I Kissed My Professor And He Liked It

Ella’s POV Colton took it upon himself to takedirectly to the hospital while the others stayed at the packhouse. My heart was racing wildly against my ribcage. | was excited to see Rachel again, but it sounded like she needed to speak withurgently.

I worried about what it was she needed to tell me.

| stayed quiet for most of the 15-minute car ride, and Colton was respectful enough to keep quiet as well.

| had a nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach.

We finally reached the hospital and as soon as Colton parked the car, | quickly got out and rushed to the hospital entrance. He walked behindin long and casual strides, looking way more put together and certainly calmer than | was.

I already knew which room Rachel was in, so | didn’t need to stop by the front desk. But the nurse at the desk greetedwith a smile when | entered.

| returned the smile, though it was incredibly forced, and | knew it didn’t reach my eyes.

| went to Rachel's hospital and knocked on the door a couple of times, just in case she was indecent. Colton stood behind me, crossing his arms across his chest and staring atwith a worried expression.

“I'll stay out here,” he surprisedby saying, makingturn to face him. “That way you girls can talk.” | gave him a faint smile as | closed the small gap between us and kissed him gently on the lips. | loved the way he smelled, and | loved the way he tasted. | couldn't get over how good he made my wolf feel.

“I won't be long,” | promised him as | turned and entered the room, shutting the door behind me.

| was surprised to see that Raymond wasn’t in the room; | didn’t even see him in the waiting room. | figured he'd be in one place or the other, but he wasn’t. | quickly brushed that thought out of my head as I fixed my attention on Rachel.

She was awake and peering over atwhen | entered the room. Her dark straightened hair hung messily around her features and shoulders. It was strange seeing her with no makeup; she was still pretty, but she seemed more ordinary. | noticed that most of her piercings have been removed too.

“Hey...” | managed to say as | stepped toward her bed. | wasn’t good at this kind of thing, so | wasn’t really sure what else to say.

“Hey,” she said in return, sounding much stronger than | anticipated.

“How are you feeling?” “Bears don’t heal as quickly as wolves,” she said weakly, givinga small smile. “But I'll be okay.” | sighed and sat on the edge of her bed, peering into her dark blue gaze.

“Do you remember what happened?” “They toldwhat happened,” she answered, staring down at her hands.

She tugged at her fingers as she thought about what more to say. But she remained silent, biting her bottom lip like she was trying to refrain from tellingsomething.

“Tellthe truth, Rachel... why were you in the boy's section of the vampire den in the first place?” | asked, narrowing my eyes at her.

She swallowed visibly before meeting my eyes.

“I sensed something,” she told me, still biting her lower lip.

“What did you sense?” | asked, keeping my tone low.

| knew Colton was outside the door and he could probably hear us anyway, being an Alpha and all. But that didn’t mean | wanted everyone in the hospital to hear our business.

| thought about darkness and how Celeste could sense it around the school, even with the barrier in place. Could Rachel have sensed darkness? | shuddered at the very thought.

“I sensed my mate...” she finally said, scrunching her face as she spoke those words.

My eyes widened in shock; what did she say? She found her mate? | wanted to jump up and wrap my arms around her, pulling her into a large hug. But | was afraid I'd hurt her if | did such a thing.

“Your mate?” | gasped. “Who is it??” She was quiet for another moment; I could tell she didn’t want to tell me. Or maybe she was in the middle of forcing herself to tell me. | couldn't be too sure, and she did look incredibly nervous.

It's okay...” | told her gently, reaching out to grab her hand. “You don’t have to say anything you don’t want to.

Though I was disappointed, | also understood and respected her boundaries.

“I want to...” she said quickly, meeting my eyes again. She took a deep breath and | waited with anticipation.

“It's Rodrick...” she finally answered, causing my heart to fall deep into my stomach.

“What?” | gasped, staring at her with disbelief, unsure if | heard her correctly.

She swallowed again and nodded slowly.

“Rodrick is my mate,” she repeated, almost gravely.

