Chapter 47: AVOIDANCE

ASHER

I woke up to my alarm blaring and immediately regretted existing.

Everything fucking hurts. My body, my head, and my heart.

I slowly dragged myself to the bathroom and looked in the mirror then I froze. My neck was covered in marks, dark purple bruises blooming across my throat and collarbone. Evidence of Reed’s mouth, Reed’s teeth, and Reed’s claim.

I touched one gently and winced. They were tender, visible, and impossible to hide.

“Fuck,” I whispered.

I tried a hoodie with the collar pulled up but it was too obvious. A scarf would be worse in the middle of campus. Foundation wouldn’t cover marks this dark. There was no hiding them.

Everyone would see, everyone would know someone had done this to me and Reed’s scent was probably still all over me.

I took the longest shower of my life, scrubbing my skin until it was raw but I could still smell him. Pine and smoke lingering on my skin like a ghost.

My body was getting worse too, the heat was building faster now. My skin felt hypersensitive, my temperature was spiking and the ache between my legs was constant, no matter how many cold showers I took nothing seems to be working.

I pulled on a regular t-shirt and jeans. If people were going to stare at the marks anyway, there was no point trying to hide them.

The cafeteria went silent when I walked in.

Every single person turned to stare. Whispers erupted immediately.

“Holy shit—”

“Are those hickeys?”

“Who the fuck gave Asher Graham hickeys?”

“Look at his neck—”

I kept my head up and walked to the food line. My hands were shaking as I grabbed a tray. Julian appeared at my side. His eyes went wide when he saw my neck.

“What the fuck happened to you?” he asked quietly.

“Nothing.”

“That’s not nothing.” Julian lowered his voice. “Those are Alpha marks, Asher. Who—”

“Drop it,” I said.

Julian studied my face for a long moment. Then his eyes widened. “No fucking way. Was it Reed?”

My silence was enough for him to understand.

“Holy shit,” Julian breathed. “Reed Jackson gave you hickeys? When? How? What—”

“I said drop it.” I grabbed my food tray and turned to find a seat.

Reed was already there sitting at his usual table. Surrounded by Callum and his crew.

His eyes found mine across the cafeteria andI saw the moment he noticed the marks on my neck, I saw his jaw clench, and I saw his hands tighten into fists on the table then he looked away like I was nothing, like last night never happened.

The dismissal hurt worse than it should have, I tried to compose myself even though my heart was bleeding. I sat down at an empty table in the corner and Julian joined me despite the risk.

“You know everyone’s going to be talking about this,” Julian said.

“Let them talk.”

“Asher—”

“I’m fine.” But my voice cracked on the words.

Julian was quiet for a moment. “Did he force you?”

“What? No.” I looked up sharply. “Reed didn’t—it wasn’t like that.”

“Then what was it like?”

I stared at my untouched food. “I don’t know.”

That was the truth. I had no idea what last night was. Reed had kissed me like he was drowning. Had marked me like he was claiming me. He had touched me like I was his then walked away like it meant nothing.

“He’s staring at you,” Julian said quietly.

I looked up. Reed’s eyes were fixed on me from across the cafeteria. His expression was unreadable.

“He’s been staring since you walked in,” Julian continued. “And he looks like he wants to either kill someone or—” Julian’s eyes flicked to my neck. “Or finish what he started.”

I gulped, there was no way in hell I would allow him come near me any more so I avoided Reed for the rest of the day and it wasn’t hard because he was avoiding me too.

We had two classes together. In both of them, Reed sat as far from me as possible. Never looked in my direction. Never acknowledged my existence but I could feel his gaze on me when he thought I wasn’t looking.

I could feel the tension crackling in the air between us and by the time classes ended, I was exhausted. The heat was getting worse. My body temperature was spiking so high I was sweating through my clothes. The ache was constant now, it was persistent and demanding.

I made it back to my dorm and collapsed on my bed and stared at the ceiling. Tomorrow night was the full moon which meant my heat would peak and Reed was going to come find me. That was a disaster waiting to happen.

If this continues, and my heat gets hard, Reed rut would be activated that night and nothing would stop him from hunting me down. An Omega in heat and an Alpha in rut in the same space was dangerous, volatile and potentially deadly especially when that Alpha had already claimed me with his mouth and his hands and had already imprinted his scent all over my skin.

I needed to talk to Ms. Chen. I needed to figure out what the fuck I was going to do but my body felt like lead. The heat was making it hard to think, hard to move, and hard to do anything except lie here and ache.

My phone buzzed again.

I picked it up expecting another message from Julian but it was from an unknown number.

Unknown: We need to talk.

My heart stopped.

Unknown: Meet me at the training building. Midnight. Come alone.

I stared at the message.

It had to be Reed.

Me: Why should I?

Unknown: Because if we don’t talk about this now, tomorrow is going to be a disaster.

He was right.

Tomorrow was the full moon. My heat would peak, we needed to talk about this even if I had no idea what to say.

Me: Fine. Midnight.

I set my phone down and closed my eyes.

Tomorrow night, everything will change.

My heat would hit in full force. Every Alpha on campus would smell what I really was. My secret would be exposed and Reed Jackson, the one person who could destroy me, would likely be in rut nostrils by heat. This was going to end badly. I just didn’t know how bad yet.

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