One Night With My Alpha Professor

Audrey

The girl’s question seemed to hang in the air, making the nearby guests go silent. Or maybe it was just the sound of my own blood rushing through my ears that was drowning everything else out.

“I….. Um…” I stammered, unsure of what to say. The little girl’s enormous eyes were pleading, tiny hands clasped together, and the thought of telling her ‘no-telling her that I wouldn’t heal her, not because I didn’t want to but because I couldn’t- seemed impossible.

Thankfully, Edwin jumped in before I had to.

“Healing a condition like cancer could take a long time,” he said, dropping to one knee in front of the little girl. “Where are your parents? I’d like to talk to them.”

To my relief, the little girl’s face lit up and the nearby guests returned to their conversations, satisfied by that response. “They’re over here!” she exclaimed, taking my hand and leading me away.

As we made our way over to the clusters of tables, I shot Edwin a glance over my shoulder.

“What the hell are we supposed to do now?!”

“Relax, his voice replied through the Mindlink. “We’ll handle this.”

Ididn’t bother to hide my frown. Now, more than ever, I wished that he had told me about whatever it was he’d been

keeping from me when it came to shifting-and I’d be having words with him about it later.

A few moments later, the girl led us to a table where a middle-aged man and woman were seated.

“Ivy! There you are!” The mother jumped up and ran to us, her eyes widening when she saw me. “We’ve been looking all over…”

“I found the Silver Star!” the little girl, Ivy, exclaimed. “She’s going to heal my cancer!”

Oh, Goddess…

The mother looked at me, mouth agape. The husband, who’d just run up to us as well, looked like he might pass out. “You… You’ll really…”

“We’d like to do anything we can to help your daughter,” Edwin said quickly, placing a hand on my shoulder. “But as I was explaining to her, healing a condition like this is not immediate. It would take some time.”

The parents exchanged glances, both too astonished to speak for a moment.

I, too, felt too stunned to speak.

Finally, the father said, “If there’s anything you can do to help, anything at all, we’ll take it. Even if it would take some time.”

“We’ll pay you, of course,” the mother quickly added. “We’ll give you everything we have-our savings, our house, our car- if it means curing our little girl’s Leukemia.”

Leukemia… It was even worse than I thought. I glanced at the little girl, whose eyes were as wide as saucers, and thought I might vomit.

“We shouldn’t lie,” I told Edwin. “We shouldn’t give them false hope.”

“We won’t. Technically.”

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I didn’t know how to respond to that. All I knew was that somewhere through the blood rushing in my ears, Edwin was saying something to the parents about keeping their money, exchanging business cards so they could keep in touch, and leading me away as the mother collapsed onto the father with relief.

I felt like my own knees would collapse as Edwin guided me away-like my chest might cave in, like the floor would disappear out from under my feet and I’d go hurtling straight into Hell where I belonged.

“I’ll pay for their treatments and

sure they get the best of the best,” Edwin explained, although his voice-crea through

our Mindlink-felt miles away. “It won’t be the same as healing her outright, but-”

“Or you could tell me what it is that you’re hiding from me.” I pulled my arm away and turned on him, feeling my eyes flash silver. “Whatever it is that would help me shift… I want it. Now. I’m ready.”Belonging to NôvelDrama.Org.

Edwin’s mouth opened and closed a few times, as if struggling with what to say. Finally, he murmured out loud, “I don’t know if it’ll work.”

“But we have to try.”

He looked away, his jaw set hard. I stared at the side of his face, willing every ounce of hurt into my gaze. To think that he had some potential key to unlocking my ability to shift, and yet he was keeping it from me…

“Why not tell me?” I whispered.

“Because it’s complicated,” Edwin replied.

I scoffed. “More complicated than a little girl with Leukemia?”

“I didn’t think it would come to this. I thought…” He clenched his teeth and shook his head. “I thought that lying about you shifting would be harmless. That it would buy us enough time to figure stuff out. But I was wrong. Like I said, we’ll talk tonight.”

I couldn’t stay angry with him, not really; it wasn’t as if either of us expected what happened tonight.

But it didn’t make it hurt any less.

“I need some air,” I replied as calmly as I could. Edwin hesitated, but then nodded and released his grip on my hand. I gave him a squeeze, a silent promise that I wasn’t angry but rather frustrated with everything, and left.

Outside, the cool air was a balm against my frayed nerves. I inhaled deeply as I stepped back out into the courtyard, closing my eyes against the light of the moon spilling over the garden.

Edwin would handle the matter of the girl with Leukemia, I was sure of it; he promised to pay for their treatments, and that would make a world of difference.

But it didn’t change the fact that people were relying on me and I was failing them. I hadn’t-neither of us had-thought about the consequences of lying about my shifting. It was as Edwin said: we thought it would buy us time, keep Coldclaw off my back, until I could finally shift, whenever that may be.

And yet we were hurting people in the end. Leading them to believe that I was some kind of… savior who could heal their pain, cure their children.

And I wasn’t.

Whatever this trick of Edwin’s was, I wished he hadn’t kept it from me. Even if it didn’t work, he should have told me. How bad could it have been? Surely not worse than having to lie to a sick little girl.

But at the same time, whatever it was, if it didn’t work…

Well, I had a feeling I’d be lying for a lot longer. Because apparently I was incapable of shifting otherwise.

Failure.

·

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My chest began to ache at the thought-a deep, burning sort of pain, like I couldn’t get in enough air and when I did inhale, it felt like water in my lungs. I stopped walking and pressed my palm into a nearby pillar, hanging my head.

Breathe, Audrey… You’re just panicking a little, that’s all….

“Feel bad, do we?”

I jerked my head up at the sound of that voice, and there she was: Stella, looking just as vindictive as ever. Before I could say anything, she ground out, “I know you’re lying about shifting. And you just lied to that little girl, didn’t you?”

I swallowed hard. “It’s not that simple.”

“Oh, it isn’t, is it?” Stella scoffed as she sauntered up to me. “I don’t know about you, but telling the truth has always felt simple to me.”

“Please,” I said, pushing away from the pillar and moving past her. “I just need some time-”

Before I could move away, Stella stepped in front of me. “The world needs a real Silver Star. Not a phony who lies to little girls with Leukemia. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Her words sent another jolt through my chest, hot tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. “I didn’t mean to

“That’s enough, Mother.”

Edwin suddenly appeared at my side, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. His mother’s eyes darted to where his hand connected with my arm, and then up to his face. “I assume you’re in on the lie, Edwin.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Edwin said calmly.

Stella rolled her eyes. “Enlighten me, then. Tell me why you’re lying to everyone. Is she even the Silver Star, or is that a lie, too?”

My mate pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t have to explain myself to you,” he said. With that, he turned on his heel response and began guiding me away. I was eager to just leave this party by now, a feeling to which Edwin sent a mutual down the bond.

But his mother, apparently, hadn’t had enough.

“What? Not going to turn my brain to mush like your father?”

Edwin and I both froze at that.

Stella chuckled. “I suppose that hit a nerve,” she called after us. “Your Silver Star…” She clicked her tongue. “Capable of destruction and… Well, I suppose that’s about all she’s capable of, isn’t it?”

Beside me, I felt Edwin stiffen, as if every muscle in his body was coiling. I turned to him, my eyes wide. “Edwin, it’s not worth-”

But before I could finish, he was whirling to face his mother.

“You are speaking about the Luna of Crescent pack,” he growled. “And you will refer to her with respect.”

My eyes widened. Luna…?