CHAPTER 3

Enzo put the last box on the hand truck and rolled it out of his office. The room was finally empty.

He wiped sweat from his forehead, the whole ordeal had taken him longer than expected, he was surprised at the quantity of books he had there.

He smiled.

When he started working at Jefferson’s High a few years ago, he only brought four books with him, not counting all the worksheets he thought would be useful.

He shook his head. The first student I met made me almost throw all the theory books I had out the window.

The reality of the kids was much harsher than he imagined.

Turns out growing up in poverty amidst gang violence is not something you can just get rid of by talking.

But now, he knew he made a difference. Even if it was small. Most kids were just misguided.

He dedicated all of his free time working away from the mountain, with the people who needed it the most.

Being a White Paw bear, he was at the forefront of the fight against the Shadowlands, but after its last incursion a few years ago, it was gone for good.

He could do other things, now, like helping people.

The animal inside of him growled, as if mocking him.

Damn beast.

His bear was restless. Ever since he saw her that morning it—

No. Don’t think of that. You’ll only make it worse.

The bell rang and teenagers poured out of the classrooms, filling the hallway. Enzo knew a lot of them personally, but kept a healthy distance. It was for the best. If he waved or addressed them in public, they’d probably be embarrassed.

Going to a school counselor in this area means you’re weak.

Some kids didn't care, others did. He waited for them to approach him, wouldn't risk any of them being bullied.

Something felt wrong.

To his right, Jordan, a senior, shouldered his way against the stream of students, until he crashed against a younger student, dropping his books to the floor.

"You almost made me drop my soda, you fucking dumbass," he said.

Shit. He had to stop the fight before the kids got suspended.

As he walked over there, a small circle of students started gathering around them, but a yell from the next hallway made everyone turn.

She was there.

It had been only a few hours since they met, but she'd been in his mind all morning. Damn it.

As he cleaned out his office, he caught himself thinking about her. He beautiful eyes, they way she addressed herself to others, her cute, badass attitude... damn, her curves made his bear wild. Everything about her exuded confidence.

He couldn’t make out what she told them, but the whole affair was over in an instant, the kids shook hands and everyone dispersed.

What did she say? He might actually learn something from her, instead of being the go to problem solver.

She turned to him from afar and waved. His bear grumbled, you stay still, beast.

The animal was uncontrollable at times, a constant struggle he’d learned to live with. There was no trigger this time, no catalyst... nothing had happened to taunt it.

But just looking at her put him at risk of losing control. Her business casual dress outlined her curves, making him clench his fists hard.

Just accept it and move on.

She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She was confident and sexy, and seemed much, much smarter than the previous principal, Mr. Jones, an old man who wanted nothing but to do the least possible, the staff and school be damned.

“Kids, right?” she said, now that he got closer to her.

The sweet ring of her voice sent wild pulses of electric lust inside him. The bear turned its grumble to a mild roar. What the hell is going on? She’s the principal for Christ sake, stay cool.

“That’s Jordan, our local trouble-maker,” he replied, reaching her, “he’s a good kid, just needs a bit more guidance. You should’ve seen him two years ago.”

“Worse than this?” she said with a sardonic smile.

“He’s smart. He listens, and...” he was only a step away from her but still, kids are vicious creatures, if one of them heard him, they could make things worse.

“And what?” Audrey said.

Enzo shrugged and leaned to whisper something in her ear.

“He can’t control his emotions yet.”

He did it out of respect to the student, not wanting anyone else to hear.

His muscles tightened. For a second there, the heat of her body grazed him, waking the animal inside. Shit. What happened? Why was he acting like this?

He put a hand in his pocket, trying to hide his rock hard erection.

He breathed out and quickly stepped back, the bear clawed inside, making the hair in his body bristle.

He coughed and continued.

“He’s found some outlets, mainly sports, but you know, football season is over.”

She fixed her dark brown eyes on him, a soft, warm idea, distant at first, began to sound louder and louder until he stopped it.

It had been years since he learned to block out other people’s private thoughts.

He couldn’t actually read people’s minds, but was able to feel their surface emotions, if they projected them hard enough.

And she was reaching out to him fiercely.

His bear let out a huge roar, wild and strong,

Then it dawned on him. It was a word. Something it had never said before. A single word.

Mate!

