Rejected By My Alpha Professor

Punishment

CHAPTER 2:

I was the first to stand up when the bell rang, desperate to escape air that smelled like cedarwood and rain.

"Elara Moon."

His voice stopped me at the door. My hand was already on the cold doorknob.

The whole class stopped packing their bags. Thirty pairs of eyes were on us again.

I slowly turned around. Professor Kade Black was standing behind his desk, looking at me with those icy blue eyes that had rejected me less than 24 hours ago.

"Stay behind. We need to discuss your... performance."

Whispers exploded. Cassandra Vane turned around in her front row seat and gave me a sweet, poisonous smile.

"Yes, Professor," I whispered.

Everyone filed out, giggling, bumping into my shoulder on purpose. Cassandra was the last to leave. She leaned close to me as she passed.

"He keeps you behind to tell you to drop out, Omega. Don't be too sad. It's for your own good," she whispered, then left, her perfume choking me.

The door closed. Click.

Silence.

It was just me and him in Classroom 3-B. The man who was supposed to be my mate, my future, my everything. Now my professor who disgustedly looked at me.

He didn't speak for a long time. He just walked around his desk and leaned against it, arms crossed. His suit jacket stretched over his broad shoulders. Up close, he was even more devastating. And his scent was everywhere now, trapping me.

"You dropped your book three times in my class," he finally said, his voice low and cold.

"I'm sorry."

"You were staring out the window instead of taking notes."

"I'm sorry."

"You are wolfless, you are an Omega, you live in room 101, and you have the audacity to come to Blackstone and waste my time?"

Each word was a knife. I clutched my books tighter to my chest to stop my hands from shaking.

"I am trying, Professor," I said, my voice breaking. "I am trying to survive."

Something flickered in his eyes. Anger? Or was it something else?

"Trying is not enough in my class, Miss Moon. Blackstone does not accept weakness. Especially not from Omegas who think they can become Lunas."

That was it. The final stab.

"I never thought I could become your Luna!" I burst out, tears finally falling despite my efforts to hold them. "You were the one who rejected me! I didn't ask for this bond! I didn't ask the Moon Goddess to pair a wolfless Omega like me with an Alpha like you! So don't you stand there and act like I'm chasing you! You disgust me too!"

The moment I shouted it, I regretted it. My hand flew to my mouth.

Kade's eyes went dark. Not icy blue anymore. A stormy, dangerous blue. He pushed off his desk and walked towards me, one slow step at a time.

I backed up until my back hit the closed classroom door.

He stopped inches away from me. I could feel the heat radiating from his body. I could see the muscle ticking in his jaw.

"I disgust you?" he asked, his voice dangerously quiet.

I couldn't answer. I was crying too hard. All the pain of last night, of being wolfless for 19 years, of being abandoned, of being rejected, came pouring out.

"I have been wolfless my whole life," I sobbed, sliding down the door to the floor. I didn't care anymore if I looked pathetic. "My parents died thinking I was a defect. My pack threw me away like trash because I had no wolf. For 19 years I felt nothing here," I hit my chest. "Nothing! And then yesterday, for one second, I felt something! I felt alive! I felt my soul recognize you! And then you... you took it away and said I disgust you. So yes! You disgust me! Because you made me hope!"

I buried my face in my hands and cried.

Silence.

Then, I felt warmth.

A large, warm hand touched the top of my head, awkwardly, hesitantly.

I looked up, shocked.

Professor Kade Black was kneeling in front of me. On the floor. His perfect suit getting dusty. His face... his face was no longer cold. It was twisted in pain, in guilt.

"Elara," he whispered. My name. For the first time, he said my name without disgust. "Stop crying."

"Why do you care if I cry?" I hiccuped.

"I don't," he said quickly, but his hand was still on my head, and his thumb was gently stroking my hair. A gesture so tender it made me cry harder. "Your crying... it gives me a headache. It's distracting."

Even his excuses were cold.

He stood up abruptly, as if realizing what he was doing, and turned his back to me.

"Detention," he said, his cold mask back on. "Tonight. 8 PM. Library. Forbidden section. You will arrange the archives. Alone. That will be your punishment for your performance today."

Detention? In the forbidden section? Everyone knew that section was haunted. Wolves said they heard whispers there.

"But Professor, that section is-"

"Are you questioning my punishment, Miss Moon?" He looked over his shoulder, his eyes icy again.

"No, Professor."

"Good. 8 PM. Don't be late. If you are late, you get another detention."

He walked out, leaving his scent and leaving me broken on the floor again.

Mia found me ten minutes later, still sitting on the floor.

"He gave you detention in the forbidden section?!" she shrieked when I told her. "Elara, no one goes there! They say the White Wolf died there! They say her ghost still cries!"

"The White Wolf?" I asked.

"It's just a legend. A very powerful wolf, all white, blessed by the Moon Goddess herself. The last one died a hundred years ago. They say her power was so strong, Alphas went to war for her."

That night at 7:55 PM, I stood outside the huge doors of the academy library. It was dark. The library was supposed to be closed.

I pushed the door. It was open.

Inside, it was pitch black except for one dim light coming from the far end, the forbidden section.

And standing under that light, with his back to me, was Professor Kade Black.

Waiting.

My heart stopped. This was a trap, wasn't it?

But as I walked closer, my chest started to feel warm. For the first time in 19 years, I felt a tiny flicker.

A howl. Far away. Inside me.

My wolf?