The Professor's Mate Clause novel Chapter 105

hapter 105

MARCUS’S POV

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Thirty years as Beta. Three decades of standing beside Adrian, not as a subordinate, but as something closer to family than blood could ever make us. I have been his right hand, his anchor, his closest friend in every war, every loss, every victory we built from nothing. And yet, when everything strips away and the battlefield finally closes in around us, it comes down to something painfully simple. A choice. A sacrifice. A line in the dirt that someone has to cross and never come back from.

Corbin breaks through the outer defenses like they were never meant to hold. I see him heading straight for Adrian, cutting through chaos with single–minded intent, and something inside me goes cold with understanding. This is not just an attack. It is execution. He is coming for our Alpha, for my friend, for the man who saved me when I had nothing left worth saving, Adrian gave me purpose when I was lost, gave me family when I had none, and now Corbin intends to take him away. I do not think. I do not hesitate. I move.

I intercept him before anyone else can, slamming into his path with everything have left. The impact throws both of us into the ground, and the world becomes teeth, claws, and brutal force. He is stronger than me, larger, more experienced in a way that cannot be trained away in the moment. But I am not here to outmatch him. I am here to stop him. I am here because I know, with a certainty that overrides fear and pain, that Adrian must live even if I do not. That knowledge alone is enough to carry me forward.

Corbin’s voice cuts into my mind through the pack link, cold and mocking as he tells me I cannot win, that I am only delaying the inevitable. I do not argue with him. I do not waste breath proving him wrong. Instead, I answer with action, because words mean nothing on a battlefield like this. Every strike I land costs me something, every hit I take pushes me closer to the edge, but I stay locked onto him because that is the only thing that matters. Holding him here. Keeping him away from Adrian. Buying seconds that might become everything.

Pain becomes constant, no longer sharp enough to distinguish between moments. His jaws clamp down on my shoulder and I feel bone give way under the pressure, heat and agony flooding through me in a way that should have ended me instantly. But I do not let go. I cannot let go. Even as my body begins to fail, even as the world narrows to instinct and endurance, I keep myself between him and Adrian. That is my purpose. That is all I am now.

Adrian’s voice cuts through everything then, desperate and commanding at once, ordering me to disengage. I hear him, and for a brief moment, something inside me almost obeys. But I cannot. Not this time. Not when obeying means his death. Some orders are meant to be followed, but others are meant to be broken in silence and carried to the grave. This is one of those moments. So I do not stop. I do not retreat. I hold.

Corbin finally throws me off with a force that cracks through what is left of my body. I hit the ground hard, pain exploding through my ribs and shoulder, blood filling my lungs in shallow, burning breaths. I know I am dying. There is no citusion an that realization, no denial. Just acceptance. But I am not finished yet. Not while I can still move. Not while thew is still even a

1 fragment of purpose left inside me. So I rise again, or something close to it, and I charge.

It is not a fight anymore. It is a final act. A last attempt to delay inevitability. I collide with him again, weaker this time, slower every movement dragging through exhaustion and injury. He is fresh compared to me, fueled by rage and certainty, and I know he will end this soon. But not yet. Not before I have done what I came here to do. Not before Adrian gets his chance to finish what

I started.

His claws tear into me, and something deep inside ruptures. I feel life draining out of me in real time, like a river breaking (19. banks and emptying into nothing. And still, I hold him. Still, I keep him here. Because Adrian is coming Because every secoitd buy is another second where victory becomes possible. That is what I was born for That is what I will die for

When I finally fall, it is not sudden. It is gradual, like the world slowly letting go of me Corbin stands over me, victorious in his mind, alieady convinced this was meaningless. But I answer him anyway, because even dying men deserve to speak their truth 1 tell him he is wrong. That Adrian is coming. That my death is not an ending without consequence, but a turning point he will not survive. And even as blood fills my mouth, I believe it.

Then it happens. Adrian arrives like a storm breaking loose, raw and unstoppable, everything: he has held back finally unleashed. He crashes into Corbin with a force that shakes the battlefield itself, and I see it in that moment

iny sacrifice was

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not wasted. It created this opening. It gave him what he needed. It made victory possible. That is enough. That has to be enough.

As my vision begins to fade, hear him through the bond. Adrian’s voice is unsteady in a way I have rarely heard, filled with something dangerously close to grief. He thanks me. Calls me friend. Calls me brother. Calls me family. And I realize, in a quiet way that does not hurt anymore, that I was all of those things. Not because learned thers perfectly, but because I chose them when it mattered.

I answer him as best I can, though my voice is already slipping away. I tell him it was my job. That I am glad I did it. Glad it mattered. Glad it meant something beyond just existing Because that is all I ever wanted in the end–to not be meaningless. To not be forgotten while still breathing. To matter in the one moment that counted most.

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