Page 101 of Mate
“Yeah, that’s probably harder,” Caelum admitted with a grin.
CHAPTER 33
Caelum
“You need to get a grip on her,” Hunter snapped, sitting down across from me in our small living room.
Kaci was right; we did need to move to the mansion. It had been three weeks since the battle against the rogues, and my pack was visiting more than ever.
It was nice, actually. The dynamics had shifted, and we were closer than ever before. Now that we had a queen, we could sort of see where the legendary ‘domino effect’ was coming into play, which was the fact that after the alpha and beta mated, the rest of the pack seemed to find one quickly after. I think that was because they just felt a little more tame. They wanted to settle now.
I mean, don’t get me wrong; they were still fucking everything that moved. But now they were actually looking the women in the eye after they came in them, which I felt was an important first step.
“I assume you’re talking about Kaci?” I asked, restacking the paperwork on my lap.
“I’m gonna have to fail her,” he said in a way that came across as both a warning and a threat.
“My ass you will. You’re gonna pass her.”
“She skipped my test today. But you know what? That’s normal now because she keeps letting her wolf drive the bus!” Hunter growled, gesturing out the window. “She’s out there frolicking right now, doing fuck-knows-what. Her scent is all the fuck over the place, and her wolf is kind of a bitch to everyone and everything it comes across, so you’ve got to check her.” He shrugged and added aloofly, “And I have my standards. If she doesn’t do the work, she doesn’t get the grade.”
“You’re gonna give her a makeup test tomorrow,” I informed him firmly. “Don’t make me fuck you up. Besides, you know how hard shit is for her.”
“Then make her take an Incomplete this semester,” he grumped.
“She’s not taking an Incomplete,” Ry said, stomping into the room from the bedroom. He’d just taken off his suit and was in jeans and a T-shirt now. “That will delay graduation, and I promised she could graduate before we knock her up. Do you know how much that sucks? I don’t like it, Hunter. Pass her.”
“Why have her graduate at all?” Hunter shrugged.
“Because she’s going to be our PR manager, and she’s going to be amazing,” I assured him, crossing one leg over another. “And she needs you for her core classes. Besides, you of all people know what she’s going through.”
Hunter raised his eyebrow. “What? A phase where she just lets the wolf get stronger instead of forcing her other part to get in the driver’s seat? She’s the shittiest wolf tamer I’ve ever seen. If she can’t do it, then you need to do it.”
I squinted my eyes at him. He had some gall. “Why are you coming to me, anyway? If you want to intimidate anyone, why don’t you go right to Kaci?”
“First of all, she’s hard to find. Secondly, I don’t like pissing her off because she has every club under her fucking finger. I don’t need the Physics club demanding more fucking anything from me. They’re already up my asshole, and I don’t want them to start breathing on my weekend. What the fuck are those socks?” he groaned, gesturing to my feet.
I looked down. “They’re hearts,” I explained. “That’s what that shape is.” I narrowed my eyes at his wearied look. “I’m inlove, dickhead.”
“I know,” Ry nodded, commiserating with Hunter. “I think it’s lame as fuck, too.”
I heard a distant howl in the air and straightened. I looked at my watch and looked at Ry, who was also looking at his.
“I fucking told her about a hundred times now!No howling before eight.Fucking wait ‘til after sundown! She’s gonna get someone to call fucking animal control on her,” Ry grumbled, putting on his jacket. He looked like he was about to go on a hunt.
My wolf liked the sound of that. He also liked the sound of what he’d do after he found her. I could almost feel my mouth water, imagining her in the woods with her ass bare.
“I’m going,” Ry announced.
“I’m going, too,” I assured, pulling myself up and out of the chair. I looked around towards Hunter and pointed at him threateningly. “Set up the test. No failing my mate. I fucking mean it.”
“Fine,” Hunter groaned, watching us leave.
He wasn’t wrong; I had been trying to rein in Kaci. She’d been running wild, because her wolf was wild, and Kaci wasn’t used to saying ‘no’ to every impulse that came into her brain. She wasn’t insane; before she’d been claimed, she only wanted normal things. She didn’t want to go running around all over the Bayou.
Even her human side was a little wild now. She spent a lot of time with Little Mama and her sister, who was down visiting most weekends. Her sister and Little Mama had gotten close when they went to… wherever they went to. Her sister came back looking a few months older, her hair looked even more shiny and her eyes full of more wonder and less girlishness. She was still driving Beau crazy, but I had a very close eye on him.
When Kaci wasn’t running around the Bayou, she was really leaning into control of not just our pack, but the campus. She viewed our university as her kingdom, and rightly so. Still, it was too much in too short of a time. Her wolf seemed to be spurring her on to keep on top of the world.