My Forbidden Mate is My Professor

Chapter 4

MAREN’S POV

The sound of the chalk against the blackboard was like rhythmic torture. I tried to focus on my notebook, but my eyes drifted, time and again, to Thorne’s imposing figure.

He had recognized me. I saw it in the way his knuckles whitened as he gripped the eraser when our gazes collided. He ignored me with a cold efficiency that made me feel invisible, reducing me to a mere student in a sea of desks.

Naomi, on the other hand, gave me a sharp nudge. “Oh god, this man is so sexy! Look at him! I wish I could find a man like that!” she exclaimed with a predatory tone.

I glanced at her and furrowed my brow, feeling the weight of rage and disappointment coursing through my veins. He spoke of discipline, honor, and the responsibility Alphas held over their mates and clans.

“He’s a hypocrite!” I spat, my claws digging into my palm.

“Geez, are you sure you’re okay?” Naomi asked just as the bell rang, putting an end to this torture.

“I’m fine. I just have a few questions for the new Professor Thorne,” I said, feeling how pronouncing his name burned my tongue.

Naomi gave me a sidelong glance and nodded, heading for the exit. I packed my things and, without taking my eyes off Thorne, I went after him. I followed him through the hallway, dodging students, with my wolf armor-plating every inch of my body.

The man moved with an urgency that made my blood boil. Was he going to ignore me again?

However, just when I thought I had lost him, I saw him turn a corner in the faculty wing. I was about to call his name, but right before I turned the corner, a firm hand clamped around my forearm and shoved me with quiet but absolute determination into an empty classroom.

Thorne let go of me and took a step back, maintaining a distance that made my wolf whimper in need. His shoulders tensed, and for a moment, the Alpha aura radiating from him was so powerful that my legs faltered.

“You abandoned me!” I snapped, the words tearing from my throat like a jagged sob. My nails dug into my palms to keep my fingers from trembling. “You left me in that hotel like I was nothing. Not even a note, not a name… I am your mate!”

Despite the pain I had suppressed for two weeks, his height forced me to tilt my head back, exposing my neck, the very spot he refused to mark.

He remained silent, one hand shoved into the pocket of his tailored trousers and the other rubbing the bridge of his nose. His eyes raked over my face, and for a second, I saw a flash of the same hunger he had shown at the bar, but he smothered it instantly.

“Say something, damn it!” I screamed, my voice echoing off the empty walls.

I saw his jaw tighten, a small muscle ticking in his stone-cold face. His eyes darkened, turning into two pits of obsidian that seemed ready to devour me, but his lips remained sealed.

“Miss Maren, calm yourself,” his voice was deep and devoid of emotion.

“Calm?” I stepped toward him, defying the Alpha aura he projected. “The Moon Goddess doesn’t make mistakes. You looked into my eyes and knew who I was. Why did you leave? Why are you treating me like a burden?”

“The situation has changed.”

“Changed? The bond doesn’t change just because you put on an expensive tie and a professor’s title!” I invaded his space, forcing him to catch my scent.

He took a step toward me. It was a slow, predatory movement. The scent of sandalwood and a storm engulfed me, clouding my judgment and making my heart hammer against my ribs. He stopped inches away, forcing me to crane my neck to hold his gaze.

He seized my wrists with a delicacy that hurt more than a strike. His thumbs brushed my pulse points, and the electric spark of the bond made us both gasp.

“Maren, look at me,” he said, bringing his face so close his lips nearly brushed my forehead. “I am the professor of this faculty and you are a first-year Omega student. I will not allow… instinctive attraction to destroy your future. This is for your own good.”

He released my wrists abruptly, as if my skin burned him, and stepped back, creating a distance that felt like an abyss.

“For my own good?” I laughed bitterly, wiping my tears with fury. “What you mean is that I’m an inconvenience to your perfect career.”

I felt the tears burn my eyelids. For eighteen years, I had been told I wasn’t enough, and now, the man who was supposed to be my other half was confirming it with his indifference.

“Is it because I’m an Omega?” I took a step toward him, desperation winning over logic.

“A relationship between us would destroy your reputation and my ethics. I am protecting you.”

I felt a surge of contempt so strong it made me dizzy. "Protection." That was the Alpha’s excuse for controlling everything.

“You aren’t protecting me, Thorne. You’re ashamed of me,” the tears finally overflowed, hot and bitter.

He opened his lips as if to say something, but I cut him off. “If you’re so noble, Thorne, if you care so much about my career, then end this. Reject me,” I demanded, stepping into his space. “Break the bond right now and let me find a man who isn’t afraid of what people say about being with an Omega.”

The silence that followed was dense, almost solid. Thorne clenched his jaw so hard I saw the muscles cord under his skin. His eyes flashed with a dangerous glint, but he stayed silent.

“No.” His Alpha command vibrated in the air. The sound was so potent that my knees buckled by pure biological instinct, forcing me to recognize the hierarchy that separated us.

“You won’t do it?” I opened my eyes, waiting to feel the release, the tearing of the bond.

When he didn't respond, I felt my pride shatter. If he didn't have the courage, I would. I closed my eyes and focused on the link that bound us, that invisible cord vibrating between our hearts.

“Fine. I’ll do it. I, Maren, reject you as my, ”

My words hung in the air as Thorne took a lightning step and pinned me against the wall. I felt the searing heat of his body emanating through his suit, surrounding me like a cage of fire.

“I said no, Maren,” he growled, his voice dropping an octave, becoming animalistic. “I do not accept your rejection.”

“Why? Reject me and let me have a second chance!” I threw back at him.

His breathing was heavy, hitting my face with that sandalwood scent that made me want to kiss him and slap him at the same time.

I waited for a reason, but there was no explanation or comfort. Thorne simply gave me one last look filled with emotions I couldn't decipher, turned around, and left in a hurry, leaving me alone in the empty classroom with a bond that refused to die.

***

THORNE’S POV

Walking out of that classroom was the hardest act of will in my life. My fingers still tingled from the contact with her skin, and the sound of her voice trying to reject me was like venom in my veins.

Fenris was howling, demanding I go back, pin her against the blackboard, and show her that there wasn't a single atom in my body that wanted to reject her.

"She is ours!" my wolf roared. "How can you let her cry like that?"

“Shut up!” I growled under my breath, startling a couple of students.

I didn't expect things to turn out this way. Seeing her in my classroom, sitting among the students, had been the hardest test of my life. Secretly, I craved her with a force that frightened my own wolf. I wanted to cross that room, pull her onto my desk, and claim her in front of everyone so no one else would dare look at her.

But I couldn't mark her; I was her professor. If I claimed her now, her reputation would sink for sleeping with the teacher. She would be branded because of me before she could even mark her own path.

The mere thought of her trying to reject me provoked a terror I had never felt before.

I didn't accept her rejection because I cannot live without her, even if I must now act like her greatest enemy. I decided to hide my true feelings behind that mask of coldness, even though my wolf was howling in pain seeing her cry.

I wanted to tell her I would wait. But I didn't dare. If I gave her hope, she wouldn't focus. However, seeing her try to reject me had been like receiving a silver dagger straight to the heart. My wolf was restless, clawing at my consciousness, demanding I go back and reclaim her.

I hid my trembling hands in my suit pockets and walked toward my office.

“I will count every damn day, every hour, until you are no longer my student and I can claim what fate bestowed upon me. If I have to burn this campus to keep you safe from other males while you wait, I will,” I whispered to myself as I entered my office and slammed the door shut.