Page 64 of For What It's Worth
I stared intently at the back of his head, ignoring the feeling of the stares in my direction. Usually, classes weren’t overwhelming with scents for my nose since people were typically relaxed. During the weeks prior to midterms and finals, the scents of stress became stronger, but the consistency was usually what helped me handle the overwhelming aspect. And this semester, I’d learned to not sit near any of the students lusting after Professor Jenson.
Now, though? The mix of emotions was like walking into a perfume store right after someone sampled every available scent. There was beta frustration, alpha disgust, along with curiosity and even lust. A headache immediately formed above my eyes, and I tried to discreetly breathe through my mouth.
Even the space Jenson commandeered to separate me from the others wasn’t enough of a barrier. As soon as I sat down, I tapped on Aidan’s shoulder, forcing him to lean in like I was going to whisper to him. Instead, I took several deep breathes of his scent, trying to drown out all the other emotions with Aidan’s satisfied one. He might not have gotten off, but apparently having me come all over his face was enough to put the alpha in a good mood. His face smelled like my release, but my omega perfume wasn’t too noticeable on him as long as no one got too close.
I looked up to meet Jenson’s eyes as he was writing a page number on the board. The tension in his back was obvious, and the need to soothe him had me trying to get up from my seat.
A large hand on my thigh stopped me. “Offer me your drink, Koda bear,” Aidan whispered.
My hand moved to follow the command without thinking, and I watched Aidan’s lips take a sip of my drink. His instant pinched face had me giggling, drawing the attention of Jen and some other students behind me, who growled.
“Do not growl at my beta,” Jenson snapped. Dominance rolled off him, and I held back a whimper, before he quickly pulled it back.
The tension in the room skyrocketed, but a few students mumbled apologies even if they sounded forced.
Apparently, I’d missed the part where Jen admitted he had a bondmate. When I tried to discreetly look behind me, I found several pairs of eyes already staring in my direction.
“There’s no way he actually bonded her,” a female muttered.
“He’s probably just fucking her and had to say they were going to bond so she doesn’t freak out,” another female answered.
“Yeah, but why her?” the first female asked, an annoying whining quality to her voice telling me she was one of the post-class question askers.
“His whole pack only dates betas. There’s no way they can each go from having their own beta to sharing one. She’ll be kicked to the curb soon enough.”
I did my best to focus on Jen when he finally pulled away from writing on the board to lecture, but I felt more like a dictation service, writing down all his words and diagrams without really absorbing the information. My ears were picking up whispers and I was constantly needing to inhale Aidan’s delicious scent to calm my nerves and drown out the more unpleasant smells.
Aidan did his best to stay in contact with me, whether it was our thighs touching, our arms, or him grabbing the back of my neck, massaging the muscles to help ground me. Truthfully, it helped calm my omega side. But it was my beta side unable to focus on the lecture.
How would I graduate if I couldn’t pay attention in class?
Class quickly came to an end, but before we packed up, Jenson announced, “I will not be available to answer questions after class for the foreseeable future.”
Groans and complaints immediately followed his declaration, but my own heart leapt, and I had to fight back a smile. I should’ve hated that Jen had to change up his routine to make accommodations for me, but I hadn’t asked him to make this decision. He was doing it for me and honestly, it felt wrong to not appreciate it.
“The Academy states you need to be available to all your students,” a female said, placing an emphasis on the word ‘all’, her voice raising above the others to demand attention. She sounded suspiciously like the first female I’d heard talking shit earlier. Now that she’d drawn attention to herself, I had no quarrels with turning around to check her out. To say I wasn’t even surprised it was the brunette bitch that argued with me a couple days ago around Jen’s desk would’ve been an understatement. I was pissed, and both sides of my instincts wanted to growl at her.
“I will always be available to all my students, Miss Crow. If you have any questions, you should have my email in the syllabus. I will make sure to respond in an orderly time, but if you need more immediate help, there are tutors in the library. Their schedules are posted on the library doors, and I’ll even make sure to get a schedule to hang up in my class. Now, you’re all excused. Have a nice day.”
The sound of everyone packing up wasn’t enough to drone out the criticisms of our relationship from the females. I wished they would’ve suddenly become sick enough to not attend the academy. Not like, deathly sick, but the kind where they couldn’t come to class for the next month. Or two. Then be totally fine.
There were only a few minutes I could spend with Jen before my next class started. My nerves about separating from him were getting harder to push away. The moment he shut the door on his last student, my legs carried me to him.
Without hesitating, he pulled me against him, inhaling deeply like he wanted to memorize my scent.
Tears burned the back of my eyes, threatening to fall. They were definitely turning my eyes red and making me snort to stop from rubbing snot on Jen’s nice clothes.
The logical part of my brain understood I was only going to be away from my bonded alpha for like, two hours, but the emotional part felt like it was going to be forever.
With my head on Jen’s chest, I felt the beating of his heart, the deep inhales he was taking of my scent, and the tight grip on the back of my clothes keeping me pressed against him. Usually, inhaling my alpha’s scent would be calming, but I could scent the anxiety on Jen, which made me nervous, flooding Jen with my worries down the bond and continuing this vicious cycle between us.
That was the catch with Jen. He was always taking care of me, making sure I was happy. Like cancelling after-class questions and agreeing to come get me as soon as possible, no matter how inconvenient it would be for his other students.
“It’ll be okay?” I meant to reassure my alpha, but my comfort came out more as a request.
“Of course, little bear. This is all just instincts, not logic.”
I nodded along to Jen’s words, knowing their truth even if it felt more foreign than an eyelash on my eye.