One Night With My Alpha Professor

Edwin

Audrey trained rtlessly over the following weeks.

Ever since it truly hit us that she was the Silver Star, she'd been filled with a new sense of determination that I couldn't even begin to put into words. Her days would be stuffed to the brim with classes and the six work and studying and fashion projects, and then her evenings would turn into a veritable battlefeld of sweat and labor.

Each night, no matter how much I tried to tell her that she could rest and relax, she insisted on training.

"Thave to hone my senses, she would insist. "Tran't explain it, but.. It feels like there's this thing inside of me. A great power And I have to learn to control it. To stop Coldclaw

There was no use in arguing with her. She was more determined now than she had even been working on two fashion shows. More determined than I had ever seen anyone.

But sometimes she went too far. Some nights, she would push herself so hard that she would pass out asleep on the couch before I could even bring her dinner, and I would have to carry her to bed. And then sometimes it was way too far. Sometimes, I think she came close to the edge of breaking herself in some unseen way. For good

We had been practicing her ability to slip into my mind that night. She had made her way into my consciousness to find a particular memory that I would try to keep hidden from her, locking it away behind thick stone walls,

The memory itself was innocuous enough-simply a childhood memory of playing on the playground with my sister. But I kept dodging her, trying to see if she could still navigate my mind when I didn't want her rooting around in there.

When her nose had started to bleed, however, I couldn't bear it anymore.

"Audrey, stop!" I said, shaking her gently. "Your nose is bleeding"

She blinked, coming back to herself as if she had been a very, very long way away. "Oh," she said breathily, touching her nose with a trembling hand. "I. I didn't even notice."

I handed her a tissue. "We're done for the night."

Her eyes flashed silver. "I'm fine-*

"No, you're not. You need to rest, too, you

know."

"But Coldclaw-

"F**k Coldclaw. I won't have my mate turn her brain to liquid

Audrey grumbled and stormed off, locking herself in the bathroom to clean up. I sighed, leaning back against the sofa

My Silver Star.

Three weeks ago, when I held her that night she had accidentally slipped into Fiona's memories, my wolf had smelled it on her. "Silver Star," he had growled on repeat all night, so much so that I couldn't sleep. It was Audrey.

But Coldclaw, apparently, thought that Fiona was the Silver Star. I didn't know why or how the hell they had gotten that

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notion, but it had cleared up the confusion surrounding Fiona's obsession with marrying me. With becoming my mate. fated or not.

And it wasn't simple attraction or love that had driven her obsession.

The Silver Star, once mated, would become incredibly powerful-and highly sought-after. A pack with someone as powerful as the Silver Wolf would essentially be led into a golden age.

No wonder Coldclaw wanted the Silver Star as its Luna. And no wonder they wanted to combine Coldclaw and my pack. Crescent Moon. These things combined together would make Coldclaw unstoppable. But Fiona wasn't the Silver Star, and apparently they didn't know that it was actually Audrey. This was a good thing. We would have to keep Audrey's true nature a secret, at least for now, until we could fully understand what we were dealing with.

In the meantime... She had to continue training. She had to learn how to use her abilities as Silver Star, how to control them, because her power would grow immeasurably once she finally shifted for the first time..

But I wasn't about to let her kill herself in the process.

The next afternoon. Charles came to my campus office with the information I had asked him to gather a few weeks ago. He handed me a file folder. It seemed a little pointless now that we knew for certain what she was, but I did still want to help my mate figure out her true bloodline.

"I got Audrey's certificate from the orphanage," he said. "It details her suspected age, her birthday, her appearance when she was found... That sort of thing."

I flipped through the papers. "Huh," I muttered. I hadn't realized it before, but Fiona's birthday and Audrey's suspected birthday were incredibly close. Just three days apart, to be exact. Likely a coincidence, but I couldn't help but think back to that book we'd found in the library. The one that detailed a second birth to a nanny on the night of Fiona's birth.

"What about her first adoptive mother?" I asked, curious.

Charles pulled out another sheet. "A woman named Meredith adopted Audrey just a few months after she was left at the orphanage." He handed me the paper. "Meredith was actually one of the employees there. But she died when Audrey was around ten and left next to nothing. They did not have a lot of money, so Audrey received no inheritance, not even any keepsakes."Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

I let out a little sigh. A dead end.

"Well....except for one," Charles added, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small locket and handed it to me.

Taking the little silver heart-shaped locket, I pushed the button to open it. Inside was a faded picture of a beautiful werewolf woman holding a toddler Audrey. Meredith, sporting a head of gleaming blonde hair, was smiling and pointing at the camera, while little Audrey was waving with a chubby little hand

"I managed to get permission to look through Meredith's old office at the orphanage and found this in the bottom of a drawer," he explained,

"Thank you, Charles," I said, running my finger across the locket. Seeing a little Audrey like that, so adorable and happy, those round little cheeks and big blue eyes and that shocking dark hair...

It both warmed and broke my heart. I wished she could have been that happy forever, not subjected to such abuse in her next home. I pocketed it, planning to give it to her later. Surely she'd be thrilled to see it. There's more," Charles said. "The orphanage agreed to blacklist Audrey's second adoptive family, so they cannot adopt any more children. But.. He hesitated.

"What is it?"

He sighed deeply. "Well, the orphanage has fallen deeply into disrepair since Audrey was there as a kid. The new headmistress is greedy and cruel. The children seemed very unlippy when I visited."

I frowned. "I'll have to think on this, but I'm sure we can do something about it. We can't let more children suffer the same upbringing as Audrey"

Charles nodded and left, leaving me to ponder over everything we had learned.

Audrey's birthday was coming up soon. I decided to plan a small party for her and invite her friends. As I was decorating my apartment for the party, my phone rang. I picked it up to find Claudia on the other end.

"Edwin," she said warmly, "I've heard that you and Audrey are truly fated mates. Is it true?"

"It is," I confirmed.

"I see. I must say, I'm sad that you won't be marrying my daughter and joining my family," Claudia said with a breathy sigh. "But I'm still glad for you both. Audrey feels like another daughter to me, anyway." Speak of the devil. "How is Fiona holding up?" I asked, trying to keep my tone casual.

Claudia didn't know about any of the Coldclaw nonsense. I loathed having to see the pained look on her face when she discovered that her daughter was a traitor.

"Oh, she's fine," Claudia said. "A bit torn up, but.. What can you do?"

She paused, then added, "Her birthday is coming up soon. Perhaps you should come to the party, and you two can talk Maybe if you have a good chat, you can be on good terms. You could bring Audrey, and once Fiona sees the bond between the two of you, she won't feel so bad. You can't get in the way of fate, after all. Even Fiona knows that."

I doubted that, but I didn't voice my thoughts. "Perhaps," I said noncommittally.

"I'll send you the party info," Claudia said a bit more cheerfully. Do think about it, Edwin."

With that, we said our goodbyes and hung up. My mind was already made up by the time I set the phone down. Audrey wouldn't be thrilled about having to see Fiona, but...

It would be the perfect opportunity to give Audrey a chance to slip into Fiona's memories-to get more information

And maybe then we could finally capture Fiona

As much as I hated the thought of breaking Claudia's heart, I couldn't wait to see the look on the face of the woman who had tried to kill my mate once her treachery was revealed. As I finished hanging the last of the decorations, the doorbell rang. Plans and schemes could wait, I decided, as I went to open the door. For now, it was time for a party of our

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