Chapter 7

Denny

In my perfect world I'd be alone with Lauren and really get to know her today, but the fact that she wasn't complaining about me hanging around and wasn't pushing me away said a lot. Or at least I hoped I wasn't reading too much into it.

It made me feel good just to sit next to her.

A few minutes later Damon and Karis joined us.

The kids started talking in hushed whispers and I noticed Kylie sign something to Lauren. It didn't take me long to figure out they weren't exactly happy with us cramping their style.

“ Please ,” Kylie signed to her sister.

I looked around and saw the rest of my D.O.G.s sitting at our usual table.

“Hey, I think we should move over to our usual table. We probably shouldn't be sitting with the freshmen anyway. It'll just cramp our style.”

I winked at Kylie and stood up with my tray.

“Whatever,” Damon grumbled. “I just want to eat.”

He grabbed his tray and his mate's and they walked over to the usual doghouse table and sat down. But when Lauren didn't make a move to get up, I was torn on what to do.

Kylie was still talking to her. “ Go, ” she motioned.

“ But I thought you needed me, ” Lauren replied to her.

“ Not yet. Not while we eat. ”

Lauren hesitated, and I wished I knew why. Was it me? Did she not want to sit with me? My mind started questioning everything and spiraling down a rabbit hole quickly.

“ Please, ” Kylie finally asked her.

Lauren looked lost but eventually huffed and nodded as I waited with bated breath.

“Come on. You can sit with me,” I told her.

While she was pushing her seat back to stand, I snagged her tray and carried it for her just as Damon had done for his mate.

I didn't wait to see if she'd follow. Somehow, I knew she would. Where else was she going to go? As far as I knew, I was the only other person at the ARC that she knew.

Damon gave me a thumbs-up as I set both trays down across from him and Karis.

The others at the table perked up and took interest as Lauren joined us.

“I don't think we've officially met yet. I'm Remy. This is Monte, Caleb, Braxton, Kevin, and Joseph. That's Alpha Damon of the Alaskan wolves and his mate, Karis. How do you know Denny?”

If I'd been sitting, I would have kicked him under the table.

“We met yesterday,” she muttered. Then nodded to those she recognized. “It's nice to see you again Alpha and Pack Mother.” And then she genuinely smiled at Kevin. “Kevin.”

I couldn't have stopped it if I wanted to, a growl erupted from me like a freaking volcano.

Everyone at the table stopped mid-bite and stared at the two of us.

“Oh,” Remy said.

Monte burst out laughing.

I huffed as I sat down.

“Sorry,” I whispered to her.

“For what?” she said sweetly, playing it off like I hadn't just announced to everyone that we’re mating.

“So, Lauren, right? It is Lauren?”

“Yes.”

“And you're Kylie's sister?”

What the hell was Remy playing at.

“I am. Have you met her?”

“Yeah. She was hanging out at the house with our newest recruits last night. Sweet kid. Denny was particularly protective of her.”

I glared at him.

“And now we know why,” he muttered under his breath, making the others chuckle.

I almost growled at him again, but Lauren turned to me and her light-green eyes shone brightly as she smiled up at me.

“Thanks for keeping an eye on her for me. I really appreciate it.”

My mouth went dry, and I couldn't form words to speak, so I just nodded. I wasn't the kind of guy who was used to being speechless. I always knew what to say or how to talk myself out of or into anything in life. But the way she looked at me made me feel tongue-tied for the first time in my life.

“Do you go to school here too, Lauren?” Remy persisted.

“No. I'm just here to help Kylie get settled.”

“But you're staying, right?”

She gave him a confused look. “No. I have to head home in four days.”

My stomach churned and I thought I might puke. Wouldn’t be the first time I caused a scene like that in this cafeteria during my time here. Maybe the first time sober, though.

Remy looked at me with concern, but I subtly shook my head.

“So where's home?” he asked.

Why the hell couldn't he just shut up?

“New York City.”

“Oh. So you're a New York wolf?”

“I am.”

“Cool. Well, welcome to the ARC. I hope you'll reconsider and stick around.”

“And if you need a personal tour guide, Remy's happy to show you around,” Monte added, beaming back at me as he said it.

I growled a low guttural sound of warning, but it was halted quickly when Lauren put her hand on my arm and smiled sweetly back at him.

