Page 48 of Protected Promise

“What were you talking about?”

“Uh, things. You know, the kind of things that happen later… when we’re alone,” he whispered.

Damon glared at him after obviously hearing him.

“What?” I asked. “It’s not like you guys don’t talk about sex in front of everyone.”

Karis laughed, completely unaffected.

“Alphas can be quite demanding. I’d say it was a mating thing, but no, that never went away for us. Did it for you?” she asked Kelsey, Kyle Westin’s mate who had also attended graduation alongside Chase and Jenna.

Kelsey laughed. “Much to his mother’s dismay, I had to go on birth control to keep from being permanently pregnant.”

I bit my lip trying to remember if I had taken my birth control the day before. I knew I hadn’t yet today.Shit.

As a virgin, I shouldn’t have had to be on the pill, but my aunt had put me on it when I turned thirteen as she was worried my uncle could cross that line in a drunken stupor. I shivered at the thought. I had never considered coming off of it, even when I’d moved away.

Kelsey stood up and hugged me. “It’s been too long, Kaitlyn.”

“I agree,” I said trying to push those thoughts out of my head. “This is Landon. Landon, this is Kelsey, Kyle’s mate.”

“We’ve spoken on the phone,” Landon surprised me by saying.

“Yes, of course. How are Mina and Dereck?”

“They are doing great. Thriving really.”

“I’m so happy they found a home and that you were willing to accept them into your Pack.”

“Sometimes that feels like what I do… take in strays.”

“They weren’t exactly strays,” Kyle reminded him.

“No, wanderers perhaps. They only ever speak fondly of Westin Pack,” he assured them both.

“This is Chase and Jenna. Chase is Kyle’s youngest brother and a beloved DOG brother,” I explained.

“DOG, like the fraternity, right?”

“Exactly,” Chase said.

“But you’re not all actually canines?”

Jenna laughed. “No, but most of them are still. I mean you have Chad, he’s a squirrel shifter, and then Kian now, he’s a panther like me.”

“You’re a panther? Are you two not mated?” Landon asked looking confused as we took our seats across from Kyle and Kelsey and next to Damon and Karis.

“No, they are. True mates even,” I told him. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

Damon was scowling at me with a confused look on his face.

“Your smell has changed already. How is that possible?” Damon asked.

My cheeks burned.

“Let me tell you a little something about the birds and the bees, Damon,” Kelsey started. “When two shifters mate, and then seal that mating with a bond, it happens. Their smell changes.”

Damon glared at her unamused.