Page 9 of Alpha's Omega Professor

I’d had a vague plan of asking him whether he needed help with his next assignment because he was not doing well as far as those were concerned. I hadn’t got as far in my planning as to consider exactly who was going to help him. It really shouldn’t be me. I needed it not to be me because apparently, when faced with that handsome young alpha, my brain went to mush and my mouth just flopped around like a fish out of water, completely failing to form words.

Any chance I’d had of coming across as a suave older man wasgone.

I groaned again. It had been a long time since I’d tried anything approaching dating, and I hadn’t exactly been great at it when I’d been young and, if not handsome, then… young. Now I was old. Age had not brought with it wisdom.

Damn, I needed to get out of here before I threw myself a full-blown pity-party.

If Alder were here, he could slap some sense into me, but he was long gone. I was probably the only person left in the building. Mine was the last lecture of the day and the campus was quiet outside, in that just-before-evening time when the day-time people had gone home but the night-owls hadn’t emerged yet.

Dragging myself to my feet, I slid my coat on and picked up my bag, stacking some papers to mark inside it. At least if I had a lot to do that evening, I wouldn’t be able to dwell on my spectacular failure to chat casually to a student. Astudent, I reminded myself. A young man whose mind I was meant to be helping to form. Someone who was off limits in every way.

Still shaking my head, I left my office and locked up behind me. The lights flickered on in the corridors as I walked through them and I saw one of the cleaners in a classroom. It was Maggie, and we waved at each other. I gave her a smile but didn’t stop to chat. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to her about her grandchildren today. I’d stop by tomorrow instead.

After that, I didn’t see anyone until I left the building. Outside, the darkness crowded close and I peered out, trying to get my eyes to adjust.

I settled my bag more firmly on my shoulder and walked out. If I hurried, I might just catch my usual bus. I hadn’t been hiding for that long.

My mind was so focused on wondering whether my bus would be on time or late – and my increased chances of me catching it if it were late – that I didn’t even notice the figure coming at me out of the darkness until they were on top of me.

I was walking past one of the large buildings, a great big brick monstrosity with dark windows and no life inside. There was an alleyway just off it that, during the day was absolutely fine, but at night became a pit of blackness. The figure stepped out of that alleyway and grabbed me.

Their fingers wrapped around my arm and I jumped as their grip tightened around my bicep.

“What are—?”

They were taller than me, probably an alpha, judging by their broad shoulders. I couldn’t see much because they were dressed in dark clothes and had a ski mask over their face. The only light came from a street light a dozen yards away and it back-lit them, making them a silhouette.

Instinctively, I tried to yank my arm back out of their grip but they hung on tight. I wasn’t anywhere near strong enough to break their hold.

We tussled for a moment, futile as that was, and then they just casually smacked me in the face. I reeled back with the impact, my cheek stinging. I wasn’t even sure what happened next. I felt a shove, I fell off balance and grabbed at them, then fell heavily down. As I smacked into the ground, I felt a sharp pain shooting up my arm and a thudding pain in the back of my head.

I was disorientated as I found myself sprawled on the hard concrete but my eyes landed on my bag just as the black-clad figure lifted it from where it had fallen to the ground alongside me. I made a grab for it and hung on while the figure tugged at it. They dragged me along the floor as I clung to my bag by the strap and then a heavy kick caught me in the ribs and I let go, curling around the pain.

For a second, the figure stayed standing over me, looming in the darkness. Every instinct inside me screamed that I was in danger and I curled up tighter. They were impossibly tall and impossibly broad…

They hesitated for a second and I had just enough time to think I was about to get a good kicking when there was a shout. A deep, alpha shout.

“Hey!”

The figure looked up. I heard running feet behind me.

“Get away from him!”

The voice was deep, growling, and I shivered.

The darkness was wrapped around me and there were only spots of light dancing before my eyes. The figure blended with the shadows, seeming to loom over me and then fade away. They turned and sprinted off down the alley, swallowed by darkness immediately.

I soon found out why they hadn’t stayed to fight it out. Those running footsteps reached me and I looked up into the face of the most beautiful young man I’d ever seen.

His face was drawn into a frown as he looked down at me. For a split second, my body didn’t know if it was still in danger and adrenaline flooded my system. My disorientation meant I wasn’t sure who had attacked me and this alpha standing over me made my fear response kick in.

My body curled up, my arms raised to protect myself.

Then he crouched down, kneeling beside me, and his voice changed from growling to soft. So soft. So sweet.

“Hey, I’ve got you, Waggoner. You’re safe now, don’t worry.”

“Liam,” I said, and my voice cracked.

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