Amira sits at the very back of the class and tries to pick someone tall or large to sit behind to obscure her view of the classroom front. She feels this is the only way she will be able to focus at all during this class, with Calix standing front and center everywhere she looks.
Despite trying to avoid his gaze, she can still feel the heat of it on her forehead as she burns a hole into her textbook. The heat from his smouldering gaze is enough to cause warmth to pool through her stomach, even from the distance she is at. She is so focused on not paying attention to him that she doesn't realize until he wraps up a class that he is the very person she is supposed to pay attention to, or at least what he is saying.
But she hasn't heard a word by the end of it and is left wondering if she can even participate in this class. She was already regretting taking it before, this is the final reason for her to drop it before it's too late.
Amira waits until everyone else leaves the class, a few girls hanging around to introduce themselves to Calix, clearly ogling over him before finally leaving. She can't blame them for being attracted to him, but she is disgusted at how shameful they are to express it so blatantly in such a tacky way.
Once they are gone she marches up to his desk and drops her schedule in front of him.
"You've clearly tricked me into taking this class, I want to drop out."
He doesn't look shocked at her demand and picks up her schedule to look it over.
"You don't have a whole lot of classes at the moment, the rest of them being pretty basic to the course. I thought you were someone who liked to overachieve everything she does?" he asks with a smirk.
"What makes you think that? You hardly know the first thing about me." She glares at him.
Calix stands up to walk around the desk, Amira backing up out of instinct that he might reach out for her again, but instead, he leans against the front of his desk and crosses his arms.
"I know you're resilient and headstrong, you don't take no for an answer, and you fight hard to turn the hand of fate in whichever direction you choose. That much is enough to tell me you're also someone who likes to challenge herself and overachieve in everything you attempt."
She is stunned into silence, a hit on the nail with everything he says, but regardless that doesn't change the fact that he only suggested she take this class as another trick to be close to her. Whatever his obsession is, whether she is his mate or not, the last thing she wants is for it to interfere with her schooling.
It's the one thing she has had control over recently.
"Anyone can figure that out about me after spending as much time together as we have, which is very little. That doesn't change that you tricked me and I'm not going to continue to fall for it, I'm dropping this class first thing tomorrow morning."
A flash of what looks like panic crosses over Calix's face as he reaches out to pull her against him, trapping her with one arm while the other grasps her chin and leans in until their lips almost touch. Amira is frozen in place, waiting for him to either lash out or kiss her, she isn't sure.
"Is this another attempt at avoiding me?" he asks. Goosebumps rise on her skin as his lower lip subtly brushes against hers while he speaks, his breath warm and sweet on her tongue.
"What if it is?" She is surprised at how strong her voice sounds despite how much her chest is trembling.
His fingers tighten their grip on her chin and waist, his already dark eyes darkening further. "I'll say this only once so listen close, sweetheart – there isn't anywhere in this world you can go where I won't find you, and as cute as this game of dog and squirrel has been, I am only willing to play for so long. You should give up now; I always win."
He kisses her roughly, his hand grasping the back of her head lightly to keep her from pulling away. But as shocked as Amira is, her first instinct isn't to pull away rather than almost melt against his heated body and silky touch. She comes to her senses a few seconds after but not after savouring his taste for a bit.
She pushes him back and puts distance between them, wiping her face to cover up how red her cheeks are and how breathless she is. "Are you always this impulsive?"
Calix chuckles and wipes his bottom lip with his thumb, then sticks it in his mouth quickly, as if tasting her saliva left on his skin. Amira has to chew the inside of her cheek to keep herself from whimpering quietly at the sexual action, her legs unable to take the pressure of holding her trembling body up any longer.
"Look, I'll be plain about this. You're well aware of the whirlwind, the bullshit relationship I've just gone through with your fellow Alpha, and how badly that crashed and burned. I'm not looking to jump into the arms of yet another one just like him, no matter who you claim you are or how different you might be. I've suffered enough, I deserve a break. Is that too much to ask?" she huffs out.
"I've already said you're my mate, and I hate to point out, but you've witnessed yourself through the heartbreak you've had to suffer, just how hard it is for mates to ignore their bond with one another." Calix tries to argue, but she isn't willing to listen to any more of his lies.
"If we were really mates, regardless of me being a human, would I not also feel it even a little bit?" she asks.
He gives her a puzzled look. "You're aware of how one mate feels the complete bond of another, right?"
Amira rolls her eyes. "No, I don't all right? I don't know everything there is to know about being a werewolf, because I'm not one. I get it."
"That isn't what I meant, I'm sorry," he shakes his head and takes a deep breath as if breaking bad news. "Our case isn't the first, of course, where a werewolf has found a mate in another being of different origins, whether that be a human or a siren, a fairy, or whatever. Yes, a bond is felt more instantly between two werewolves but that doesn't mean they feel their bond completely at first, they have to perform what we call the mating ritual first."
This is the first time Amira has ever heard of such things, she always assumed that once a werewolf comes of age, that is when they start to discover their mate bond and feel it instantly as soon as they see that person, whether they've known them all their life or not.
"What is the mating ritual?"
He looks hesitant. "Well, to put it lightly, it's when two mates join together, and their family usually makes a big deal out of it. In plain terms – it's when two mates have sex for the first time."
Amira's lips form into a silent 'oh' as his words settle in, and a few more pieces of the puzzle start to move together. In the five years that she and Isaac were together, they both insisted on waiting until they were at least 18 before having sex, not being so responsible as to wait for marriage but at least until they graduated high school and could manage any mistakes that might happen.
But thinking about it, it was Isaac who brought the idea up first and insisted on waiting until then. It was only a little after a year into their relationship after they'd already had that conversation when he told her he would discover his mate at the same age.
Did he really avoid having sex with me until he knew for sure I was his mate?
She doesn't see why it would matter if they had sex before he turned 18, he wouldn't have known who Eris would potentially become if they had met before his birthday party, and it wouldn't have made a difference.
Unless…he never planned to keep his promise of rejecting his mate for me and didn't want to regret giving his first time to someone who wasn't his mate once he found them. Why? Why would he do that if he ever wanted to be with me and only me?
"Amira, are you okay?" Calix asks, trying to pull her out of her deep thoughts. "I'm sorry if I said something I shouldn't have, I just assumed you already knew. Please, don't be upset."
It sounds like he expects her to cry, but for once since this has all started, she doesn't have an ounce of hurt in her; she is just angry. She is angry and she wants nothing more than to take that anger out on someone or something, the closest person being Calix at the moment.
In an instant, she has a flash of sadness and starts to reject everything she is thinking and wonders if this is just another scheme from Calix, this time to get her to at least sleep with him by claiming the only way she can find out if they really are mates is by having sex.
Without thinking, she slaps his chest as hard as she can, though it doesn't seem to do any sort of damage to him, before glaring up at him.
"If you think I'm falling for another one of your sleazy tricks, you must really think I'm stupid. Honestly, you're no better than the college fuck boys prowling around here, Professor Volkov." She grinds out the last part through clenched teeth and storms out of the room, huffing angrily the entire way to her car.
Calix watches as she stomps her way out of the building through the upstairs window until she disappears down the path toward the parking lot before taking out his phone and clicking on Isaac's name, dialling the number.
It doesn't take him long to answer. "What do you want?"
"We need to talk. Where are you?"