Protected Promise by Julie Trettel
Kaitlyn
Chapter 13
“Shit! Kaitlyn, stop him before I give him full allegiance,” Holden cried out as he fell to one knee on the table.
“Give her clothes back. I warned you he was a mating Alpha, you idiots,” Marie yelled at them.
Holden threw my clothes at me, and I quickly redressed. It seemed to calm Landon’s wolf down a little. At least I didn’t think we were in any pending plans to expand our Pack right there by the lake.
I ruffled his fur on his large head still in awe of how massive my mate was. My touch seemed to calm him.
“He’s huge,” Hudson whispered.
“That’s Landon’s wolf?” Marie asked and I nodded as I continued to stroke his fur to soothe him. “I mean he’s big and a little intimidating in his skin, but I’ve never seen a wolf that big before.”
Intimidating? Landon? I didn’t see it. Sure, he was big in stature even in his skin, but scary? I shrugged. Maybe it was a mating thing keeping me from seeing that. It was clear the guys were terrified of him in wolf form.
He shifted back to his skin and Holden immediately covered his mate’s eyes.
“Damn, you’re just huge everywhere, huh?”
“Holden!” I chastised.
“Sorry. It’s uh, hard not to notice.”
“It wouldn’t be if you weren’t blinding me here,” Marie protested.
I laughed.
“Wait, did she laugh at that?” she asked as she pushed her mate aside and then gasped. “You bonded already?”
“When?” Holden asked. “I thought you just met him.”
My cheeks burned.
Hudson rolled his eyes. “They were drinking a lot last night. Wouldn’t be the first drunken bonding.”
Marie smacked him.
“What? I’m serious. At least they’re true mates. They would have gotten around to it eventually.”
I nodded. “Yeah, you’re right about that.”
“So Hudson’s right?” Holden laughed. “You drunk bonded last night? Oh man, I can’t wait to get back and tell Damon. He’s going to lose his shit.”
Landon finished dressing and rolled to his full height as he took a step towards them, but I moved to stop him.
“Damon isn’t going to intervene,” I assured him.
“She’s right,” Marie agreed. “Damon respects the true mate bond too much.”
“Are you happy about it?” Hudson asked as he cut his eyes up towards Landon.
I smiled up at him. “I am, actually.” I hugged his arm and felt his aggression wane.
Holden smiled and nodded. “Congrats, Kaitlyn. I’m really happy for you.”
“Mating looks good on you.”
I looked past Marie and the twins.
“Kian?”
He stepped out of the shadows and grinned.
I left Landon’s side and ran towards my friend throwing my arms around his neck as he twirled me in the air just as I knew he would.
“I wasn’t sure I was going to get to see you again. When are you heading home?”
“Not until Tuesday. Dad’s plans changed and he had to stay home, which is absolutely fine by me. Bought myself a few extra days before the insanity begins.”
I knew life back home wasn’t always the easiest on him. There was a lot of expectations placed on a Panther Prince.
“Well, if you ever need a place to lie low, I just might know one.”
Kian took a step back from me and I grinned as Landon placed a possessive hand on my lower back and it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
“It’s Kian, right?” he said, offering my friend his hand.
Kian nodded. “And you are Landon, Alpha of a small Canadian Pack in British Columbia. Tobi filled us all in. Hey, that makes you a Pack Mother now, right?”
I sighed. I was terrified of screwing up that title more than anything.
“She is,” Landon said proudly.
Kian grinned. “A true Queen.” He bowed before me, and I shoved him.
“Cut it out.”
He laughed. “That was an honor, Kait. From one royal to another.”
I knew he was being genuine, but it was embarrassing to think about it and the others were all watching and whispering around us.
“Royal?” Landon asked.
“Kian is a Panther Prince. He will one day take his father’s place as King, much like you assumed your father’s pack position as Alpha,” I explained.
“A panther? You’re a cat?”
Kian bellowed out a laugh. “I am.”
“I mean I know there’s a variety of shifter types here at the ARC, but your best friend is a cat?”
I laughed too. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Marie and the Guffey twins walked over.
“We’re heading out. We have a flight to catch tonight,” Marie said. “You take care of this girl,” she told Landon as I hugged her.
“Yeah, she’s kind of special to us all,” Holden admitted.
“Only she-wolf in the doghouse. We’re going to miss you, Kaitlyn.”
I hugged Hudson. “I’m going to miss all of you too,” I assured him.
“You better keep in touch, girl. You hear me?” Kian said, pulling me back to him for one last hug.
“Promise.”
“You guys are always welcome to come up to Canada and visit as well,” Landon surprised me by saying.
“Even a cat?” Kian asked pushing his luck.
Landon smiled down at me warmly and looked to Kian. “Especially a cat.”
