The Professor's Mate Clause novel Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

ADRIAN’S POV

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I kissed her because I could not not kiss her. Because the need was so strong it overrode everything else. Because she was right there looking at me like maybe she wanted this too.

She kissed me back. Hard. Desperate. Like she needed it as much as I did.

More. We need more. Take her upstairs. Show her what it means to be ours.

No. Not yet. She is not ready.

She said she wants us. What more do we need?

I need her to be sure. Need her to understand. Need this to be her choice fully not just heat of the moment desperation.

But Kael was not listening anymore. Kael was pushing. Taking. Demanding.

I could feel the shift happening. Could feel my control slipping away piece by piece.

My hands were rougher than I meant them to be. My kiss was harder. More demanding. I could feel the wolf bleeding through. Could feel the dominance. The possessiveness. The need to claim and mark and

own.

Yes. Finally. Show her what she is to us. Show her she belongs to us.

I broke the kiss. Forced myself to step back. Put distance between us even though it felt like tearing off

my own skin.

“Adrian?” She looked confused. Hurt. “What-”

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“I need a minute.” My voice came out wrong. Too rough. Almost a growl. “I need you to go upstairs.”

“Why?”

“Because if you stay down here I am going to do something we will both regret.” I turned away from her. Gripped the counter hard enough to crack. “Please Freya. Just go.”

“I do not understand. I thought..”

“You thought wrong.” The words were harsher than I meant. “You are not ready for what I want to do to you. What Kael wants to do to you. So please just go upstairs before I lose what little control I have left.”

Silence. Then footsteps. The sound of her leaving.

The moment she was gone I put my fist through the cabinet. Wood splintered. Pain shot up my arm. Healed almost immediately.

Why? Why did we send her away? She wanted us. She was ready.

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She was scared. She does not understand what she is agreeing to.

So we teach her. We show her. We

We do nothing. We give her space. We let her come to terms with this in her own time.

We are fools. We had her and we let her go.

Better to let her go now than lose her forever by moving too fast.

She will run. She will leave. And we will be alone again.

Then I will find her again. I will always find her.

Butt we should not have to find her. She should be here. With us. Ours.

I know. I know Kael. But this is bigger than what we want. This is about her. About what she needs.

*What about what we need? How much longer can we endure this? How much longer before the bond

drives us mad?*

As long as it takes.

But even as I thought it I knew the truth. I was reaching my breaking point. The bond was pulling harder every day. Kael was getting stronger. More insistent. More violent in his demands.

And Freya was still lying to herself. Still fighting what she felt. Still not ready to admit the truth.

Something had to give. Soon.

I just hoped when it did I would not destroy everything in the process.

The rest of the evening I avoided her. Stayed in my room. Let her have space. Let myself have space before I did something stupid.

Kael paced inside me. Restless. Angry. Demanding.

This is wrong. Mates should not be separated like this. Should not have walls between them.

The walls are necessary. For now.

For now. Always for now. When is it our turn? When do we get what we want?

When she is ready.

And if she is never ready? If she keeps running? Keeps denying?

Then I will wait. I will wait forever if that is what it takes.

You are a better man than I am a wolf.

I am barely a man at all anymore. The wolf is taking over. And I am running out of strength to fight it.

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CHAPTER IS

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Morning came again. I made breakfast again. Watched her come downstairs again.

She looked at me differently today. Like she was seeing me clearly for the first time. Like she was trying to figure something out.

We talked. About pack things. About healing and death and violence. Safe topics. Easy topics.

But underneath was the weight of everything unsaid. Everything we were both avoiding.

When she brought up reading my journal I saw my opportunity. Saw the chance to be honest. To tell her everything I have been holding back.

I told her about searching. About finding her. About the journal entries. About how real this is.

I watched her process it. Watched the walls crack just a little.

Then I told her I was reaching my limit. That Kael was demanding. That my control was fracturing.

I waited for her to run. To pull away. To tell me she needed more time.

Instead she looked at me and said maybe she did not want me to be patient anymore.

And I knew. Knew I was about to lose this battle. Knew Kael was about to win.

Knew that if I kissed her again I would not be able to stop.

Good. Do not stop. Claim her. Mark her. Make her ours.

Not yet. Not like this. Not when she does not fully understand what she is agreeing to.

She understands enough. She wants us. That is all that matters.

But it is not. It is not all that matters. Her choice matters. Her readiness matters. Her trust matters.

And I am not sure we have earned that yet.

So I kissed her. Let myself have that much. Let Kael have that much.

But when the kiss deepened. When my control started slipping again. When I felt the wolf pushing

forward.

I stopped.

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