The One Night Stand Turns Out To Be My Professor

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Ian’s POV.

The room was silent, but it wasn’t the kind of quiet that brought peace. It was the suffocating, heavy silence that followed a storm, the kind that reminded you of the destruction left in its wake. I stood in the center of it all, bloodied, bruised, but alive. That was the only victory I could claim for now. Sophia, too, was alive. Our child was safe. But everything else… everything else felt like it was hanging by a thread.

The scent of blood still lingered in the air. The bodies of the traitorous council members had been removed, but the stain of their betrayal remained, staining the very walls of the council chambers. Gregor and Helena had both been captured, though I knew that was only a small consolation. This wasn’t over. Far from it.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Mike’s voice broke the silence as he stepped closer, his eyes scanning me for injuries. His loyalty had been unwavering through the fight, though something in his expression now felt different, harder to read.

“I’m fine,” I muttered, wincing as I shifted my weight. My ribs screamed in protest, and I could still feel the deep gash across my side from the werewolf’s claws. “It’s nothing that won’t heal.”

“You don’t look fine,” he said, his tone skeptical, but he didn’t push it further. His eyes flickered over to the far end of the room, where Sophia sat with Lyanna, both of them still recovering from the shock of the attack. “And Sophia?”

“She’s safe.” The words were automatic, but the relief I felt every time I said them was real. “Lyanna did what she could. Without her magic… I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

Mike nodded but didn’t say anything more. We both knew how close we’d come to losing everything.

“Ian,” Lyanna called softly from where she stood near Sophia. I turned to face them, my heart twisting at the sight of Sophia, pale and shaken. Her hand rested protectively on her stomach, and even from across the room, I could feel her fear.

I walked over, ignoring the pain in my side. “Sophia,” I said quietly, kneeling in front of her. “How are you feeling?”

Her eyes met mine, wide with lingering terror, but there was a strength there, too. She wasn’t broken, not by a long shot. “I’m okay,” she whispered, her voice trembling just slightly. “The baby… the baby is okay.”

I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. “That’s all that matters.”

She nodded, but I could see the questions in her eyes. The doubts. The fear of what came next.

“Ian,” she said softly, “why did this happen? Why would they do this?”

I didn’t have an easy answer. “Greed,” I said after a moment. “Power. They saw you—and our child—as a threat. They thought if they could destroy us, they could take control of the realm.”

She frowned, her fingers tightening around mine. “But… they were part of the council. They were supposed to protect us.”

“They were,” I agreed, my voice hardening. “But somewhere along the way, they decided their loyalty didn’t lie with us anymore.”

Lyanna stepped forward then, her expression grim. “This conspiracy ran deeper than we realized, Ian. Gregor and Helena weren’t acting alone. There are others… I can feel it.”

I nodded. “I know.”

Mike, who had been silent up until now, spoke up. “What do we do with them?” His tone was sharp, his distrust clear. “We can’t let them live. Not after this.”