They shook hands as we headed off in different directions. They walked back to the doghouse, while Landon and I headed towards campus. I hadn’t missed his stomach growling and knew we’d never gotten to eat our food before the big bomb had been dropped on me.
“Wait, my note,” I started to turn back, but he stopped me when he pulled it from his pocket.
“I knew you’d want it even if you aren’t ready to open it.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him. “Thank you.”
If this was how he planned on treating his mate, then I could certainly get on board with it. A very small part of me was still skeptical and waiting for the bad to surface, but it was hard to worry about it past the honeymoon phase of bonding and the powerful pull and calm mating brought.
I should have been anxious with his closeness, but I wasn’t. I craved it and it was a little unsettling how much I liked it.
We held hands as we walked back to campus through the woods. I knew the path and could have done it with my eyes closed. We came out just behind the café.
“Food?” he asked, sniffing the air.
I rolled my eyes. “Did you really think I missed the loud obnoxious grumbling of your stomach?”
He laughed easily at my teasing, but then leaned down and whispered in my ear. “What if food isn’t what I’m hungry for.”
I froze and my cheeks burned.
“Breathe, Kaitlyn,” he reminded me.
I sucked in a deep breath and nodded.
I was a little nervous about being with him when sober. I feared my past would ruin everything. It didn’t seem to last night, but I had been thoroughly wasted and liquid courage was a miraculous thing. What if I couldn’t without it?
“Kaitlyn. Landon. Over here,” Damon yelled.
I looked around and found him sitting with Kyle and Chase and all of their mates at one of the large outdoor tables.
“We’re going to grab some food,” I yelled back.
He smiled and gave a thumbs up.
“So freaking weird,” I mumbled.
“What is?” Landon asked.
“Oh, um, Damon. He was actually smiling even though you’re with me. I mean I know he’s big on true mates. Hang out with the Westins long enough and it rubs off, but Damon has terrorized and scared off every guy I have ever showed the slightest interest in, or who showed interest in me. Yet, he’s smiling at you.”
“True mate, remember?”
I scoffed. “Like I could forget that.”
He kissed my forehead and grabbed two trays. Within minutes, while I was still puzzling out the sudden change in Damon, Landon piled food up on both trays.
“Are you hungry?” I teased.
“Yup, and you need to keep your strength up.”
“The trials,” I said as I froze. “You’re an Alpha. I’m going to be a target.”
He paid for our food and guided me over to the others.
“What are you talking about? What are the trials?”
“What were you talking about?”
“Uh, things. You know, the kind of things that happen later… when we’re alone,” he whispered.
Damon glared at him after obviously hearing him.
“What?” I asked. “It’s not like you guys don’t talk about sex in front of everyone.”
Karis laughed, completely unaffected.
“Alphas can be quite demanding. I’d say it was a mating thing, but no, that never went away for us. Did it for you?” she asked Kelsey, Kyle Westin’s mate who had also attended graduation alongside Chase and Jenna.
Kelsey laughed. “Much to his mother’s dismay, I had to go on birth control to keep from being permanently pregnant.”
I bit my lip trying to remember if I had taken my birth control the day before. I knew I hadn’t yet today. Shit.
As a virgin, I shouldn’t have had to be on the pill, but my aunt had put me on it when I turned thirteen as she was worried my uncle could cross that line in a drunken stupor. I shivered at the thought. I had never considered coming off of it, even when I’d moved away.
Kelsey stood up and hugged me. “It’s been too long, Kaitlyn.”
“I agree,” I said trying to push those thoughts out of my head. “This is Landon. Landon, this is Kelsey, Kyle’s mate.”
“We’ve spoken on the phone,” Landon surprised me by saying.
“Yes, of course. How are Mina and Dereck?”
“They are doing great. Thriving really.”
“I’m so happy they found a home and that you were willing to accept them into your Pack.”
“Sometimes that feels like what I do… take in strays.”
“They weren’t exactly strays,” Kyle reminded him.
“No, wanderers perhaps. They only ever speak fondly of Westin Pack,” he assured them both.
“This is Chase and Jenna. Chase is Kyle’s youngest brother and a beloved DOG brother,” I explained.
“DOG, like the fraternity, right?”
“Exactly,” Chase said.
“But you’re not all actually canines?”
Jenna laughed. “No, but most of them are still. I mean you have Chad, he’s a squirrel shifter, and then Kian now, he’s a panther like me.”
“You’re a panther? Are you two not mated?” Landon asked looking confused as we took our seats across from Kyle and Kelsey and next to Damon and Karis.
“No, they are. True mates even,” I told him. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
Damon was scowling at me with a confused look on his face.
“Your smell has changed already. How is that possible?” Damon asked.
My cheeks burned.
“Let me tell you a little something about the birds and the bees, Damon,” Kelsey started. “When two shifters mate, and then seal that mating with a bond, it happens. Their smell changes.”
