Her Forbidden Mate

Disinterest

CAROLINE'S POV

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 Panic floods my veins, and I avert my gaze to my tour guide. No love means no mate. "My room?" I stare at the side of the man's face, watching his eyebrows shoot up as he turns his head to look at me, "Right," he nods, "You probably want to put those things down," A small smile tugs at his lips, which is somewhat comforting since it's the first smile I've seen. "Excuse me, gentlemen." he nods toward the three brooding men in front of him while my fingers curl around the strap of the sack that's starting to kill my shoulders.

"We'll show her, Professor Walter." His voice...it's so deep, so overwhelmingly beautiful. It's the darkest night, watching the Moon at its peak, how it lights up the river, dancing along the countless mirror-like facets that are formed by the rippling water. "Lucian, always so generous." The hint of sarcasm in his voice has my stomach knotting, a creeping irritation crawling over my skin. "It's only because you're my favorite technique teacher," I don't dare look at him, or in their direction, because I can feel the alluring need just to touch him, to feel his skin under the tips of my fingers.

Professor Walter chuckles, "Well, you now have three tour guides." his laugh doesn't meet his eyes, "Your first class starts in an hour, remember where the commons are?" The expectation in his eyes has all my blood rushing to my head. "Yeah," I nod.

Back through the door, up the stairs.

"Meet me there in an hour." He starts to walk when he suddenly looks back at me. Please tell me you've changed your mind and you're showing me my room.

"Oh, and your books are in your room already," he struts away as a cold sweat breaks out at the back of my neck, the shorter, curlier hair sticking to my skin. "Well...this is going to be fun," Lucian's voice cuts through my head.

This can not be real.

I can smell his musky scent, feel his eyes on the side of my face, and I can hear his steady heartbeat, that's totally the opposite of mine. Forcing some courage into my bones, I turn, facing them. Him.

Goddess, he's beautiful.

"Damn it, Lu. Why do we have to escort her?" the blonde growls, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes narrowed on me, those piercing dark greens are as cold as lying in snow, naked. "No one said you have to do s**t, Mac." Lucian hisses. "No fraternizing with the newbies, Lucian." The other light brown haired one with a smaller build grins, "f**k off, Rust," Lucian strides toward me, every bone becoming stone for a split second, "Move it, or get lost," he strides past me, being careful not to come to close as he struts toward the door.

Mac and Rust stare at me with tilted heads like they're trying to get inside of mine, their eyes gruesomely deadly. A shiver wraps around my spine, intertwining between the slots and squeezing as I force air into my lungs and move, before I'm left with no guide and no room. I rush through the heavy oak door that's falling shut. I watch as Lucian strides up the stairs in leather pants, with a matching leather vest that does gracious things for his mountain biceps. The stairs suddenly feel a lot slimmer, like the walls might cave in at any second as I climb. "Lucian..." I breathe his name, moving faster to catch up to him, since patience clearly isn't in his vocabulary. The silence stretching down the stairs between us irks me. He's ignoring me. I manage to catch up with him when we stroll down the hall of the commons floor.

"You can't ignore me, ignore this." My voice raises an octave, and I almost crash into Lucian. He's stopped, standing like a boulder in front of me, and my heart shoots up into my throat. "Shut up," He growls, inching closer. He's so close I can feel his hot breath fanning my face as he towers over me. "Unless you want to get us both killed," Those steel blue orbs flicking left to right, his body rigid, and his attention is on our surroundings.

If I just reach out, I can touch him...

No.

"Come," he demands, turning on his heel and continuing forward, and only then do I notice the staircase that leads to the entrance of Calaris stretches up to another floor.

I guess I was too occupied in my own head to notice it, which is unlike me.

I follow him, an ache tingling in my calves as we reach the very top where the staircase ends. "Why is my room up here?" I thought I'd get the shittiest room.

"Because you newbies are useless, we need easy exits," we strut down the hall, toward the very end, and stop in front of an engraved door that has a large crescent moon carved in the middle of the top, veins scattering along the edges. He turns the knob, pushing it open and strides in.

