Mated to Her Alpha Instructor Chapter 98

Derek

I sat in the corner of the dining hall, picking at my roasted venison while Lyra chattered across from me. She was a first-year in Combat—young, eager, and refreshingly easy to be around. No probing questions about where I'd been or who I'd talked to. Just wide-eyed admiration and the kind of laughing attention that made a man feel good about himself.

"So you're really leaving in a few days?" She leaned forward, her expression genuinely disappointed. "Three whole months at the border?"

"Practical combat training," I said, letting my gaze drift around the room. The restaurant was one of the nicer places near campus—not fancy enough to break a student's budget, but respectable. Celeste would've turned her nose up at it, of course. She always wanted the best tables, the finest wine, the kind of atmosphere that screamed status. Lyra, though? She'd been thrilled when I suggested meeting here.

"That sounds dangerous," she murmured, eyes bright with concern that felt oddly flattering.

I shrugged, going for nonchalant. "It's what we train for."

She smiled at that, and I felt myself relax. This was simpler. No demands, no expectations beyond enjoying her company. Celeste had been getting clingy lately, asking pointed questions about "our future" and hinting that she wanted to make things official with her family. Lyra didn't ask for anything except—

Movement near the back of the restaurant caught my eye.

I went still.

Alpha Regis Vane, the legend himself—youngest senior combat instructor in academy history, pure-blooded heir to one of the oldest families in the territory. I'd heard plenty about him from classmates who'd been lucky enough to get into his advanced sections, but I'd rarely been close enough to study him properly.

He emerged from one of the private dining rooms, his posture as controlled and precise as I'd expect from someone of his reputation. The kind of presence that made other wolves instinctively step back.

But it wasn't Alpha Vane that made my breath catch.

It was the woman beside him.

Eileen?

My mind stuttered, trying to reconcile what I was seeing. Eileen Wylde—quiet, nervous, no-wolf Eileen—walking beside Regis Vane like it was the most natural thing in the world. His hand rested at the small of her back, the touch so casual and familiar it could only mean one thing: this wasn't their first time together. This was habit. Intimacy.

I watched, frozen, as he retrieved her cloak from a staff member and draped it over her shoulders with the kind of care you'd show something precious. He leaned down, murmuring something against her ear that made her cheeks flush pink even from this distance. She nodded, smiling up at him in a way I'd never seen her smile before—open, trusting, almost radiant.

My chest tightened with something I couldn't name.

They moved toward the exit together, and I caught the way his fingers brushed her waist again, guiding her protectively through the door. Outside, a private carriage waited. Not an academy carriage. Not a hired cab.

His carriage.

He handed her up first, following close behind, and the vehicle rolled away into the evening. The direction was wrong for campus housing.

"Derek?" Lyra's voice pulled me back. "Everything alright?"

I forced myself to look at her, to arrange my expression into something normal. "Yeah. Just thought I recognized someone."

She followed my gaze toward the now-empty doorway, curiosity flickering across her features, but I picked up my wine glass and she let it drop.

My mind was spinning.

The rumors had been circulating for days—whispers that Alpha Vane carried the scent of a woman, that his usual razor-sharp focus in training sessions had softened around the edges. The prevailing theory was that he'd finally taken a high-born mate from one of the allied families. Someone appropriate for a man of his station.

Not Eileen. Never Eileen.

The girl who'd followed me around for a year like a lost puppy. The no-wolf who'd stared at me with those big, hopeful eyes every time I deigned to speak to her. The one who'd practically begged for scraps of my attention.

When did she even meet Vane? How—

The memory hit, sharp and unwelcome: Eileen in the library weeks ago, carrying a confidence I didn’t recognize. Looking at me not with admiration or hurt, but with dismissal. Like I wasn’t worth her time.

And then Alpha Vane had shown up—had taken her away. Not a coincidence. They’d been pretending in front of me.

I’d thought that scene made it look like I was bullying her, that it might catch Vane’s attention. I’d even considered making up an excuse when I got called to the office.

I’d told myself she was just putting on airs by refusing me.

But no—she’d already moved on. Moved up.

Way, way up.

My fingers tightened on the stem of my glass. She'd rejected my offer as my lover—a discreet arrangement where we could both get what we wanted without the mess of public expectations.

And now here she was, sneaking off with an Alpha instructor in his private carriage, heading somewhere that definitely wasn't campus.

The hypocrisy of it settled in my gut like a stone.

Everyone talked about Alpha Vane like he was some kind of saint. Honorable. Disciplined. Above the messy entanglements that trapped lesser wolves. He'd turned down advances from half the eligible daughters in the territory, earned a reputation for being untouchable.

And yet.

He was bedding a student. A no-wolf student, no less. Someone so far beneath his station that the match would be laughable if anyone knew about it.

Which meant they were hiding it. Keeping it secret.

Just like I'd suggested with Eileen.

She'd turned me down for wanting discretion, but apparently discretion was fine as long as it came with an Alpha's title and a family fortune. She'd just been holding out for a better offer.

I drained my wine, the bitterness on my tongue matching the taste in my thoughts.

"Should we order dessert?" Lyra asked, her enthusiasm undimmed.

"Sure." I made myself smile. "Whatever you'd like."

She beamed and flagged down a server, and I let her voice fade into background noise while I turned the situation over in my mind.

Maybe I'd been too hard on myself these past weeks. Celeste had made pointed comments about Eileen—how I'd "wasted time" on a no-wolf, how it reflected poorly on my judgment. I'd brushed it off, told myself I'd been kind to acknowledge Eileen at all.

But watching her tonight, seeing her with Vane...

I wasn't sure what I felt. Vindication, maybe. Proof that she wasn't any better than the rest of us, that her moral superiority had been an act all along.

We finished dessert in comfortable rhythm, Lyra content to fill the silence with plans for her upcoming practicals. When I walked her back to the academy gates, the cool evening air helped clear my head.

"Thanks for dinner," she said, squeezing my hand. "I'll miss you while you're at the border."

"I'll miss you too." I kissed her knuckles, playing the gentleman, and watched her disappear through the gates.

Then I turned back toward the main road, hands sliding into my pockets.

No, I wasn't bitter. I'd moved on. Celeste was beautiful and well-connected, Lyra was sweet and uncomplicated, and I had options.

But Eileen had made me feel small tonight. Had made me question things I'd been certain about.

And I didn't like it.

Sooner or later, someone would notice. Someone would put the pieces together—the Alpha who suddenly smelled of chamomile and apples, the no-wolf girl who'd gone from invisible to confident overnight.

Someone would talk.

I smiled to myself as I walked back toward my dormitory, the pieces already shifting into place in my mind.

Some people wear masks their whole lives. They preach honor and restraint while indulging in secret.

But masks always slip eventually.

And when they do, the fall is so much harder.