Page 59 of Protected Promise

Tobi gave me a knowing look. “Pay up, Kaitlyn. I told you he’d be after you first.”

“What if I came looking for you?” I said without missing a beat.

“Did you?”

“No. I came to evict you from my room.”

“Big talk there, mister. But I’m afraid you are interrupting Ladies’ Night.”

I laughed. “Since when do you do Ladies’ Night that doesn’t involve dragging me into something I’m going to regret?”

“Since I befriended my Pack Mother.” She smacked me hard on the arm and I had to force myself to refrain from growling at her. “Why didn’t I hear it from you first?”

I shrugged. “I was getting around to it.”

“I told you she would want to know.”

“You’re my mate. She should have assumed.”

“Well, I didn’t assume. I hoped for your sake you didn’t screw it all up, but how was I supposed to know you’d go all Alpha and take her the first night you met her.”

“Second,” I grumbled. “It was hard, but I walked away the first night.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Kaitlyn confirmed. “I was so confused, and a little disappointed by that.”

“You were in no condition for me to stay. I wouldn’t do that to you,” I assured her.

“Unless you were both drunk, you mean?” Tobi said with a grin.

I groaned. “You told her?”

“She was there when we got to the hotel, remember? She’s not stupid. She knew the second she caught a whiff of me.”

“Well, I do think you’re both a little bit of an idiot to have drunk bonded, but whatever. What’s done is done. I have full faith it would have happened eventually.”

But would it have? Kaitlyn was struggling to be intimate with me. I didn’t blame her, knowing her past and all, but it did make me feel like an ass as if I took advantage of the situation. I knew I hadn’t forced myself on her, but had we both been sober that night, I doubt we’d be here together now and that bothered me more than anything.

“Kaitlyn, do you wish to be left alone with this buffoon?”

“Tobi, I swear. I’m still your Alpha,” I reminded her, even though she knew she was the only person on Earth that could get away with harassing me.

She just grinned. “Fine. What time are we leaving in the morning?”

“I’d like to drive straight through tomorrow. I’m excited to show Kaitlyn our territory.”

“That’s fine. I hate leaving Jackson, but I’ll settle down more when we’re out of this city. I have such a love hate relationship with this place.”

“You seem to be doing really well. Better than I expected.”

She shrugged. “I do better away from those windows in the living room. It’s easier back here to convince myself we’re not a million miles in the sky.”

I hugged her, surprised and a little relieved when Kaitlyn didn’t growl at us.

“Get some sleep. We’ll leave early.”

She said good night and left us.

When Tobi shut the door behind her it felt like all the air was sucked from the room.