--- Work: Activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result. ---

Monday morning was as busy as one could have expected. Kenneth and me had breakfast while talking about the day's schedule and then left for the laboratory that was inside a nearby campus.

I willed myself to ignore his presence while he tagged after me to the office, where I submitted some documents and received the last paperwork to finish the enrollment procedures.

When we reached the laboratory, it was already eleven. I was about to knock on the door when I realized I had no need for a shadow anymore. It goes without saying, going around with a personal bodyguard wasn't a good first impression. I turned to Kenneth and pulled my lips into a fake smile.

"Kenneth, I think it is best to part ways here and meet again when I finish." I saw his forehead creasing but I didn't give him a chance to reject my suggestion. "Anyways, only authorized people can enter the lab..."

He cocked his head and crossed his arms on his toned chest. I was about to internally celebrate the win when his lips curved into a smirk, letting me see a glimpse of his mischievous dimples. Before I could react, he stepped right next to me and knocked the door himself, staying in place and waiting for the door to open while ignoring my glare.

"Do not worry, he knows."

"What do you mean he..." The opening of the door distracted me from the gravitational pull I was feeling being so close to him. I turned and found a smiling, tall man from Indian ethnicity standing in front of us.

"Hello. Can I help you with anything?" His eyes were switching from Kenneth to me, curiosity swelling in his dark irises.

"Hello, and yes, please. I am Riley Turner." I stretched out my arm, offering my hand in a handshake he took with a renovated smile spreading through his copper skin. "I am supposed to start my internship today with Professor Kalita."

"Of course, I was waiting for you. I am Professor Shantanu Kalita, but please, call me Shanto. It is easier to pronounce." He released the shake and I found myself mirroring his smile, relaxed with his welcoming attitude. He then focused on Kenneth, offering his hand to him too. "You are Kenneth, I understand."

"Yes, Professor." He grabbed the man's hand and, by the slight flinch in his face, I assumed Kenneth had gripped harder than necessary. "We will be in your care."

"Same here." Professor Kalita let go of the handshake and gestured towards the end of the hall with his head. "I assume we will be seeing you here often. Just down the hall there is a small kitchen with a resting area that I am sure will be a nice place to kill some time later on, when the research gets busy."

"It's good to know, thank you." He then turned to me and leaned slightly over, forcing me to bend backwards to keep the distance. "I'll be back at five o'clock sharp. If you finish earlier, call me. Do not think even for a second you can go back home alone."

"Point taken, dad..." Rolling my eyes exaggeratedly, I put my palm on his chest and, ignoring the electric feeling spreading from my hands through my whole body, I pushed him away. "Have a nice day."

I was about to unglue my hand from his chest when he placed his on top of mine, locked my eyes with his brown irises. My legs trembled with his sudden touch, but I managed to tilt my head and raise an eyebrow, faking impatience to cover the nervousness.

"Please, Riley." Concern sat deep in his eyes and I nodded by impulse, too focused on keeping my heart beat as calm as possible.

I really needed to keep my hands to myself if I wanted to delay the moment where he put two and two together and realized I was drooling over him.

"I will." I mustered all of my willpower and retrieved my hand from under his, forcing the most natural smile I could summon. "Now go."

He took a deep breath, analyzing the probabilities of me trying to be off on my own, but soon he turned to the professor and voiced a quick goodbye, leaving after.

"OK, now that that all is signed, sealed and delivered..." I looked at the relatively young man that was talking to me and mirrored his excited grin. "Let me show you around the lab. The two other interns will return from their vacations by the end of the week." I followed him inside and looked around in awe as he continued to talk. "They're humans, but I am confident you'll get along just fine."

"Oh..." I looked at him surprised and he laughed lightheartedly. I knew I was already exposed, not being able to recognize his nature by the smell, so I decided to go ahead and ask. "And you are...?"

