Stay away from me.

Rose's POV

The bond pulsed stronger now, steadier, a living golden current that wrapped around the jagged cracks in my heart like thread stitching wounds shut one careful, patient loop at a time. I felt his wolf inside it—massive silver shadow standing guard at the edge of my mind, not snarling or lunging, just waiting. Ready. Immovable. Offering me every ounce of his strength without demanding I take it, without growling *mine* like some lesser alpha would.

My own wolf nuzzled closer to that silver presence, a soft, rumbling purr vibrating through my chest and straight into the bond. For one treacherous heartbeat I let myself imagine it all: waking beside him every single morning with sunlight slanting across the sheets, no more sneaking out before dawn, no more lies or scent-blockers or high collars hiding the mark on my throat.

Pups—tiny ones with his molten silver eyes and my stubborn russet curls—tumbling across a sunlit floor in a cottage far beyond the academy walls, laughter echoing off wooden beams while he watched from the doorway with that rare, devastating smile. A life where the bond wasn’t a dangerous secret but a public celebration, where he could wear my claiming bite openly on his throat and I could wear his like a crown of starlight.

But the image shattered almost as quickly as it formed, glass exploding behind my eyes. I saw the academy gazette headlines screaming in bold black ink: *Professor Voss Stripped of Tenure in Sovereign Bond Scandal*. I saw the emergency council meeting, flashbulbs popping like gunfire, scribes’ quills scratching furiously across parchment while elders in crimson robes pointed accusing fingers.

I saw his colleagues turning their backs in the faculty lounge, whispers slithering after him like shadows. I saw my own name twisted into a cautionary tale hissed in every omega dorm for generations: *Don’t be like Rose Kane. Don’t ruin the best alpha this academy has ever known with nothing but your heat and your foolish heart.* I saw my mother’s letter of disgrace arriving by raven, my little sister’s future pack alliances crumbling before they even began, her wide eyes filling with tears when she learned her big sister had destroyed everything.

The fantasy turned to ash on my tongue.

I pulled back from his touch—just enough that his warm, callused palm fell away from my cheek. The loss hit like a physical blow, the bond straining again like a muscle yanked too tight, a sharp, aching tug that made fresh slick threaten to soak through my panties despite the guilt clawing at my ribs. My wolf howled inside me, furious and heartbroken, lunging against the cage of my will, but I shoved her down with every scrap of strength I possessed, nails digging bloody crescents into my palms.

“No,” I said, the word sharper than I meant it to be. It cracked off the stone walls of the empty lecture hall, bouncing back like an accusation from the high vaulted ceiling. “You don’t understand. Or maybe you do, and the bond is making you ignore it because it makes everything feel inevitable. But it’s not. This—” I gestured between us with a trembling hand, the motion wild and desperate “—this is going to destroy you. And I won’t watch it happen. I won’t be the reason the academy loses the best professor it’s ever had. The best alpha any of us have ever known. The one who taught us that claiming isn’t ownership—it’s partnership. The one who rewrote half the statutes so omegas actually have choices instead of being treated like breeding stock. I love you too much to let you throw all of that away on me.”

I took a step back. My boots scraped loudly on the flagstones, the sound raw in the sudden silence. The distance between us felt like tearing living flesh from bone. The bond screamed in protest, a vicious yank that made my knees buckle for half a second and sent another hot rush of slick between my thighs. Gods, even now my traitor body betrayed me, responding to the very alpha I was trying to save.

“Stay away from me, Jason,” I forced out, each word burning my throat like swallowed acid. Tears streamed down my cheeks unchecked, hot and salty, soaking into the high collar of my jacket where the claiming bite still throbbed like a second heartbeat. “Leave me alone. Please. Don’t look for me between classes. Don’t wait outside my lectures. Don’t send anything through the bond except the bare minimum to keep it from fracturing completely. I can’t—I *won’t*—do this to you. If you love me the way you say you do, you’ll let me go. You’ll let me protect you the only way I know how—by disappearing from your life before the board makes the choice for us.”

The words hung in the air like thick smoke after a wildfire, choking and heavy. My wolf thrashed wildly inside me, sending wave after wave of *no no no mate mine don’t you dare* through the bond so forcefully I tasted blood from biting my lip. Jason’s face remained outwardly calm—that perfect professor mask everyone respected—but I felt the impact slam through the connection: a sharp flare of pain, quickly banked beneath something deeper, something unbreakable. Determination. Not anger. Never anger with him. Just the quiet, unyielding resolve of an alpha who had already weighed every possible future and chosen the one that included me.

“Rose,” he started, voice low and steady like velvet dragged over steel, taking one careful step forward without crowding me, silver eyes never leaving mine.

I thrust my hand up, palm out, and the bond flinched with me, the golden thread shuddering visibly in my mind’s eye. “No. Don’t. I mean it. Stay away. Leave me alone. I need space. I need time to figure out how to live with this mark on my throat without ruining everything you’ve built. If you come after me, if you push even a little, it only makes it harder. Please. For once, let *me* protect *you*.”

He stopped instantly, respecting the boundary even though I could feel how much it cost him. For a long, breathless moment the only sounds were our breathing—mine ragged and broken, his measured and deep. Sunlight slanted through the tall arched windows, turning dust motes into tiny golden accusations dancing between us. The scent of old parchment, polished oak, and lingering chalk mingled with the unmistakable thread of *us*—pine smoke and cold iron wrapped around wild rose and warm slick. Every alpha who passed me in the halls today had already noticed. Marcus’s slow, knowing smirk in the corridor still crawled across my skin.

Then Jason spoke again, softer this time, but with that core of absolute steel that had rebuilt tactical programs and saved entire border packs. “I hear you, little one. Every word. Every fear. I feel it all through the bond, and it guts me that you’re carrying it alone. If space is what you need during the daylight hours, I’ll give it to you. I won’t chase you through the halls. I won’t knock on your dorm door. I won’t push.”

My heart lurched with desperate hope—maybe he would finally let me go, let me save him from myself.

But he wasn’t finished.

His silver eyes held mine, steady and molten. “But I will see you at 7pm in my office, little omega.”