Page 17 of Stone Crest: Rise of a Raven
“I had no idea you were a mythology professor. I agree, if I would have known that going in, it probably wouldn’t have happened. Not exactly my type.”
His eyes move over my face in a way it almost feels like a soft caress. “Why are you out here?”
I contemplate having a smart ass answer, but honestly, I’m tired. “It’s…” I glance off to the large statue in the middle of a fountain. Some naked guy holding a sword with green vines wrapped around his sculpted thighs. “A hard week.”
He watches me before he nods, seemingly satisfied with my answer. “The dreams will get better.”
His answer surprises me, and it’s almost as if he speaks from experience.
Silence stretches a beat before he runs a hand through his hair. It’s then I notice he’s wearing a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. He looks relaxed. Not so coiled tight like in class. Maybe he was actually jogging.
“Get back to your apartment. Don’t come out here at night alone again.”
I refrain from rolling my eyes at his command. We aren’t in his classroom right now. Right now, we are just two adults. In a park, in the middle of the night.
His hands are braced on his hips as he stares at me. Slowly he steps forward and tucks a piece of hair behind my ear that’s caught up in the sudden gust of wind.
I freeze at the unexpected touch coming from him. I’m also startled at how familiar it already feels. As quick as the moment came, it’s gone when he realizes what he’s done. He pulls away and curses under his breath.
“We need to limit our contact," he says with a shake of his head.
“I’m in your class, Locke,” I deadpan, then toss my arms out. “And you’re the one creeping outside of my apartment at two in the morning.”
“Go back inside.” His voice is hard. Stern, back to brooding asshole.
I’m getting whiplash.
When I make no sudden movement, he turns his narrowed eyes on me and his tone changes. “Go back inside, Raven.”
A chill snakes its way up my spine and the overwhelming need to obey strikes me.
“Ok, you win.” I nod. “I’m going.”
Pulling the sleeves of my hoodie over my hands I walk back across the street and to our building. I give one look over my shoulder and watch him, watching me. By the time I make it back inside, and up to my room, I immediately go to my window, but he’s already gone. There’s no sign of Sullivan Locke.
Chapter twelve
Locke
Thank fuck I had some clothes stashed in the maintenance shed at the edge of the university property. As a shifter, you learn the tricks and sometimes when my wolf is too powerful and I need to shift, I make sure I’m prepared. I’ve been stranded stark naked a time or two and it didn’t end well. Nudity doesn’t bother my kind, but humans freak the hell out.
I rip my shirt over my head, pissed at myself for not controlling my wolf. I was up late, going over some things Hendrix had sent me regarding the vampire we abolished last night when I started to get the feeling. The one that started to thrash restlessly in my bones. Something was off, but I didn’t know what. I was anxious. I couldn’t concentrate and when I finally gave in to let him rage, I ended up here.Like I have every fucking night since she walked into my classroom.He raced through the trees of Stone Crest, all the way to the edge of campus. I knew where he was going.
Then I felt it. Saw her.
I curse under my breath as I step out of my sweats. I don’t know why he’s acting like this overher.Like she’s anything special.
She is special, dickhead.My wolf bites back to me.
I contemplate jogging back to the estate in my human form, keeping him caged since apparently, he can’t keep his shit together. He led me to something that’s forbidden. Off limits. We both know it.
A pang stings my chest as I picture her face. I could hear the harsh breathing of her lungs before I even approached. The rapid beats of her human heart. I could smell thepain.And once I touched her…...saw her face. I grit my teeth, taking three long strides before I shift.
I’m on the move, it will be quicker in my wolf form, then I can trap him back down. Being seen with my student at two in the morning in the wide open was dangerous. Stupid. Especially after the night I spent buried inside of her. And one thing I’m not is careless. I’m calculated. I have to be.
I leap through the tree line, landing in the grass on my bare feet. Running a hand through my hair, I jog the rest of the distance to the back door and slip inside the mudroom.
“Isn’t it past your curfew?” Declan’s voice flows from the living room.