"I'm a weretiger, wolfie." He winked at me and I couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

Weretigers were very rare creatures, difficult to come across. Their solitary nature made them scarce, especially after it became so easy to travel. Many of them left their original lands in Asia and east Russia looking for new territories, making it even more difficult for them to procreate. There was a time when they were even thought to be extinct. Luckily, the new technologies had played in their favor and, combining them to the traditional matchmaking system, they had managed to keep a healthier population ratio. Still, they were little in number compared to other were creatures.

It blew my mind the very tiny probability of me encountering one of them first thing after entering human territories, but there he was, alive and kicking.

He gave me a couple of seconds to digest the news and then started to pace around the room with me on his tail. Having concluded the topic at least temporarily, he went on with the first explanations about the functioning of the laboratory and the research they were engaged with. When we finished the round on the basic facilities I was going to be using, he brought me to my own working desk.

"So, what's your first impression?" He leaned on the edge of the desk and waited for my answer while I took another look around, overwhelmed with the reality I was living.

"I think I will love it here."

And I sincerely thought so. This was all I needed to boost my research and get my wolf back.

"Excellent!" He stood up clapping his hands and waved me to follow him. "Time for lunch!"

Kenneth was true to his word and, at exactly five o'clock, there was a knock on the door that interrupted my reading. I stood up and took my backpack and cardigan, heading to the door as hurriedly as my swollen ankle allowed me to.

After lunch, we had gone on a campus tour before coming back to the lab, where Professor Kalita helped me fill in most of the documents I had received and had to hand in within the week. Even after one hour of sitting, the palpitating joint hadn't but grown bigger and an incipient headache was reminding me to have medicines the moment I arrived home.

"You should take it easy this week, Riley. Come back again on Thursday and make sure that ankle is doing better by then." Professor Kalita strode to the door and opened it for me.

"I will, Professor Shanto. Thanks for everything." He waved his hand, dismissing the topic and turned to Kenneth, giving him a handshake for the second time in the day. I had managed to feed him the same cover story about my self-experimenting during our talk, so I didn't have to worry about further suspicions, at least for the moment. I sighed in relief and focused on the tall, ash blonde young man that was looking at my ankle with a scowl. "Let's go Kenneth."

The ride back home was silent, as I busied myself with going over the day events. The amount of new information distracted me from ogling the toned triceps that were showing under Kenneth's short sleeved t-shirt and I was glad about it. I needed to turn a new leaf and I was decided on cutting short my lusting after him before all of my long buried feelings came back to eat my brain the same way zombies would.

When we arrived to the building, I let him lead the way to the elevator and into the apartment while I kept brooding over the next steps to follow. I walked to my room and left the backpack, heading immediately to the kitchen to have some painkillers. Kenneth followed me and leaned against the door frame, studying me silently. When I finished drinking the medicine, he cleared his throat.

"You should have it checked..."

"Nah, it's fine." I brushed his suggestion off, not wanting more people notice I was not healing like a werewolf should. "It will get better eventually..."

"For Goddess sake!" Kenneth rushed next to me and grabbed me by the waist, throwing me over his shoulder and hauling me to the living room.

"Let me down immediately, Kenneth!" I punched his back and tried to toss my legs around, but he grabbed them with his free hand, while the other kept me in place over his shoulder. "I tell you to leave me alone! I know how to take care of myself!"

"You obviously don't!" His roaring voice vibrated in his chest and made my heart skip a bit. Kenneth was no longer the obedient and submissive childhood friend I knew and, much to my dismay, this version was infinitely more attractive. He put be down on the sofa and placed his hands on my shoulders, locking his chocolate eyes with mine. "Your ankle is not going to get well if you keep moving like that, you don't have your werewolf powers back yet." I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply in an attempt to calm my beating heart, only to catch a big breath of his familiar scent. "I will give you a massage and then you will lay down and rest once and for all! Stay put for a moment, I will bring the gel and new bandages."

"No need for a massage, I will do fine just resting for a while..." I panicked at the idea of him touching me, so I tried to stand up the moment he took a step towards the bathroom, but he turned right back at me with a pissed face.

"Riley, do you not understand my words? Should I tell you in Spanish?" He arched his eyebrows, waiting for me to sit back down, but I couldn't help myself and crossed my arms in defiance.

