Ten

Amira is too distracted by his fingers tracing the outline of her mouth to fully process that he has admitted being overjoyed knowing she and Isaac broke up, which means he can swoop in for the taking. Before it can process, he continues speaking. 

      "That doesn't mean I am the least bit satisfied seeing you shed so much as a tear, no matter who or what it is for. But I promise you this, you will not shed a single one over that boy again." 

      Seeing her eyes cast downward, he caresses her cheek to try and comfort her, asking if she truly all right. 

      "I'm fine, but heartbreak doesn't end in a day. It's going to take me a long time to get over this, and I'm really not interested in jumping into another relationship right now," she says. 

      "I think you've misunderstood me, Amira, and I'm to blame for that." 

      She frowns. "What misunderstanding?" 

      "Discovering my mate, both my wolf and I were overjoyed, but maybe a little too much so. I don't think I ever mentioned our age difference, but it has been five years since I came of age, and I am just finding my mate. I had envisioned meeting you many different ways, but I never considered that you might be a human." 

      "I know, a werewolf dating a human is off the books, it must be a shame to be mated to one," she mutters. 

      He grabs her face, forcing her to look at him. "Yes it does, but only because that means I have to work harder to prove my obsession for you. I rushed into it too eagerly and all I've managed to do is frighten you instead." 

      Her eyes widen and her cheeks flare at his words, catching herself again getting thrilled about something that otherwise should be a red flag. 

      "I'm not scared," she says, her voice coming out barely more than a whisper. "I'm just not an idiot, I've said that before. If you're willing to prove to me in anyway you can that I'm your mate and your feelings for me are genuine, then you're willing to wait until I can trust you enough to accept the idea," she says with secret intent. 

      The last thing a man ever wants to do while chasing a woman is to be incredibly patient as she claims to need time and healing. Calix has already expressed his impatience to playing her game of hard to get, this will be the nail in the coffin to end his useless chase. 

      "I'm willing to wait as long as it takes," he says instead. 

      "Wha–" He covers her lips with his index finger. 

      "I'm willing to wait, if you're willing to give me the chance to properly court you." 

      Her mouth drops open. "What in the world does that mean?" 

      "The term isn't that old," he chuckles. "I'm asking for permission to pursue you romantically, while you take the time you need to heal from that piece of garbage. I'm only willing to be more patient if the end result is I get you." 

      Amira realizes that at the end of the day, he is free to do whatever he wants and if he wants to go out of his way to hit on her every day until she can maybe come to accept his advances, who is she to say he can't? She has made it clear that she isn't interested in pursuing anything new at the moment. 

      "You're welcome to do as you please, I've already said I can't make any guarantees and as long as you understand that what else can I do?" she asks with a shrug. "But this doesn't change my concerns with this class, I'm not able to pay attention if you're the one teaching it, I've already wasted two classes just trying to avoid your very intense eyes." 

      Calix smiles widely at this. "My gaze seems intense to you?" 

      "Like you don't know. Of course, it is when you're staring me down from the front of the class." She rolls her eyes. 

      "I'm sorry, I never intended for it to be, though you are right. I can't help staring at you when you're right in front of me. Talk about not being able to focus, do you know how hard it has been getting through each class I have, with you in the audience? I'm still able to teach with no issues, why can't you do the same and just focus?" 

      Her mouth falls open at his blatant insult to her intelligence. 

      "That isn't the point here and you know it, stop distracting the conversation from what I'm trying to say," she huffs. 

      "Okay, I'm sorry. Look, I stand by what I said when I advised that this class could be of benefit to you. If it takes a confession from me for you to give the class a try, then I'll admit that I did give the idea of taking this class with the intention of getting closer to you and I'm not ashamed of it, and as another attempt, I would like to offer my help to catch up in the class criteria." 

      She narrows her eyes suspiciously at him. "What do you mean by that?" 

      "If you meet me after one of your classes tomorrow, we can go through what you have missed and take a sincere look at the material. You might see then that there is some useful information that this class can provide." 

      Thinking about it, she doesn't see the harm in giving this class a try if he is sincere about backing off and taking everything seriously from now on, allowing her to properly learn from what he claims will be so useful to her learning goals. 

