~Tanner~

I didn't want to let him go, but I knew he had a class soon... 'cause I was in it, too. It wasn't that I stalked him, but I knew he was an English professor and when I looked up classes online, his name came up as teaching almost every single one of them. When he moved to release me, I hesitantly let him go, stepping back just in case, so my hands would keep to themselves.

"I will try my best to keep myself in check," I said with a determined tone. I was going to keep speaking, but before I could continue, I had to sort out my human thoughts from my wolf's, not wanting to make a stupid comment and screw up the one chance I was being given.

"You...are the alpha for this territory...and I will not...challenge you...again."

Damn, that was harder than it should have been to get out of my mouth. At least it put a smile on his face, though. I quickly mirrored the smile before realizing something.

"Oh crap, my clothes are in my car and I'm soaked."

And class is in fifteen minutes.

"Here."

I had already turned to run out of the room but quickly skidded to a halt when he spoke. When I turned back around, he was holding up an outfit.

"I've got an extra set," he said with a smirk, no doubt grinning at my surprised expression.

"Oh... thanks."

I took the clothes and bit my lip to keep my focus away from the strong scent he left on the items. My wolf wanted to smell them, then roll all over them to get his scent on myself. Doubt he'd appreciate that, though, since wolf hair was beyond annoying to get off of clothing. The sound of Cole clearing his throat had me quickly darting into a stall to dry off with a towel the gym provided, then change. I had the clothing on a minute later, but when I found a tie folded up in the shirt, I had a feeling Cole would be digging through his bag any moment now to try to find it.

Surely enough, when I walked out of the stall, he was wearing a pair of tan slacks and a white shirt that was dangerously unbuttoned, digging through his duffle. His damp hair swayed in front of his forehead, making my stomach twist into all sorts of shapes. Before my wolf made me do something stupid, I walked over and knelt down beside Cole, then carefully looped the tie around his neck before trying to knot it. My fingers brushed against his hair on more than one occasion, making it hard for me to concentrate on the task, which I'd only just learned recently.

Hmmm, he let it get a little longer...

I hadn't realized my fingers were tugging at the ends of his hair until he stood up and swung his duffle bag over his shoulder.

"I need to get to class," he mumbled, looking just about anywhere besides at me.

Crap.

"A-Ah, me too. If I'm late, the teacher might make me eat broccoli," I joked, trying to lighten the suddenly awkward mood before hurrying out of the locker room.

~Cole~

Walking into class ten minutes later I noticed that my tie wasn't tied correctly and judging from the odd breeze I felt on my chest, I'd likely buttoned my shirt wrong. Darn it. Whispers started up quickly as I fiddled with the buttons, then quickly got my tie straightened out. Alright, now that that was done.

"Alright class, my name is Mr. Moon, and I'll be teaching your English Lit and Poetry II class. Since you've all tested into this class or have had previous ones as prerequisites, we will be jumping straight into assignments."

There was a chorus of groans, which had me smirking.

"What? You thought you signed up for Ms. Kale's level two copy-and-paste class? You may want to run now if you don't wanna put in the effort, because I can assure you, this class takes a good deal of it."

I actually saw a few people get up and leave after that, which made me chuckle under my breath before pulling out the textbook I required for the class.

"There will be homework assigned tonight, but since the book store is currently out of the textbook this class requires, I'll give you until next Monday to get it done. I don't accept late assignments without an amazing excuse."

There was another round of groans, but I ignored them and flipped open my book.

"If you don't have your book today, share with someone near you."

I waited a minute while several students got up and found someone to share with, but when I heard my desk chair being pulled out, I glanced sideways. Bah, sure enough, Tanner...

Everyone else has a partner... pleaseeee? I don't wanna be behind.

Darn puppy eyes. Those were supposed to go away once he'd grown up.

If you misbehave at all during this class, you're getting an F on your first assignment, I warned him through our thoughts.

I'll be good. I promise.

I rolled my eyes but decided to let it be. In fact, I had most of the stories and books memorized so I just slid it in front of him. There was a bunch of highlighted areas and marks I'd made, but it was still easily readable.

"Alright, we're reading the story on page fourteen aloud and then writing four paragraphs about it, and no, paragraphs are not three sentences. I want to see at least six solid sentences each about what other genre you think this story could be in, besides the one it is marked. Understand?"

There were some excited yeses but mostly just dull grumbles as everyone acknowledged the assignment.

"Okay, Tanner? You're reading first, I'll tell you when to stop."

I expected him to groan about being picked on and whatnot, but he only nodded and began reading the first few pages. While he began reading, my heart found itself swelling with pride at how well he was able to manage the story. I had to remind myself to let others read and after the third page quickly called on two more students to finish the story. Once it was complete, I told them to work quietly on their assignment. I let my eyes wander around the room to be sure everyone was working and occasionally checked on what Tanner was writing from where I stood, then when it looked like most of them were done, I gave the announcement for the homework.

"You are to read the story 'To Grow Up With A Wolf'', and have a one page summary of it when you come to class next Monday. I think I can let you guys go early today, though, so hand in your assignments to me, and then you may leave."

That at least got their energy up as I quickly got bombarded with papers. Tanner was one of the last students in the room as I gathered everything up in my duffle and headed for the door. When he didn't follow, I noticed a few of my other students talking to him about his music career and grinned.

"See you later, Tanner," I called out, though I wasn't really sure why I'd bothered to say that. Anyway! Time to get home and make some dinner for Orlando, Rowin, and Daise. I headed outside to my SUV in the parking lot and dropped into the driver's seat after tossing my bag in the back, only to get no response when I turned the key to start it.

