Chapter 44: Eating Our Vegetables

Chapter 44

Eating Our Vegetables

My mom opened the door as I walked down the stairs. Titus gave her a smile, before frowning at me.

“Knock it off,” I exclaimed. “It’s not that bad.”

“Your face is swollen,” he muttered.

“Like a chipmunk.” She grabbed his hand and put the ice pack, she was holding, in it.

“Mom,” I hissed. “Why do you have to be so embarrassing?” I turned sharply and marched back to my room.

I flopped down on my bed. Titus entered soon after. He sat down at my side and brushed my hair out of the way, so he could put the ice on my cheek.

“Did you get in trouble?” I whispered.

He leaned down and kissed my forehead, before going to close the door. My mother was waiting.

“I can trust you not to be doing anything indecent up here?” She tapped her foot.

“You have my word, Mrs. Perri.” He glanced back at me with a smirk. “We’re just going to cuddle for a while.”

My mouth fell open. “Titus! Oh my god.” I covered my face. “Why are you two so annoying?”

My mother was soaking it all in, with a dreamy look on her face. She gave Titus’s arm a squeeze, before turning to leave. “I’ll knock, before entering, just in case.”

“Please just shut the door,” I groaned.

He did so and walked back over. Climbing into the bed, he laid down at my side.

“So?”

He pulled me to his chest and fixed the ice pack. “We’re waiting to see. I didn’t do anything wrong. I have a right to protect you.”

“Because of this?” My hand slipped to my scar.

Titus nodded. “It’s part of our agreement with the humans.”

“Am I in trouble?” I whispered.

He shifted his weight and leaned his head, so it touched the top of mine. “Be glad you’re not a werewolf yet.” He rubbed my arm. “Never been so close to hitting my dad then last night.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “That bad.”

“If we weren’t engaged, it would have been,” he whispered.

“This mark kind of saved me, then,” I laughed hesitantly.

My forced attempted at lightening the mood failed. Titus only nodded, continued to run his hand up and down my arm.

“I’m protective of you, Aden. It’s my nature. You will never understand what leaving a mark on someone feels like.” Moving on top of me, he pressed his forehead against mine. “When your dad took you away, I never felt so depressed. I thought something was wrong with me. I’d broken up with people, before but it had never hurt like this.” He took in a deep breath and rolled to his back. “The older dominants said it only gets worse once the mark is permanent. It just the wolf coming out of us.”

I peeked up at him to see he was gazing up at the ceiling with an emotionless expression.

“I see you as my mate,” he said softly. “Whether you want to be or not, to me you already are.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t mean to cause problems.” Sighing in frustration, I covered my face. “I’m so stupid sometimes.”

“Never do it again.”

“I won’t. I promise I won’t. I tell my parents and come to you if Chris tries something.”

Titus pulled me close to him. His breath was steady, but I still felt an easiness about him. He wasn’t his usual self.

“Titus?”

Glancing down at me, he tipped my chin up and kissed me. “I would have killed him, Aden. If you had waited a second more to tell me to stop, I would have done it, and that scares me.”

Sitting up, I pulled him to my chest and hugged him tightly. “It’s fine. It’s over.”

“Once I calmed down last night, I kept replaying what happened in my head,” he whispered. “My dad and Darius have both had to kill rogues that threatened the pack and even humans.” His eyes met mine. “We have to protect our family. As dominants that’s our job, but we still have a human side, Aden. We feel guilt.” He hid his face in against me. “I don’t want to be a murder.”

“Stop it,” I said sharply, yanking him back. “Stop it right now. You saved me. If you haven’t stop Chris, he would have kept on going, and when he was done he would have left me there. The only one who committed a crime last night was him. Not you.”

Titus let out a shaky breath and pulled me to him.

“You saved me.” I smiled at him. “It sucks that you had to fall in love with a guy who’s stupid at times and doesn’t think, but I’m happy you choose me.” I gave him a soft kiss. “I love you, and I’m glad you didn’t go for some other pathetic garbage boy wandering around a campground.”

That won me a small grin.

“I thought you were really cute actually, moping around like a scolded puppy.”

I laughed. “That’s how I felt. Like an abandoned puppy forced to scrub toilets.”

He leaned in and kissed me. “I’m sure you thought I was a little weird too when we first met.”

“Basically,” I chuckled. “You were like an overgrown puppy who found a lost toy,” I teased.

Titus shrugged. “Sounds about right. I was a pup once. The feeling was close to that.”

I narrowed my eyebrows at him. “I hope not.”

He flashed me a smirk, before turning my head to the side. “Does it hurt?”

“A bit. Mostly my stomach.”

His hand slipped down to my hip. “I can’t make the bruises go away, but I can help them along. Dull the pain a little bit.”

“How?”

Titus rolled us over. “With simple kisses.”

***

I was messing around on my phone, while Titus looked through one my sketchbooks he took without permission. I kept going back to the message, before exiting out and going to a my game. I needed to tell him, but it was clear today hadn’t been the best for Titus.

“This one’s really nice.”

I glanced over at the landscape I had drawn from a photo on my phone. “It’s by the hot pools.”

“I can tell.” He went back to flipping through pages.

“So you’re not going to do anything about Chris?”

“I hope not.” He turned the page. “If he smart, he’ll say he got into a fight, while high. He’s already a delusional bastard.”

“And if he’s doesn’t?” I whispered.

Titus closed the book and turned to face me. “What is it, Aden?”

I fiddled with my phone, before finally going to my text. “He sent me this last night.” I showed him the message.

Titus closed his eyes and ran his hands down his face. “God,” he breathed. “He’s already pissed.

“Your dad?”

He nodded. “You’re worth it to me, Aden, but my dad never has been completely supported of human mates.”

“I’m not helping that either.” My shoulder dropped. I really was making a mess of things.

“Hmmm…” He sat hunched over, staring at the bedspread. “We’ll work it out.” He gave me a reassuring smile, before kissing the side of my head. “The worst thing that could happen is we get to be mates before you graduate.”

“You’re being a little too positive,” I muttered.

A knocked sounded on the door. My mother opened it slightly. “Is it clear?”

“Yes,” I called, annoyed. “We’re not doing anything.”

She opened the door all the way. “I’m just checking sweetheart. I made lunch. Come eat, before it gets cold.” My mom waved for us to follow as she went downstairs.

Titus grabbed my hand and pulled me off the bed. I wasn’t hungry, but my mother never took that as an acceptable excuse. We went to the kitchen and sat down at the table. My mom had made tomato soup and grilled cheese.

My boyfriends looked confused. He tasted a bit of the soup. “It’s really good.”

I rolled my eyes. I had a feeling he mistook the red coloring for something else. I ripped apart my sandwich and dipped it into the soup.

“Is that how you do it?” Titus took one of the grilled cheeses from the plate.

“That’s how I do it,” I said with a shrug.

My mom set a package of crackers down by Titus’s arm. “Your family doesn’t eat tomato soup?”

Titus shook his head. “We don’t eat vegetable in general.”

“Oh my.” She clasped her chest, looking at me. “You better be changing that.” She sat down and crushed up some crackers. “You two together, this might be a disaster.”

I rest my elbow on the table and propped my head up. My ex-best friend knew about werewolves. I was facing the wrath of an alpha, with the prospects of being married before I was eighteen, and she was worried about if we would be eating our vegetables.

My life was so messed up.