My Lecturer

Chapter 12: The First Awakening

Morning sunlight poured through the tall windows of Madine University, painting golden rectangles across the polished floor of the Applied Mathematics building.

Aria Ashbourne walked beside Lina, clutching her notebook against her chest.

“Do you remember where the classroom is?” Lina asked.

Aria glanced at the timetable in her hand.

“Third floor. Room 307.”

Lina sighed dramatically.

“You really memorized the entire campus map.”

“I told you. I don’t like getting lost.”

“You’re going to be fine.”

They climbed the final staircase and entered the corridor.

Students were already gathering outside the classroom.

Some were laughing.

Others were discussing the rumors about their new lecturer.

“I heard he never gives extensions.”

“I heard he once made an entire class repeat a course.”

“My brother said he’s terrifying.”

Lina looked at Aria.

“Still excited?”

Aria smiled.

“A little.”

“For the mathematics?”

“Of course.”

Lina gave her a suspicious look.

“Of course.”

Aria laughed.

They entered the classroom.

It was larger than she expected, with rows of wooden desks facing a wide blackboard at the front. Sunlight streamed through the tall windows, illuminating floating specks of dust.

Aria chose a seat near the middle.

She placed her notebook on the desk and arranged her pens neatly beside it.

Lina dropped into the chair beside her.

“You’re doing too much.”

“I like being organized.”

“You’re twenty-one in six days. You’re supposed to be reckless.”

Aria smiled.

“I don’t think that’s how birthdays work.”

Before Lina could answer, the conversations around them suddenly changed.

A hush moved through the room.

Someone near the door whispered,

“He’s here.”

Aria looked up.

The classroom door opened.

A man stepped inside.

And for one strange, suspended moment…

Aria forgot to breathe.

He was tall.

Much taller than she had expected.

His dark hair was neatly styled, though a few strands had fallen naturally across his forehead. He wore a charcoal suit beneath a black academic robe, the fabric sitting perfectly against his broad shoulders.

There was nothing exaggerated about him.

No attempt to impress.

No unnecessary display of authority.

Yet the moment he entered the room, everyone became silent.

His presence demanded attention without asking for it.

Aria stared.

She didn’t know why.

She simply couldn’t look away.

The man walked toward the desk at the front of the room.

His expression was calm.

Controlled.

Almost unreadable.

He placed a thin folder on the desk.

Then he lifted his eyes.

And found hers.

Something inside Aria stopped.

The world seemed to tilt.

Her scent had attacked him from downstairs but his pendant is so good at hiding it.

For a heartbeat, the classroom disappeared.

She was standing beneath a moonlit sky.

Trees surrounded her.

Tall.

Dark.

Endless.

She could hear wind moving through the branches.

Then she saw him.

A man standing between the trees.

Only his silhouette.

But his eyes…

Golden.

Watching her.

Waiting.

Aria’s breath caught.

The image vanished.

She blinked.

The classroom returned.

The students were still seated.

The lecturer was still standing at the front.

Nothing had changed.

Except her heartbeat.

It was pounding violently against her ribs.

“Aria?”

Lina’s voice broke through her thoughts.

Aria turned.

“What?”

Lina stared at her.

“You’ve been staring.”

“At what?”

Lina slowly looked toward the front of the classroom.

Then back at her.

“Oh.”

Aria’s cheeks warmed.

“Don’t.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You were about to.”

Lina bit back a grin.

“I was going to say that our professor is…”

“Don’t.”

“Very handsome?”

Aria looked down at her notebook.

“I hadn’t noticed.”

Lina nearly laughed.

“You’ve been staring at him for almost a minute.”

Aria’s fingers tightened around her pen.

“I was thinking.”

“About his face?”

“No.”

“His shoulders?”

“Lina.”

“His voice?”

Aria looked up.

“Please stop.”

Lina laughed quietly.

Aria turned her attention toward the front again.

But she immediately regretted it.

Because he was looking directly at her.

Their eyes met.

