The sound escaped Kassia's human hearing, but to his sisters, it was loud, furious, and beyond frightening. They jumped out of their seats in unison, knowing that escape was their only option now.
"Oh, look at the time," Esme said airily. "I think it's time to watch our, umm, favorite show. Shall we go, girls?"
"Yes, definitely," Estrella said firmly even as she pulled their baby sister with her in a protective fashion. Alessandro was still bristling, his disapproval of them palpable.
As the sisters hurried out and the doors closed behind them, Emilia asked worriedly, “Do you think he’s going to ground me?”
“Not now, but maybe later.” Esme pretended to think. “He might be planning to bite your head off after his guest leaves."
Emilia snorted. "That girl's not going anywhere tonight."
Estrella was confused. "How come you're so sure?"
She shook her head at her older sister's obtuseness. "You really didn't notice? Alessandro was so totally smitten it's almost funny—-"
A horrible sound remarkably like fangs grinding in anger reached them from the dining room, and all three girls stumbled.
CRAP. Emilia felt like peeing in terror. She had forgotten that Alessandro could hear her perfectly since he was not human like his guest.
"Kill me before Alessandro does," she begged her older sisters. "Please!”
"UMM, PROFESSOR?"
"Yes?"
"You’re glaring at the door."
Alessandro hadn't even realized he was doing it until Kassia pointed it out. Telling himself he would have to murder his baby sister later, he looked back at Kassia with a grimace. "I'm sorry, Kassia." He thought of a way to explain Emilia's behavior in a way that would make sense to a human and was unable to conceive of any. Finally, he said, "My sisters usually have better manners."
A pause, and then she asked in a small voice, "Do I really smell that bad?"
“Of course not.” Sternly suppressing his urge to smile, he said gently, "On the contrary, you smell good enough to eat."
The words thrilled Kassia simply because the professor wasn't the type to dish out compliments so easily. Even so, her doubts weren't completely vanquished, and she said haltingly, "But your sister said—-"
"My sister's high on something," he finished. "Ignore her."
As the professor spoke, the other set of doors in the dining room opened and a pair of attendants walked in, one of them pushing a trolley ahead of him.
Kassia was dumbfounded when one of the attendants came to her and, picking up the artfully folded napkin from the table, whipped it out with flourish before laying it on her lap. She waited for the attendants to finish serving them soup. Once they had left the room, she asked, "Do you guys always eat like this?"
"Generally, yes." Alessandro raised a brow. "You don't like the soup?"
"Oh, I like it," she assured him hastily, never mind if she didn't really understand what the attendant had said earlier about the soup. All she could remember was that it was French and it had sounded good.
When the professor reached for his spoon, she did so as well, gingerly taking a sip. It was surprisingly flavorful, in a good way, and Kassia happily dug in.
Alessandro savored the pleasure of watching Kassia eat. She had the most wondrously innate sense of grace, making her every movement appear elegant. He watched her lips part and he wondered how wide her mouth would open. Would his entire cock fit—-
The spoon paused mid-air. "You're staring, Professor."
Wanting to see how she would react, he said silkily, "I'm just wondering if you could open your mouth wide enough to take my cock."
Kassia's hold on the spoon loosened, and the tiny amount of soup on the spoon ended up splattered on her face.
Alessandro laughed.
Kassia gasped, the professor's amusement enabling her to quickly add one and one to make an embarrassing two. "You just said that to shock me, didn't you?"