NIGHTFALL ACADEMY

I woke with a gasp.

The feeling of fingertips gliding the span of my bare leg drew me from a much-needed sleep.

Sweat dripped down my neck, soaking into the fabric of my tank top. My sheets were twisted around my bare legs, moonlight cascading through the crack in my stained-glass window.

It was my second night at Nightfall Academy, classes started tomorrow, and this man still haunted my dreams. Now, I was feeling someone touching me. It would have frightened the average person, but not me, that touch sent electric shocks throughout my body.

It was foreign, but it felt...right.

Sitting up, I glanced around, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness. I fumbled against my side table for my bottle of water and downed it.

A gust of wind hit my window, making me jump.

My stepfather, a well-known alpha in Tennessee, assured me this place was safer than Fort Knox.

I had thought that, too. The guards. The security.

Then again, now that I was here, my dreams were...vivid.

Sexily vivid. Wickedly vivid.

Just thinking about the man who occupied the space behind my eyelids raked me of any innocence left in my shivering body. It had been the same both nights.

He called to me from somewhere far away. His voice was deep, gravelly, and I followed without hesitation. I’d never been the woman to swoon over a man so hard.

But this man was swoon-worthy.

I’d grown up around wolves. My biological dad passed away when I was small. My mother married my stepfather, an alpha, when I was ten.

I loved werewolves. I’d grown so fascinated by them that I went to college and majored in werewolf psychology and history.

It fascinated me.

They fascinated me.

But they never made me trip over myself like this man stalking my dreams. Maybe it was my body crying out for a man’s touch. It’d been years since I went out on a date or kissed a boy.

However, the last date I went on was with a boy. This wasn’t a boy.

This was a man. He had dark golden eyes, ebony-colored hair, and a body that outmatched any alpha I’d ever come across. The scars that marked his skin were war-worthy. I could tell he’d been through Hell by looking at him.

And oh boy, did I look at him.

But every time I neared him, he disappeared in a tornado of dust, leaving me weak-kneed. It was pathetic. I was pathetic.

Sliding my palms against my face, I exhaled sharply. I had to get myself together. There were only a few nighttime hours left before I needed to get up for the day.

Shadows danced beneath the slit of my door as guards patrolled the hallway.

Which was weird. My stepfather, Alpha Stephan, assured me it was a precaution to keep the university safe.

From what? Beats me.

I didn’t know one person or supernatural brave enough to go up against an entire university of wolves. Because besides me, there were no humans here.

It wasn’t a secret that my stepfather got me this job after I’d been turned down three times by different universities.

He explained my upbringing, begging Chancellor Toby to give me a chance. That was all I needed. A chance to prove I knew just as much about werewolf psychology and history as the next wolf. I planned to show them just that.

“Are you ok in there, Ms. Palmer?” the guard asked outside my door.

I didn’t like them to hear everything, but I was used to it. “I’m fine. Bad dream.”

“Again?” he asked.

I smiled at myself. I walked over and cracked the giant wooden door that whined when I opened it. The guard, Hansel, smiled a big toothy grin at me. His youthful eyes and playful smile would cure anyone’s bad day. “Again. I’ve been living in a dorm with a roommate for six years. I’m getting used to sleeping by myself.”

A mischievous look crossed his face.

The guard on the opposite wall cleared his throat. ”Nope, don’t do it, Hansel. Chancellor Toby said no sleeping with the new professor.”

My body grew warm at the thought of sleeping with a wolf. I’d never ... all the wolves in my stepfather’s pack had mates. Most of the people at my college were human.

But it wasn’t like it didn’t cross my mind.

Wolves were strong. Built. Handsome as hell. But the other guard was right. It wouldn’t look right for me to jump into bed with the first wolf that looked my way.

“I should get to bed,” I said. “See you all tomorrow.”

I shut the door, and a masculine woodsy scent swirled around me, clinging to my sweaty body as I walked back to bed. The four posts were tall, meant for a supernatural with wolves engraved into the wood.

The beauty of this place was magical.

The lush mossy-covered forest. The bayou. It was plucked from one of those gothic romances that I loved so much. I’d grown up in Tennessee and went to a college close to home. Though I applied to several wolf colleges in Tennessee, there I was in southern Louisiana with the gators.

Crawling back into bed, I pulled the covers to my chin. It soothed me to know Hansel stood outside of my room. I checked the time of my phone and cringed.

I had two hours before my alarm. Two hours to attempt to sleep.

Maybe the man in my dreams needed sleep too.

I sent up a silent prayer that nothing would pull me from sleep until my alarm.

However, something inside of me wanted to see him again. To feel him again.

It was a ludicrous thought. I was lonely. Maybe after a semester or two, I’d feel comfortable enough here to explore the idea of dating.

If a wolf caught my attention or I caught his.

A stolen kiss underneath a magnolia tree on the far end of campus sounded good.

If only I’d known what was in store for me at Nightfall Academy.

I’m late.

On my first freaking day of classes.

I’d spent the remaining two hours attempting to sleep, every noise drawing me closer to insanity, chalking my dreams up to anxiety, and pushing the sexy man out of my mind.

Well, as far as he would go. It wasn’t like he was real. I’d established I needed to read a good romance novel, take some time for self-care and be done with these lustful dreams.

I couldn’t screw up my only chance at proving I was worth the hire.

After a quick shower, I raced toward the teacher’s lounge with the need for a cup of coffee. There was no way I could focus without caffeine.