Again.

That strange sensation returned.

As though they had seen each other before

Not physical.

Not exactly.

It felt deeper.

As though some hidden part of her recognized something that her mind couldn’t remember.

She looked away.

What is wrong with me?

She had never been like this.

Not once.

She had spoken to boys before.

She had received compliments.

She had even been asked out several times.

But she’d never felt compelled to stare at anyone.

Never.

Except…

Her thoughts drifted back to the forest.

She couldn’t remember when it had happened.

Only that she had been drawn by a particular force.

There had been trees.

Moonlight.

And a strange feeling she had never been able to explain.

A similar feeling she was experiencing now.

Aria frowned.

Maybe I just need a boyfriend and stayed a virgin too long.

The thought came so suddenly that she almost laughed.

Maybe that was all it was.

She had spent years studying.

Preparing.

Working toward university.

Perhaps she was finally old enough to notice men differently.

Perhaps there was nothing strange about being attracted to someone.

Except…

Why him?

She looked toward the front again.

The lecturer picked up a piece of chalk.

“Good morning.”

His voice was deep and controlled.

The entire room answered.

“Good morning, Professor.”

He turned toward the board.

“I’m Professor Kaelen Nightbane.”

The voice sounded familiar.

She couldn’t explain why.

Kaelen wrote his name across the board.

His handwriting was precise.

Elegant.

“Before we begin,” he said, turning back toward the class, “I want something understood.”

His eyes swept across the room.

“I don’t care how intelligent you were before entering this university.”

A few students shifted nervously.

“Your previous achievements mean nothing in this classroom.”

He paused.

“What matters is what you are willing to learn.”

Lina leaned toward Aria.

“He’s terrifying.”

Aria fought a smile.

“I thought you liked him.”

“I can like handsome men and fear them simultaneously.”

Aria almost laughed.

Kaelen’s gaze moved across the classroom again.

And stopped briefly on Aria.

That strange sensation returned.

His eyes.

His presence.

Something about him felt…

Familiar.

Kaelen turned toward the board.

Inside him, his wolf stirred.

Hard.

Sudden.

Violent.

The ancient creature that had remained silent for decades suddenly lifted its head.

Kaelen’s fingers tightened around the chalk.

No.

The wolf pushed against him.

Her.

Kaelen froze as though the pendant protecting him is useless now.

He had never heard that word from his wolf before.

Not like this.

Not with certainty.

Not with recognition.

His gaze returned to Aria.

She was writing something in her notebook, completely unaware of the battle happening inside him.

Kaelen touched the crimson pendant beneath his shirt.

It was burning.

The ancient magic concealed his scent.

It suppressed his wolf.

It should have been enough.

Yet somehow…

The moment he had looked at her, the wolf had awakened.

Kaelen forced himself to breathe.

Twenty-five years.

Twenty-five years since the witch had placed the prophecy in his hands.

Twenty-five years since he had heard the words that had haunted him.

Protect my bloodline.

Could this be the child?

The woman had spoken of a daughter.

A bloodline.

A prophecy.

But the girl before him was twenty-one.

Exactly the age the prophecy had warned him about.

His eyes narrowed.

He needed certainty.

Not instinct.

Not hope.

Certainty.

He continued the lecture.

But his attention remained divided.

⸻

An hour later, the class was nearly over.

Aria had taken pages of notes.

At least, she thought she had.

When she looked down, she realized that half the page contained nothing but incomplete sentences.

Her mind kept wandering.

Every time Kaelen spoke, she found herself listening too closely.

She didn’t understand it.

She had never wanted someone’s attention so badly.

And she didn’t even know him.

When the lecture finally ended, chairs scraped across the floor.

Students began gathering their belongings.

Kaelen closed his folder.

“You may leave.”

The room quickly emptied.

Lina stood.

“Come on.”

Aria gathered her books.

Not daring to take another look at the Lecturer.

If she was going to start dating it wouldn’t be this man, at least she can’t reach him Or so she thought.