Tiger's Mate

Chapter 15

• Katski •

Working in silence was better than not working at all I suppose. Within the last half hour, Ethan had become very engaged in his writing as he worked on the main introduction to our biography. We had both decided that he was better with writing creatively, so he had volunteered to write out the first page while I put together the facts that would be included and whatnot.

Honestly, I myself was surprised by how good he was, especially since he doesn't come off as the type of guy who generally cares about school work — but then again there was a lot about him that had surprised me lately.

As we worked, I found myself stealing glances at him whenever he wasn't looking. If he had caught me I'm sure he would have found it annoying, or maybe even a little creepy, but I couldn't help it. He really was good looking, and that jawline had me a little captivated. But not as much as just being this close to him.

I could feel my chest lift slightly, just thinking about how glad I was that he didn't seem to hate me (any more than he already did) or anything, even after what happened. Obviously, he was still a jerk, that didn't change, and he still seemed to insist on not saying my name right (or ever), but at least he didn't absolutely hate my guts to the point where he couldn't be in the same room as me, like I had been expecting.

And if I was being honest, the comfortable silence was actually pretty nice.

Plus, peach fritters make everything better.

A few minutes later, that pretty little wolf-girl Maia came back over. She threw me a quick smile when I looked up. Obviously she thought of me as nothing but a human or else she wouldn't be acting this friendly to me — a secret werecat.

It was strange that I didn't feel such a strong bristling feeling around her than I did when I met Ethan. In fact, it seemed like practically nothing, I barely noticed. Since she had no visible reaction, maybe that meant it went both ways. Though it did make me question why my distasteful irritation towards Ethan had been so strong in the first place. Probably just because he doesn't come off as very approachable...or friendly...or even remotely nice.

Probably something to do with at least one of those things.

I sipped on my deliciously yummy peach smoothie while my gaze subtly watched her lean down next to Ethan and whisper something in his ear.

All of a sudden my friendliness towards her instantly churned into something else, and at once I could feel myself bristling at how close she was to him.

Don't get me wrong, Maia seemed like a nice person and I actually did like her — now that she didn't look like she wanted to rip me in half — but her hand was placed on Ethan's shoulder and her lips were only a few mere centimetres from his ear. Too close, my mind whispered involuntarily.

And I didn't like it.

I felt some unknown feeling begin to get the better of my thoughts, chasing away all reasonability as I felt my temper begin to simmer.

Wait what was wrong with me?

Was I actually getting stirred up by something so small?

I stiffened as I realized my chest was vibrating in the beginnings of a low growl, and I quickly snapped myself out of it.