Damon glared at her unamused.
“I know that. But they haven’t bonded, they just met yesterday.”
“Well…”
Damon’s head whipped around to me. “Kaitlyn!”
Karis and Jenna started laughing.
“You go girl,” Jenna said as she reached across the table so I could high five her.
“When you jump, you jump. Good for you, Kaitlyn,” Karis said.
Damon looked like he was about to pop a blood vessel in his temple. Landon must have sensed it as his arm wrapped around me as he pulled me closer to his side and away from Damon.
“They’re true mates, Damon. Who among us didn’t wish they’d jumped instead of prolonging the happiness that comes only from a true bond?” Kyle reminded him.
“Did you fight your mating call?” Landon asked curiously.
Kelsey laughed. “Landon, I didn’t even know what the hell was happening.”
“They waited two years to seal their bond,” Chase added. “It was ridiculous, and he was a huge jackass during that time.”
“You were just a punk kid. What did you know about it?” Kyle challenged.
“I knew enough to not make that mistake myself,” Chase grinned proudly as he squeezed Jenna’s thigh.
“You mean after you figured out who your mate truly was?”
Chase scowled and grumbled something under his breath.
“I have an identical twin sister and poor Chase was all kinds of confused.”
“How was I supposed to know?”
“Don’t forget the insistence that dogs couldn’t possibly mate cats. Boy did they prove everyone around here wrong on that one,” Damon added, finally starting to relax a little. “I know I would have taken Karis right away, but I didn’t, because it wasn’t right. We needed time to get to know each other.”
“Not to mention I wouldn’t have allowed it. There was too much at stake. I had a Pack to consider,” she reminded him.
“Damon will someday be Alpha of the Alaskan wolves through Karis’s blood line as there are no living male heirs.”
“Why does an Alpha have to be male?” Landon surprised me by asking.
They all sat back as they pondered that question.
“I suppose because that’s how it’s always been,” Kyle said.
“Males are stronger and better protectors,” Chase added.
Kelsey sat up a little taller in her seat as she glared at him. “Excuse me.”
“Oh shit. Can we just change the subject right now, please?” Chase begged.
I laughed. “Kelsey’s a badass Alpha she-wolf in her own right.”
“So see, it can be a thing,” Landon insisted.
“Many Packs are not quite so open to such things,” Kyle settled for.
“Alpha she-wolves are still being hunted and killed because men are scared of us,” Kelsey explained. “It’s sexist and inhumane, but it still happens even today.”
I knew this was a sensitive subject.
Landon’s face scrunched up and he shook his head. “That’s insane. If our firstborn is a daughter, I would consider it a blessing and happily pass her my Pack when the time comes.”
I stared at him in shock as my heart softened. That was the moment I first began to fall in love with my mate and from the starry eyed looks of the other women, I’d say I wasn’t the only one.
Kyle rolled his eyes at his mate. “You have sons. Do you want to try for a daughter now in hopes that maybe she’ll lead the Pack someday?”
From the horrified look on Kelsey’s face, her mate had known exactly how to get her to snap out of it and rethink the matter.
“You know we’re done. Finished. Two boys is more than enough when we have an entire Pack to run as well.”
Kyle winked at me. “Okay then, case settled.”
Karis sat back in her seat contemplating it.
“What is it?” Damon asked. “Are you considering being Alpha instead now?”
He looked and sounded just a little panicked. I knew he had been working hard to support her through college and train to be the best Alpha he could someday be.
She shook her head. “No, but then no one’s ever asked me that before. I’ve been groomed my entire life to be Pack Mother. I’m proud of that and the position I will one day inherit from my Oma.”
“Karis, there is nothing wrong with that,” Kelsey insisted. “Pack Mother is just as tough a role and very important. Together you and Damon will lead the Begay wolves, just as Kyle and I lead the Westins, and Landon and Kaitlyn will lead their wolves.”
I had known when we mated that I would bond with Landon and would secure my role as Pack Mother, but hearing Kelsey say it aloud was quite overwhelming. I was going to be a leader of his Pack. No matter how large or small that really was, it was still an enormous responsibility.
“Breathe, Kaitlyn. It’s going to be okay,” Landon said.
“Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out,” Kelsey said. “You already have my number. Call me anytime, for anything, no matter how small or silly you may feel it is.”
“She’s serious, Kaitlyn. Us Pack Mothers have to stick together. You aren’t alone in this. I know I’m not officially in position yet, but I’ve had more training for it than probably any she-wolf in history as sole heir. Kelsey and I are both here for you. Lily too. She and Thomas went back this morning, but we’ll get you her information as well. We’ve got your back.”
My eyes welled up with unshed tears at their overwhelming generosity.
“Thank you,” I managed to say.