throbbed with a raw, agonizing heat, exactly where my mark should seal our fates.

“Mark me… please,” she moaned fiercely.

Slowly, she began to kiss my neck with a feverish intensity, her hands clawing at my nape. It was evident that her actions were shamelessly seeking to awaken every ounce of my Alpha dominance.

“You are so beautiful,” I growled, my voice shifting into the roar of the beast. “I have waited so long for you…”

She didn't need to answer; she only nodded, tilting her head back while entangling her fingers in my hair, pushing my nose deeper into her neck.

A low chuckle escaped my lips as I slid one of my hands down the small of her back, hooking a finger under the thin strap of her dress just enough to expose the creaminess of her shoulder. I could almost taste her blood in the air.

“Are you sure about what you’re asking?” I whispered against her skin, my breath hot enough to burn.

“Yes,” she stammered, pressing her body into mine with an urgency that clouded my reason. “Today is my birthday. I’ve waited eighteen years for this…”

Those words hit me like a bucket of ice water over my fire. My fangs retracted so violently that my jaw ached from the shock.

I abruptly pulled back just a few inches, forcing my eyes to focus on her youthful face; her flushed cheeks weren't just from the alcohol, but from an immaturity that suddenly became glaringly evident.

“What did you say?” I asked, my voice sounding hoarse with pure frustration. “You just turned eighteen… today?”

She nodded with a dazed smile, not understanding why I was stopping. “Yes… I’m finally an adult.”

I closed my eyes, gritting my teeth until my jaw hurt. Was this the Moon Goddess’s joke? I was twenty-six years old. I was a man with a career, a doctorate, who had spent a decade dreaming of a powerful Luna, a woman who could challenge my intellect and rule a pack with a steady hand.

Instead, the woman destined for me was a girl who had just walked out of high school and was currently so drunk she could barely keep her balance.

“Damn it,” I muttered, closing my eyes tightly. “I can't do this. I'm sorry,” I tried to tell her.

But my words were like poison beginning to burn her skin. “What? Why?” She looked up at me, her eyes completely red-rimmed.

“You’re ebriated. You don’t know what you’re asking for…” I tried to say.

But my words meant nothing to her. She tried to lunge for my lips again, her hand trembling as she stroked my jawline. “I’m not that drunk… and you… you’re mine. I felt it. You felt it too.”

Fuck, her warm breath was a siren song tempting me to forget every ethical rule I had ever lived by. However, I couldn't just let myself be carried away by my instincts; I was an Alpha! Damn it!

I took her by the shoulders and moved her away firmly, but the moment the support of my body was gone, her legs gave out and she slumped forward, becoming a dead weight against my chest.

I couldn't leave her there, not in that state. With a sigh heavy with frustration, I swept her up into my arms. I took her to the nearest hotel, ignoring how her proximity made my resolve falter.

Fenris was howling in my mind, a savage sound of betrayal, his claws metaphorically shredding my sanity because I was 'rejecting' our female. He didn't care about ethics or degrees; he only wanted to sink his teeth into her and claim what was ours

Once in the suite, I laid her down with a gentleness I didn't know I possessed; I placed her on the king-size bed. I removed her shoes and covered her with silk sheets. She stirred, murmuring something inaudible, and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

I stayed by her side until her breathing finally became slow and rhythmic. I leaned down, my nose brushing against the crown of her head one last time. The scent of vanilla and cinnamon was a drug I was already withdrawing from, and my wolf clawed at my brain, begging me to stay and claim her while she was vulnerable.

“Wait for me, little wolf. Fate has joined us today, but time will put us to the test.”

I walked out of the suite, the scent of cinnamon still clinging to my skin like a promise I wasn't sure I could keep.