Protected Promise by Julie Trettel

Kaitlyn

Chapter 5

 

 

 

I had been looking forward to formal as my last hoorah of college. The Thetas were hosting it, but as a graduating senior, I didn’t have to lift a finger to help.

I had spent much of the day pampering myself at a local spa in town. I’d gotten a wax job, a pedicure, a manicure, and a trim before adding a massage to the package. It was heavenly. I rarely ever did such an ostentatious thing, but in my existential crisis, it seemed like the perfect way to help me relax and think through things.

It had worked too. I had a plan and while the other girls were primping for the party, I submitted my resume to several different places in Florida. Sure, they were all in the human world, but what other option did I have? And where else better to look for hospitality jobs than Florida?

It was perfect. Things were falling into place just like they should.

So why wasn’t I happier about it?

That was a question I would have to think about later.

Before I knew it, Kian had arrived to pick me up. I had decided that he was the safer option as my date. We were strictly friends, and lately I wasn’t quite sure Lachlan saw me as just friend material. I didn’t want to worry about that. I wanted to drink and let my guard down, have fun and know I wouldn’t have regrets in the morning.

“Hey, just a minute. Let me throw on my dress,” I said as I answered the door in shorts and a sports bra.

“Only you would wait to the last second to get ready,” he joked as he walked in dressed in a dapper suit.

“Looking sharp,” I complimented.

He looked me over and his forehead wrinkled as he shook his head.

“What? My hair and makeup are done. It will only take me a minute.”

I grabbed my dress and a real bra and took them to the bathroom to change.

“A minute in normal time or a minute in woman time?” Kian yelled after me.

I just laughed as I quickly changed.

“Wow!” Kian said when I walked back out a few moments later. “You actually clean up nice.”

“You’ve never noticed?” I teased.

He chuckled. “No, I haven’t and try really hard not to. I prefer my balls where they are, thanks.”

“What do your balls have to do with anything?”

He stared at me like I was crazy. “You’re aware Damon would rip them off if I actually looked your way, right?”

I looked at him solemnly. “Yeah, I’m aware.”

“Well, since you’re a wolf, you’re safe with me. Cats don’t play with dogs.”

I knew Kian was a black panther shifter, everyone on campus knew it. He may be the first male panther to attend the ARC but he wasn’t the first panther to cause the gossip train to go wild.

Jenna is a panther and when she found her true mate was Chase Westin, a wolf, all hell broke loose on campus. It was hard not to be skeptical of it, but anyone who knew them witnessed firsthand just how truly in love they are.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Look, Jenna’s an exception to the rule. I’ll admit that, but she’s definitely not the norm.”

“Nope, most of you panthers are quite purists who stick to your own kind. So what would you do if you felt the mating call and she wasn’t a cat?”

“A cat? I’d freak out if she wasn’t a panther. I mean my pops isn’t anywhere near as bad as Jenna’s, but he still fully expects me to have a panther mate by my side when I finally assume the throne.”

Panthers had a different set up than the pack hierarchy. They were ruled by a monarch with one king and one queen overseeing a territory. He was a prince and would one day be a panther King.

“Like I said, purist.”

“I didn’t say I’d turn my back on the mating call, but I would freak out and I probably wouldn’t be happy about it at first.”

“At first? So you are open to it?”

“I’m not blind. I see how happy Jenna and Chase are. You think those two caused hysteria around campus by breaking the rules? You should have seen the reactions in the kingdoms. It was and still remains the biggest scandal of the century.”

“I can imagine. I mean it led to war between the cats and the dogs.”

“Were you there?” he asked. “As part of the royal line, I was not permitted to go.”

“Would you have?”

“I don’t know, but it’s getting late. We should get to the dance before we incite more rumors.”

I rolled my eyes, but I knew he was being honest. People would notice. They always noticed.

 

*****

 

I had no idea the party was going to be a masquerade. It was perfect and no one took any real notice that I had arrived with Kian.

He chose a classic solid black mask while I went with a gem studded one.

“Do you want a drink?” he asked.

“No, I want to dance.”

