Protected Promise by Julie Trettel

Kaitlyn

Chapter 3

 

 

 

I stared at the test results in my hand in shock.

A B. I’d gotten a B on my final math exam, and I’d done it all by myself.

A tear ran down my cheek and I swiped it away. I’d passed. I was going to graduate. That reality was sinking in quickly. The thing was, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I’d double majored in business and hospitality, and had hesitated on sending out my resume, so now all of my friends were graduating with big dreams and plans for their futures.

I was just graduating with a piece of paper while I turned homeless.

I knew Sawyer, Alpha of Longhorn Pack, would never allow that. He was my Alpha, and I was his responsibility, but I wasn’t going home. As far as I was concerned, there was no home to even go back to. If he was going to insist on it, then he would have to pull his Alpha powers and force me, because as long as I had a choice, I wasn’t going back to Texas—ever.

I needed to celebrate and blow off some steam. Despite being a Theta girl, I really wasn’t much of a partier. Perhaps I had been in my early days at the ARC, but that was more rebellion than anything, and the novelty of it had worn off quickly.

I knew what the other girls thought, but I had never let that bother me because I knew the truth. I didn’t regret becoming a Theta. I’d had a great time at Archibald Reynolds and I knew there were at least some of my sisters that I would continue to stay in touch with.

Theta was an all-girl sorority of mixed shifter breeds. There were a few wolves, like me, but really it was a mix of a little bit of everything. We had a bad reputation for being the party girls on campus, but really, most of us weren’t that bad, though there were a few that gave us all a bad name.

Most of the girls stayed two to four to a room, but I’d had my own room since freshman year. I liked my space, and the others knew it. It made all of our lives easier to just leave me be.

I loved my sisters, but I had never really felt like I fit in there and truthfully, I didn’t trust most of them. They kept me around for my connections to the guys of Delta Omega Gamma. Those boys were my true tribe. I loved every single one of them and I knew that I would remain in touch with each of them for a lifetime still to come.

Still, I participated in all sorority required events, but as each year passed, I spent even less time there. It was far more common to find me hanging out in the doghouse, where aside from parties, mates, and specific invitations, girls in general were off limits.

I had always been the exception to that rule.

There were enough of the guys mated now that I no longer stood out. I hated the rumors and speculation it caused, but mostly I just ignored the gossip and went on with my own business.

With my final grades in hand, I certainly wasn’t heading for the Theta house. Nope, I was going straight to my boys where I knew the celebration and excitement for me would be genuine.

I let myself into the house and flopped down on the couch kicking my shoes off and stretching my legs out. It sure was quiet.

I looked around and saw them all there standing in a circle and staring at me.

“Uh, Kaitlyn. We’re sorta in the middle of a DOG ceremony right now,” Chad said.

“Oh.” I jumped up and started to leave. “Sorry.” That’s when I remembered I’d already taken off my shoes. I quickly ran back to collect them. “Sorry,” I mumbled again.

“Wait,” Jackson said. “You looked really happy when you came in.”

“And oblivious,” Hudson pointed out.

“What’s going on, Kaitlyn?” Tyler asked.

“Can we just finish the ceremony already? This is ridiculous,” Brett said.

“Can’t she just stay? We’re almost done,” Lachlan protested.

“You guys are always saying how she’s just like one of the guys,” Jamie pointed out. “It seems fitting to me.”

“Are you sure, Jamie? This is your induction ceremony,” Jackson reminded him.

“I’m sure. Are you cool with it, Kian? It’s your induction too.”

“Yeah, Kait’s great. Come on over and join in the fun.”

Brett rolled his eyes. “Well, come on, Kaitlyn. We don’t want to be here all day.”

Chase grinned at me and motioned me over to him.

I smiled back and hurried to stand next to him.

“Technically several of us aren’t really part of the ceremony here, just observing, so stay with me and you’ll be fine,” Chase whispered.

Chase Westin used to attend the ARC. He met his mate a few years back and they moved as she finished up her classes online. I loved Chase and Jenna and always looked forward to them visiting. I assumed he was in town for graduation.

