He asked, furrowing his brows together. “You can’t be here without one.”
“I just stopped by to grab some things I left behind. Then decided to make a pit stop here,”
I answered. “I won’t be here long.”
“Even still—”
“What pack do you come from, professor?”
I asked, cutting off his words.
“Excuse me?”
He asked, his eyes squinting in confusion. “I’m not sure why that’s relevant.”
“I don’t recognize any of the symbols shown on your tattoos,”
I explained. “Are you from around here?”
“My tattoos don’t represent my pack,”
he answered, folding his arms across his chest. “I’m sorry, Alpha. But where I come from isn’t your concern.”
“How much experience do you have in combat?”
I found myself asking, narrowing my eyes at him.
He pressed his already thinned lips together.
“Why do I get the feeling you are giving me the third degree?”
He asked,
“I want to make sure these students are getting the best training they can,”
I answered.
“You lost the right to know about these students and their education the minute you quit being a professor,”
he said, shaking his head.
“I quit because my pack needed me, not because I stopped caring,”
I said in return.
“To the students, it’s all the same.”
“They are smarter than that,”
I said in return. “You should give them a little more credit than that.”
“I won’t tell you again, Alpha. Without a pass, you don’t have any right to be here.”
“You don’t smell like an Alpha, but you reek of someone with authority. Not a beta… perhaps a gamma?”
I asked in a low and threatening tone. “Who’s your Alpha?”
“With all due respect, Alpha. I don’t answer to you. Therefore, I don’t need to answer any of your questions.”
“What’s going on in here?”
I heard the familiar voice of headmaster Tiffany Prescott behind me.
Enzo’s POV
“Alpha Enzo? What are you doing here?”
Tiffany asked as she stepped toward us.
“Good after, Headmaster Prescott,”
I greeted, giving her my best smile. “Sorry for the intrusion. One of your students is holding a bake sale on campus and a few of my wolves are helping her. She used my best cook, Deanna, and I allowed her to recruit some of my warriors as well. Considering they are here, I figured I should be as well.”
“Oh, yes. Lila’s bake sale. She’s a bright girl. I was just about to head there myself—”
“That doesn’t explain why you are in the arena,”
Xander said through his teeth, a flash of fury in his eyes.
“Yes. What are you doing in the arena, Alpha?”
Tiffany went on to ask.
I tried to keep the annoyance off my face.
“I thought I left something in here. I seemed to have misplaced a watch. But I guess I’ve been mistaken,”
I answered calmly.
“There’s no watch here,”
Xander hissed.
“I see that now,”
I said, not looking at him. “My mistake.”
“How about we head to the bake sale together? I’ve been meaning to reach out to speak with you anyway, Alpha,”
Tiffany said with a kind smile as she turned away from us.
She began walking towards the doorway and I didn’t hesitate to follow her, leaving Xander staring after us soaking in his anger.
Once we were in the halls, we continued walking, but Tiffany slowed down her steps.
“I was sad to see you go so suddenly, Alpha,”
she said, peering at me briefly. “When I heard you were quitting, I was hoping you’d change your mind.”
“There was pack business I needed to attend to. They need me more than the school does,”
I explained, which wasn’t a lie.
“I understand that. You are busy. But the students really loved you,”
she said, and I heard a hint of sadness in her tone. “We replaced you quickly, but the students are having difficulties adjusting. As their new headmaster, I want to make them happy and make sure they have the best education they can get.”
“Congratulations on the promotion by the way; you deserve it,”
I said to her, ignoring her words.
I truly meant that.
She beamed at the compliment. Tiffany has been a part of the board for a long time and is always in the shadow of the leader. I always saw the potential in her to rise to the top and I’m glad it worked out in her favor.
“Thank you,”
she said with a bright smile.
“Is that what you wanted to speak to me about?”
I asked, glancing at her. “To tell me the students miss me?”
“I wanted to convince you to come back,”
she admitted.
“I’m sorry. But I can’t,”
I sighed. “My Alpha duties will always come first to me.”
She was quiet for a moment, but then she nodded.
“My father is an Alpha,”
she breathed, which oddly surprised me. We never spoke about personal matters before, and I don’t know anything about her home life. I didn’t know her father was an Alpha.
“Is that so?”