Taming the Beast novel Chapter 36

(Caroline’s POV)

The next day at lunch, Keegan was staring at me again, but this time, there was a glint of happiness in his eyes. Yesterday, after my encounter with my Keegan wolf, I thought about my Keegan all night long. I missed him. I did feel drawn to him in a way I’ve never felt before. I couldn’t just ignore it. Plus, I would rather be drawn to a human than a wolf. In no way, shape, or form, did I want to try the whole bestiality thing. I was not Belle, I didn’t want a beast. I sighed and stood, walking over to his table. He smiled softly at me as I placed my hands on my hips. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. Looking around, I noticed a lot of people staring at me.

“I’m ready to listen,” I muttered. He heard me anyway. He smiled and pulled me down onto his lap. “Keegan!” I squealed. The boys laughed as they watched the display.

“So you’ll come over to my place after volleyball practice today?” he asked I rolled my eyes and hit his chest lightly.

“That’s not what I said at all,” I sneered at him He only smirked and squeezed the inside of my thigh. I moaned again despite myself before I glared at him, slapping him in the chest repeatedly.

“Stop doing that!” I said. The boys were laughing, including Keegan. I noticed that Asher had a small bruise on his ear.

That was weird.

“I was just trying to prove a point,” Keegan said with an innocent smile. I ruffled his hair and he pouted. “Don’t do that,” he said. I laughed and stood from his lap. He tried to bring me back down but I moved out of the way just in time.

“Jerk,” I muttered.

~

Keegan walked with me to our Forensics class. His arms went around my waist gently as sparks shot up and down my body. I repeated the action; wrapping my arms around his waist. He hissed in a breath and jumped away from me. I frowned before I lifted the back of his shirt. I gasped as shock ran through me. There, on the side of his lower back was a bruise…

In the shape of a hoof print.

All I could do was stare at him. How did that get there? Something told me that he didn’t ‘just so happen’ to be riding horses yesterday and ‘just so happen’ to get kicked by one in the exact same spot that my Keegan wolf did. He pushed down his shirt quickly as a red tint touched his golden cheeks as he turned to face me.

“Ready to talk?” he tried to change the subject. I just took a step away from him as the pieces started clicking together.

My Keegan wolf looked just like Keegan.

The hoof print on Keegan’s back where the wolf got hit from protecting me.

The wolf knew what I was saying.

His pack looked a lot like Gregg, Trevor, Asher, and Nick.

One of the guys said something about being mates, and not in the friendly Australian way of saying friend either. So when he said ‘mate’ he meant…

Holy Crap.

I’m Keegan’s freaking mate in his weird werewolf-like life.

Okay, maybe I need to take a step back and think about this. Maybe I’ve just been reading too many werewolf stories on Wattpad or something. Keegan’s face watched me as if he were confirming my thoughts for me. I took one step away from him, and then another. I had to be dreaming right? That was it… I was dreaming. I turned on my heels and ran into a wall. I held my nose and moaned as I squeezed my eyes shut. My head was still sensitive from the last time I hit it. My brain rattled. I heard Keegan laughing from behind me. I turned and glared at him. He walked up to me calmly and touched my arms as he kissed my nose. Sparks flew all over my body, but I ignored it to pout at him.

“Come on, we’re skipping. I’ll tell you everything,” he said softly.  He put his arm around my shoulders and we walked out to his car. I stood in front of the passenger door and stared at it. Did I really want to get in the car with him?

He was my mate…

I think.