Page 17 of Freed By the Witchbone Knife

5

My knuckles ached from squeezing the whiteboard marker clutched in my fingers. I was in the middle of a routine derivation for my physics students. It was Friday afternoon, and our lecture felt endless today.

Mostly because of what had happened yesterday⁠—

“Uhm. Professor Miller?” Maria’s hesitant voice had me turning.

“Yes, Miss Torres?”

She chewed her bottom lip, contemplating the board behind me. There was a pencil tucked into the bun of dark curls she’d piled atop her head. “Shouldn’t that be acceleration multiplied by time squared, not velocity?”

I whirled back around, glanced over the variables on my derivation, then sighed. My shoulders sagged. “Yes. It should be. Thank you—for paying attention. Unlike the rest of you,” I added, teasing.

I rushed to rearrange the variables, erasing the ones I’d gotten mixed up.

I was a mess, running on almost no sleep and frayed nerves. Something told me the day wasn’t going to get any easier. Between Ambrose’s persistent texts. The threats he’d sent. Yesterday afternoon…

At least I was functioning.

I just needed to get through the rest of this class.

The thunk of a crash bar sounded, followed by a slice of outdoor light. I glanced up at the back of the amphitheater style lecture hall. A tall figure slipped inside. My voice faltered but I kept speaking as Axel took up a position in the shadows. I could just make out the crossing of his arms.

A few students craned their necks to see who had slipped inside.

What the hell was he doing here? After yesterday, I definitely didn’t want to see him.

Not when I’d been up all night going back through everything that had happened.

When the wolves first showed up on his property, I thought it had been an act. Something he’d staged to frighten me. To teach me a lesson for trespassing. But it had been real—all of it.

He’d transformed right in front of me, into a massive silver wolf, clothes splitting away. The sight of him tackling my pursuer continued to play in my mind on repeat. The way they’d fought. The fear I felt through every fiber of my being as I ran, desperate to reach safety.

But what stood out the most was not his violence. It was the way he first placed himself in front of me. To protect me.

I blinked, then cleared my throat. “All right, that’s it for today.”

We still had five minutes, but I was done. My students quickly packed up their belongings. I did the same. When a few of them lingered, I rushed them through their questions.

Once the room was blessedly empty, I braced for the inevitable.

Axel descended the stairs passing rows of seats. I couldn’t help but take in his broad shoulders, the way his muscles filled out his green T-shirt. The hint of tattoos peeking out from the sleeves. There was no possible way his jeans were standard size. He probably had to special order them online to fit his tree trunk thighs.

“Physics professor, hmm?” He came to a stop at the lectern where I stood. My gaze snagged on the scar and ruined eye, but I quickly looked away so I wouldn’t be caught staring. That was when I saw what he held. My cheeks flushed.

“Left this behind.” He set the detector on the lectern surface when I made no move to grab it. It saved me from having to order a third one, at least. But that wasn’t what concerned me.

“How did you find me?”

“Finding people’s a specialty of mine.”

Of course. Because wolves were excellent trackers. It was a dumb question.

“Okay. Well. Thanks.” I slipped the device into my bag and slung it over my shoulder, making to leave.

Axel stepped into my path. “Want to tell me why those wolves were after you?”

For a moment, I simply stared at the empty lecture hall. Then a laugh burst from my chest. “Funny.”