June gave him a crooked smile. “I declined. Figured you’d want to hang on to your position as long as you can.”
Ian bit his lip. Then he realized that, if June had said yes... Harold would’ve taken Ian down a level, his rank and pay and all. Without even consulting him, knowing that Ian already had tenure at the college. Ian was an omega, after all. As an alpha, June would be given priority in the department’s ranks.
“You... you could’ve accepted it,” Ian said haltingly. “You have a family, too.”
And then he felt a stab of guilt, because June had foregone a pay raise because of him. She could’ve used that extra money.
June shrugged and smiled. “It wouldn’t be fair to you. I’m not that desperate for a raise, Ian. You need the money more than I do.”
She ran her wrists across his forehead, leaving her birch scent on his skin. Then, his hair, his neck, and his shoulders.
June’s scent didn’t completely mask Brad’s, but it was a fresh enough marking that most people wouldn’t question it. At least, it would still give Harold the impression that Ian was cheating with June. As though Ian would even think of doing that.
It shook Ian, though, knowing that Harold thought so little of him. Knowing that all it would take was some alpha saying yes, and Ian would be at the mercy of another professor.
He sighed, feeling helpless. Wasn’t sure it was the right thing, staying on at this job. But it wasn’t as though he could find another that paid this much, at his age. Ian touched his arm, digging his nails through the fabric. It was another minute before he remembered Brad’s voice. Don’t do that.
“I’ve got your back,” June said with a small smile. “Don’t worry.”
“I’ll try not to.”
June released him, her scent stronger on his clothes now. It felt wrong. Brad’s scent was the only one that felt right on Ian, and Ian winced at the thought of showing up to class, wearing another alpha’s scent. Brad hated it.
“I wish we didn’t have to do this,” he said.
“Me, too.” June sighed. “When’s Harold retiring?”
“Soon, I hope.”
June laughed, reaching for the door. “Same here. Right, I have to get back to the lab. Say hi to Brad for me.”
She glanced at Ian’s bonding mark, and Ian blushed. It still felt incriminating, knowing that his student had marked him.
He gathered his class materials and tucked them under his arm, then left the office.
The moment Ian stepped into class, he found Brad in his usual seat, in front of the teacher’s desk. Brad met his eyes, his nostrils flaring. Then he scowled, and Ian’s stomach twisted.
Brad had smelled June on him.
Ian tried not to look at Brad. He set up his lecture materials, handing the stack of graded assignments to the nearest student. Then he turned on the visualizer, and remembered Brad beaming his cock onto the projector screen.
That, at least, was a pleasant memory. Ian breathed in, finding Brad’s walnut scent mixed in with the rest of the students’. Despite Brad’s bitterness over June’s scent, it was a treat to see him in class again. Ian’s heart fluttered. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed having Brad in his audience, Brad’s attention on him the whole two hours.
Brad could’ve been any other student, except when Ian met his gaze, there was warmth in those honey-brown eyes. Ian felt wanted.
He cracked a smile then. “Good evening. We’ll be covering the mechanisms of nanoparticle reactions today.”
Time passed much faster with Brad around. Ian breezed through his lecture, glancing up at his students, trying not to meet Brad’s eyes each time. He wanted to, though. His instincts whispered at him to step up to Brad, touch him, breathe Brad’s scent off his skin.
Ian talked about the reactions in different pH environments, biting down his smile when Brad raised his hand.
“Does hardness affect the reactions?” Brad asked.
Ian paused, thrown off his thought process. “Hardness? You mean the number of dissolved calcium ions in water?”
Brad lifted an eyebrow. “I meant solid-liquid reactions. When you thrust something hard into the fluids.”
He gestured vaguely, glancing at Ian’s hips. Ian stared.
Then he realized that Brad had asked a question just to make it sexual. And now Ian was desperately trying not to picture the hard parts of Brad’s body, the way Brad had cupped his face last night and growled Suck me off.
He’d pulled out of Ian’s mouth, sliding firm and deep into Ian’s body, and Ian had cried out into his pillow, his own come spurting across the bed.
Ian gulped now, hoping his other students didn’t notice he was flustered. “We’ll cover that the next chapter,” he said. “In the meantime, I’ll be happy to answer questions on solid dissolution after class.”
Brad smirked, his eyes dark, and Ian had to look away. It took him a moment to remember what he was teaching.
Despite that, it felt good, having his alpha in class with him.
The lesson passed far quicker than he’d anticipated. Ian finished off the lecture with an overview of the next lesson, and gave the class their assignment for this week.
Then he watched as the students filed out of the classroom, a few looking curiously over at Brad.
Ian shouldn’t have been uncomfortable with it—Brad had been a regular in the class of twenty, until he’d stopped showing up. For him to attend class again... the students were understandably curious.
“I thought you’d dropped out of class, Brad,” Sue said, peering at him. She was an omega with round glasses and red hair, one of the last few to leave the classroom. Ian had taught her for years—she’d been taking a number of his classes so she could specialize in nanoparticle research.
Brad waved. “Took a short break, but I’m back now. Great to see you, too.”
“Have you been catching up?” she asked. “I didn’t think you could—you’ve missed a ton of classes.”
Brad glanced at Ian. “Yeah, I’ve been keeping up at home. Thanks for