"Like you can..." I deadpanned, tilting my head.

I could hear a very low growl before he grabbed me and pushed me down, making me lay on the sofa with him hovering over me, his hands at both sides of my head. I felt a shiver go up my spine and my breath caught in my throat when he leaned in slowly, leaving our faces inches away.

"He dicho que te estés quieta." His words were a soft whispered threat that left me unable to blurt a single sound, having no option but simply nodding with my head. "Good."

He stood up and left me alone in the living room, still recovering from the shock of having him so close to me and hearing him talk Spanish, which I just discovered was a total turn on. My heart was about to burst out of my chest and I was sure the heat I was feeling in my cheeks was decorating my face with a noticeable blush.

This was not working. I needed to calm down if he was going to come back and massage my ankle. Hopefully it hurt enough to distract me from the feelings he was stirring in me.

I somewhat managed to return to a more normal and calm state by the time his figure entered the living room with the medical kit in his hand. Nonetheless, I needed to distract myself and him from the attraction I felt every time he got close to me.

I pushed myself up and rested on my elbows, earning a warning look from him in return. I rolled my eyes and lifted my injured leg as high as I could.

"I'm a fan of the French one." I ignored the pain and wiggled my toes as fast as I could. He chuckled and grabbed my leg from the calf.

"Haven't we sassed up in the past years?" I shrug my shoulders and folded my other leg at his sign, leaving a space for him to seat on the sofa.

With no other words, he proceeded to remove carefully the bandage I had and started massaging my ankle while asking about the pain levels. Though it hurt at some points, it was evident he knew what he was doing. When he finished the massage, I felt my foot much less bloated and it was obvious blood was circulating a bit better in the area.

"Looks like I am not the only one who leveled up." Now that the massage had finished, he was bandaging the ankle again, with delicate but confident movements. I shivered a couple of times when his fingers caressed my skin while doing it, but I concealed it the best I could.

"Well, I did get a Physiotherapy degree since last time we saw each other." I looked at him in awe. He did go to college! I smiled and, before I could stop myself, I was patting him in the back, unable to contain the pride and happiness that had taken over me with the news.

"Way to go! You really did it!" He gave me a breathtaking half smile before focusing back on the bandage and giving the final touch.

"Well..." He tapped the bandage and I realized I my hand was still resting on his shoulder. I removed it quickly and folded my leg, terminating every contact we were having. His gaze traveled slowly to meet my eyes and I felt my throat suddenly parch. "I had someone to look up to."

"It is good to hear you are doing your best in the path you chose." I gulped down nervously and averted my eyes, searching for a way out before he noticed how much I wanted to be touched again by those hands. "I will go and make a sandwich, do you want one?"

Before I could move, he was already on his feet heading towards the kitchen.

"I told you to rest for a while. Is ham and cheese OK?" He didn't turn nor stop on his way, giving me just enough time to answer affirmatively before he disappeared behind the kitchen door.

The image of his back was burnt into my retinas, heat creeping from the spot where his hands had touched. I felt stupid. I was just exactly like those girls in high school, going off the deep end just because of a couple of well-developed muscles and a charming smile decorated with playful dimples.

Kenneth was my bodyguard and I was behaving like a hormonal teenager. I just needed to find another good looking werewolf to drool over and everything would be fine.

I nodded at the thought, satisfied with my conclusion and laid back down, praying for the next two days to pass by quickly.

A/N 

Unbelievable! An update within a week! Am I back to the usual pace? *Crowds cheering*
Yep, while I am alternating the days I work at the office and at home, I will have more time to continue writing. Not to say, I am pretty inspired with the rekindled relationship between these two... Hehehe! 

Thanks for passing by again, I am over the moon every time you like the story enough to hit the ★ or comment while reading it. It keeps me going to keep trying and improving
｡+ﾟ.。+。('ω｀*)♪♪

Stay home and wash your hands every time you can!

Love, Koe (⺣◡⺣)♡*