Shadow Mate - Jen L. Grey Page 0,56
type of man I needed. One who cared for me and treated me with kindness. I had to stop thinking about Liam... stop looking for him everywhere. I had to be resolved. "Good. Because I want you too." I was so damn selfish.
A grin spread across his face. "Yeah?"
"If there wasn't the bond coming into play, you'd be the one who I’d pick." I believed every single word too. Fate had to get it wrong sometimes.
"Then, that proves even more that I'm right." He leaned over and kissed my cheek. "I won't rush you, and we can take it at whatever pace you need."
"I like the sound of that." I did, but my heart and my wolf wanted to rebel. Kai’s lips on my skin didn't feel right. His touch didn't make me burn or ache for more. "I've got to go meet Bree. She's bouncing around with excitement."
"Yeah, we can't have that." He rubbed his thumb along the side of my hand. "Are you going to the game tonight?"
"Definitely. It's at my brother's school." I needed him to understand it had nothing to do with Liam. In fact, if it wasn't KSU, I wouldn't even bother going, just as I hadn’t to all of the other games since that night.
"Want to go together? We can take my car." He snorted. "Bree's car is only a two-seater, so we're going to need a bigger vehicle."
Despite everything, he still wanted to be around me. It was kind of hard to fathom. I don't think if our roles had been reversed that I'd be as understanding. "Okay. That sounds great. But we'll be hanging out on the KSU side."
"That's even better." He squeezed my hand and then dropped it. "I'll head over after visiting with my dad. It should be able to make it also around five."
"Oh, hey." I hated to be like this, but this was important. "Bree doesn't know about us being mates, so please don't say anything."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." He winked at me. "And in all honesty, I could go without ever thinking about it again. Now go get Bree situated so we won't run late."
"All right. See you soon." I watched him go as a huge smile spread across my face. This was the happiest I’d felt in a long while. Maybe today, things would start looking up.
I hurried to the dorms and, within minutes, walked into our room. As I shut the door, Bree called out, "Mia, get your ass in here."
"Coming." I hurried into her room to find a pile of clothes on her floor.
"I don't know what to wear tonight." She yanked more clothes out of her closet. "I can't find a damn thing. I'm not used to hanging out with the enemy, so it wasn’t like I can wear Wolf Moon Academy attire."
"You're really overthinking this." I mashed my lips together, trying to prevent the smirk from spreading across my face. "If you're that worried, I have just the thing.” I ran into my closet and grabbed the black bunched sleeve top that Bree had complimented a while ago.
"Oh my God. You’re amazing." She threw the shirt on and looked in the mirror. "We're going to have such a good time. Nate's already got a party lined up at his house."
"First, remember a jacket since we’ll be around humans. And won't Liam show up to get you?" The last thing I wanted was to run into him while we were having fun.
"Nah, he'll be stuck with the football team, so we're home free." She twirled around.
"Oh, by the way, Kai offered to drive us there."
"That means we can drink and not make Tripp ride in the trunk." She pointed at me. "Oh, and it means you have another date. I was surprised it took this long. Did you guys have a falling out?"
"Not exactly, and we're fine now, so it's not worth talking about." I didn't want to have to omit stuff or wind up lying and her finding out.
"Well, that's good because tonight we're going to have some fun." She clapped her hands and smiled.
Her enthusiasm was contagious. A nagging thought kept trying to pop up that Liam could show up, but I pushed it away. I couldn’t listen to my heart. I’d only get hurt yet again. Still, it was hoping Liam would crash the party, but that wouldn’t happen.
Chapter Sixteen
Right at five, Kai and Tripp were knocking on our door. I glanced at myself once again