Chapter 32 UNHINGED.
Asher's POV:
I barely registered the students or the greetings thrown my way.
My footsteps were faster, heavier, echoing down the hall.
I didn’t care.
All I could think about was reaching that classroom and disrupting whatever she was doing.
I had no idea what was happening inside, how she was handling the class, or how she even found me.
With every step, my chest tightened; the wolf in me stirred, claws raking beneath my skin.
The air reeked of chaos - her chaos.
I shoved the door open. Heads snapped toward me, silence crashing over the room, but I barely registered any of it.
My gaze swept the students in a heartbeat before locking on Clara.
She stood frozen, grey eyes wide, blinking like she was processing my sudden appearance.
My pulse jolted - not with fear, but anger. I hated what I was seeing.
Of course she’d fed them her usual lies. She always sinks that low.
And then I saw her—
Standing there, composed as ever, that sly, irritating smirk on her lips.
The moment our eyes clashed, something twisted in my gut.
Danger. Chaos. Unpredictable as always.
My wolf growled, claws scraping under my skin, hungry to strike.
She lived for my anger. She always had.
“Oh… it’s you, Professor Asher,” she drawled, voice sweet with a blade hidden underneath.
My jaw locked so hard it almost cracked.
“Miss Silver. Outside. Now.”
She tilted her head, eyes gleaming with mischief, and tossed Clara a sly glance.
One I had no energy to care about.
I didn’t wait to process it. I spun on my heels, walking away with each step fueled by pure, unfiltered rage.
Every instinct screamed that letting her linger near Cleveland College, near Clara, was a threat I couldn’t ignore.
And yet… she was here.
The thought alone made my blood boil.
I stopped at the far end of the hallway, fists tight, breath uneven.
A slow, teasing voice curled from behind, sending a chill down my spine despite my anger.
“Not happy to see me?” she murmured, deliberately dragging out each word.
“Or are you too stunned to admit how much you’ve missed me?”
I turned slowly, jaw tight, and found her leaning against the wall, arms crossed, that infuriating smirk on her lips - like she knew exactly the storm she’d stirred inside me.
“Elsie… what the hell are you doing here?” I growled, low, controlled, though my wolf was clawing at my chest, ready to break free.
She scoffed, rolling her eyes, lips a thin, unapologetic line as she brushed past me, her familiar, maddening scent hitting me.
“For heaven’s sake, Asher,” she said, sharp and teasing. “Is this really the welcome I get… after three years?”
I swallowed hard, wolf growling low. “How did you even track me down? And that stunt with the principal - saying I was sick? Are you out of your damn mind?”
A low, dark chuckle slipped from her lips, deliberate and predatory.
“You really thought you could just walk away, Asher? End it, vanish, and we'll be done?”
My chest tightened, fury coiled like a storm.
“Enough, Elsie,” I growled, voice sharp, controlled. “Stop twisting three years into some victim story. Stop pretending like I don’t know exactly what you did.”
Her smirk never wavered. Of course it didn’t. She never did.
I let out a sharp breath, forcing myself to stay in control, but the words came anyway - cold, precise, carrying all the weight I’d buried for years.
“Elsie… I had every reason to end this back then.”
Her smirk flickered slightly, but her gaze stayed locked on mine.
I stepped closer, letting her feel the shift in the air.
“You crossed every line,” I said, voice low, controlled. “My phone, my space, my life… you invaded it all. Snooping, tracking, threatening yourself whenever things didn’t go your way.”
Her eyes flickered, but she didn’t flinch.
“And that’s not even the worst of it.”
My control snapped tighter, my wolf clawing beneath my skin at the memory.
“Need a reminder?” I said, voice low.
“The night you went to my father, demanding my whereabouts?”
Her eyes didn’t flinch. “I told him I didn’t want to be found. I thought you’d understand… that you'd finally get it. That I’d left you alone.”
Her jaw tightened slightly.
“But you never got it,” I said, voice sharp.
“Never did.”
I swallowed hard, the memory slamming into me with brutal clarity.
“You pulled a knife on him, Elsie.”
This time, her breath hitched - but only for a second.
“And the only reason he wasn’t hurt worse…”
I tugged my collar down, revealing the deep, pale scar etched across my chest - a reminder that wouldn’t fade.
“…because I stepped in front of him.”
Elsie’s eyes dropped to the scar. She studied it, unflinching. No apology. No crack in her composure. She never breaks.
“Even after he died,” I said, letting my shirt fall back into place, voice low and hard, “I stayed silent. I thought - maybe - you’d feel remorse. Maybe you’d change.”
“But you didn’t. Not after what you tried to do to that girl - she only helped me with something simple, something anyone with a heart would’ve done. And you went after her as if she’d stolen from you.”
Elsie’s eyes lifted - cold, flat, unreadable. She tilted her head, a faint curl on her lips.
“But he died anyway… didn’t he?” Her voice was soft, almost gentle. And utterly cruel.
For a moment, everything in me went still.
A surge of raw fury tore through me - blinding, immediate. My hands clenched so hard my knuckles popped.
Every instinct pushed me to strike back, to silence the cruelty she’d just unleashed.
I dragged in a slow breath, trembling with the effort it took to stay in control.
“Everything I did… all the chaos, the stunts - it was for you, Asher,” she said, stepping closer.
Her fingers brushed my collar like she owned it, then pressed against my chest, firm, possessive.
“I love you,” she murmured, obsession glinting in her eyes. “I know you’re angry… and I’m sorry. I’ll earn your forgiveness. No matter how long it takes.”
I ground my teeth. My wolf thrashed beneath my skin, snarling at her audacity - my mate, crossing every line, and still smiling.
“And the principal stunt?” she said, her smirk sharp as a blade. “Not sorry. Did you think, Asher, that you could vanish from Blackwood, hide here at Cleveland College, and live quietly?”
“I had to work to find you… but I did. Why give up on the one man who handles me the way no man ever could?”
Her fingers brushed my lips. My wolf roared at the touch, claws raking beneath my skin, growls shaking my chest.
“I know you want me gone,” she whispered, venom lacing every word. “You want me to undo what I told the principal… Too bad. I’m here to stay, Asher. And I won’t let go.”
Her eyes darkened, that familiar predator’s glint promising anyone in her way would regret it.
“And you know what happens when anyone stands in my way, don’t you?”
Before I could react, she pressed her lips to mine, hands threading behind my head, claiming me in a way that ignited every ounce of fury inside me.
I snapped back, disgust burning through me, and shoved her off. She staggered, surprised - but her smirk stayed.
“Elsie,” I growled, every ounce of control fraying, wolf clawing beneath my skin.
“You’re unhinged. Obsessed. Dangerous. Get help - and stay the hell away, or next time, I won’t hold back.”
She chuckled, low and chilling, sending a shiver down my spine.
“You love it, Asher,” she whispered, cold and unapologetic.
I couldn’t take it. My lungs burned, my wolf screamed, my heart pounded. I spun and stormed off.
As I rounded the corner, her low, chilling laugh sliced through the air.
In that instant, I knew keeping her from Clara, from this college, from my life… was a battle unlike any I’d faced.