Claimed by the Professor

Elena Voss had always been fire wrapped in stubborn defiance. At twenty-two, she moved through the ivy-covered halls of Crestwood University like a storm looking for a place to break. Literature was her battlefield, words her weapons. She wore sharp intellect like armor, her dark hair usually pulled into a messy bun that somehow still looked intentional, her green eyes flashing with challenge at every turn. Her father, Richard Voss, had once been a titan in the publishing world until Marcus Hale tore it all down.

Professor Marcus Hale. Forty-seven. Broad-shouldered, six foot three, with the kind of presence that silenced rooms. Silver threaded through his thick dark hair, and his storm gray eyes missed nothing. He had been her father’s business partner once, the ethical counterweight to Richard’s cutthroat ambition. When Marcus walked away, exposing shady deals and pulling investors with him, the Voss empire crumbled. Richard lost everything. Elena lost the future she had been promised. She had never forgiven him.

Now Marcus taught Advanced Literary Theory, and Elena was in his seminar whether either of them liked it or not.

The first day set the tone.

Marcus stood at the front of the lecture hall in a charcoal button-down, sleeves rolled to his forearms, dissecting student presentations with surgical precision. When Elena’s turn came, she presented on feminist reinterpretations of Wuthering Heights, her voice clear and cutting. ...