The One Night Stand Turns Out To Be My Professor

113

113

Jacob’s POV

I paced back and forth in Ian’s living room, my fists clenched so tight my knuckles were turning white. Every minute that passed without hearing from Jenny was like a knife twisting deeper into my gut. She was supposed to have been here hours ago, and something inside me was screaming that something wasn’t right.

“Jacob, calm down,” Ian said, though his voice was tight with his own worry. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed, but I could tell he was just as on edge as I was. “We’ll find her.”

“How?” I snapped, my anger getting the better of me. “It’s been hours. She wouldn’t just disappear like this, not without a reason. You know that.”

Ian didn’t respond, but the look he gave me was all the confirmation I needed. He was worried too. He just wasn’t as vocal about it as I was.

I couldn’t help it though. Jenny wasn’t just some girl I was messing around with. She was mine. I hadn’t realized just how much until now, when the fear of losing her had taken root inside me, suffocating every other thought. She had gotten under my skin in a way no one else had ever managed to, and the thought of something happening to her… of her being hurt… it made me feel like I was losing control. No. I actually was loosing control.

Ian pushed off the wall, his face grim. “I’ll put out some feelers. Maybe one of my men has seen her.”

I nodded, grateful for the help, but it wasn’t enough to stop the panic that was clawing at my insides. I wanted to be out there, searching, tearing the city apart until I found her. But the human world didn’t work like that. If someone had taken her, there were rules, territories, boundaries. We had to be smart, calculated.

Still, I couldn’t just stand here doing nothing.

“Who the hell would take her, Ian?” I asked, my voice low, full of barely-contained rage. “She’s not even involved in this vampire shit. She’s innocent.”

“That’s what worries me,” Ian muttered. “Whoever took her might be trying to get to us.”

I swore under my breath. This was my fault. Our fault. We had brought her into this world, into the danger that came with being around vampires. But I should’ve protected her better, should’ve kept her far away from all of this.

Then, just as I was about to lose it completely, the door flew open.

And there she was.

Jenny stood in the doorway, pale and shaking, her eyes wide and glassy. Her clothes were torn, and there were dark smudges of blood on her skin—her blood. My chest tightened at the sight of her, but before I could rush to her, she staggered forward and collapsed.

“Jenny!” I was at her side in an instant, lifting her into my arms. Her body was cold—too cold—and I could feel the unnatural stillness in her. She wasn’t breathing.

But I could still sense her, feel the faint pulse of life inside her.

Oh no. No, no, no.

“She’s in transition,” Ian said, kneeling beside us, his voice low and serious.

I barely heard him. My entire world was focused on Jenny—on her pale skin, her shaking body, the faint pulse of vampire blood in her veins. She had been turned. Someone had turned her.

“Jenny, what happened?” I asked, my voice desperate as I tried to keep my panic at bay.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked at me, her expression one of pure terror. “Jacob… I… I don’t know. I don’t remember.”