Page 46 of Strength of Desire

NOAH

Itried to avoid Cory as much as I could.

Obviously, I had him in Combat, but I did my best to have only cursory interactions with him there. My conscience wouldn’t let me ignore him entirely. He needed instruction as much as my other students, if not more. But I tried never to address him one-on-one.

But it was like learning a new word. Ever since I’d decided to avoid him, he’d started popping up everywhere I looked, like mushrooms after rain. It got so I started ducking my head and turning corners in the manor whenever I saw Cory and his friends coming, or worse, Cory alone.

Thank God he was so close with Felix and Ash, and to a lesser extent with Min, Keelan, and Erika. The six of them were a tight-knit little family, and it was rare to see Cory without one of the others. That made it a little easier to avoid eye contact when I did have to pass him. Made it feel less personal.

But it was personal. I’d been lying when I told him it wasn’t. It was true that I wasn’t in the habit of befriending my students, but I wasn’t in the habit of hiding from them either. Being close to Cory made my body hum, though, made every cell inside me explode in little fireworks.

It wasn’t just that he was gorgeous—though, he was. But he made every other one of my senses light up as well. His scent invaded my nostrils if he was closer than ten feet to me. His voice lingered in my ears long after class ended. I was sure that if I could touch him, his skin would be softer than silk.

And tasting him—God, I shouldn’t be thinking about that. If I needed to have sex so badly, I had Lew. Though, to be fair, I hadn’t been out to Pointe Claudette in weeks. But Cory showed up in every one of my trances with Isaac, and in those trances, he wanted me as badly as I wanted him.

I knew it was wrong. Cory was so much younger than I was. And he was a student. I was in a position of power and authority. I knew his secrets, while he knew none of mine. Nothing could happen between us. For so many reasons, including the fact that I wasn’t sure I could handle being so close to another incubus without losing my mind.

And yet, I wanted it. Wantedhim. Maybe it was wrong, but I wanted him anyway.

A few days after searching Teresa’s rooms, I was putting the freshman through a new sequence of moves in Combat. I’d set up five punching bags around the gym, but for starters, I had all the students grouped around one in the front of the room so I could demonstrate the combination. It involved a kick, spin, and two punches, and required power, speed, and balance.

We’d worked on each of those moves in isolation over the past couple of weeks, but now it was time to bring them together. I demonstrated each component first, then moved in front of the bag.

I raised my fists, shifted my weight onto my non-dominant left leg, then raised and drew in my right leg, and kicked explosively at the bag. It swung away, then back, but I spun out of the way. Finally, I hit the bag with a quick two punches.

It wasn’t hard, but working on moves in isolation was always easier than putting them together. I knew my Hunters would catch on quickly, though, and I hoped they would help the other students with the trickier bits as I circulated.

Because I wanted the Hunters distributed among the five groups, I asked the class to count off. Cory ended up in Group 4, and I told myself I would visit that group second. No putting it off and dragging out the discomfort. I would get it out of the way.

But first, I went to Group 3, which included Adenike Odediran and Tim Kim, along with Ash and two other students. I asked Adenike to go first, and sure enough, she mastered the sequence on the first try.

“Good. Everyone else, come a little closer. Adenike, I’m going to ask you to do that again, and I’ll call out each step as you perform it.”

The little group clustered closer to the mat where Adenike stood.

I nodded at her. “Whenever you’re ready.”

She nodded back and began. She moved a little slower this time, separating each move slightly. It was like watching slow-motion replay of a football game—something I hadn’t done since coming to Vesperwood. I named each step as she completed it, and she beamed when she was done.

This was one of the first times I’d seen her in class without Rekha and Meredith at her side, and it turned out, she shone when she was on her own. Ruben Whitaker was the next to go, and Adenike remained at the front of the group, giving him pointers on his stance.

I was surprised, but pleased. I’d never have guessed Adenike had such inborn teaching abilities. It was almost a shame she was a Hunter, because she’d make a great professor someday. But most Hunters didn’t stay in one place long enough for that type of job. They didn’t like to be tied down. Leon Zi was certainly qualified to be the head of Hunt. But he also filled that role because Isaac couldn’t convince any other Hunters to join the faculty.

I watched Ruben finish, then Tim, then Holly Fletcher, and then Ash. Ash was small, and not the strongest student, but he was incredibly agile. He almost danced with the punching bag, his moves were so deft and quick. I nodded, then turned towards Group 4.

I was an adult. I was in control of myself. I could do this.

Cory was just squaring up to the punching bag when I joined Group 4. I watched silently from the back of the group as he brought his fists up. He was holding them too low, but at least his thumbs were in the right place. He took a deep breath, shifted his weight to his left leg, raised his right—and promptly fell over.

Sean, who was in Group 4 as well, snickered. I was still at the back of the group, but I could see Cory’s cheeks flush from where I was standing.

“The mat’s really wobbly, isn’t it?” Erika said as she helped Cory to his feet.

He flashed her a tight grin and faced the bag again. He held his fists even lower this time, where they’d do no good in an actual fight, and shifted to his left leg again.

Just as he lifted his right foot off the ground, Sean called out, “Don’t fall!”

And Cory fell over again. Sean’s laugh was even louder this time, and Paolo Webb, another student, joined him.

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