Lachlan, Reid, and Neal were all graduating with me. Jackson was dabbling in some graduate courses while Tobi finished out her degree the same way Damon was still hanging out for his mate, Karis. Chad and Ember were both graduating but staying on for grad school at the ARC too. Brett and Jade planned to do the same, but he had gotten a great job offer and they were currently reconsidering their options.

Basically, everything around me was changing. People I cared about were moving on with their lives and I was stuck in mine. No plans, no place to go, nothing. I knew I had to sit down and make some serious decisions. I’d put it off too long already.

As the ceremony came to a close Damon draped an arm over my shoulder.

“You looked extremely happy when you crashed this sacred moment of brotherhood.”

“Shut up. I didn’t know this was happening today.”

“You know, you’re probably the only female at the ARC to ever witness such an event,” Damon teased.

“It nearly bored me to death.”

As Jamie and Kian passed by us, I smiled and congratulated them.

“Thanks for crashing the party, Kait. I was about to fall asleep waiting for Brett to end it already,” Kian whispered as he kissed my cheek.

Damon stiffened beside me.

“Relax,” I warned as Kian moved on to other well wishers.

“I’m just watching out for you, Kaitlyn. It’s my job.”

“It was your job, Damon. Now, everything’s changing. You can’t protect me anymore.”

“Hell if I can’t. I don’t even understand why you haven’t already signed up for classes next term.”

“We’ve talked about this. I’m not doing grad school.” That would be the easy way out, but this time, I wasn’t caving to the comfort and security of the known. It was time to grow up and face my life once and for all.

“Sawyer’s coming in for graduation. Just a heads up. I think a lot of the Alphas will be in attendance this year,” Damon warned me.

I was immediately concerned, not for myself, but for him.

“Are you going to be okay?”

“Me? Yeah, why?”

“That’s a lot of Alphas in one territory, Damon. An area you’re a little partial to at that.”

He snorted. “My Pack is in Alaska with Karis, Kaitlyn. I’m not going to wolf out on these guys here. My wolf and I have come to an understanding and we’re doing surprisingly well these days.”

I wasn’t sure I completely believed it. I knew he was doing remarkable with all the changes he’d gone through, but being around other Alphas couldn’t be easy for him.

Damon wasn’t born with Alpha powers, he inherited them through his bond to Karis. Where other Alphas and future Alphas had a lifetime to learn to work with and control their wolves, Damon’s Alpha powers had only begun to surface a few years ago. Plus, he wasn’t an Alpha yet, but someday he would be, Alpha of the Alaskan Pack.

I was really proud of him and happy for the path he’d been handed. Damon was a great guy, and I had looked up to him for years as a sort of savior. When things got really bad back home, he was the one that took notice. He alerted Sawyer and tried to get me help. There wasn’t a lot to be done by that point.

When I chose to come to the ARC, he’d taken it upon himself to protect me. Every guy on campus knew I was off limits under his full protection. That protection had expanded even further as his brothers of the Delta Gamma Omega pledged an alliance to keep me safe here. It was a little dramatic if you asked me, but it had taken all the pressure off of me while here.

I didn’t need to worry about dating and guys, because no one would dare cross the DOGs to lay a hand on me.

I could cut loose and even go a little wild at times, because I always knew someone was watching my back.

Freshman year I’d taken advantage of that somewhat, but since then, I’ve tried to be more respectful of them, and myself.

One incident putting me a little too drunk in the wrong place at the wrong time with absolutely the wrong guy had escalated quickly. Damon was nearly expelled over the incident, but he’d made his point. No guy was to lay a hand on me or even come sniffing my way—and no one else had.

Sometimes I worried I was too screwed up already and that no one would even want me. Right now, I was okay with that, but I did fear I would regret some of my choices down the road.

“Kaitlyn, have you chosen a date for formal yet? It is our last one,” Lachlan said with such a heavy Australian accent that I knew he had already started drinking.

Lachlan was fun, but sometimes he got a little handsy when he had too much to drink. I would never admit that to him or especially Damon, but I knew I needed to watch myself. We only had a few days left at the ARC and then we’d both be on our way, likely never to cross paths again. That made me sad, but more importantly, I didn’t want to end my college years with ridiculous drama and high levels of testosterone.

No thanks.

I’d rather stay permanently in the friend zone with the entire male species than deal with that.