One Night With My Alpha Professor

Chapter 86 Edwin

1 adjusted my mask for what felt like the hundredths time that night, trying to ignore the discomfort of the rough edge against my skin. The brown colored contacts I had put in to disguise my natural gray eye color were making my eyes burn, and my fresh**en face was itching incessantly. I usually kept a bit of stubble, but I couldn't risk being recognized tonight.

"This is quite the party. Charles mused from beside me, swirling his drink around in his glass. "I didn't expect so many people to be here."

"It's the spring equinox. It's a big deal around these parts." I replied.

"I see Charles turned in his seat, his eyes surveying the party. I had, of course, brought him with me; not so much because I felt like I needed the help tonight, although that was part of it in case the proverbial ***hit the fan, but more so for the

company. Company

The word almost made me scoff out loud. I had always been more of a loner, but lately. Well, ever since my last argument with Audrey, I had, for the first time in my life, felt a sensation that I never thought I would.

Loness

Goddess, what was becoming of me? I shook my head to dispel the thought.

Sipping my drink. I scanned the crowd yet again, in search of a familiar, slender figure in a green dress. Audrey had said she would be wearing green, right? With embroidery?

Still, I couldn't see her if she was here; the thick crowd of masked students who were in attendance tonight was making it difficult to see enough as it was, not to mention the flickering lights and the almost hazy atmosphere. I had been at this for over an hour now, and the constant vigilance with no fruition was starting to wear on me.

"Another drink, sir?" the bartender asked, eyeing my nearly emply glass.

I nodded, sliding my glass to him. He refilled it with scotch and moved on to the next attendee, leaving me and Charles alone again.

"You haven't spotted her yet?" Charles asked from behind the white mask that covered the left half of his face.

I shook my head. "No. Maybe she didn't come after all

"Perhaps Charles pursed his lips and looked around, then quickly excused himself. "I'll make the rounds. I'll let you know if I get eyes on her."

"Thanks, Charles.

With that, he slipped into the crowd and didn't return for some time. As the night wore on, I found myself growing increasingly uncomfortable. The mask was stifling, and the constant need to maintain my disguise was exhausting.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

eye.

I was about to call it quits and get the hell out of this place when a flash of sage green across the room suddenly caught my

Soapping my gaze over, I let out the smallest sigh of relief-and awe. There she was: Audrey, twirling on the dance floor

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with one of her friends-Even with the mask obscuring half of her face and the dim, swirling lights, I couldn't help but notice how stunning she looked.

My wolf perked up immediately. "You should go to her. Dance with her. She looks beautiful

I frowned and gripped my glass of scotch a little tighter, resisting the urge to do just that, no matter how tempting it was. "No," 1 thought back to my wolf. "We're just here to keep an eye out for her so nothing goes wrong. That's it."

My wolf growled in annoyance, but said nothing more about the matter. Ife knew as well as I did how s***d it would be to give in to that urge to go to her.

As I kept a watchful eye on Audrey and her friend, I couldn't help but overhear a nearby couple's conversation.

"Did you know that this mansion used to bg to the founder of Grayspring Academy?" the young woman asked her

partner.

He shook his head. "Really? That's fascinating. I wonder what he would think of all this if he could see it now."

I found myself pondering the same question. How times had changed since the academy's founding. As far as I knew, Audrey was the only human student at Grayspring, and humans were altogether banned from attending until very recently; but perhaps her attendance would inspire more talented humans to apply.

As I considered this notion, I continued to watch Audrey dance. It was difficult to keep the tiny smile off of my face, an expression that had been becoming more common for me as of late.

But at the same time, I felt my smile fade ever so slightly. Because there was Audrey, easily the most stunning girl on the dancefloor with flowers in her hair and a grin on her face, and I couldn't go to her. Because she was a human.

And I was still technically betrothed.

Suddenly, my musings were interrupted by a commotion on the dance floor. A group of students had surrounded Audrey and her friend, and even from this distance, I could see the tension in Audrey's posture. All of a sudden, her friend broke away, tears visible on her face as she ran from the dance floor.

Audrey hesitated for a moment, shouting something at the group before turning to follow her friend. I straightened up from my seat, my protective instincts kicking in. Something was wrong.

"Excuse me," I muttered, pushing past a group of students to get a better view. I watched as Audrey disappeared down a dimly lit hallway, presumably in pursuit of her friend. "Tina!" I heard her shout, "Tina! Wait!"

I couldn't let her out of my sight, obviously, if any students were going to harm her tonight, then a dark hallway like this would be the prime location for it. So, keeping her in my line of vision, I kept a safe distance.

As I made my way toward the hallway, I overheard snippets of conversation from the group that had been harassing Audrey and her friend.

"Did you see their faces?" one of them snickered. "Serves them right for flaunting it like that."

Another chimed in. "Yeah, this isn't some **y pride parade. They should keep that stuff to themselves."

I felt a surge of anger at their words-I mean, really, what century were we living in?-but I couldn't risk drawing any

gwanted attention to myself by confronting them. Instead, 1 focused on following Audrey. I recognized one of them as one

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of my students, anyway, and I could punish him accordingly come Monday. But not right now.

@X 11%8

As I approached the hallway, I saw Audrey slip into what looked like a bathroom. I slowed my pace, putting a good distance between myself and the door, and veered into a nearby alcove to watch from around

a corner.

A moment later, another masked figure-a male student, judging by their build-approached the door.. with a broom in his

hand

Frowning, I watched silently as he looked around nervously first before quickly wedging the broom through the door handles, effectively trapping Audrey and her friend inside. The masked figure then turned and ran down the hallway, snickering to himself the entire way.

"What the hell?" I munered, slipping out of the alcove. I reached the door just as I heard the sound of muffled voices coming from inside.

"Tina? Are you okay?" Audrey's concerned voice was barely audible through the thick wood.

"I just... I can't keep lying anymore," I heard her friend respond.

"What is it. Tina? What's going on?"

I glanced around, making sure no one was watching, before carefully removing the broom from the door handle. As I set it aside. I shook my head in disbelief and scanned the dark hallway for the culprit-and I had a pretty good idea as to who it

was

What a s**d, childish prank, I thought to myself.

Max would pay for this.

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