Damon
Chapter 16
A screeching sound woke me from a deep sleep. Possibly the best I could ever remember having. I rolled over thinking Chad had changed the sound on my alarm clock again, but my hand brushed against soft skin that gave me a jolt of awareness. Karis.
Fully awake, I sat up quickly to identify the problem. A girl was standing in the doorway.
Karis opened her eyes and looked around groggily.
“Sabrina, shut up and close the door. What is wrong with you? I thought you weren’t coming home tonight.”
The girl closed the door and stood there with wide eyes. “I didn’t. It’s almost eleven in the morning, Karis. And really, I mean, I knew you’d left with him, but Damon Rossi? What happened to Tyler?”
“We broke up,” she said simply.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you were happy. What happened?”
Karis pointed to me.
“Hey, don’t blame me for that,” I said innocently.
She gave me a look like, really?
“Look, Karis, I’m worried about you. Can we talk about this? Alone?”
“Sabrina. There’s nothing to worry about. If you want to talk, talk.”
“Alone, Karis,” she said. “I’m only trying to look out for you.
“I’m not ready to get up yet,” Karis whined and snuggled closer to me, laying her head back down on my chest.
“Fine, then I’ll just talk here. Is that what you want?”
“Yes,” she insisted.
“Okay, well, there are very few guys on this campus that Theta girls are warned about, and Damon Rossi is one of them. He knows every one of my sisters—intimately, Karis. I’ve been warned by many of them not to fall for him. He’s fun to play with then tosses you to the side when he’s done.”
“Okay, thanks for the warning,” Karis said, sounding completely unaffected and not at all surprised.
“Karis, I’m serious. You just gave your virginity away to a man-whore.”
“All of them?” Karis asked me, not even re-opening her eyes.
I had to think for a minute. “No. Kaitlyn’s like a little sister to the D.O.G.s, so none of us will lay a hand on her, or let anyone else if we can help it.”
“Good to know,” she said. “Wait.” Karis sat up and turned to her roommate. “I didn’t lose my virginity to him. Not yet at least.”
Sabrina’s mouth dropped open in shock.
“Maybe I should go,” I said, but Karis pouted. I wanted to kiss her so badly, but I knew a first kiss would mean a lot to her and no way was I sharing that moment with Sabrina. Plus, I wasn’t sure how potent that was going to be for me either, or if I’d even be able to stop at just a kiss, which was the only reason I hadn’t done it the second she told me she’d broken up with Tyler.
“It’s Sunday. You don’t have to.”
I loved knowing she didn’t want me to go. I didn’t want to go either, but I didn’t want to sit around listening to my name being bashed by a Theta wannabe either.
“How about I meet you in the cafeteria around one? I’ll just run home and shower and change first, give you two time to talk.”
“Fine,” she said, still pouting.
I gave her a grin and kissed her forehead. My little mate was a grump in the morning. I threw my clothes back on and left, running down to the café to grab Karis a cup of coffee and taking it back up to her first.
I knocked on the door and Sabrina answered. “What? We’re still talking,” she said, a little less hostile.
“Not trying to interrupt, but Karis will be a lot nicer about it after this,” I said, handing Sabrina the coffee, giving Karis a wink over her head and leaving for real.
“Okay, that was kind of sweet of him,” I heard Sabrina say before the door closed.
I jogged the entire way back to the doghouse. The pledges were busy cleaning up the mess from the night before. It looked like a full-blown party had ensued, but with Theta crashing it, I wasn’t all that surprised.
“Where have you been?” Brett asked just as I reached my door. I hadn’t even noticed him, so he must have had an ear out for me.
“Come in, we’ll talk,” I said.
Chad grabbed the bag of chips off his desk and stuffed them into a box that he slid under his bed when we walked in. Normally I’d give him shit for it, but I was in too good a mood to bother.
“Hey man. Where’d you disappear to last night?” he asked.
“The big question of the day,” I joked. “It’s not like the entire fraternity didn’t see me leave with Karis.”
“Oh, you remembered her name even,” Brett said sarcastically.
“Dude, that was Tyler’s girlfriend. That was low even for you,” Chad reminded me.
“Look, just sit down, both of you.”
The door opened, and Chase poked his head in, followed by Cooper and Jackson.
“We heard you come in,” Chase said. “Just checking to see if everything’s okay.”
I rolled my eyes. “God, you guys are worse than a bunch of gossiping girls.”
“Dude, you stole the girlfriend of a future brother. That’s . . .”
“I get it Coop,” I said, cutting him off. “And seriously, that’s not what this is about. Tyler dumped her last night.”
“Really?” Jackson asked.
“Yes, and even if he hadn’t last night, it would have happened eventually. I was just waiting it out.”
“Come again?” Cooper asked.
“I was waiting for Karis to dump Tyler, but he dumped her first. And really none of that matters anyway. Even if he hadn’t, who cares. She’s mine,” I said.
They all looked at each other and burst out laughing.
“Dude, you’ve never been territorial about a girl before. What gives?” Jackson wondered aloud.
I took a deep breath. “Laugh it up all you want, but I’m serious here. Karis isn’t just some girl, she’s my true mate. That’s why Tyler was driving my wolf so crazy. He was carrying her scent. Same goes for you, you, and you too,” I said pointing to Chase, Brett, and Chad. “Stop hugging people when you meet them.”
“Wow, congratulations. Karis is a great girl. We didn’t know,” Chase said.
I scrunched my forehead. “Really? I thought Jenna would have told you by now.”
“What? Jenna knows?”
“Karis told her last night,” I admitted.
The other guys laughed and started giving Chase shit about keeping his woman in line.
“This is big,” Cooper said seriously, quieting the laughter.
I took a deep breath. “Yeah, it is.”
“So, you sealed the bond last night?” Jackson inquired.
“No, we just talked.”
That caused more laughter.
“Really? Why? She’s yours. Take her already. If it was anyone else, you wouldn’t have hesitated to sack her.” Jackson said.
I growled. “Don’t talk about her like that.” I took a deep breath trying to calm myself. Her scent was still faint in the room. That helped. “This is bigger than that, and I don’t want to screw it up. You guys don’t even know what you’re talking about. None of you can possibly know what this feels like, well, except Chase, but we all saw what a grand job he did during mating.”
The attention was back on Chase, but he just smiled and shrugged. “Got my girl in the end, and that’s all that matters. And he’s right. Don’t give him too hard a time. There’s nothing easy about mating. I can’t even imagine how crazy I’d have gone if I smelled Jenna on another guy during that period. It does get easier once you complete the bond. If you need to talk in the meantime, I’m here for you.”
“Thanks, man,” I said honestly. “Right now, I just want you assholes to get out and leave me alone, though.” I didn’t’ miss the look of concern they shared. I wondered if they’d always look that way around me. “I’m not depressed. I’m not being a loner. I just want to shower and change and check a few things for tomorrow before I meet Karis for lunch.”
“Oh, okay,” Jackson said. “Great. Come on, gentlemen. Let’s go harass the pledges while they clean.”