Page 12 of Alpha Varsity

“Asher!”Carlotta barks. “That’senough. Let him go.Now.”

“Apologize to Ms. James.” I’ve cooled down a bit now that he’s pinned, and I can smell his pain.

“Sorry, Ms. James,” he pants quickly.

“Tell her what you’re sorry for.” My voice is harder than stone.

I glance at the floor where the panties dropped when he lost control of the use of his fingers. I point. “Give me those,” I say to Seb.

Seb complies, picking up the panties and searching my face as he hands them to me. I’m sure my behavior seems like a complete one-eighty. My usual aim in this class is taunting our substitute teacher not defending her.

I hold them up. Everything in me is hardened and mean. “What are you saying about these?”

The part that throws me off is the way Carlotta’s face drains of color when she sees the panties.

Arethese her panties? Ericdidtell Seb to smell them.

I shove them in my back pocket, trying to get control of my wolf’s rage.

He didn’t touch her. No way.

My mind is going wild, though. What if he got to her after I did? No. I don’t believe it.

Besides, if he had, she wouldn’t have been wearing panties.

So,what the fuck?

I turn my attention back to Eric, who I fear I will genuinely murder.

I bang his head once more and punch him in the kidney. “Tell Ms. James what you’re saying about her.”

“I’m sorry!” Eric yelps. “I said we had sex. I’m an asshole, okay?”

I watch Carlotta’s face transform into shock thenoutrage. But does it mean she didn’t have sex with him? Or did she?

Fuck, I’m so off-balance here. I don’t know if I can’t trust any of my thoughts about that female.

“Both of you, to the principal’s office. Now,” she snarls.

My gaze meets Carlotta’s and locks. Color has returned to her face through two bright spots high on her cheeks. Anger flashes in her golden gaze. “Now, Asher.”

I gotta hand it to her. She knows how to infuse alpha command in her tone for such a petite shifter. It doesn’t affect me physically, but she sure sounds like she wields deadly force behind it.

I don’t want to let go of Eric, but what else can I do? He confessed and apologized. Unless I’m actually going to kill him, the fight is over. Reluctantly, I lift my vise-like hold on his head, then grip him under the armpit to haul him to stand.

I stalk out of the class, grabbing my backpack on the way out the door. Outside the classroom, I turn to give Carlotta another look.

She’s watching me with–is it misgiving? Regret?

Well, she should be sorry.

I hope she’s spent as many nights awash in misery as my mom and I have for what she did to us.

Lotta

I tap on Principal Olsen’s door even though his secretary told me he was waiting for me.

I’m a teacher now–an adult,I try to remind myself because I’m feeling very much like a naughty school girl. Well, I did fuck up. The adult thing is to own it completely.

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