Alpha Principal Read online

  “Well, I believe that’s the end of my questions for you. Do you have any questions of your own? Comments, concerns?”

  “Well, Principal Pepper…”

  “Call me Nate, Simon.”

  Simon flashed him an odd look.

  Maybe I came on a bit too strong just now.

  He hadn’t even planned to do that. The words just came out on their own. There was certainly a desire inside him to be on more familiar terms with this other wolf, that was for sure. Still, he should have been more careful.

  “All right, then. Nate. I think I do have a question.”

  That was rare. Most people at the end of an interview never used this opportunity when it was given to them. Another point in Simon’s favor.

  “Fire away.”

  Simon flashed a handsome smile, causing a dimple to form on one cheek. Nathan’s heart melted a little. He was a sucker for dimples.

  “How come no one told me you were a wolf?”

  Ah, here it is.

  Interesting and admirable, that the omega had waited so long to bring this topic to light. Others in his place would have swapped around those priorities.

  “I could ask the same thing about you, Simon. There’s really no way of knowing however, is there?”

  Simon nodded in response. “Correct, although I would have assumed that I would have heard about this somehow. Do you have other shifters in the school?”

  “More in the past. Some of the students are shifters, but on the staff it’s only myself and the guidance counselor. Why do you think you should have heard about me?”

  “Word travels,” Simon said. He made a noncommittal gesture, a wave of the hand that seemed to swat the issue away. As someone who hated shrugging, Nathan found he preferred this as an alternative. It was less abrupt, less rude. In fact, Simon made it seem almost graceful. “I was at the high school, where there are other shifters. We’re everywhere, a network of us. I assumed I had heard about everyone in the immediate area, but you avoided detection, Nathan.”

  “I have to,” Nathan replied, a little gruffly. “I lead a bunch of humans. If anyone of them suspected that there was anything remotely off about me, I might lose some of their trust that I’ve worked so hard to gain.”

  “Is that why you wear non prescription glasses?”

  Nathan paused. He had long since learned to hold back on his initial reactions to surprises, controlling his reflexes so wayward students wouldn’t know if they caught him off-guard. It was useful for all sorts of situations, giving him just enough time to formulate an perfect response to anything that might be thrown his way. This had, over the years, given others an impression of him as a cautious and intelligent man who always said the right things in the right situation; he knew this because of his superior hearing, and because anyone who worked with children knew that eavesdropping was the best way to discover if someone was up to something. If anything was said about him, he heard it.

  However, this time was different. He had been through so many situations by now that the pause was merely habit, not a necessity. But this time, he had really, truly been taken aback.

  “What makes you think I wear non prescription glasses?”

  I do, but what makes you think that?

  “You look at me when you think I’m not looking, and you do it from the corner of your eye where the glasses don’t cover you. We’re wolves. Our vision doesn’t fade unless we’re injured, sick, or old. You aren’t any of those, which means that you can look at me from under the glasses perfectly well.”

  Nathan thought this over for another long moment, mulling over the idea in his mind. Absolutely everything Simon had just said was true. His vision was fine. In fact, it was better than ever these days.

  “Have you noticed anything else interesting during our conversation?” Nathan asked, a little cautiously.

  Simon flashed another of those handsome smiles, turned adorably crooked by his dimple on the one side. “Aside from the fact that you only shuffled your papers just so I would have to wait?”

  “Has anyone told you that you are very, very observant, Simon?”

  “Actually, yes.” Simon nodded. “On multiple occasions.”

  I have lost track of how many points you’ve earned in your favor in this conversation. I think unless my next candidate can teach the kids to fly, you’ve got the job.

  “Well, this has been enlightening. Anything else you would like to say?”

  “A question, actually.”

  Nathan nodded and gestured for Simon to continue. This was the point when other teachers were normally asking about vacation time and paid leave and so on, but he had an idea that none of that was on Simon’s mind. Simon was used to all of that, would know the drill.

  Nathan had no idea what to expect from this.

  Simon gestured to one photograph in particular on top of Nathan’s desk. “Is this your family?”

  Nathan followed Simon’s gaze to the photograph, though he didn’t really need to look to know which picture was being referred to. There was only one which depicted what could possibly be a family.

  It was a portrait of a man and a woman, holding a toddler between them.

  “Yes,” Nathan said. “That’s my mother and my father. And me.”

  Simon made a soft sound of contemplation. “Your father is very handsome. He looks quite a lot like you.”

  If he was speaking to a friend, Nathan would have jumped on this as an opportunity to tease them, asking if that meant they thought he was handsome. However, Nathan had no close friends and this was a professional situation. He swallowed back the words and just said, “Thank you. I’m sure he would have appreciated that.”

  “Oh.” Simon bowed his head a little, sitting back slightly. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  “That’s fine. No harm done. Anything else you would like to ask?”

  Simon shook his head, which he still kept bowed. His posture indicated that he felt embarrassed over his slight slip-up. “I think that does it for me.”

