Page 4 of Zodiac Hybrids

“Why don’t you take a seat near the front of the class.” He nodded towards the rows of desks, and that had me taken aback.

“I—”

“I insist.” The professor interrupted my protests before I could start them. “I like to keep an eye on my little accountants.”

If that was a joke, I did not get the punch line. Yet, not knowing what else to do, I nodded silently, then stepped around the desks to take a seat.

He returned to the front of the room and other students started filtering in. The smile on his face could now only be described as sweet and sunshiny, and that sent a shiver down my spine purely from the whiplash of his demeanor.

He spent the hour and a half of class going over the syllabus without any further acknowledgement of that unnerving interaction, to the point I was almost asking myself if I’d imagined the whole thing.

The way he’d approached me was almost animalistic—the movements and the sniffing and the gaze that made me feel like little red riding hood in the eyes of a hungry wolf. Yet during class, he was poised, sophisticated, and apparently a master of all things science. It was as distracting as it was confusing.

I kept my head down, took notes, and did my best to ignore the way my heart was still beating with excitement, while my mind was reeling with anxiety, and I absolutely would not be acknowledging what was happening in my panties. I had no idea which organ to listen to right now, but I had a feeling every single one was going to be leading me astray from here.

So how about that engineering degree…

At the conclusion of class, Professor Karras stood to start erasing the white board, while the other students began heading out in groups. Already cliques and friend groups were forming, and already I wasn’t part of any of them. God, I’m so bad at socializing.

With a sigh, I slung my backpack over my shoulder and started toward the door.

“Lila.” His gravelly voice stopped me in my tracks, and I silently cursed the fact that we were alone again.

“Yes, Professor?” I turned to face him with a nervous smile on my face.

“Have you picked a club yet?” He asked casually, his back still to me as he cleared the far corner of the board.

“No. That’s where I’m headed right now.” I admitted, not really sure where this was going.

“Would you like some friendly advice?” He placed the eraser on the board then gave me his full attention.

Thank you, but no thank you, is what I said in my head. “S-sure” is what I said out loud. What else was I supposed to say when a teacher asked me something like that?

“The Astrology Club is a great option for those who are lost and looking for answers.”

“Astrology?” My snort was involuntary, my gut reaction not caring if that was condescending or rude. What kind of club would that even be? Sit around and tell each other’s horoscopes? Dish about who’s compatible with who? Whine about Mercury being in retrograde? Yeah, I think I’m good on that. “Why would I want to be in an astrology club? I’m going to be building rockets one day.”

“So understanding the power of the stars should be pertinent to that, no?”

If I didn’t know better, I might have thought there was a playfulness in his tone. There had to be if he was proposing Astrology as a requisite for rocket science.

“You mean Astronomy.”

Adrian—I mean, Professor Karras, because we were definitely not on a first-name-basis— shook his head. “I meant exactly what I said.”

I raised a brow. “How is a physics professor promoting a magical pseudo-science?”

“Pseudo-science?” He half scoffed and half laughed. “Physics isn’t really pseudo-science. But I can see where that might get confusing.”

“What? No, I meant—”

The way he shook his head in such amusement shut me right up. I wasn’t going to walk into whatever weird trap he was setting.

“Consider it.” He said with a sense of finality. “You might be surprised how much you’ll learn.” With that, he stepped around his desk and walked right past me to open the door. He held it for me, waiting patiently for me to accept his courteous gesture. The first politeness he’d offered since I arrived.

Still wary, I stepped through the exit like I was walking through some sort of portal to an unknown world, and I met his eyes one last time.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Lila.” were the last words he said before the door closed between us.