The Professor's Mate Clause novel Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

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CHAPTER 17

ADRIAN’S POV

I have spent days watching her move through my space. Days listening to her breathe in the room next to mine. Days pretending I can keep my hands to myself.

I am failing.

Claim her. Mark her. Make her understand she belongs to us.

Kael has not stopped demanding since the moment she agreed to come back with me. Since the moment I got her safe inside these walls. He wants her with a violence that makes my bones ache.

She is ours. Why do we wait? Why do we let her deny what she feels?

Because forcing her would destroy everything. Because she needs time. Because I promised myself I would be patient.

Patience is weakness. Patience will lose her.

Maybe. But impatience will scare her away forever.

The bank trip nearly broke me. Sitting in that car with her. Smelling her fear. Her grief. Watching her read her father’s letters and fall apart. Every instinct screamed to pull over. To hold her. To promise her everything would be okay.

But I kept driving. Kept my hands on the wheel. Kept the distance she needed.

Then Marcus called about the pack situation and I had to leave her alone. Had to walk away when every cell in my body demanded I stay. Demanded I finish what we started in that kitchen.

We had her. She wanted us. Why did we stop?

Because she was not ready for what would have happened if we continued. Because once I start touching her I do not know if I can stop. Because I am barely holding onto control as it is.

Coming back to find her sitting at my desk nearly undid me. She looked small in my chair. Vulnerable. Like she belonged there. Like she belonged in every corner of my life.

And she had been reading. Exploring. Learning about what we are. About what she is.

About me.

I wanted to ask what she found. Wanted to know if she read my journal. If she saw the entries about searching for her. About finding her. About wanting her so badly it physically hurts.

But I did not ask. Just washed the blood off my hands and tried to pretend my heart was not racing.

She knows. I can smell it on her. She knows how much we want her.

CHAPTER 7

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Knowing and accepting are different things. She knows I want her. But she does not trust it yet. Does not

trust me.

I went to bed that night and stared at the ceiling. My room is directly above hers. I could hear her moving around. Hear her breathing. Hear every sound.

Kael wanted to go to her. Wanted to break down the door between us and claim what was ours.

I locked my bedroom door. Not to keep her out. To keep me in.

Coward. She is right there. Right below us. And we do nothing.

What would you have me do? Force myself on her? Terrify her? Make her hate us?

Make her understand. Make her feel what we feel. Make her stop lying to herself.

She is not ready.

Then make her ready.

I cannot force this. Cannot rush it. She has been through too much. Lost too much. I will not be another thing that hurts her.

But we are hurting. Every moment without her hurts. How much longer can we endure this?

As long as it takes.

But I was lying to myself. I knew I was lying.

Morning came and I made breakfast because I needed something to do with my hands. Needed to focus on something other than the fact that she slept twenty feet away from me and I spent the entire night imagining going to her.

Imagining kissing her awake. Imagining her sighs. Her sounds. The way she would look in my bed.

Our bed. She belongs in our bed.

Soon. Maybe soon.

She came downstairs looking tired. Beautiful. Mine. She sat at the counter and I wanted to pull her into my lap. Wanted to bury my face in her neck and breathe her in.

Instead I poured coffee. Made eggs. Acted normal.

This is torture. Worse than torture.

I know.

We talked about the pack. About wolves. About violence and hierarchy and death. Normal conversation. Safe conversation.

But I could smell her. Could hear her heartbeat. Could see the mark on her neck from where I bit her and

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CHAPTER T

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feel satisfaction roll through me.

Mine. My mark. My mate.

Ours. And yet we do not claim her. Do not finish what we started.

She is scared Kael. Can you not see that? She is terrified of what she feels. Of what this means.

Then we show her. We prove to her that this is real. That we are real.

How? By pushing her before she is ready? By taking what she is not ready to give?

By being honest. By telling her we cannot wait much longer. By making her understand that patience has limits.

Maybe he was right. Maybe honesty was the only option left.

When she admitted reading my journal I saw the truth in her eyes. She knows how long I searched. How

much I want her. How real this is.

And she is still fighting it. Still denying it. Still lying to herself and to me.

I could feel my control fracturing. Could feel Kael pushing harder. Demanding more.

Now. Tell her now. No more games. No more pretending.

I told her I was reaching my limit. Told her the bond was pulling. That Kael was demanding I complete it. That I was running out of reasons to resist.

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