      "I already have enough on my plate for the rest of the week, I also work with my father part-time on my days off to make some extra income and experience. Why don't we just meet after class on Mondays, and I can come to you if there is anything I missed or need a better explanation on from the class," she proposes. 

      "Do you always try and bury yourself in busy work?" he asks. 

      "Dedicating proper time to my classes and gathering experience for my future isn't busy work, I just acknowledge that you have to work hard now to enjoy a life of leisure later." 

      He snickers lightly. 

      "Are you laughing at me?" she mocks. 

      "I apologize, I find your defensive attitude amusing. I shouldn't have laughed, though." 

      She frowns, finding no reason to argue now, but for some reason feeling a defiant streak in her anyway. 

      "Do you always sweet talk girls like this?" she mutters, looking down at her fiddling fingers. 

      Calix reaches forward and grabs one of her hands to bring to his lips, kissing the back of her fingers one by one as his eyes bore into hers with the same intensity she avoids every class to keep from soaking her seat. 

      "This has been reserved just for you, sweetheart." 

      A shiver runs through her and she quickly tries to come up with an excuse to leave before she loses her mind when her phone begins to vibrate in her pocket, her Halloween ringtone following a second later. She holds up her finger to Calix who shrugs but continues to lightly kiss her fingers and occasionally the back of her hand and wrist. 

      She struggles to take her phone out of her jean pocket as he distracts her and sees her father's number flash across her screen, giving her the perfect excuse to leave. Before she can answer the phone, it stops ringing and an unread voicemail notification pops up seconds after. 

      "We can take more about this next week, I have to call him back," she says with a timid smile. He smiles and gives her hand one last lingering kiss on her palm before letting it go and stepping back. 

      Amira grabs her bag off the ground and waves awkwardly before making her way to the door and swinging it open. 

      "Just so you know," Calix calls out behind her. "What I said earlier, about pursuing you properly, that begins the moment you walk out that door." 

      She can hear the teasing tone in his voice but knows the seriousness behind his words and can't but shudder again before leaving and closing the door quickly. 

      "What the hell did he mean by that?" 

      Amira nearly jumps out of her skin when she hears Isaac right beside her and sees him standing just outside the classroom door.  

      "What is wrong with you? You can't just scare someone like that, geez," she says, her hand flying over her rapidly beating heart in her chest. "What are you doing here, Isaac?" 

      "What did he mean by pursuing you?" he asks again, 

      She rolls her eyes and turns to walk down the hall, already predicting that he is going to chase after her. "It's none of your business. I'm sure you have much more important things to be focusing on right now, than what your ex-girlfriend is doing." 

      "Don't throw that at me, you're the one who broke up with me, remember?" 

      She scoffs and pauses a second to glare at him. 

      "You left me no choice; might I remind you if we're going to sit here and throw our past mistakes at each other. You wanted me to sit there while you left me for another girl in every way but sexually. I did what any sensible girl would have done, but I honestly never should have gotten involved with you in the first place knowing this was going to be a possibility," she says and shrugs. 

      "Are you kidding me, Amira? If that's the case, then why are you getting involved with Calix? If you're upset about my pack and family not accepting you, don't even think about his being any different."

      She lets out an irritated groan and quickens her pace toward the front of the building, just wanting to escape into her car where she can't hear his grinding voice anymore. It has become intolerable to her ever since she finally called it quits. 

      "Just go away, Isaac. Like I said, you left me no choice. If you really wanted to keep me around, you would have kept your promise and rejected Eris the moment it was appropriate, regardless of what your parents and pack were going to say. It's your own duty to be the confident and respected Alpha that you fear Calix for being so much," she spits at him. 

      This is enough to stun Isaac and cause him to freeze on the spot, the look of an injured puppy on his face. Looking at him she is surprised that she doesn't feel an ounce of remorse or guilt towards hurting him like this. It hasn't been that long since they broke up and she has spent the last five years with him, thinking just weeks ago that they were going to spend the rest of their lives together. 

      But now they are almost two complete strangers to each other, and Amira feels nothing toward him anymore, not even a drop of guilt for being as cutthroat as she has been. She pushes her way out of the building doors and doesn't bother to look back, hoping this truly is the last time she ever has to feel this pain.