Chapter 3

EDEN

The metal handle of the locked door was cold as I grabbed it to stay upright.

Jaxon didn't move from his desk, he slowly pulled his black gloves back over his shaky fingers, burying the skin that had caused my whole world to come crumbling.

His breathing was heavy, the fabric of his white button- down shirt rising and falling in uneven counts.

The three of us. The words bounced around my head, loud and chaotic.

"Explain it," I demanded, forcing my voice to stop shaking. "How does a default and an orphan belong to the three top Alphas? That's not how pack law works."

Jaxon smoothed the leather over his knuckles. The cold professor mask was back, but his eyes remained dangerously dark. "You don't need to understand pack law, Eden. You just need to know your place. If you speak of this to anyone, I'll have you removed from the academy before your next class."

"You're protecting your own ego," I spat, the sarcasm returning as my panic turned to heat. "Can't have the grand disciplinary head tied to a charity case huh, it would ruin your reputation."

Jaxon's jaw locked. He stepped forward, reached past my back, and unlocked the heavy oak door with a sharp click.

"Go back to your dorm," he commanded, his voice like ice.

He didn't let me walk alone, Jaxon stepped out into the hallway right behind me, his dominant aura radiating off him like a stone wall.

We didn’t make it ten yards, before my problems found me.

"There she is!" Gen's voice cut through the quiet corridor.

She was waiting by the trophy cases flanked by three of Tinsley's Beta enforcers. Her eyes were red with fury.

She lunged at me. Her hand claws out to grab the collar of my poor sweater. "You ruined Tinsley's potion, you freak. You're going to pay for...."

Jaxon stepped in front of me, as the air in the hallway grew heavy, thick enough to choke. Jaxon didn’t even touch Gen. He simply let his aura flare.

The pressure hit the hallway like a physical shockwave, Gen gasped, her knees buckling as she slammed hard onto the skate tiles.

The three Beta enforcers behind her dropped to their knees, their knees forced down by the sheer weight of his command.

"Professor Vance," Gen whimpered, her forehead pressed against the cold floor, as Kia yawned in my head, why was she whining? " She.....she attacked us first."

"Get out of my sight," Jaxon said, his voice dropping to a register that made the lockers rattle. "If I see you cornering my students in the faculty wing again, I will have you suspended."

I stared at his broad back, my chest tight. He had just protected me from them, he had them on the floor without a second thought. But it didn't feel like a rescue, it felt like a predator claiming his territory, he didn't want anyone touching his property.

I didn't wait for him to turn back to me, I turned on my heel and bolted down the corridor, desperate to put distance between us.

I need to find Maya and Bell.

I ran towards the tech wing, rushing to get the fuck away from him.

The hallway was quiet, the server rooms glowing with a soft blue light.

As I reached the door, want to rush through buildings and into the dorms, through the glass door I saw a single figure standing over a blinking terminal.

Asher Sterling.

Before I could turn around, the door slid open with a soft hiss, a hand shot out wrapping around my waist.

Asher pulled me inside, dragging me into the dark, between two tall servers, the door slid behind us, locking with a heavy click.

"Let me go," I whispered, pushing against his chest.

He didn't let go, his hands gripped my hip, pinning me against the vibrating metal frame the hot air from the server fans blew on my skin.

Asher's scent filled the whole space, the heavy smell made Kia claw at my brain.

His neat freak, and controlled font was completely gone, his gray eyes were wide, his pupils blown, his finger digging hard into my waist, as he inhales the air around us, his gaze drawn back to my lips.

He looked down at my dirty sweater, his nose twitching with disgust, yet he leaned in, burying his face in the curve of my neck, and he took a deep, shuddering breath of scent.

It took every strength of mine to bury my nose along the curve of his neck, and pin his nose to my neck.

"What did you do?" Asher growled against my skin, his body trembling. "My wolf is going insane, Jaxon touched you, didn't he? I can smell him all over you."

"Get off me, Asher," I choked out, my hands fisting his pristine shirt, the mate bond was screaming between us, but the touch only brought back pain of the foster home. "You don't get to touch me, you don't even know my name."

He pulled back slightly, his brow furrowed in frustration. "You're a default, a charity case. My wolf shouldn't want this."

I looked at his wrists, right below his clean white cuff, the faint silver key shaped scar caught the dim blue light.

The scar he got when we tried to climb the foster home fence.

My heart slammed against my ribs, my throat closed up, making it hard to swallow, as my brain dragged back the memories, tears slowly filled my eyes.

"You promised you wouldn't leave me, Ash. You promised we'd run away together. Now you're looking at me like I'm worth nothing."

Asher froze, as he searched my face, confusion flickering across his features, but the blackness remained, he didn't remember. He didn't care either.

"I don't know what fairy tales you've made up in that head about me, default," Asher whispered, his grip on my hips tightened until I'm sure I'm going to be left with bruises. "But I won't lose control, not for your sake."

The sliding glass door of the server room began to open, and Asher pressed his lips against the shell of my ear, his voice dropping to a low promise of pain.

"You're coming back to this lab tonight," Asher whispered. "If you don't show up, I'll upload the raw security footage of your vial stunt to the student network, let's see how long you survive, when the entire academy knows what you are."

And he shoves me out of the lab, leaving stumbling in the bright corridor.