I Kissed My Professor And He Liked It

Ella’s POV “Are you sure this cage is strong enough to keep her locked up?” “Jazzy said it was. We have to trust her. If we don’t, she will kill us like she did the others.” “Yeah, but this Volana is supposed to be the strongest of them all. This cage doesn’t look all that strong. What if she uses her wolf to break out and then SHE kills us.” “Don’t let Jazzy hear you talk like that.” The voices faded, so | knew they were getting further away. | lay flat down on cold concrete; my entire body was numb. If I was in pain, | wouldn't be able to feel it. | wasn’t sure what they had done toor where they had taken me, but | knew it was dark. Very dark.

Usually, I could see clearly in the dark, but | knew as soon as | cthrough that my abilities weren't working. | knew my wolf was still there, | could hear her shivering and panting in my mind. She didn’t want to hide in the furthest corner of my mind and leavealone, so she remained close to me. But | also knew she was powerless. She was terrified, which terrifiedbecause Val was rarely terrified.

She didn't like this place; she got a bad sense from it. | just wished | could lift my head and try to figure out where | was. But it was no use, | couldn't move a single muscle.

| wasn’t even sure if | was breathing.

Was | even alive? My memory was a little foggy, but | remembered the feeling after | was injected with wolfsbane. It was like my entire insides were engulfed in flames. It was so painful; | couldn't even scream. Then, everything went black.

| don’t know who stabbedwith that injection, but | do remember seeing Rachel. | remember her face and the eyes that appeared so empty. She was consumed by darkness; she wasn’t herself. My heart ached when | thought about it.

There was no concept of there; | wasn’t sure how long | had been here for. How many hours; how many days? But I've been slipping in and out of consciousness and when | cback through, there's always new voices. New people were watchingsleep; checking onto make sure | didn’t move. They were terrified | would break out of here and kill them all.

Maybe if | was strong enough, I'd break out of here and fight until | was free. But | wasn't strong. | was powerless. My wolf felt powerless.

| felt another wave of exhaustion taking over and | wasn’t going to be strong enough to fight it. | was just so tired. | closed my eyes and slipped back into sweet darkness.

Colton’s POV The drive back to my packhouse was quiet besides the occasional sob and sniffle from sof the ladies. Ethan stayed behind with Alpha Bastien and Jake.

Once | knew everybody in my territory was safe and we spoke to Xander, | was going to return and join the search party. | wasn’t going to sleep until Ella was safe in my arms again. | still wasn’t sure what Selene wanted to speak to him about; she wouldn't elaborate.

“I can’t explain it, but | think Alpha Jonathan has something to do with this,” Max growled within me.

“Bastien confirmed that Jonathan was downstairs the entire time,” | told my wolf.

“It still doesn’t feel right,” he murmured in response.

| knew he was right; it didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel right at all. My stomach clenched at the thought of Jonathan doing something to my mate. | shouldn’t have let her chere. | should have been here. | should have been the one to protect her.

| failed my mate.

When we got back to my packhouse Dee was the first one to greet me. | shouldn’t have been surprised that she already knew what had happened. Word travels around fast.

“You haven't been able to find her?” Dee asked, her voice cracking as held back a cry.

“No, but we will. | have gammas on their way there as we speak,” | assured her.

She nodded slowly. She looked at Selene and her frown deepened.

“Oh, you poor dear,” Dee berated, wrapping Selene into her arms. Selene looked hesitant at first, but then she embraced Dee back, melting into her. “I know in my heart that Ella will be okay, and we will get her back safe and sound,” Dee breathed against Selene’s ear.

Selene closed her eyes, allowing a few stray tears to escape her eyes and she held Dee tighter.

“Thank you,” she breathed.

“Ill make you something delicious for dinner tonight,” Dee said, releasing her hold on Selene’s body before looking at everyone else.

“You all should cinside and yourselves up,” Dee ordered, motioning for them all to head inside. “Con.” Nobody was going to argue with her. They all went inside, and Dee followed after them.

Selene looked atand narrowed her eyes.

“Taketo him,” she demanded.

I didn’t want to take Selene to see this man; he was unstable, and he couldn't be trusted. Bastien would killif he found out I let his Luna down in the dungeon to see this crazed maniac. But | also knew that Selene wasn’t the type to back down.

She always got what she wanted.

She folded her arms across her chest and raised her brows, so | sighed and motioned for her to follow me.

We went down the stairs and | stopped in front of the guard that | appointed to keep watch over this area.