How is that possible?” | blurted. “He’s a vampire. Vampires don’t have mates like that,” | said, shaking my head and not wanting to believe what she was telling me.

She looked almost amused by my words at first.

“He’s a hybrid,” she reminded me. “Which means he has a wolf inside of him too.” | knew she was right, but | still didn’t want to believe it.

“He also stabbed you,” | said, my brows knitting together.

She was quiet as her cheeks turned a strange shade of pink.

“He didn’t know what he was doing...” she said in return, lowering her face. “He wasn’t himself.” “What do you mean he wasn’t himself?” | asked, not sure if | wanted to know the answer.

“Kinda like Scott when he confessed to those murders,” Rachel continued to explain. “He just seemed different. | can’t really explain it. But | know he didn’t mean to stab me...” “He almost killed you, Rachel,” | breathed, grabbing onto her arm. “I don’t know what or why he did what he did.

But he did stab you. Things would have been a lot worse for him if you died.” “But | didn’t,” she said with a shrug. “That's all that matters right now anyways.” I knew she was right; she was alive and as well as she could be. Who cared about all the little stuff? “Is that all you wanted to tell me?” | asked, raising my brows at her, remembering that Raymond called him here because Rachel desperately wanted to talk to me.

She was quiet for a moment longer like she was trying to figure out how to answer my very simple question.

Then, she forced an obvious fake smile and nodded.

“Yes. That was all,” she said slowly.

| stared at her for a moment longer, analyzing her face | knew she wasn't tellingthe truth, and painedto think that she didn’t trustenough to tellthe truth. But the way she was now avoiding my eyes and biting her lower lip, | knew she wasn’t going to say anything more.

“Where did your father go?” | asked, looking around the empty room. “I would have assumed he’d be here.” “I kicked him out,” she said, rolling her eyes and now looking annoyed.

“Why?” | asked, genuinely curious.

“He was treatinglike shit since I've woken up. | didn’t want to deal with it anymore,” she said, givinga coy smile.

| couldn't help but laugh; I'm glad she was once again seeing Raymond for what he truly was.

A monster.

“So, what else did | miss since I've been in a coma?” | thought about it for a moment, and then | sighed. | needed to tell her all that had happened. So, | went from telling her about Becca and Luis’s budding relationship, to Scott being killed in the most grueskind of way.

Rahcel’s face fell upon hearing about Brody, and | thought she was about to cry. Her entire face had gone pale, and her breathing becharsh.

“That's awful...” she breathed with tears welling up in her eyes.

| nodded, trying and failing to keep my own tears in my eyes.

We talked a little bit more and then I told her | would allow her to get smore strong. | wanted her to heal properly and feel well-rested. | hugged her briefly before saying goodbye and leaving the room.

Colton was still in the hallway where | had left him.

“How did it go?” He asked.

| opened my mouth to tell him that she was acting kind of bittersweet. | couldn't help but feel she was hiding something from me, but it was also nice to laugh and joke around again. But just as | started to speak, | heard the familiar tune of my cell phone in my pocket.

| sighed and grabbed my phone, my frown deepened when | saw who was calling me. Without a second thought, | answered the phone.

“Hey, Alpha Jonathan,” | said, trying to appear as polite as | could. “What can | do for you? “Hello, Miss Campbell, this is actually Beta Hector,” Jonathan's Beta said on the other end.

| raised my brows’ suddenly my heart felt like weighed a thousand pounds.

I've only met Beta Hector a couple of times when he cto the school with Alpha Jonathan a couple of times.

“Oh, hello, Beta,” | said, looking up at Colton who was watchingwith curiosity and tensity. “Is there something | can help you with?” “I'm just calling on behalf of Alpha Jonathan. He's a bit busy so he left the planning for this Saturday up to me.” My frown deepened.

“Planning for what?” | asked hesitantly.

“For the banquet Saturday night. It’s only a couple of days away. I'm calling because | need a headcount of who will be attending,” he explained.

My heart dropped into my stomach.

The banquet? We were still having the banquet? Why hasn't that been canceled yet?