Academic Discipline

I woke up with a start, the sunlight hitting my face much later than it was supposed to. I scrambled for my phone and groaned when I saw the time. I was late. Not just a little late, but "Professor Blackwood is going to kill me" late.

I didn't even have time to think about Killian or the weird feeling of his leather vest against my back. I threw on a high-necked sweater to hide the mark, grabbed my bag, and sprinted toward the law building. My lungs were burning by the time I reached the hallway outside the lecture hall.

"Elena! Wait up!"

I stopped, gasping for air, as Jax caught up to me. He looked cheerful, which was the last thing I needed right now.

"You missed the first twenty minutes," Jax whispered, leaning against the locker next to me. "Blackwood is in a mood today. He’s already torn three people apart for not knowing the case law."

"Great," I muttered, trying to straighten my hair. "Just what I need."

Jax laughed and reached out, playfully nudging my shoulder. "Relax. You're his favorite student, even if he acts like a robot. Here, I took notes on the first part for you."

He held out his tablet, and I leaned in to look at the screen. Jax said something funny about the way one of the senior students had stuttered, and for a second, I actually forgot to be terrified. I let out a genuine laugh, my head tilting back.

In that moment, I felt a heavy, cold sensation on the back of my neck. It wasn't the mark. it was the feeling of being watched.

I looked toward the classroom door. It was cracked open just an inch. Through the gap, I saw a flash of silver spectacles and a pair of blue eyes so dark they looked like a storm at sea. Alaric was standing in the shadows of the doorway, watching me and Jax. He didn't move. He didn't say anything. He just watched until I stopped laughing.

"I have to go in," I whispered, my stomach doing a nervous flip.

"See you in there," Jax said, still smiling.

I walked into the room, keeping my head down. The silence was immediate. Alaric was already back at his podium, his hands gripped so tightly on the wood that his knuckles were white.

"Miss Vance," he said. His voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the room like a blade. "So nice of you to join us. I assume whatever was happening in the hallway was far more important than the foundations of criminal intent?"

"I'm sorry, Professor. I overslept."

"Sit down," he snapped.

For the next forty minutes, Alaric was a nightmare. He didn't just teach; he attacked. He called on me every five minutes. He asked me questions so complex that I had to stumble through the answers, and every time I hesitated, he would humiliate me in front of the class.

"Is the law a joke to you, Elena?" he asked, standing right in front of my desk. "You seem very interested in socializing, yet you can't even define a simple breach of duty today. Is your mind elsewhere? Perhaps on a motorcycle?"

My heart stopped. How did he know? I looked up at him, my eyes stinging with tears of frustration. "I'm trying, Professor."

"Try harder," he whispered, so low only I could hear. "Because right now, you are failing me. Stay after class. We are going to discuss your lack of focus."

When the bell rang, the other students scrambled out as fast as they could. Jax gave me a worried look, but Alaric cleared his throat sharply, and Jax hurried away. I stood by my desk, my hands shaking as I packed my bag.

Alaric walked to the door and turned the lock. The click sounded like a death sentence.

"Come to the front," he said.

I walked down to his desk. "I'm sorry I was late. It won't happen again."

"No, it won't," he said. He walked around me, his presence heavy and suffocating. "I saw you out there. Laughing. Touching that boy. Do you think I marked you just so you could go out and play with children?"

"Jax is just a friend! And you told me you didn't even know me! You said you weren't at the bar!" I shouted, finally snapping.

Alaric moved so fast I didn't see it coming. He grabbed my arm and steered me toward the far corner of the room, near the large windows that were now dark with the evening.

"Face the wall," he commanded.

"What? No!"

"Face the wall, Elena. Now."

His voice had a strange power to it, a vibration that made my muscles obey before my brain could protest. I turned and faced the corner, my forehead almost touching the cool plaster.

"Put your hands behind your back," he said, his voice right behind my ear.

I did it. I felt like a child, but I couldn't stop myself. I heard him pacing behind me, the steady thud of his expensive shoes on the floor.

"You will stand there and think about where you belong," Alaric said. "You will think about the fact that while you were laughing with that boy, you don't belong to him."

"You're crazy," I whispered to the wall.

"I am many things, Elena. Patient is not one of them."

He didn't touch me, but he stood so close that I could feel the heat of his body. He started talking, his voice a deep, commanding baritone that seemed to fill my entire head. He talked about discipline. He talked about how a girl like me needed a firm hand to keep her from ruining her future.

Every word he spoke felt like a physical touch. My skin began to tingle. A dull ache started in my lower belly, a deep, heavy longing that made me want to lean back into him. I hated it. I hated how much power his voice had over me.

"Do you understand why you are in this corner?" he asked.

"Because you're jealous," I choked out.

I heard him stop pacing. He moved in until he was pressed against my back, his chest solid against my shoulder blades. He reached around and gripped my chin, forcing me to look slightly to the side, though I was still facing the wall.

"I am not jealous of a boy like that," Alaric whispered. His breath was hot against my neck, right over the mark. "But I do not like people touching what is mine. You are a Blackwood girl now, Elena. Whether you want to be or not."

He let go of my chin and leaned down, his lips ghosting over the sensitive skin of my ear.

"If I ever see you look at another boy like that again," he said, his voice dropping to a terrifyingly soft level, "the punishment won't be a corner. It will be your dignity. I will take it from you in front of everyone, and you will thank me for it."

He stepped back and I heard the lock click open.

"Go home. And don't be late tomorrow."

I didn't turn around. I kept my face to the wall until I heard his office door shut. When I finally moved, my legs were so weak I almost fell. I grabbed my bag and ran out into the cold night air, my mind screaming.

He was my professor. He was a monster. And as I walked home, all I could feel was the ghost of his voice making my blood sing