Karis
Chapter 23
In truth, I was happy for an excuse to stop studying. I was ready for that stupid test, just a little paranoid because it was my first major test in college. Damon, as usual, proved to be an excellent distraction.
I packed a quick bag, then we walked over to the doghouse so Damon could grab a few things, including the dampener Chase had left him. He winked at me when I caught him with it.
I rolled my eyes and laughed. The guy was incorrigible. Giving him my virginity had turned him into a sex maniac. He’d grab me for a quickie over lunch, or in the private room at the library I had booked to legitimately study. He’d shifted in the middle of the forest during a run and insisted I did too, so we could do it in the woods.
I wasn’t ready to admit it to him, but I loved it. We were young and wild and free. He was opening up this whole new world to me, and I knew no other man would ever compare. Each time with him only solidified my desire to bond with him and seal our fate forever.
We had to wait for Jenna and Chase to get back from the party. I felt badly that they ditched early after Damon texted that we were up for coming over. We hadn’t asked them to. I had no doubt we could have found some way to pass the time, but they had insisted.
“Hey Karis,” Jenna said, giving me a big hug as they arrived. “I’m glad you decided to take a study break. Damon looked rather miserable tonight without you.”
“Really? I heard he had a panther on the prowl for him and was too busy fighting off her advances to notice I wasn’t there,” I said with as straight a face as I could muster.
“That’s not what I said,” Damon insisted.
“Dude, you actually told your mate that Ayanna cornered you tonight?” Chase laughed.
Damon shrugged. “You don’t tell Jenna everything? I don’t keep anything from Karis.”
“She’s my mate. Of course I tell her everything, but during the mating phase? You’re going to drive the poor girl crazy,” Chase explained.
“I’m fine,” I said. “Actually, I’d rather hear it from him than someone else.”
“I hated knowing any girl was even looking at Chase during that time,” Jenna confessed. “It drove me nuts.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. It doesn’t really bother me. I mean look at him. He’s hot, of course they’re going to look, or even try to act, but as long as he’s coming back to me and being honest about it, then I’m not worried about it.”
We left the doghouse and walked to the parking lot and rode with Chase and Jenna in their Jeep. Damon shoved me lightly and I laughed, pushing him back playfully.
“You two are really cute,” Jenna said as we settled into the Jeep and Chase pulled out. “Damon’s so different with you, Karis. In some ways more relaxed than I’d suspect, almost like he’s hanging out with the brothers.”
Chase gave her an incorrigible look. “Really? You just compared his mate to one of the brothers.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it,” she scolded him.
“I know what you mean, Jenna,” I said, trying not to laugh.
Damon shrugged. “She’s my best friend. We talk about everything, so of course I’m more relaxed around her than anyone. Isn’t that normal with mates?”
“No,” Jenna and Chase both said, and then yelled. “Jinx!” at the same time and laughed.
“I mean, eventually yes. Bonded mates develop a very close relationship, but not at this stage. I mean you guys haven’t even sealed your bond yet, have you?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No, not yet.”
“At that point I was still so awkward around Chase. I mean I was comfortable with him, too comfortable sometimes, but I was a nervous wreck, worried about screwing things up or that someone would find out. Man, I was a basket case,” she confessed.
Chase linked his fingers with hers. “No you weren’t.”
“Yeah, I was. I could barely admit I liked you at this point in our mating.”
“Well, at this point in our relationship, I didn’t even know there were two of you and I was going out of my mind trying to figure out why I felt the mating call one minute and not the other.”
Damon snorted. “Jenna’s an identical twin,” he explained. “Chase had no clue when they first started mating. He’d mix them up and come back freaking out because the bond was just gone, but nope. He just had the wrong girl.”
“Shut up, it was a difficult time. How was I supposed to know she had a clone?”
I laughed. “That’s hysterical. Poor Chase. Bet it drove you crazy.”
“Yeah, it did, but I never mixed them up for the record. I just didn’t know there were two and only ever felt drawn to Jenna.”
They shared a look that made me feel warm and fuzzy inside just watching them. Before it registered to my brain, my hand moved to find Damon’s. His large, warm hand enveloped mine and I looked up at him and sighed, wondering if we wore that look Jenna and Chase had just shared.
It was a quick drive to their cabin, but as we pulled up to the house it was nothing like I’d imagined. We got out of the Jeep and I stood in front of it with my hands on my hips. “This is not a cabin. This is a mini-mansion,” I informed them.
They laughed and brushed it off.
“Come inside,” Jenna urged. “I’ll give you the grand tour.”
“Go on, I’ll grab the bags,” Damon told me.
“It’s too big to call a cabin,” I insisted as Jenna led me through her front door. Inside, everything was decorated in wood with brown, tan, and green accents. I stood in awe.
