The Alpha's Hatred

Punishment

"What?" I blinked.

His lips thinned, his broad shoulders rising up and down in a dangerous sigh. "Do I, in any way, appear likely to repeat myself?"

I swallowed, shaking my head. "N-no."

The man scared me to my core, but I couldn't help noticing the way his finely-tailored suit accentuated his broad shoulders and muscled biceps, or the way his neatly groomed hair was combed back like a gentleman's. But he was anything but a gentleman. At least, to me. Yet, why did my fingers itched to glide them through the silky, smooth length of those dark strands?

He watched me stare at him for the few milliseconds before his eyes narrowed, snapping me out of my trance.

Oh my God! I was checking the professor out right in front of him!

"Ok. I'll go return them," I squeaked, feeling the burn in my neck, and gathered the books back into my arms, hurrying to the exit when he barked another order.

"Get cleaned up."

"Yes, Professor." I threw my answer over my shoulder before running out of his office and back into the forgotten library, and then straight to the washroom.

Once I was fresh and finished executing his commands, did I finally take a breath of relief. I couldn't fathom what was wrong with me. Why did I feel so bizarrely around him? Like my emotions were confused on which direction to go. Or was it another shortcoming in my system left by that night?

"Ana, where have you been the whole lunch hour?"

I jolted out of my thoughts before turning on my heels to find my friends approaching me in the washroom.

"We've been looking for you everywhere," Samara said, looking into the mirror and fishing out her lipgloss from her purse to reapply.

I frowned. How come I didn't sense them coming? I always did before.

I didn't get to wonder because Talia took a hold of my shirt, frowning herself. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing. It's just grime. Mr. Valerious—"

"Mr. Valerious?" she cut me off, her eyes widened with concern. "What did he do?"

"Relax, Tal." I eyed her, not getting the reason behind her paranoia regarding the professor. "He didn't do anything. He only gave me a task to fetch him some books from the library."

"Really?" She narrowed her eyes at me. "Why are you so dirty then?"

"That part of the library was abandoned. That's why."

"He sent you into that room? They use it for trash." Samara threw in her comment from the mirror.

"Yeah. But the place still has so many books."

"Unusable books," she pointed out.

"You don't know that," I shot back. I was trying to assure a worked-up Talia, but she was making it hard on me.

"Didn't I tell you to stay away from that man?" Talia questioned, her tone strict like the one my mother used when she scolded me about something.

"Why are you so afraid of him?" I asked. They had no history in the past that much was confirmed from their behavior. But for some reason, Talia was always tensed whenever he was in the vicinity even though she refused the fact.

She blinked, as if she finally realized what she was doing. At this point, Samara too stopped fixing her makeup and stared.

"I-I'm not." She laughed nervously bouncing her gaze from me to Samara. "I just want you guys to be safe."

I sighed. Maybe she was just a mother hen always worried. Another reason I didn't tell her about my punishment. "We are safe, Tal," I told her. "We're in college, and that's our teacher, not a killer."

Her face paled, and she swallowed before pulling herself back together and smiled. "You're right. I'm just being paranoid for no reason."

Samara pointed at Talia. "For a second there, you had me thinking the guy was the real devil."

"Sorry," Tal apologized, shaking her head. "Smack some sense into me the next time I do that."

"Gladly." Was Samara's immediate answer, making us burst into laughter.

"Let's go. We're getting late for class."

***

The rest of the day was going well until the final class arrived which belonged to Professor Valerious. He was, of course, a menace to everyone throughout the entire class. It was pin-drop silent, specially without the Blazes present. As much I heard, the gang was suspended for three days for beating up another student. As for Sheldon, he was given three days' leave to recover.

Though what didn't make sense was that none of them mentioned my name. Even though I wasn't at fault, Sheldon seemed determined on accusing me wrongly, and I didn't trust the others to defend me after our conversation. Or even if they did tell, no call came from the office.

Could it be that Mr. Valerious informed the dean about my punishment from him already? Maybe. Or else, why would they let me off the hook that easy? Although, I wasn't exactly let off the hook because judging by the way the professor's dark gaze found me at the end of the class, it was confirmed my punishment had just begun.

"Ms. Miracle, in my office. Now."

***

Stay safe!
Lots of love,
Mariyam