Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
The bell rang, signifying the end of the class while the students groaned on the floor, unwilling to continue fighting. Applause broke out, feverish excitement rising from the professor’s crowd of female fans. When the professor helped his students up, the girls around Kassia gushed at his show of sportsmanship.
The professor and the students bowed to each other.
When the professor straightened, his heavily lidded gaze suddenly found hers.
Excruciating pain tore through her at feeling the professor’s eyes on her, and Kassia turned away in panic. The ache in her heart became heavier, like a knife twisting deeper inside her.
She could not get the professor’s face out of her head.
How can he look at me like that after what he’s done, she wondered dully. The professor was playing with her. He had to be. He had been doing so from the start. So why, oh Lord, why was she still affected?
THE STUDENTS BOWED in unison, stepped back from their sparring partners, and assumed their positions. Each pairing was given a tiny amount of space to fight in, and the mechanics of winning were simple: one only had to do anything he could to evict his opponent from his fighting space. In the years that Alessandro had been teaching ookami-kata, the rule had proven effective in encouraging his students to be creative and utilize as much as they could remember from his lessons.
Or at least he used to think it was effective.
Now, not so much.
Not when it was obvious Jacob was using the rules to his advantage, provoking Kassia into making unwise choices that allowed him to playfully cop a feel.
His temper strained against its leash as Jacob continuously employed a defensive stance, locking her body to his in a clinch every time she tried to take a swipe at him. Essentially, it was to counter her offensive, but anyone with fucking brains could see Jacob was only doing it to feel her breasts against his body.
His jaw hardened when it happened for the fifth time. Why didn’t Kassia complain? Why didn’t she look at him to put a stop to it? Jealousy consumed him, a dark fire that threatened to eviscerate his control.
The urge to change form burned inside him. He wanted to turn Lyccan so he could slash the boy down and let him know just whose woman he was trespassing on.
The fight – the seduction – continued. Kassia had again rushed in to attack, and Jacob waited until the last minute before bluffing her with an attack of his own. She retreated, lost her footing, and would have fallen out of the circle if Jacob hadn’t pulled her back.
Kassia flashed Jacob a smile of relief.
Alessandro wanted to snarl. Didn’t she damn realize Jacob wanted her to keep fighting so he could keep touching her? Inside the circle, Jacob had every right to touch her, and no one would blink an eye.
His heightened senses latched itself to Kassia, now attuned to every beat of her heart, every breath Kassia drew. He listened for any sign that she welcomed the boy’s advances.
And if there was, his conscience demanded. What would he do?
The answer didn’t bear thinking.
For the boy’s sake, Kassia better not show any fucking amount of interest in him.
Another minute passed. Jacob was letting Kassia take a few swipes at him, and Alessandro knew it was the boy’s intention to lull her into a sense of complacency. She was frowning with concentration, her gaze scanning Jacob’s figure for the best part of his body to attack. She completely missed the look of hunger in Jacob’s eyes.
But Alessandro didn’t.
And from there, it was easy to see what Jacob was planning.
Jacob making a move—-
Kassia falling to the ground—-
Jacob landing on top of her, his groin on top of her sex—-
Not in this goddamn life.
Before anyone could draw another breath, Alessandro was there, standing right outside Kassia and Jacob’s fighting space.
“STOP.” His voice carried throughout the hall, and everyone froze.
Kassia, Jacob, and the pairs standing closest to him turned to Alessandro in shock and confusion, unable to understand how it was possible for him to cross the entire hall in a fraction of a second.
Jacob, his foot still mid-air, began to sway. He had been about to hook one leg around Kassia’s to take her down. But now, the plan was about to backfire.
Alessandro deftly stepped back as Jacob fell on his face. Behind him, the entire class struggled unsuccessfully not to laugh.
Alessandro wasn’t able to join in their amusement, his attention stolen by the sound of Kassia’s erratic heartbeat while her intoxicatingly sweet scent once again took possession of his senses.
Kassia was looking at him with brown eyes that hid everything, only to be belied by the feel and smell of her emotions.
Pain.
So much damn pain.
He didn’t need the power to read her thoughts to know what she was thinking. What she seemed to have been thinking every night, if the dark circles under her eyes were any indication.