  “Then, I believe we’re done here. I have a few more candidates to speak with over the next few weeks, so you will be getting a phone call around that time with my decision. If I hire you, we will go from there.” Nathan started to stand, and Simon followed his lead.

  “I look forward to hearing from you,” Simon said.

  “I look forward to contacting you.” Nathan smiled at the omega, trying to catch his eye to let him know his earlier mistake was all water under the bridge. Simon didn’t seem to notice, however. “Just between you and me, I believe your chances are very high.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. Thank you for giving me your consideration.” Simon held out his hand for a final handshake.

  Nathan reached out and grasped the other man’s hand very firmly. He didn’t let go of it right away, couldn’t bring himself do that. He felt the heat of Simon’s skin, the flutter of his heartbeat that matched the rapid pulse quivering at the hollow of his throat. His heartbeat seemed like it was going a little bit fast. Probably nervousness.

  Perhaps something else.

  Perhaps an echo of the stirrings inside Nathan himself.

  He could feel the difference in the texture of Simon’s smooth skin, and the taut scar tissue on the webbing between his thumb. Something about the intensity of the sensations, the sharpness of such small things, was making his own heart beat faster, too.

  Aware the moment had gone on too long, Nathan released Simon’s hand.

  Simon hesitated, still keeping his hand in Nathan’s for a second before pulling away. He rubbed his hand as if it was painful, or had fallen asleep and was tingling.

  “I’ll see myself out,” Simon said. He opened the office door of his own volition, which was a breach of interview code, though Nathan didn’t really mind at this point. Things had taken an odd turn, and it was about time to put that to an end.

  “Feel free to grab some coffee on your way out. And stop by Elaine. She always has
cookies for anyone who asks nicely.”

  Simon gave another of those heart-melting smiles, then slid out through the doorway. Nathan watched him for a moment and then shut the door. Faint conversation reached his ears as Simon spoke to Elaine, but he didn’t focus in on it.

  Sitting back down at the desk, Nathan sighed and put his head in his hands. Meetings were never easy but he hadn’t had one as rough as that in a long while. He felt like he did at the end of the day, instead of how he usually did just before lunch.

  His heart settled down into a regular rhythm and the warm stirrings inside him faded so rapidly he had to wonder if he had just been imagining all of it.

  After about five minutes, the intercom light on his office phone started blinking. Nathan reached out and held down the button. “Hi, Elaine.”

  “Hi, Nathan!” Elaine said, cheerfully. For a woman of 50 years old, she looked and acted like someone much younger. Her energy was astounding. “Your next appointment is here. That would be Mrs. Smithers.”

  “Go ahead and send her in,” Nathan said. He expected this to be an easy conversation. He’d already gathered all the information he could about the upcoming subject of their discussion. Mrs. Smithers’ daughter had been declining in health for several years. While she was finally on the mend, she would need to be accompanied by a service dog. Mrs. Smithers’ wanted him to be aware of what all of this would mean, and how to ensure that the service dog was able to do its job properly.

  Nathan hadn’t ever directly encountered this situation before but he had heard others’ experiences of it and knew approximately what to expect. He planned to listen to her concerns and then reassure her everything would be done to accommodate her daughter’s needs. His only concern was that the dog might react negatively to shifters, but that would remain to be seen.

  He heard footsteps approaching from down the short hallway which connected the main office to his own and straightened up. No matter what had just happened, he had to carry on as if everything was normal.

  For the most part, the day was indeed normal. Appointments came and went. Nathan had lunch, encountered a custodian in the halls who had discovered mouse holes in the boy’s bathroom, filed paperwork, and made estimates for the budget of the upcoming year. It was tedious, tiring work that left his back aching, his sharp eyes sore, and his mind weary.

  But not everything was normal. His thoughts kept inevitably returning to Simon.

  2

  Simon followed along behind his mother as she trundled through the aisles of a craft store. He held two brimming baskets, one in each hand, to which his mother periodically added another item. Crafts were her favorite things in the entire world and always had been. He had many fond childhood memories involving her, where the two of them would make every single holiday decoration from scratch.

  Ever since she retired, she had gone back to crafting with fervor. She claimed she did it so often these days so that Simon’s father would be quiet and leave her alone. Simon knew this wasn’t the case. In fact, he had walked up to their door on many occasions, walked in, and found them coloring on each other with markers, or taping random things to each other. His parents’ love was one which most people wouldn’t believe existed until they saw it with their own eyes.

  Today, his father was off with some of his buddies. Simon volunteered to drive his mother to the craft store in his stead, since she could no longer drive without someone else in the vehicle with her. This was due to the fact that she had gone mostly blind in one eye and had a special license.

  The two of them were going to make a day of it. Shopping, lunch, and coffee. The whole deal. They had days like this often. He loved his parents and was the only one of his siblings who had stayed in the area. They loved him back and loved spending time with him.

  But, right now, Simon wasn’t so much spending time with his mother as he was being a loyal pack mule.

  “These are getting heavy, Mom.”