Enzo couldn’t stop a soft growl from escaping him, he was powerful, too, he still was in control.

Audrey didn’t realize what he was going through. On the outside, he kept his cool, just as he’d learned through the years.

She laughed nervously and patted him on the shoulder, “well, he did say he was sorry, maybe you could talk to him? You know how bullies are, I’m scared he’ll try to find the other kid when no other teacher is around.”

“No worries, I will.”

He couldn’t stop looking at her. Maybe it was because she genuinely worried about both, Jordan and the younger kid —he hadn’t met him yet.

Her attitude was refreshing.

Maybe it was the way she didn’t need to wear a lot of makeup, or how her wavy auburn hair just fell down to her shoulders naturally.

The bear roared again, and even though he tried to fight it, he didn’t find anything wrong with the beast calling her his mate. For some reason, it just seemed natural, even obvious.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she said, then looked behind him, “What are you up to?”

His heart beat fast. The animal inside wanted him to take her against the lockers and enter her. That’s how much she turned him on. But the wild instinct would not win. Not now, not ever.

He turned around and saw the pile of boxes he’d taken out of the small office.

“Moving.”

“What?” she yelled, then immediately covered her mouth with both hands, surprised at her reaction, “you’re leaving us?”

“Why, are you gonna to miss me?”

She snapped her head back, surprised.

“No, Miss Rodriguez,” he chuckled, “you sent a specific set of instructions before arriving here, one of them was to empty my office.”

“I did not!”

“Sure you did, I never received any info on where to go next so I gotta admit I took my time emptying the place.”

“What’s your office number? That one? 122-H?”

It wasn’t hard to guess. Piles of boxes gathered around the door.

He nodded, and realized they were alone in the hallway. Everyone was in class now.

A fire grew in his chest, the beast wanted out.

He had controlled it for years with no problems, liked to think of himself as a Zen master regarding him and the bear... but now, in just a few seconds, everything went out the window.

Audrey kept on tapping on her phone, tapping and sliding her fingers on the screen.

He took deep breaths, in a meditative way. Her skin, her hair, her lips, waist, legs, eyes... everything called at him.

“Here it is,” Audrey said turning to him, “the map they gave me shows 122-H as unused. Look, it says storage area.”

“Shit.”

“I thought we could make better use of it, that’s why I wanted it cleaned up, but I hear you’ve done a great job, you should stay there.”

He laughed.

“What?” she asked.

“Well, I needed to do a clean-up, I guess.”

She turned to see all of the boxes, bags of trash, plants and furniture he’d taken out of the room.

“Whoops,” she said, shrugging.

“No worries,” he was happy at the news, it was a typical bureaucracy mistake. He should have known something like this would happen, “I understand.”

“Sorry, I didn’t want to stir things up so much on my first day, much less with someone like you.”

Someone like me?

She blushed, realizing what she blurted out, “I mean... you know, you’re appreciated around here. Good at your job.”

“Oh,” he said with a mischievous grin, “so you’ve been asking around about me?”

“Oh, I—”

“Don’t worry, I know I’m popular,” he said with a laugh.

“Oh you wish! I asked Darcy about your work, that’s it.”

“What did she tell them?”

“Don’t worry. Good things only.”

He smirked, Darcy always gave him a bit of trouble but she always put the school first.

“Anyway, I’m setting up interviews with all my staff. You’ll tell me more later.”

Shit. Being alone with her was going to be difficult. He’d have to make sure he didn’t fuck things up. Change the subject, stop thinking about that.

“You did a great job stopping Jordan back there, what did you say to him?”

“Told him if I saw him bullying anyone again, he’d be forced to do some extra community work for his Ethics class.”

“And he listened?”

“He seemed to. Who wants extra work?”

“Oh, you’re good. Very good. The kid responds very well to authority figures; he doesn’t have one at home.”

“And you’re an authority figure?”

“Why, you want me to show you?”

He held up a gasp. God damn it Enzo, what are you doing? Just what the hell is up with you?

He moved to grab the hand truck again, the bear screamed bloody murder inside of him. Enzo turned away from her, trying to hide his rock hard erection.

Work was gonna be harder than ever now that she was there. Put that feeling down, you’re here to help, not to start with this shit.

He made a choice a while ago. He had to live with it.