Chapter 269: Nowhere to run

The classroom was silent.

Not the usual kind, but the kind of Gravemont silence that existed whenever Sylas stood at the front of the room.

He stood behind his desk in his usual long black coat, glasses sitting perfectly on the bridge of his nose as he calmly wrote something across the board. Every movement was precise, and his presence, as usual, was enough to keep students sitting straight in their chairs.

Nobody whispered.

Nobody shifted unnecessarily.

Nobody dared breathe too loudly.

And everyone knew better than to test him.

Unfortunately, there was one person in the classroom who wasn’t particularly impressed by any of that.

Thomas.

Or, as Sylas privately knew her—

Theo.

She sat close to the window of the classroom with her arms crossed, her chin resting against her palm, and her amber eyes narrowed at him.

She had been staring at him for twenty-three minutes.

Sylas knew.

He had counted. He also knew she was doing it deliberately.

Every time he turned toward the class, those eyes were already waiting for him, and every time he looked away, he could feel them burning into his back.

Sylas was always the one doing the hunting, but for the first time in his entire teaching career, Sylas was beginning to feel like he was being hunted in his own classroom.

He cleared his throat and continued writing, "Therefore, when an Alpha’s—" His eyes flicked toward Theo, and she raised one eyebrow. Sylas immediately looked back at the board, "—when an Alpha’s... authority is... is—" He stopped again.

The entire classroom went still.

Sylas stared at the word on the board. He knew the word well. He had taught this exact lesson approximately ten times to sets that came before them, "Authority is..." He adjusted his glasses.

A student in the front row blinked, and they slowly began exchanging quick glances at each other.

Sylas never stumbled over his words.

Never.

"Is..." He cleared his throat. "Is determined by the strength of their..." His eyes moved toward Theo again, and she was still staring.

"...their political influence." His jaw worked, and he cleared his throat again.

Someone slowly lowered their pen, and more students were looking at each other again.

What the hell was happening?

Sylas turned back toward the board, pretending nothing had happened. Behind him, Theo’s lips twitched as she kept glaring at him.

His fingers tightened around the piece of chalk, "Now," he continued, "if an Alpha attempts to—" His chalk snapped, and the sound echoed through the classroom.

Everyone flinched from the suddenness of it, and Sylas stared at the broken piece between his fingers. He slowly placed it down, pretending like nothing had just happened, "Moving on."

Theo calmly leaned farther back into her chair, crossing her legs.

Sylas saw the movement from the corner of his eye, and he knew she was anything but calm right now.

His wolf whimpered inside of him, and his demon had already retreated somewhere into the darkest corner of his soul and refused to come out.

"Professor?" A student raised his hand shakily.

"What?"

The boy swallowed, instantly regretting it, "Are you...okay?"

Every head in the room turned toward him again, and Sylas stared at him through his glasses, "I am perfectly fine." He paused, "Do you have a question?"

"No, sir."

"Then lower your hand."

The boy immediately did.

"Now, where was I?"

A voice from the back answered, "You were talking about Alpha authority."

"Of course," Sylas began, turning the pages of the textbook in front of him, desperately searching for the page. He knew the page number, but his composure had never felt this disoriented before.

It was affecting him badly.

"Alpha authority is—"

Theo raised her hand all of a sudden, and literal chills shot down his spine. For a man who worked with cold day and night, he’d forgotten what actual chills of terror felt like and was just reminded right that second.

He stumbled immediately, and the desk shook, "...yes?"

Every student looked at her, and Theo smiled innocently, "Professor, would you like me to turn the pages for you?"

Everyone’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. Did she actually just ask him that?

He was the only one who could hear the blood-curdling snarl in her tone.

"Yes... NO!" He stumbled again, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment, "No,"

"Alright. Another question, Professor. When does class end?"

There was a collective low gasp from the students in class again.

"In thirty-seven minutes." Sylas replied, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face.

"Okay," She replied, and lowered her head back.

Sylas stared at her for several seconds.

She stared back.

Thirty-seven minutes.

Thirty-seven fucking minutes until she could finally drag him somewhere private and demand every answer he’d been avoiding.

Sylas turned back toward the board before they would see a bead of sweat rolling down between his forehead, "Continue reading pages eighty-two through ninety."

The class immediately reached for their books.

Nobody questioned the sudden change in lesson.

Nobody dared.

But as Sylas walked between the rows, his long coat brushing against the desks, he could feel Theo’s eyes following him. And for the first time in history, the most feared Professor in Gravemont found himself praying for the class bell to ring.

Because apparently, surviving demons was easier than surviving his angry mate.

The final bell of the day finally rang, and Sylas was the first person to leave that classroom. The moment he stepped outside, his face relaxed and he blew out a very long, shaky exhale like he’d been holding his breath for hours!

Then, before anyone else could leave the classroom he had merged with his shadows and was away from the school areas.

He appeared on the small porch of his abode, before drawing in another deep breath and leaning against the wall.

Fuck, that was brutal.

And how long was he supposed to avoid her for?

"Zev!"

Sylas flinched off the wall, his whole body switching to full panic mode. His glasses flew from his eyes, and they hit the floor hard.

"It’s me!"

Sylas leaned back on the wall, his heart pounding with relief when he saw that it was just Zeke, "What are you doing here?" Sylas asked.

"I can’t go back to the dorm. What if she comes back to the room? I can’t—" Zeke also stepped onto the porch, "She’s terrifying!!"

"Wow, I have no idea," Sylas rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"So, what are you going to do? We gonna tell her?"

"Probably," Sylas replied, "Or else I don’t think we are surviving till tomorrow,"

"Fuck!" Zeke groaned, "I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s all my fault,"

"Yeah, no shit!!"

Zeke suddenly gasped, "What if she approached Aurelius and asked him instead?"

"I don’t fucking know, okay?" Sylas released another shaky breath, "Let’s just...go in," He took one quick look around the tall trees surrounding the house.

Zeke also looked around carefully, his nose expanding as he sniffed the wind, "We would know when she’s approaching, right? We are...predators. We would definitely know,"

"Yeah... definitely," Sylas swallowed, still looking around like Zeke was.

Unfortunately, they were prey at the moment.

They finally stepped inside the house. Sylas pushed the door open first, holding it while Zeke slipped past him. The moment they were both inside, Sylas reached for the door.

"We should lock it," Zeke whispered.

"She’s not a fucking burglar!"

"She’s worse,"

"She could easily break it if she wanted to,"

The door suddenly slammed shut behind them, and both men froze to the ground.

Neither of them moved at first.

Slowly, Sylas turned his head to see a figure standing directly behind the door.

Theo.

Her arms were folded across her chest, her amber eyes glowing beneath the dim light of the room.

She smiled.

It wasn’t a nice smile.

"Hi."