Dinner

RORY

I knock on the door to Everett’s office, glancing down at my watch.

~Seven o’clock.~

We really should be going soon if we’re going to make it to dinner with the professor on time.

~Hopefully he’s ready.~

“Come in,” he calls out.

I push open the door to see my mate, scattered folders and papers all over his desk. Just like I feared, he’s still buried in work.

But the moment he looks up and lays eyes on me, he lights up, and all traces of stress disappear from his face.

“Wow,” he says, leaning back in his chair and kicking his feet up on the desk. “You look incredible.”

I smile, doing a little spin to show off my outfit—a green velvet dress, leggings, and a jacket.

“But…what’s the occasion?” he says, smirking. “Did we have a romantic date night planned or something?”

I roll my eyes. “Everett!”

“I’m kidding,” he says. “Dinner with the professor. I’ve been practically dreaming about it all day.”

I shoot him a look.

“You promised you’d play nice.”

“I’ll try my best,” he says, sitting up and filing away some papers. “Should we get out of here?”

“Not if you’re going to go dressed like ~that~,” I say, raising my eyebrows at his casual button-up shirt and jeans.

He looks down, confused. “What? This is what I always wear.”

I march over to a couch by the window. Lying on top of it, there’s a garment bag holding one of Everett’s freshly dry-cleaned suits.

I know I’m being a bit over the top, but Xander always looks like he just walked out of a men’s magazine, and even though my mate looks good in everything—I don’t want Everett to show up underdressed.

“How about this?” I say, pulling out a dark blue tie from inside and walking over to Everett. “It matches your eyes.”

I straddle him on the chair, watching as his eyes light up with desire as I close the top button and lift up the collar of his shirt, slowly wrapping the tie around his neck.

He growls, his hands slowly moving over my leggings, reaching under the dress and grabbing my ass.

I can feel his hardness growing as he gets more and more turned on, but I do my best to pretend like I don’t even notice as I start to tie his tie.

His breathing deepens, and he leans forward and starts to kiss between my breasts, tracing up toward my neck.

“C’mon, Aurora…,” he whispers. “Let’s just reschedule and stay in tonight…”

It takes all my willpower to concentrate on looping his tie, because each new kiss from him makes that idea sound more and more appealing.

But somehow I manage to push him back against the chair.

“No,” I say firmly. “This class is really important to me, and I respect Professor Xander as a mentor. But if you’re on your best behavior, maybe…”

I pull his tie tight, then lean in for a deep, seductive kiss.

“…I’ll reward you after,” I say, pulling away.

I slide off of his lap, taking a little pleasure in the desperate look in Everett’s eyes. He’s completely turned on, and I can see his bulge threatening to burst from his pants.

“Aurora…,” he gasps. “Come back here…”

I love teasing Everett, especially because he’s an alpha and used to getting everything he wants right away.

“Come on,” I say innocently, turning and walking toward the door. “We don’t wanna be late.”

***

EVERETT

We’ve been driving to this guy’s house for an hour, and we’ve just been driving deeper and deeper into the woods.

If we didn’t have the GPS on, I’d assume we were completely lost.

I’ve never liked being so far away from other wolves and our pack.

~It feels…wrong.~

But I’m not going to say anything because I promised Aurora I wouldn’t complain tonight. And honestly, I’m probably just moody from Aurora’s little tease earlier.

~“When we get back to our bed,”~ Chaos says. ~“We’re going to make sure she knows ~exactly~ what happens when you tease an alpha like that.”~

Aurora looks up from the navigation app on my phone, frowning. “Hm. Weird. It says he lives right up ahead.”

I pull the car over to the side of the road, peering around the dark woods.

“That can’t be right,” I say. “I mean, we’re practically in rogue territory now.”

“Wait, there it is!” Aurora says, pointing to something in the distance.

Sure enough, when I look, I can see the yellow, lit-up windows of a small cottage through a clearing in the trees.

“Oh, so he lives alone in a cabin in the woods,” I say, shutting off the car. “That’s completely normal.”

“Stop it,” Aurora shoots back, getting out of the car. “Can you grab the lemon cake?”

I sigh and grab the covered cake from the back seat, then get out of the car. There’s a dark, winding dirt path leading toward the cottage in the distance.

I hold out my arm to Aurora, flashing her a reassuring smile. “Come here. So you don’t trip in the—”

But before I can finish my sentence, dozens of magical orbs of light suddenly flicker to life, illuminating the entire path to the cottage.

“Wow!” Aurora cries out. “That’s so cool!”