"Oh come on," I groaned, smacking my head on the steering wheel after the third try to get the car to start just ended in silence. Of course it would be the first day of class that the battery died. I knew I hadn't left any lights on, and man. Now I needed to call Rowin to come pick me up, then a truck to tow. With a tired sigh, I shook my head and got my bag back out, then hopped up onto the hood to make the call.

~Tanner~

Woof. Wait, Cole. I knew my fans were important but Coleee! He'd obviously not heard my thoughts over the growing noise the people around me were making, which just made me want to get away from them faster.

"Sorry, guys, but I really need to go talk to the teacher about some stuff, I'll catch you all next class, okay?"

They all frowned and looked at each other, then back at me, pleading with their eyes and sweet words. There wasn't much I could do about it, though, so I shrugged as my wolf screamed in my head Go! Mine!

"W-Well, see you later..." I mumbled awkwardly before I hightailed it out of there in the hopes of getting to see Cole again before he left. Although, I was kinda going to his house right after this, so I had no idea why my wolf wanted me to rush more. When I saw him in the parking lot atop his SUV, I suddenly realized why my wolf was rushing as a strong wave of instincts suddenly slammed into my mind.

I wanna breed him so badly.

Err! His head snapped up when I mentally shouted to myself. Please don't have heard that, please don't have heard that. He seemed a bit surprised to see me, but as I began walking toward him, he thankfully didn't show any hostility in his eyes.

Thank god he didn't hear me.

Putting on a smile to try to hide my guilt, I stopped a few feet away from him and glanced at his car for a moment before looking back up to meet his eyes.

"Is something wrong with your car?"

"U-Uhm..." he stuttered incoherently as his eyes darted around the parking lot. The blush that suddenly bloomed on his cheeks made me want to lick his nose.

"I can jump it if you want," I offered, since he wasn't exactly talking very well.

"I don't think it's that..." he said as he looked down at his pants.

"We can try anyway. Might be it, right?" I tried, not wanting to be useless to him. He shifted nervously on the hood but flipped his phone shut, which I hadn't noticed was even in his hand, and slid off the hood. I reached out automatically, catching him by the waist before I realized I had done it.

"S-Sorry."

I quickly set him down on his feet and told him to wait while I ran to get my car. It only took me a minute to get myself close enough to hook up my jumper cables. Glad I bought an extra-long pair.

Cole sauntered around to my car, chewing his lip with his eyes on the ground... Wait a second.

"Do you know how to do this?" I asked, staring at him in surprise. His face lit up with another adorable blush, and he quickly looked away. Heck, he even scuffed his foot a little on the asphalt.

I swear if I wouldn't get knocked on my ass for it, I'd be on him right now.

"No..."

Okay, I had to laugh at that. He was the alpha and didn't know how to even jump a car. Not that I knew a whole lot about being alpha besides aggression and keeping others in line, but still. With a cocky grin, I grabbed his hand and gently tugged him closer so he could watch.

"Here, I'll show you."

The next fifteen minutes consisted of me trying to show him how to hook up the jumpers while he, for some reason, climbed halfway into the engine area. Then he proceeded to slip, and I had to catch him again, which I'll never complain about, but by the time we were finally done and his car was running again, we were both covered in oil and sweat. This wasn't supposed to be a dirty job...

"You've got oil in your hair and on your...everything," I noted, grinning at Cole. He scoffed at me and smiled. Man, that smile...it was the best thing ever.

"You're not looking too good yourself," he retorted, making me stutter.

"Th-That's because you wanted to climb on everything for no reason."

He took a step forward with his hands on his hips. I knew it was supposed to make him look more dominant as he'd failed to win the argument, but it just made me wanna toss him on the hood of his car and do things that might cause him to lose his job...or at least get me kicked out of school.

"...'anner..."

"...nner!"

Tanner stop!

Blinking, I leaned back slightly. Or, well, pushed myself up a little. Wait...shit! Cole was panting beneath me, his lower lip bleeding a little from where I had bitten him while we kissed. Well, he definitely didn't kiss me back, but damn had I kissed him.

Get...off.

No...

Tanner. We need to get home.

My wolf didn't want to go home, he wanted to do things right then.

Tanner! They have cameras in the parking lot. I can't help you if you take this any further.

Shit! Ryder would kill me if I got into trouble. He was back in California writing songs for our next tour, and it had taken forever to get him to allow me to come all the way here and enroll in school. With a quick shake of my head to dislodge any further unhealthy intentions, I carefully got up and hopped off the hood of Cole's car. He quickly followed, looking none too happy.

"I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to do that," I whispered worriedly. He looked like he was fighting with himself as he silently walked into the forest at the edge of the parking lot. I hesitantly followed, only to be slammed against a tree, then down to the ground in a blur. Cole was on top of me in an instant, his face extremely close to changing as he snarled at me.

"This is your last chance. Submit. Now."

Holy crap! He was talking, but it was being shouted through my mind at the same time. My wolf wanted to struggle against the order, but I wasn't that stupid. Without a second's hesitation, I tilted my head back and bared my throat, wincing when his sharp canines sank into my shoulder. It was a warning bite. If it wasn't, I would be dead.

The tense situation was over after only a moment. Cole got up and walked away, giving me his back. It was normally a fatal move, but my wolf was done fighting for the day. There was nothing that would make him want to retaliate after we submitted, even if it was mainly my decision. Cole and I both silently went back to our cars and drove off. I stopped to get some dinner and rinse off my injury before finding my way back to his house. Now I was standing on the doorstep... wondering if Cole would even let me back into his life again. All I'd probably end up with in this pathetic, messed up relationship was a set of clothing that smelled like the mate I dreamed of having.