“That’s my girl. Let’s do this thing.”

He led me out to the center of the dance floor as we started moving to the beat of the music. I was having a blast and Kian was surprisingly a very good dancer.

The dance area was getting tight, leaving little room for people to walk through. Someone bumped into me sending me flying into Kian’s arms.

“Are you okay?”

My body was buzzing with excitement and my wolf was suddenly alive and trying to surge to the surface.

What the hell? I thought.

Mate.

I froze.

“Kaitlyn are you okay?” he asked again.

I slowly nodded, barely recognizing that he was speaking.

Mate? My true mate was here?

I’d made it through college without crossing paths with him. How was that even possible?

Mate! my wolf cried out again.

I was too shocked to even notice who had run into me.

I slowly turned around scanning the room. With these stupid masks I couldn’t tell who anyone was.

I was starting to panic. I had no idea what I should do. Should I follow him? Should I try to find him? Where would I even begin?

I was so nervous that I couldn’t even make my feet move. It was as if I were glued to the floor.

“Come on, Kait. Let’s go find you a drink.”

I didn’t protest as Kian put his arm around my waist and led me off the dance floor, but neither of us missed the low growl that rumbled out of me at his touch.

He immediately backed off.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Fine,” I said on autopilot like some sort of robot. I was definitely not fine.

When we walked over to the bar, there were a lot of people crowded around. I turned back to the dance floor, trying desperately to determine who had just bumped into me, but it was nearly impossible.

“Kaitlyn?” Damon asked.

I slowly turned. He was the last person I wanted to see just then.

“Hey, D,” I said trying to sound calm when I was anything but.

“You brought the panther for a date, not Lachlan?”

I looked around and easily spotted Lachlan hugging the wall with a group of ladies surrounding him.

“Doesn’t look like he’s hurting for a date,” I noted.

Damon started laughing. “Yeah, you’re right about that. If you didn’t use him as your plus one all the time, his time here could have been very different.”

I rolled my eyes. “He’s never had trouble finding a date. Most often than not, he used me to escape this exact scenario, not the other way around.”

It was true. Lachlan never minded the attention as long as it was on his terms. Watching him from across the room I suddenly felt guilty for bringing Kian. I knew he wasn’t enjoying himself or that sort of attention.

My wolf growled in my head causing me to jump.

Mate, she reminded me.

Lachlan?

She growled again.

No, I knew in my heart it couldn’t possibly be him. Besides he was wearing a feathered mask and my mystery mate I thought was wearing a jeweled one.

Kian came back to my side with two drinks in hand, but my wolf wasn’t having it. He was one of my best friends and I was literally ready to rip his throat out just for brushing up against me.

“Beer or soda?” he asked holding up a cup of each.

I grabbed the beer and downed it in one breath.

“Uh, Kait, are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m not certain about anything tonight,” I muttered then turned on a fake smile. “Fine.”

“Another?” he asked.

“Another.”

Honestly, I just needed him away from me. My wolf was going crazy and didn’t understand why I wasn’t scouring the place for our mate.

Gah! Every time I even thought the word it freaked me out and heightened my anxiety. How could this be happening? Why now?

I knew I didn’t want a mate. The best thing I could do was turn tail and run away as far in the opposite direction as possible. Still, I was curious.

Convincing myself that leaving was the best thing I could do, I decided to not even tell Kian. He’d forgive me later for ditching out on him. It wasn’t like I was going to explain the truth about what was happening, but I’d come up with something believable.

When Damon turned his focus back on his mate, I slipped away into the crowds praying I would bump into my mysterious mate again.

I had almost made it to the door when an announcement was made.

“We’ve added a fun little surprise to the night. There are only two of each mask. That’s why we kept it a surprise. Your goal is to find your match and have a dance.”

A few couples that had picked matching masks to be cute immediately headed for the dance floor. While others just stood around awkwardly.

“Oh come on. It’s only one dance. Now mingle!”

Tiffany huffed as she put down the mic and hopped down from the stage.

“Where do you think you’re running off to?” she demanded.

I knew I was busted.

