I Kissed My Professor And He Liked It

Ella’s POV “Where?” | asked, quickly standing to my feet. “Where is this darkness?” “I cannot say,” she said, a quizzical look in her eyes. “Darkness is such a powerful force that it feels as if it is everywhere, and yet nowhere.” “But you are sure that it's here?” “Yes,” she answered. “As sure that | am that you and | are here.” “I thought the purpose of the barrier was to keep darkness out,” | said, shaking my head with frustration. “I don’t understand how it can be here.” “My mother explained that we cannot banish or destroy darkness. If darkness was already here before the barrier, it will remain. Maybe not be as powerful, and it might feel a bit of discomfort being within this barrier, but it will not be destroyed. If given the right tools, it can be strong again.” “The right tool? What kind of tool are you talking about?” | asked.

“There are many,” she answered. “The most powerful is the moonstone.” My heart fell into my stomach upon hearing her words.

“I thought the moonstone was for protection?” | asked. “How can it give darkness power?” “The Moonstone is a powerful tool that could protect or destroy. Depending on who wields it and who what it's used for.” | rubbed my bare wrist; my mother had givena moonstone bracelet on my 16(th) birthday; it was supposed to be meant to protect me. | took it off days ago and stored it in my jewelry box, forgetting to put it back on.

| rushed to the jewelry box that sat on my dresser. Opening it, | began to rummage through it.

“Where is it...” | murmured to myself.

The bracelet... it was gone. | could have sworn | put it in here.

Shaking my head, | stumbled away from the box.

“I mustn't stay in this form. If I'm gone from the barrier for too long, it won't remain, and dark magic will be able to enter.” “You are able to keep dark magic away?” | asked, looking at her. My heart was racing as the realization that my moonstone bracelet had gone clouded my brain.

She nodded her head once.

“Dark magic cannot enter the barrier and the magic that was here previously has been banished. But darkness itself remains.” “What am | supposed to do?” | asked. “I think whoever darkness is using to kill those people took my moonstone bracelet.” “Find the one who wields the moonstone,” she answered. Her brightness was intensifying, and | knew she was leaving. “You must destroy the darkness before it destroys you.” Those were her parting words before she turned into an orb of light and flew out my open window and back to the top of the shield.

My heart was heavy as | lay back in bed; | needed to find the person who had my moonstone bracelet. But how could | find out who that is? | thought | put it in my jewelry box, but maybe | dropped it somewhere.

“I will be going to the police station in the morning to speak with Scott and find out what | can,” Colton said through a mindlink.

I was relieved to hear his voice; | wanted to be with him and have him holdin his arms. | wanted to tell him all that | had just found out.

“I want to cwith you,” | said in return.

“You should stay here where it’s safe,” he told me.

“The killer is still here,” | said, sitting up in bed. “Nobody is safe.” “The other students are safer with you there,” he corrected. “We can’t leave them unprotected when they and the gammas think they are safe. We will speak when | return from the police station; | promise.” “I wish | could be with you right now,” | found myself admitting.

“I know,” he sighed. too. But soon, my love. | promise. For right now, get srest. | love you.” “I love you too,” | said, feeling all sorts of exhausted.

The mindlink ended and | was left in silence. | wasn’t sure I'd be able to sleep, but soon my exhaustion got the best of me, and I slept.

“You are making a huge mistake by keepingin here. The longer I'm here, the more danger she will be in,” Xander spat as my father drew his claws and swiped across Xander’s already bruised and bleeding face.

“Don’t you dare threaten my daughter,” my father seethed through his teeth.

His eyes were glowing amber as his wolf fought to take control and rip Xander’s throat out. Xander was shackled and thrown in a dirty cell. There was a pool of blood beneath him, and his body was badly beaten.

The sight alone was stomach-wrenching, but the scent madewant to vomit.

I looked around, knowing that | was in the calypso pack dungeon; though, | had never actually been down here before. I'm not even sure how | ended up here, but it seemed that my father didn’t notice that | was there.

Xander looked more than frustrated.

“It's not a threat,” he coughed; blood poured from his cracked lips.

“Tellwho sent you here,” my father ordered. “Tellwho you are working for.” “I cannot,” Xander hissed.

“Why.” “Because they would be in danger if | did,” Xander retorted. “I would never put them in danger.” They'd be in danger? Who would be in danger? | stepped closer to them, opening my mouth to speak and ask that very question, but no words left my lips.

My father grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground; Xander struggled against him, coughing and gagging.

“Wrong answer,” my father said in a low and threatening tone, throwing him against the wall with a loud thud.

“We will continue to torture you until you give us the answers we want. Until we know for sure that Ella is safe, we will keep beating you.” Xander lifted his head weakly and glared at my father through his swollen and bloodshot eyes.

“Until she fights it, she will always be in danger.” Then to my utter shock, his eyes flickered at me, makingfreeze.

“And you know it to be true,” he said the words as if he was speaking directly to me.

Then he lowered his head and passed out.

My father stood over him, covered in his blood. Beta Ethan appeared at the cell gates, standing beside me. But it was like he didn’t see me. My father turned to face him and could see the grim expression that crossed his face.

“Still no answers?” Ethan asked, peering down at a passed-out Xander.

“No,” my father answered, taking the clean rag that Ethan had offered to clean the blood off his hands. “He won't tellwhy he kidnapped my daughter and who he’s working for. He keeps saying we've made a mistake.” “Like hell we did,” Ethan said, shaking his head. “But | just got word from Colton; apparently Scott Pierce confessed to the murder of that student.” My father’s face went from grim to shock in a matter of seconds.

“Alpha Emmet’s son?” “Yes,” Ethan said, nodding his head slowly. “Alpha Emmet isn’t pleased.” “I can’t imagine he would be,” my father said. “He’s part of the committee. I'll give him a call and see what we can figure out.” As my father and Beta Ethan left the area, my eyes remained on Xander. What was he talking about? Before | could find any more answers or hear any more of that conversation, my eyes were opened, and | sat up in bed. | was breathing heavily, and | had sweat pouring down the side of my face.

| was back in my dorm room.

What the hell was that? “Val?” | asked through gasps of breath.

“I'm here...” she said tiredly.

“Did you see all that too?” “I did,” she answered. “It seems there might be more to Xander's story than we know. | didn’t feel him to be a threat.” “Nor did I,” I admitted. “He said they've made a mistake... what if they really did?” “Do you suppose he was being controlled by darkness?” | hadn’t thought about that but now that she mentioned the possibility, it almost seemed obvious. The crackling of the speakers that were stored in each dorm and around campus, brought my mind back to reality.

“Good morning students; | apologize for this early morning announcement. | wanted to inform all of you bright and early that the murderer has been captured and that the school is once again safe. | appreciate all your cooperation and I'm giving the next couple of days off to mourn the loss of our student and those gamma warriors. | will be discussing with the student committee about holding a memorial service for the victims. As of right now, the lockdown is over. Once again, | thank you for your cooperation over the last couple of days.” There was another crackling sound and then the speaker faded away.

| swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat; | looked over at the clock and saw that it was 5 am. Our curfew hour was over, and the sun hadn't risen yet. The vampire curfew started at 7 am.

Which meant, we had stime.

| grabbed my phone and opened my chat with the committee members.

“Meeting in our classroom; 20 minutes.”