Mated to Her Alpha Instructor (Eileen and Regis) novel Chapter 12

↑ the training eh hati an hour early, estensibily to check the protective wards and arrange the equipment, but Valdor knew the truth–we were

The the holes and insisted, pacing restlessly in my mind. All healing track students. The academy mandate applies to everyone.

he’s still test. I countered, forcing myself to focus on inspecting the boundary stones. We don’t even know her name yet. She could have

Cold have left the academy entirely after-”

The tun? Ingve. Valdors certainty was absolute, the kind of bone–deep knowing that came from the mate bond itself. Td feel it if she were gone. The bowl stretch, ache. She’s close. She’s always been close.”

we right, damn him. Ever since that night in the Whispering Woods, there’d been a constant awareness at the edge of my consciousness–a warmth, a presence that felt like sunlight breaking through storm clouds. It had grown stronger over the weekend, pulling me toward the western edge of campus where the student dormitories clustered.

Bank forced myself to wait. To give her time. To approach this rationally, as an instructor rather than a desperate Alpha chasing his mate across campus like some lovesick fool.

The students began arriving in clusters, their voices carrying across the open space. I stayed in the shadows near the equipment shed, letting Valdor search the crowd through my senses. Lavender. Rosemary. Cinnamon. Dozens of scents, none of them hers.

And then-

Chamomile. Sweet apple. The scent hit me like a physical blow, and Valdor howled in my mind.

The Stars there! I told you, I told you she’d come!‘

Bat something was wrong. The scent was muted, dampened, overlaid with sage and other masking herbs. My wolf’s joy turned to confused hurt in an instant.

Why is the hiding from us? Why doesn’t she want us to find her?”

1 gripped the edge of the stone wall, knuckles white, fighting the urge to shift right there and tear through the crowd until I found her. Because we marked her withand her permission, I reminded him grimly Because she woke up with a stranger’s claim on her neck and probably spent the entire weekend terrified.

But we mates, Valdar whined, sounding almost pitiful. She should feel safe with us. She should want us.”

“Se dok us The words tasted batter. And after what we did, she has every reason to be afraid.”

I fussed myself to take a steadying breath, to think like the combat instructor I was supposed to be rather than the Alpha whose mate was somewhere in that crowd, Geliberately masking her scent to avoid lum. The masking herbs were good–professional grade, the kind healers used when working with patients sensitive to scents. But they couldn’t hide everything, not from an Alpha specifically attuned to her frequency.

I tracked the scent to the back of the crowd, where two girls stood close together. One was gesturing animatedly, her wolf–spirit bright and bold in her aura -confident and outspoken. The other…

She had her head down, shoulders hunched, practically hiding behind her friend. Even from this distance, I could see the tension in her posture, the way she kept one hand pressed to the scarf wrapped around her neck.

1/2

PY 12

Them The to Me Ne The phong to here! Help ith the crossed like the never been there at all

ward in peste to the distance, but I held him back with iron will or pet. We can’t ware her We need to do this carefully

town–wed marked “use the Our fate Our-

Iron him wht Which means we handle this professionally. We confirm her identity, we find a way to speak with her privately, and we give her The chess we cut her given her that night

If the thought of her rejecting the bond made something in my chest feel like it was being torn apart.

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