Tiger's Mate

Chapter 20

•Katski•

"Not that I'm not super happy right now, but I think it's obvious when I say we both need to clear the air. So, would you like to start the conversation of awkwardness or shall I?" I asked Ethan, who was sitting beside me, leaned up against a tree next to the stream in front of us.

I sat too, casually resting on the settled rocks with feelings of bliss upon me. I had a mate. Ethan was mine. And the tiger within me felt an oddly satisfied feeling, like that missing piece I didn't know was missing within me had finally been put in place. But I was sure the both of us knew, that if we wanted to move past our past feuds, we needed to settle everything between us.

"I guess I'll go first..." Ethan muttered, though he looked more embarrassed than reluctant to admit it. Clearly he was not the kind of guy who liked to talk about his feelings, which believe me, I had figured out pretty quickly. He let out a deep sigh before gathering himself together and beginning. "As you know, from the beginning I didn't like you. Like, if I'm being honest, straight-up hated you pretty much moment I met you."

"Probably the fact that I'm a werecat and you're a werewolf sort of thing..." I inserted with a nonchalant shrug.

"Yeah, exactly. Though I admit, I also didn't like you just because. No offence but something about you just aggravates me," Ethan spoke pointedly and I almost laughed at the fact that he said 'aggravates' instead of 'aggravated'. Even after telling me I was his mate, he didn't change."But anyway, that's how it was...until you kissed me..." he trailed off.

I smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of my neck at the memory. "Yeah...it hadn't been anticipated on my part, I just sort of...lost control for a second."

"Figured as much," Ethan responded with a look as I grinned.

"Anyways, continue."

"Right...well, after that it kind of changed things. At first I was pissed, like super pissed, but after that I couldn't stop thinking about you and kept feeling this weird sensation every time you were near. Especially when we worked together. I had no clue what it was, and since you were a werecat, I just figured I'd ignore you until it went away...which, turns out, did abso-fucking-lutely nothing to help."

"Then why did you keep doing it," I muttered with a bitter growl, crossing my arms.

Ethan sighed. "Because I'm fucking stubborn alright? Also, there was a part of my wolf complex still telling me to hate you, so that just made everything more complicated."

"What changed?"

"Well, I saw you at the party last night, and you know what happened from there...with that whole closet thing...I was pissed because I heard the rumours about you hooking up with some cheerleader—"

"Which weren't true!"

"Yeah, well, I got pissed about it either way — which I didn't even know why I did. Then I realized you were ignoring me at the party, which made think you were mad at me...and for some reason I realized that I didn't like the feeling of you being mad at me — which made no sense since I was the one being cold to you first, but anyway. It wasn't until you went and kissed that stupid redhead that I got super pissed and almost wolfed out—"

"Oh really?" I asked curiously, teasing grin plastering across my face. "Jealous much?"

Ethan glared. "Fuck off," he muttered, but I caught a faint blush on his otherwise hard expression. "Then you left after that, and I don't know why I went after you, or what I would even say when I found you...but anyway, you had upped and disappeared, and when I couldn't find you Maia pulled me aside and we talked...she told me I had to talk to you, which I was planning to do anyway, I guess. But then I found you drunk, etc, etc, you know the rest from there..." He trailed off.