Finding Willow

Leo

“Can I help you?” she frowns.

The moment I notice the frown, I prepare myself for an uncomfortable conversation. The icy voice and unwelcoming face make me forget my words for a second. This is going to be fun.

“Hello?” she says impatiently, her eyebrows knitted and her lips pursed.

“Your life is in danger, Willow. You need to stay away from Liam.”

She doesn’t respond, which makes me wonder if I used the correct name. Her name is Willow, I think. That’s what that idiot called Liam kept calling her in the forest. I thought if I used her name, she would be a little more welcoming, but she seems even more pissed.

“Wow! Did Lucy send you?” She rolls her brown eyes, and for the first time, I notice that they are puffy.

Guilt gnaws at me for a second. She has been crying for Liam. “Why would Lucy send me? I’m here to save your life.”

The horizontal line doesn’t leave her forehead. “Really? Thee Doctor Brown is so bored that he decided to become a fake psychic?” she chuckles. “Wait?” she gasps. “Did you get fired? Because that would really make my night.”

Shit! I do by all means to keep my face off the campus portal or on social media, her look tells me we crossed paths before and I didn’t leave a good impression. “How do you know me?” I ask anyway.

“You don’t remember me, do you?” She chuckles bitterly.

“Uhm?” I blink, and then I open my mouth, but I find my brain struggling to string up a sentence.

“I once sent you a lengthy email, asking you...” She shakes her head. “No, begging you to re-read my paper and your response was that I was ‘entitled and lazy’.” She makes quotation marks with her fingers.

“Oh?” I wince. “How long ago was this?”

“It doesn’t matter, because I still hate you!”

I draw in a sharp breath.

‘Way to go, brutal professor,’ Asclepius, my wolf, chimes in, amused as usual.

She speaks, and I let her ramble. My eyes focus on her lips as she rattles words like “ego, hate and narcissist.”

I zone in and out, wanting to kiss her lips and in disbelief that I’m letting a student yell at me, and take her frustrations about her boyfriend out on me.

‘Desperate times...’ Asclepius comments, and I hate him a little at that moment.

“I’m sorry,” I try to sound sincere. “Can we talk about this, and then you can tell me how to fix it?”

She rolls her eyes. “Look, I would like to stay and chat.” She says in an overly polite tone and a fake smile. “But I have to go, and keep those psychic visions to yourself.” She locks the door and hurries away, making me trail behind.

“Fine, I’ll leave, but we both know that tonight, he would’ve killed you if he could. You saw it in his eyes.”

She rolls her eyes again, without a hint of fear or alarm. I walk in a different direction and hide behind a building.

“Please take me to LKE,” she says when she opens the door of the cab.

As soon as she gets in the cab, I run to my car, bumping into a few students and mumbling apologies.

“Going somewhere?”

I growl at the sound of Liam’s voice. “I have errands to run,” I say dismissively. “I don’t have time for your childish behaviour.”

“Stop stalking Willow,” he says between his teeth.

‘You wanted to kill her! Why do you suddenly care?’ I send him a mind-link.

‘I just wanted to reject her!’ he rolls his eyes.

‘But you don’t know how your rejection might affect her.’

‘You rejected three mates. You have no right to judge me.’ He growls. ‘Why are you concerned about her? Do you want her?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous!’

‘I didn’t know you could be so heartless. I was trying to set her free!’ He grumbles.

‘You are not going to reject her!’

‘Because you need her for your mission,' he glares at me.