Chapter 3

*****Xena's POV*****

No! This was definitely not happening!

This couldn't happen!

Ryder was my student and to top it all, he was five years younger than me! This was a messed up joke by the moon goddess.

Ryder noticed the confusion and dread in my eyes, and his excitement died down a bit, he proceeded to extend his hand and held mine in his, this caused a surge of electricity to course through my body.

I felt Layla purr in the back of my head as my body relaxed in contentment. 

For a moment there, I melted into his warm touch forgetting about everything else. That tiny moment was euphoric, I couldn't explain what I was feeling, but as they say 'all good things must come to an end'

The next moment that followed, reality struck me and I abruptly pulled my hand away. 

"No! This is wrong, This is all wrong." My voice came out firm as I took a step back from him. 

I could see the hurt flash in his eyes but only for a second before he held my wrist again and pulled me closer to him, his other hand sturbornly rested on my waist. 

"What is so wrong about finding one's mate?" He looked determined, you could see it in his eyes, he wasn't going down without a fight.

"Everything's wrong Ryder, you're my student for goodness sake." I didn't want to create a scene or draw attention to us, so I spoke in a hushed tone. 

"So what if I'm your student we're still mates, we belong to each other and that won't change." He countered, I tried to move away from him but his hold was firm. 

"Let me go, what if someone walks in?." I attempted to reason with him, though I knew that he wouldn't listen to me. 

"Let them come and find us, we're two mates talking and I see no fault in that."

This stupid child.

"Ryder, this is wrong on many grounds, and I need you to reject me, you're the future alpha, you can choose anyone else to be your chosen mate and Luna, moreover you could get lucky and have a second chance mate"

This sounded absurd, but what else could I do? This wasn't right!

If I knew that he was the mate I had been looking for, I wouldn't have waited for my mate all this while, instead I would have moved on by settling down with anyone. 

Looking at him, I could catch sight of how his expression changed to hurt. I felt bad, but I had to do this for all our sakes. 

"That is not happening, over my dead body will I ever reject you," His grip on my waist loosened, "I don't need a second chance mate or anyone else, you are the only one I want." He was still calm and collected but his demeanor was gradually faltering. 

"Ryder, listen to me, this is for the good of the pack, stop being so stubborn. How can you marry someone older?!"

I was trying by all means to get through to him somehow. 

Ryder let out an estranged laugh, "I got my mate after waiting for 18 years and you're telling me to say rejecting you is the best option. Right, that's not happening ever, you're stuck with me." There was a fire in his eyes which I feared that no one could quench, not even me.  

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" If it was someone else, this could have been easy but since it happened to be him, this would definitely be difficult.

"Because I am the Alpha." His voice came out smooth and soft. 

"And that's even the more reason you should reject me." I bent his words to my will. 

"I see what you did there, my decision stands firm, I'm not giving up on this, on us, absolutely not." He uttered as his hands settled on my shoulders and immediately sparks coursed through my body, his touch was dangerous to me because it made me melt and lose my mind. 

I closed my eyes trying to calm my heart that began perpetuating faster, if I touched him the sparks would increase, meaning I needed to find a way to get his hands off of me. 

I sighed and decided to try my luck, "Ryder, can you please get your hands off my shoulders?." My voice came out a tad bit vulnerable. 

A smirk made its way to his face, "Why should I, do you also feel the pull of the mate bond?" 

"N-no," I stuttered and this brought an amused look to his face.  

"That there is a lie, I know you can feel the bond, that's why you came here, I know you're hearing my wolf calling out to yours, but you chose to bluntly ignore it."

He was right, I felt everything he said but I wasn't going to admit to it, I needed to make him believe that I didn't care, but that wasn't going so well.

Anyways, it wasn't like I had the time to plan on what to do, everything just happened so fast.

"As your teacher, you need to listen to me." My gaze was as determined as his. 

His eyes glimmered with inquisitiveness, and he leaned closer making everything in me go jelly, my heart picked up pace once more.

"As your mate, I won't listen to you." his voice was low and husky for a moment there, I almost purred at how good it sounded, his breath fanned my face making my cheeks turn crimson.

Our eyes locked for a moment, and all I wanted was to be in that moment, instinctively our faces started moving closer to each other.

The space between us slowly diminishing, just then the bell rudely interrupted our moment for a good cause and signaled the end of the first lessons.

This resulted in me abruptly pulling away from him. 

I hadn't realized that so much time had passed by, this meant that I'd have to explain why I didn't teach my class to the principal.

Ryder took another step towards me and leaned down to my ear, "This isn't over yet, we'll continue this conversation later.'' With that, he left and all that remained was his hot breath on my neck close to my ears and a flustered me.