“Alpha,” he greeted, looking surprised. “I didn’t know you'd be back so soon.” His eyes went straight to Selene, and they widened in shock.

“Luna Selene!” He bowed his head in respect to her.

“The Luna would like to speak with Xander,” | explained. “Make sure no one interrupts us.” “Yes, sir,” he said, still keeping his head bowed.

For goddess'’s sake, it’s not like Selene was royalty. She’s not even his Luna. But her daughter will be once we get her back from whomever took her.

If darkness was involved, that meant Jazzy probably had something to do with this.

We walked through the dungeon grounds until we reached the one that Xander was kept in. Selene stayed closely behind me, saying nothing until we reached the cell. Then, she stepped aroundto peer at him.

Per the orders of Ella, we had stopped torturing him. She had it in her head that he was trying to prepare her for something and that he couldn't tell us what it was for sunknown reason. She didn’t find that torturing him was necessary.

He was looking a lot better than he looked when I last saw him, which was only yesterday. We loosened his cuffs so he still couldn't use any abilities but allowed him sroom to heal properly using his very guarded wolf.

He sat against the wall in the furthest corner of the cell and peered up at Selene.

“Luna Selene...” he greeted, almost sounding surprised.

She was also surprised; she hadn’t met him yet so there was no reason he would know who she was.

“How do you know me?” She asked firmly, her wolf snarling in her throat.

“I know all about you,” Xander said, a glimmer of humor in his eyes. “What honor do | have for this visit?” “You once tried to kidnap my daughter. Were you working with someone?” Selene asked, getting to the point.

| coouldn’t help but scoff, knowing he wasn’t going to say a word.

“I can’t tell you, Luna,” he told her, which was predicted.

“Can you tellabout darkness?” Xander’s face fell and his eyes widened, but he said nothing so she continued.

“Darkness took my daughter, and | want her back. If you aren't working with it, then tellabout it.” He opened his mouth to speak and for a second, | thought he was actually going to talk. | would have been a little pissed because we've been trying to get him to talk for weeks but to no prevail.

But then he closed his mouth and for a second, he looked a bit lost.

“I'm not working with it...” he said slowly. “But | can’t talk about it.” “Why?” She demanded to know. “My daughter will die if we don’t find her. We need to get her back.” Xander sighed and | thought he actually looked a little remorseful.

“A lot more people will die if | speak,” he answered.

“He’s not going to tell you anything,” | muttered. “We've been trying for weeks.” “Or maybe you aren’t asking the right questions,” she shot back, givinga firm look.

“If | speak about it out loud, it will be heard and everyone | love will die,” Xander muttered. “I can’t let that happen.” “We can protect those you love,” Selene assured him. “You can trust us.” “I trust you, Luna. But you won't be able to stop it. It has eyes and ears everywhere...” grabbed the cell bars and shook it, rattling the entire cell.

“Answer her questions, damn you!” | growled; | was done with these mind games.

“I can’t,” Xander said through his teeth. “I had a job to do and by being here, you preventedfrom doing that.

My only job was to train her and get her ready for the battle of her life. | don’t know if she’s well enough prepared. All | know is that she must stay alive.” He paused and lowered his head. “I might have said too much; | can’t give it any more reasons to search my mind.” “Darkness can read your mind?” Selene asked, furrowing her brows together.

“It can get in your head,” he muttered.

“He said the sthing to Ella too,” | pointed out. “He said it can get in your head.” “And you didn’t listen to him?” Selene scolded.

“He’s a maniac,” | argued, making Xander scoff.

I scowled at him.

She rolled her eyes and looked back at Xander.

“Can it read all of our minds?” “Not the mind of a Volana,” he answered, and then he looked at me. “Or those with Volana blood inside of them.” “So, we are allowed to know information without it finding out,” Selene breathed. “But we can’t get the information from you because if you spoke about it, darkness will hear you and know that there is an entire pack with the sknowledge.” “I'd rather we didn’t give it a reason to search my head,” he muttered. “I've already said too much and discussing this any further will make it suspicious.” I didn’t know what that meant, but | was done listening to him. We were wasting there; | needed to be out there searching for Ella.

“The guardian of the earth is protecting this pack; darkness isn’t here,” Selene assured him.

“It's protecting against dark magic, but darkness is a much more powerful force. It can still get in,” Xander told us.

“But we would be warned if it was currently here,” Selene mentioned.

“I'm not taking the chance...” “You might not have to chance anything. You don’t need to tell us anything. But | know someone who might be able to help us.”