The Alphas of North Forest ✔️

c h a p t e r - f i v e

⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆☽Ⓛ❈Ⓒ☾⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

Emmanuel's POV.

I stand at the window, my hands in my pockets, my shoulders heavy. Students mill about in the square below, biding time before their next lecture starts. Some of them play ball games, some sit on their phones, some chat. I sigh for the millionth time and take a seat at my desk chair.

My eyes itch with the contacts we have to wear. Orange and yellow eyes would freak out the students and break the department dress code. We have to wear brown contacts on campus.

"Don't lose faith, brother."

Ezekiel's rich voice reverberates across the office, reassuring me.

"It's been eight years since we took over the pack," I tell him tiredly. "I really thought she'd be in this cohort."

"I know, so did I. I had a feeling," he replies, equally as despondently. He runs his hand down his face. "I was convinced that my dream was a sign from the Moon Goddess."

Two weeks ago, he had a dream that we met our mate. She was faceless in the dream and he couldn't remember much about her, it was more the way he felt in the dream.

I had been so excited when he told me. I thought it was a sign too, especially as he had it the night before we came back to university for the start of the academic year. But alas, it's been two weeks and there's no sign of her.

The shrill ringing of the bell penetrates the thick door of our office and I grimace. After taking our undergraduate's degree at this university, we did our masters. After that, we took our PHD to become lecturers. Due to our knowledge on the subject and Alpha status, we got to pull some strings and skip a few years. We got our PHD's by the time we were twenty-four, which is almost unheard of.

This is our second-year teaching at the university. We love being Alphas and we love our pack, but it isn't a full-time job. Three days a week, we teach at this university.

We teach postgrads and master's only, not undergrads, we both prefer it that way. It means there are less absences from drinking and such. Also, the postgrad/Master's students tend to be more dedicated to their studies.

I grab my briefcase and stand up. "Right, I'll see you at lunch?"

"Yeah. We'll treat ourselves to the burger vendor, cheer us up a bit," Ez suggests.

"Good idea. See you, brother."

"See you later."

I make my way down the corridor, trying to ignore the stares of students as I walk past. It's worse when I leave the building and enter other departments. At least in this department, students are used to seeing me. In other departments, where I'm not known, students actually stop to stare unashamedly at me. Humans. They're so obvious with their attraction.

Ezekiel and I have strict rules with ourselves, we will never become involved with a student. Despite it not being against the rules, we don't think it is appropriate. Unless, of course, the student is our mate.

With a heavy heart, I enter my classroom and start setting up. There's a few students already in the bleacher-style lecture seats, the eager ones. I click open the locks on my briefcase and pull out some notes. I log into the computer and pull up the PowerPoint for today's lecture. Once everything is sorted, I take a seat and wait.

The second bell rings and the room starts filling with students. The class quickly fills up. Monday's lectures are my largest, I have around fifty-five students in this lecture. I drum my fingers methodically against the desk, waiting the final three minutes for it to hit 11 o'clock.