“Headache,” I lied.

“Well, too bad. You’re a Theta, Kaitlyn. If you don’t participate, are we to expect others to? I mean come on, you picked one of the girliest masks we have. You’ll probably have to dance with another girl, but still, it’ll be fun. Now go find your match!”

I sighed and turned back. She was monitoring the door now, and I heard her tell someone that no one got out without finding their match first.

I was screwed. I figured I might as well get it over with. Then I could continue with my plan and get the hell out of here.

“Hey, I know who your match is,” someone said as they grabbed me by the arm.

“Marie?” I asked.

She laughed. “Duh.”

“Sorry. It’s kind of hard to tell who’s who around here tonight.”

“Yeah, but it’s fun.”

“See, I knew it. Here you go,” she said, giving me a light shove.

I stumbled but before I could right myself, big strong hands wrapped around my body and kept me upright.

A shiver of awareness shot through me as I slowly looked up. The large hands were followed by impossibly bulging biceps and broad shoulders. Even with the suit he wore, I could imagine the taut ridges of muscles across his chest and torso.

Looking up I was met by a pair of dark gray eyes the color of steel. There was so much in those eyes that I knew I could get lost for days.

“Are you okay?” a deep, husky voice asked me.

Somehow, I managed to nod as my throat went dry.

I was vaguely aware of Tobi and Jackson waltzing by us.

“You’re supposed to dance when you find her,” Tobi told the man holding me in his big strong arms.

“I know,” he said, sounding just as frustrated as I felt.

I couldn’t make out all of his face with the stupid mask on, but I could tell he was handsome. Maybe the hottest guy I’d ever seen in real life.

“Are you okay to dance?” he asked.

I nodded again, knowing my voice would betray me if I dared try and speak.

I was hot all over and the hair on the back of my neck stood up, but not in a bad way. There was nothing inside me warning me away from this man. Instead, there was desperate need to get even closer to him.

Mate, my wolf echoed what I already knew.

When we reached the middle of the dance floor, the music switched to a slow song. He smiled down at me and pulled me into his arms as we began to sway to the music.

My head was pressed against his chest. There wasn’t even an inch of space between us. I could feel every part of him against every part of me.

Much to my shock, I loved everything I felt and craved more.

As the song came to an end much too quickly, he seemed hesitant to let me go. My own thoughts of fleeing were long gone. I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to walk away from this mysterious man.

“Kait, there you are,” Kian said.

It took a moment for his words to sink in as they pierced through the magic bubble I’d been held captive in.

“Hey,” I said without even looking at my friend.

“I see you found your match,” he said with a hint of displeasure in his tone.

“I did,” I managed to say as I slowly pried myself away from my dance partner.

“Kian,” he said to the stranger.

“Landon,” he replied.

Landon. I caught myself mid-sigh.

What was happening to me?

I had seen several of my friends find their true mates, fall madly in love, and go on to live happily ever after. Is this how they felt in the beginning?

I thought back. No, that wasn’t possible. Maybe the confusion part, but this ridiculous lust for a complete stranger?

My body warmed again when his hand rested on the small of my back. I should have been furious at the small gesture of proprietorship, but I did nothing to correct the situation. Kian noticed too, the surprise evident on his face.

“So, you think you can dance?” he asked Landon.

I had no idea what he was getting at.

“I know I can,” Landon easily replied.

“Then prove it. I challenge you to a dance off.”

“Fine. What are your terms?”

“I win, you stay the hell away from my date.”

“And when I win?”

“Then I’ll step away and let the lady decide for herself.”

“Uh, lady, right here. This is stupid. What are you doing, Kian?”

“Protecting you. Isn’t that what we always do?”

“Trust me when I say, he can dance.”

“Slow maybe, but he’s a big guy, and I’m an agile cat, remember?”

“Please don’t do this. People talk about me enough without adding this to the mix.”

I looked back at Landon begging him to back off.

“Sorry, beautiful, I don’t step down from a challenge.”

I groaned and left them both to hash out their issues while I made my way straight to the bar for a stiff drink… or two.