Why is he going in?

Air fills my lungs, my chest rising as my rib cage expands and I stride in. The room is a fair size, larger than the one I had at home, but not big enough for a ton of things. It has a lengthy space between the double bed and the wall, and on the other side is enough moving room for exercising before the built-in closet. The large arched window is right behind the bed, and if the big glass could open, I could fit standing up, but it seems like the little windows formed in circles all around the top are the only ones that open up for some fresh air. There's a desk with a stack of books, and right beside it is another door that leads to a bathroom by the looks of it.

"It's a nice room," I murmur as Lucian lingers near the door, looking ready to just run out of it.

"It's a s**t-hole," Scoffing, he shakes his head like he's staring at the world's largest disappointment.

Who cares?

I like it.

"Can we talk here?" my throat contracts, and I sound more confident than I feel. Lucian feels different, he's not like the rest.

'Maybe because he's our mate, idiot.' Clara growls inside of my head.

Clarabelle.

She barely speaks to me. She acts like we don't share a mind, and she's done well ignoring me since I shifted three years ago. She's feisty, aggressive and not very well mannered. She's a fox in a wolf form, the total opposite of me.

I ignore her remark, focusing on Lucian.

Hopefully his wolf is well-mannered.

'Drop dead.' Clara sneers. 'If I die, so do you.' I remind her before cutting off the link. I've done so well keeping her locked in the back of my head, but finding my mate has clearly shaken me to my core.

I thought I'd never find him.

I thought I'd never love.

But I can't love.

I'm not allowed.

"I think it's best we don't," His disinterest is a blow to the gut. "But we're...", "Shut the f**k up," He growls, glancing toward the open door. He pivots, kicking the door shut. His dark, calculated gaze falls on me, those striking hues pierces through my own boring greens, "If you don't stop, you will get us f*****g killed." he sneers in a low hiss, "I like my life here, and I've given up on finding a mate a long time ago." Well sorry it's day one for me. "You can't ignore this," I drop my sack on the floor, the relief of ridding my shoulders of the weight causes a shuddered breath to escape my lips. "Look," Lucian's thumb scratches along his thick brow, "I'm not interested, and even if I were, it is against the law. So push it aside, drop it, and wipe it from that dense mind of yours."

Anger claws at my throat, or it might be Clara trying to maneuver her way to the front. "Then we should reject each other," He visibly grimaces at the suggestion, his eyes bulging from their sockets.

"Is that what you want..." he pauses, eyeing me, and it dawns on me that he doesn't know my name. It feels good to know his, and he has yet to learn mine. "It's the most logical thing to do." I shrug.

I will not introduce myself, not if he's going to avoid me like a plague. "But is it what you want?"

Of course, it's not what I want.

I don't want any of this.

I don't want to be here, but I'm stuck.

Rule four. No leaving.

"No," Admitting it feels vulnerable. Lucian grins, "Exactly," His shoulders lift into a light shrug, his arms drop to his sides and all I can do is watch him leave.

He's going to be the end of me, isn't he?

"Oh, nameless..." he pops his head back in, and I drown in his gaze as he looks me up and down, "First class is combat in an hour, do your best not to walk into a fist," his wink sets my skin on fire, and the flames spread all over even though he has left. Lucian is gorgeous, but he doesn't want me.

'I'm not interested...'

Screw him.

If he weren't interested, why not reject me?

There's a part of him that wants me.

'Stop moaning and find out,' Clara hisses.

There's one thing we have in common, and it's the fact that we are curious.

'He's going to brush me off,' I just know it. 'Find a way, you can't be this useless.' Clara growls. 'Go away,' I snap, pushing her to the very back of my mind.

I am not useless.

Unpacking my clothes into the closet, I find three pairs of everything in there already, and it's my size.

Goddess, they knew I'd come.

They didn't just have an extra room, they knew I'd be here.

How?

There are dark brown light material jackets, and then thicker ones for the winter. Black leather pants, dark brown cotton t-shirts, brown socks, and three pairs of black running shoes.

Everything is my size--even the shoes.