I broke free from the teacher’s quarters, hurrying down the long path leading toward Henchman Hall. The hot Louisiana air stuck to my skin, gluing my Nightfall Academy T-shirt to my chest.

And I thought Tennessee was hot ...

Running through two giant stone pillars, I pushed open the set of double doors, my blocky heels sliding against the slick tile.

I had five minutes before my class started when I pushed open the doors of the teacher’s lounge. The tip of my heel caught on the doorjamb, sending me forward.

On my fall down, I imagined every professor in the room staring. Though, I hadn’t caught a glimpse of anything other than the ugly out-of-date carpet when someone caught me.

Strong hands tightened around my upper arms.

Great, a man. As if I needed more reason to stand out in this place.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, lifting my gaze.

Unable to stop myself, my gaze lingered on an impossibly impressive set of biceps. His mocha-colored skin was smooth over rounded muscles...and those eyes.

If I weren’t sweaty from my mad dash over, I was now.

Those playful green eyes twinkled when he smiled.

He even had a dimple underneath a blanket of facial scruff.

“Are you ok? You must be Palmer, the new professor.”

I tucked a blonde curl behind my ear, catching a few glances around the room. “That’s me. What gave it away? My complete and total agility to walk into a room?”

“Perhaps. We don’t get too many humans around here.”

I shifted the strap to my bag. “Yeah, well, I’m here. Sorry for barging in. I’m running late. I overslept. Well...that’s after I finally fell asleep in the first place.”

He tilted his head. “Hard time adjusting?”

“Something like that. At least I know I’m protected.”

He grabbed the edge of the door beside me, allowing me into the room. “You’re definitely protected here. I’ll let you grab some coffee. We have a football game on Friday. Are you coming? You can sit with the professors.”

“That sounds fun actually. Maybe I’ll see you there.”

He smiled. “Sure thing. I hope you get some sleep tonight. If you’re having trouble, go see Professor Jenna. She is a chemist. I’m sure she can whip you up something for sleep.”

“That sounds like a good idea. Thank you.”

He winked at me before leaving the room. Some of the professors smiled as I grabbed a to-go cup and filled it to the brim. I hadn’t even gotten the man’s name in my embarrassing entrance.

But I didn’t have time to worry about it. I checked my watch. Two minutes and counting.

Hurrying, I ran down the length of Henchman Hall, stopping in front of room 112.

My entire class was full when I opened the door and walked inside.

I hadn’t expected everyone to be early, but then again, they ran a tight ship around here. Which shocked me considering these were adults, not teenagers.

“Hello,” I said, lifting my chin. “Sorry, I’m late. I’m Professor Palmer.”

I walked toward the podium, grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote my name down on the board.

Old school. Fire. You got this.

When I turned, several of the wolves had smirks on their faces. It wasn’t as if I didn’t expect this sooner or later. I was young, human and closer to their age than most of the other professors.

Instead of indulging the cocky behavior coming from three of the wolves, I opened my gradebook on the podium. “Please answer when I call your name.”

I began down the list, ignoring the giggles and the laughs until I made it to the end.

“Everyone is accounted for. I’m not going to keep you long today. Today we’re going over our syllabus for the semester. Tomorrow we’ll dive in...”

A she-wolf on the front row raised her hand.

I gestured toward her.

“I’m Hailey. I hope this doesn’t come off rude, but do you have a wolf mate?”

“I don’t.”

She nodded. “Were you raised in a pack?”

They were curious. I couldn’t blame them. Ripping the Band-Aid off, I folded my arms over my chest and smiled at my class. “My mother is mated to a wolf. I moved into a pack when I was ten. So, I’ve lived most of my life with wolves. I know a lot about them. I went to college to study their psychology and history.”

“I bet she was the pack slut,” one of the wolves whispered.

Hailey shot him a dirty stare over her shoulder, while I did little to hide my blush.

“Well, the jokes on you. I’ve never been with a wolf,” I said.

Not that it was any of their business.

I probably shouldn’t have said that ...

Pulling out my stack of syllabuses from my bag, I began to hand them to the first person in each row.

“I bet that’ll change,” another wolf mumbled.

“The chancellor is going to kick you out,” Hailey said. “And sit you out of the football game this Friday.”

The blond-haired wolf rolled his eyes. “We better stop. We all know ass kisser Hailey will tell on us...”

Turning to put the remains of my syllabuses on the podium, I heard a loud smack.

The blond-haired wolf was flat on the floor with his chair tossed against the opposite wall. I gawked, attempting to put the pieces together in my mind.

He jumped up, spinning a quick circle. “Who did that?”

No one said a word.

Hailey looked up at me. “No one. I was looking right at him. It just ... the chair just flew across the room.”

I swallowed as I walked toward the chair to pick it up right. The wolf grabbed it, sliding it back into its spot. He didn’t say another word.

How could he?

Smoothing my hands over the syllabus, I grabbed my coffee cup, attempting to give myself time to think.

That’s when I saw him.

The man from my dreams, standing in the back of the room, larger than life, hands shoved down into a pair of outdated leather pants. His shirt did little to hide the bulging muscles. He screamed danger without saying a word.

A scream left me quickly. My coffee spilled over onto my T-shirt and then landed onto the floor.

The students looked around the room, searching for the culprit.

Didn’t they see him?

“What’s the matter?” Hailey asked, following my gaze to the man in the back. “Did you see something?”

I dragged my eyes away from his electric blue ones to Hailey. She didn’t see him. No one did.

And when I looked back, neither did I.