  “Hard as diamond. Strong as diamond. You can take it, baby.”

  Great. The family motto.

  Simon groaned and rolled his eyes, which earned him a swat over the top of the head with a pack of multi-colored construction paper. He stuck his tongue out at his mother, a gesture she returned, and then their shopping resumed.

  Tamara Diamond was a strong-willed omega wolf, from whom Simon suspected he inherited most of his own personality. In complete contrast, his father, Owen, was a soft-spoken alpha with a quiet sort of strength about him. A person couldn’t ask for better parents.

  As a bonus, they were both supportive of his lifestyle. Wolf shifters had a tendency to be gay or bisexual, more than humans were—or they were simply more open about their preferences. However, there could still be homophobia here and there.

  But not in his family. The fact Simon preferred men was no problem.

  The fact that he was muscular and physically powerful for an omega, now that was a problem. A conundrum. He didn’t blame them for having their own preferences and ideals. Other wolves tended to treat him in the same manner, as if he didn’t fit into the role that they thought he should.

  Nathanial Pepper hadn’t acted like that.

  Tamara moved from this aisle to the next, where she inspected beads and various lengths of colored cord. Simon let his gaze roam idly over the bright displays while his thoughts returned once again to the handsome principal.

  Simon knew a few principals in his time, and he had a mental image of what those people typically looked like. Nathan threw all that out of the window. He looked very much like a football linebacker, with an imposing figure almost entirely composed of broad shoulders and thick chest. His arms bulged with muscles, straining at the material of his suit, and his thighs looked like they were about to split his pants open at the seam.

  Even his facial features were fierce, square and jarringly handsome. He had a chin so strong it could have cracked bricks and a straight, perfect nose. His eyes shone clear amber behind the lenses of those wide glasses he wore. His hair was so perfect that not a single strand had moved throughout their entire conversation, chocolate-brown flecked with gray and white. One of his eyebrows was almost entirely white, giving him a quizzical, studious look, as if the entire world was a puzzle for him to solve.

  Simon had no idea what piece he might be in that puzzle, but he suspected he didn’t belong on the border. He would be somewhere in the middle, a color and shape so similar to all the others that he might as well not matter.

  But when he looked at me like that, I didn’t feel insignificant at all.

  “Simon! Are you paying attention?”

  Simon snapped out of his thoughts to realize he was still standing in the bead aisle. Meanwhile, his mother was peering at him from around the corner. She must have wandered quite a ways away before noticing he was no longer with her.

  I guess getting lost in our thoughts is something else we have in common.

  “I was just admiring these beads,” he said, randomly touching a pack which contained footballs and soccer balls.

  Tamara rolled her eyes at him, not quite unkindly. “Well, put it in the basket and get your ass over here. I need you to carry this for me.”

  “This” turned out to be a lap desk.

  “Mom, you already have one of these.”

  “But that was when they first started selling them,” Tamara said. “And they were all aimed at children.”

  “I thought you loved how pink it was.”

  Tamara scowled at him, and he smiled at her in response. Her expression faded, and she just shook her head. “It was cute but it’s about served its purpose for me. I figure I’ll give it to your father.”

  “So, he keeps putting his chips in your compartments, huh?”

  “The bastard never learns his lesson,” Tamara said, very fondly. As she thought of Owen, Simon was able to watch her features soften. Some of her wrinkles eased and her eyes glittered, transforming her momentarily from a 65-year-old with four kids, to a 2
0-something doting on her first love.

  Simon looked at the box on the shelf his mother wanted him to carry, in addition to the overflowing baskets he had already been burdened with. It was about three feet by three feet, with a width half that. The image on the front displayed a rather professional-looking lap desk that could be adjusted in height and length. There were many compartments on either side for crafting materials. The list of features also mentioned that there was a hidden cup holder that could flip out from one of the sides.

  “You know Dad is just going to use the cupholder, don’t you?”

  “Not if I make sure to have something in there already,” Tamara said. “Quit stalling. I want this one. Put those muscles of yours to use and carry it for me, won’t you?”

  “How much further do you want me to lug this stuff around?” Simon eyed the box, then shifted one of the baskets over to his other arm. The weight was almost painful, but he figured he could deal with it if it was only for a short time.

  “Oh, I think I’ll be good after this. It should be enough to last me a few days.”

  She wasn’t kidding, either.

  “Great. So let me just…”

  Simon used his free arm to clamp the box against his side, under his armpit, and hefted it up. He could just barely manage to get his fingers under the bottom edge of the box, though doing so made the edges push uncomfortably against his ribs and arm. “Let’s go,” he managed. “Don’t go too slow, or I’ll just drop everything.”

  They made their way together up to the front register and joined the line. Their timing was impeccable, as there was currently no one else standing in front of them. One of the cashiers was just finishing up with her customer and waved for them to start heading on over.

  Simon staggered over to the register and set the baskets down on top of the counter with a huff. Then, he gripped the box in both hands and turned it until he could find the barcode, holding it out in the direction of the cashier.