I sigh as we walk along the path, past gardens filled with strange plants and mushrooms. A gust of wind causes some chimes to clatter, filling the air with a creepy melody.

I don’t like this place at all. Chaos is on edge, too.

“But why would a guy ~choose~ to live out here all alone with no pack?” I ask Aurora as we get to the front door of the cottage.

Aurora presses the doorbell and turns to me, slightly annoyed. “I don’t know, Everett. Why don’t you just ask him?”

The door flies open, and the professor stands in the doorway, smiling.

He’s dressed in slacks and a black turtleneck. He’s not wearing his glasses, and his hair is slicked back.

Suddenly, I’m glad I dressed up a little.

“Welcome,” he says warmly. “Glad you could find it!”

I stiffen as I watch Aurora step inside and give Xander a big hug.

~Take a deep breath, Everett.~

~You promised to stay cool.~

The professor turns to me, sticking out his hand for a cordial handshake. “Everett. It’s good to see you again.”

“You too, Xander,” I say. “We, uh, brought you a lemon cake.”

“That’s very thoughtful,” he says, grinning as he takes it. “Come in, come in!”

We enter the cabin, and for a second, I feel like something’s off, like I’m disoriented.

Then suddenly, I realize what it is.

On the outside, his house looks like a humble, small cottage. But on the inside, due to some magical illusion, it’s a huge, spacious cabin.

Paintings and artifacts from exotic-looking places line the wooden walls, and it seems like everywhere I look is a stack of books.

“You have a beautiful home,” Aurora tells him, her eyes full of wonder as she beelines to the bookshelves. “I feel like I could probably spend days looking through your book collection.”

“Ah, these are just some of the classics I like to revisit now and again,” Xander says. “The rare magical tomes I think you’d be really interested in are in my office.”

“Wow, I’d love to see those! Especially because I’ve already read pretty much every book in Everett’s office—multiple times.”

“Well, that’s not so bad. I think a book isn’t well loved until it’s been read many times.”

Aurora lights up. “Oh my Goddess, I couldn’t agree more!”

Xander turns to me. “Are you a book person, Everett?”

“I’m more of a dinner person,” I say, trying my best to change the subject with a joke.

The last thing I want to do is sit here all night listening to them talk about books I’ve never heard of.

Xander smiles. “Of course, you both must be starving after the long trip. Follow me.”

He leads us to a cozy dining room with a wooden table set for three—already covered with delicious-smelling food. It’s intimate, lit by magically floating candles.

“Wow, this looks so beautiful,” Aurora exclaims, reaching out and touching a candle. “Can you teach me how to do this spell one day?”

Xander smiles as we all sit down. “Of course. It’s quite easy really.”

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a shiny, golden coin, handing it to Aurora.

“I’ve taught you how to channel energy already,” he says. “So all you have to do now is give a tiny little spark into that coin, and it will come to ~life.~”

She closes her eyes, concentrating on the coin.

For a moment nothing happens.

But then, I watch in amazement as it starts to vibrate in her palm. Before I know it, it’s leaping across the table like a little grasshopper.

“Oh my God, it works!” she cries out in delight.

“You’re a natural!” Xander exclaims as the coin leaps back into her hand. “Keep practicing and soon you’ll be able to do ~this~.”

He lifts his hand, causing a bottle of wine to magically lift up off the table and pour itself into our glasses.

Xander raises his glass, and I try to put on my most convincing friendly smile as he makes a toast.

“To Aurora,” he says. “The most incredible student I’ve ever had. It’s been an honor to teach you.”

We clink our glasses and I down the entire glass, hoping that a little buzz will make this evening a little more bearable.

“Wow!” Aurora exclaims. “Most of the wine I’ve ever had tasted like gross, rotten juice, but this stuff is actually ~good!~”

“It’s called Luxe Luna,” Xander says, swirling it around in his glass. “It’s French. Do you know why the French wolves make the best wine?”

Aurora shakes her head. “Why?”

“Because they only use water that’s been blessed by the Moon Goddess,” I say confidently. “~Everyone~ knows that.”

Xander smiles. “Actually, that’s more of a common myth. The truth is—they time each harvest for a full moon. In my opinion, it makes all the difference in the world.”

I look down, feeling slightly embarrassed for not knowing that.

I should just shut up around this guy, because he’s making me look like an uncultured idiot.

Maybe that’s why he wanted me to come to this stupid dinner in the first place. So he could put on some big act for Aurora and could enjoy watching me completely out of my element.

Or maybe, I’m completely wrong about all that, and he’s just ~really~ pretentious.