“It’s like you brought the outside indoors. It’s so nice.”
Jenna beamed. “Thanks! Chase and I have been working on redecorating the place for months and it’s finally just where we both love it. So, this is the main floor. There’s the kitchen, living room, a half bath, then the master bedroom and a full bath through those doors,” she said pointing to the closed door on my left. “Feel free to look around.”
Part of the back of the house was lined with floor to ceiling sliding glass doors that walked out to a large deck area, and beyond that an open yard surrounded by woods. I could see a firepit and could just imagine how relaxing it would be to sit out there after one of my crazy days of classes.
I was lost in my own world when I heard footsteps and turned to see Damon and Chase walking down the stairs.
“There’s an upstairs too?” I asked.
“Yeah, sorry,” Jenna apologized. “There’s a loft and four more bedrooms up there. That’s where you and Damon will be staying.”
“Wow, this place is really incredible.”
“Thanks,” Chase said, wrapping his arms around his mate and pulling her back against his chest. “We love it here. So much so that we had an exact replica built in San Marco for when we move.”
“That’s really cool,” I admitted.
Jenna broke away from Chase’s embrace and reached for my hand. “Come on, and keep me company while I make dinner.”
“Need some help?” I asked.
“Sure. And I know it’s late, but we didn’t really eat before the party and Chase’s stomach won’t shut up.”
“I told you, we can’t survive on sex alone, beautiful,” he yelled from the living room. She blushed slightly, but her face lit up with a smile.
Jenna was gorgeous, like other-worldly beautiful. If it wasn’t for the fact that Damon made me feel like I was just as beautiful I probably would have felt a little intimidated next to her. But when my handsome mate looked at me in that way where I knew he only saw me, it made me stand a little taller and smile a little brighter, and mostly it made me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.
“You’re thinking about Damon, aren’t you?” Jenna asked.
I knew I was blushing when I nodded
“You had that dreamy look on your face. It’s so weird to think of Damon as mated, but you’re really good for him. I know about his Alpha powers surfacing. I really hope Kyle can help him control that in some way, but overall, you’ve calmed him down a lot. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but it’s the truth.”
“My Upa says he believes that it’s normal given our situation. You know Damon will be Alpha of the Alaskan wolves someday, right?”
Jenna looked at me curiously. “That’s a guarantee? I mean Chase mentioned you were the Alpha’s granddaughter, I guess I just assumed. . .”
I cut her off. “They’re all dead. My family died in a car accident when I was four. I was the youngest, and now I’m the only.”
She stopped what she was doing and walked to my side, wrapping her arms around me. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
“It was a long time ago. I’ve always known my place in the Pack. I’ve been groomed for Pack Mother my entire life.”
“Is that why you and Damon haven’t bonded yet? I mean, you two seem really close. I’m just surprised it hasn’t happened.”
I sighed. “I stopped it. It wasn’t fair to him when he had no idea what was happening to him or the expectations that bonding with me would put on him. I need him to accept his place without additional pressure from me or anyone else. Talking to Kyle will be good for him, I hope.”
“Are you worried he won’t step up?”
I shrugged. “Maybe. I mean, come on, being Alpha is a huge undertaking. I’ve always known people could try to get close to me just for that opportunity, but Damon’s the opposite of that, if that makes any sense.”
“I get it. You have to protect your people. That’s a lot riding on the shoulders of an eighteen-year-old, Karis.”
I smiled. “It’s been riding on my shoulders a long time, Jenna. I think I finally feel equipped to actually handle it. I can see greatness in Damon. He’s compassionate, fair, and protective, everything that will make a great Alpha for my people. I just don’t think he sees it yet.”
Jenna laughed. “I’ll bet you completely freaked him out dropping a bomb like that on him. I mean it wasn’t that long ago where even the thought of having a mate would have made him run in the other direction. Funny how our natural instincts resolve some of those issues. But Damon, well, I’m sure you know this already, he doesn’t really have a strong allegiance to any pack. He’s never had that before.”
“I know, yet he craves that. And he’s stubborn enough to fight for us and do anything it takes to make things work, even taking on such a massive responsibility.”
“But you want him to want this for himself, not just you?”
I nodded. “That’s exactly it.”
The smell of the cheesesteaks Jenna was making while we talked wafted through the house and lured the guys in. The topic was changed to lighter things as we joked around and enjoyed pleasant conversation.
Soon afterwards we called it a night. I was surprised to find it was already well after midnight. Jenna and Chase excused themselves to their room and Damon took my hand to lead me upstairs to ours.
A part of me still felt like I should be nervous alone with him, but I wasn’t. I was more comfortable with Damon Rossi than I’d ever been with anyone in my entire life.