“So, Professor,” I say, eager to change the topic again. “What makes a guy like you live out here all alone?”

“Well, I find that magic is the strongest out here in the woods. Away from the noise, the distractions of society, the politics of pack life. It’s the only place where I can actually find some peace.”

“Peace…,” Aurora says. “We don’t get much of that at the pack house. It feels like since Everett and I met, it’s just been one crazy life-threatening thing after the other.”

“Well, maybe that’s better than boring,” Xander says, chuckling. “My life is work, studying, and teaching. It’s not the most exciting lifestyle in the world.”

“Oh, come on, Professor!” she exclaims. “You must do ~something~ for fun.”

“I don’t know, I suppose I had more fun in my college days…,” he says wistfully. “But I also remember Dean Fang trying her best to shut down every party on campus and stop anyone from having fun.”

I crack a smile. “You know, it was pretty much the exact same way when I went there. We were always trying to sneak around and get drunk, knowing that Madame Toothy could always be around the corner.”

“I guess some things never change,” Xander says, grinning.

Aurora grins when she hears the students’ charming nickname for Dean Fang.

“Everett, please tell me this time… How ~old~ is Dean Fang?”

“Old,” I say. “Legend has it that her wolf has lost almost all of its hair.”

Aurora, Xander, and I burst into laughter.

Xander raises his glass. “Cheers. To Madame Toothy!”

“To Madame Toothy!”

“I should probably go to the bathroom,” I say, downing my wine and standing up. “Before she bursts through the window and confiscates everything on the table.”

Xander winks at me. “Now you know the ~real~ reason why I live all the way out here.”

I chuckle, leaving the room and turning down the hallway toward the bathroom.

~Maybe it’s just the wine talking, but I feel like I may have been judging Xander a bit too harshly…~

~Maybe he isn’t so bad after all.~

~***~

RORY

~I honestly can’t believe how well tonight is going.~

I’m feeling tipsy, the food is heavenly, and Xander and Everett are actually getting along!

Xander’s a good person, and it makes me happy that Everett has a chance to finally see that for himself.

It’s so crazy that just one day ago, Everett was trying to kill him—and now we’re all sitting around a dinner table laughing about Dean Fang.

I watch as the magic floating wine bottle refills my glass. It’s just so amazing to watch magic in action.

To watch something impossible happen—right before your eyes.

“Professor, can I ask you something?”

“Anything, Aurora.”

“The other day, when Everett was threatening you…,” I say, almost embarrassed to bring it up. “Why didn’t you use any magic to defend yourself?

“You could’ve lifted up a chair and broken it over his head or something, but you didn’t. You just let him choke you… Why?”

The professor sighs, his eyes twinkling in the candlelight. “I didn’t hurt Everett because magic is too powerful to be abused. Anything powerful can be used for good and for evil.

“But if I ever used it for violence, I’d be on the wrong side. Do you understand?”

I nod, smiling.

This is exactly why I wanted to learn from someone like Xander.

***

EVERETT

I leave the bathroom, hearing a bout of laughter come from the dining room.

But surprisingly, I don’t feel the pang of jealousy I usually feel whenever I picture Xander and Aurora alone together.

I walk down the hall, admiring the strange old-looking paintings on the wall. And then, out of the corner of my eye, I see a door—slightly ajar.

It’s dimly lit, filled with books and a desk.

~His office.~

I look down the hall, back to where Xander and Aurora are talking and laughing. Then, I peek once more into his office.

~Should I?~

~I shouldn’t. There’s really no reason to go in. I really shouldn’t.~

But for some reason, my curiosity gets the better of me. I quietly open the door, stepping inside.

~Just a quick peek.~

The room is a chaotic mess of papers and scrolls, and if it didn’t have strange artifacts on the walls, I could’ve almost mistaken it for mine.

~I should probably go.~

~Aurora would be furious if she knew I came in here.~

But then, something catches my eye.

An old wooden door on the other side of the room, with a metal lock and a strange symbol carved right onto the wood.

The symbol is a creepy-looking eye, which for some reason looks like it’s staring right into my soul.

I shudder when I look into it.

~What the hell is that?~

I pull out my phone and take a picture, making a note to look it up later.

I try the doorknob, curious to see what’s behind the door.

But behind me, I hear Aurora call out down the hall.

“Everett,” she calls out. “Are you done? I need to pee!”

My heart starts racing as I turn and slip out the door into the hallway.

And when I do, I come face-to-face with Aurora.

“Everett?” she asks, frowning. “What were you doing in there?”