“I already have a personal tour guide and he’s done a great job, but thanks.”

“Good answer,” Remy said, looking triumphant.

“Enough. Let her eat in peace,” I said.

When she moved her hand from my arm, I instantly missed her touch. But I didn't want to spook her or anything, so instead of holding her hand the way I wanted to, I focused on my food as we ate in silence.

“So Denny, how many pledges are you taking this year?” Damon asked.

“I don’t know yet. We have room for six at least. I have one legacy but I’m not sure he's going to rush. I don't know what to do about that.”

“Oscar Westin?”

“Yeah.”

“Why isn't he going to rush? He's guaranteed a spot.”

“I know. I'll have to talk to him more about it later. He really seems on the fence, but I think most of the guys he's hanging out with this week will rush, so I'm not stressing it yet.”

It wouldn't look good for a legacy to snub the chapter and refuse to rush. And it would look even worse if he decided to rush another fraternity instead. I thought for sure this kid would be a sure thing, but after meeting and talking to him, I wasn't so confident about that now.

“I like Oscar. I think he's the one leading the charge for everyone to learn ASL for Kylie,” Lauren said.

“That's really cool,” Damon said.

“I've honestly never heard of a deaf wolf shifter before. I didn't even know such a thing was possible. Was she born this way?” Karis asked. “If that's rude or too intrusive, I apologize. I'm just so curious now after meeting her.”

“It's okay,” my mate said. “She wasn't born deaf. It was a boating accident when she was five. We lost our parents that day, too. I'm all she's got left. I mean, there's our Pack, and my aunt let us stay with her until I turned eighteen and got my own place for us. It's more support than some orphans have. So, I guess you could say we've been lucky.”

Something inside me snapped hearing her story. I knew right then and there I would do absolutely anything to protect Lauren and Kylie going forward.

“It was good your aunt took you in like that?” Damon said as a sense of unease washed over the table.

She shrugged. “It gave us a safe place to sleep. If she'd refused, I'd have found somewhere else for us. I always did what was necessary to keep food on the table, clothes on our backs, and to ensure Kylie got the best medical care and schooling possible.”

“That's incredible. But you had to have been just a kid yourself,” he argued.

I glanced over just in time to see her lips purse.

“I guess you could say I grew up quickly after the accident. Someone had to be a voice for Kylie. No one in our Pack knew how to communicate with her, so I found a program to teach me and then I held classes to teach anyone and everyone I could.”

“How old were you?” he asked.

“Nine. But like I said, I grew up fast after that.”

“That's awful. Did you even finish high school?” Karis asked.

“Of course. There was a great night school program I got into. That allowed me to work during the day and be there to take Kylie to appointments and see she got to school and back home safely each day.”

Karis reached across the table and took Lauren's hands in hers. “That couldn't have been easy. You were just a child yourself.”

Lauren shrugged. “You do what you have to do for family, right? I'd choose to do it all over again a million times if it got us here. I mean, look at her.”

We all turned to look over at the table as Kylie smiled and laughed with her new friends.

“See. It was all worth it. I really think she's going to be okay here.”

Her eyes misted over as she tried to discreetly swipe tears away.

“You are an amazing woman, Lauren. Maybe even the strongest I've met in a very long time. To sacrifice yourself the way you have for your sister is just remarkable,” Karis said as the two women shared a moment.

I couldn't stop myself. I wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders and relaxed when she leaned into me. I left it there while we ate. Might as well stake my claim. I had nothing to hide. This was my mate, and the best part of all was that she didn't seem embarrassed and didn't even try to pull away from me. The calm and joy that brought me was indescribable.

After lunch we said goodbye to my friends. Damon and Karis were about to head out needing to return to Alaska, seeing as how they were kind of important and definitely missed there.

He hugged me. “She's a keeper. Best of luck to you. Trust me, don't bother fighting it.”

“I certainly don't intend to.”

“Smart man. I trained you well.”

I went to move to Karis next, but she was talking to Lauren.

“I just want you to know how impactful your story was to me. Thank you for sharing. If you ever get tired of life in the Big Apple, know you have a place in Alaska, even if it's just for a visit. We'd love to have both you and Kylie visit us sometime. And sure, you can bring this guy, too.”

She casually nudged me before hugging my mate.

Seeing the two of them embrace did something to me and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to wipe the stupid grin off my face anytime soon.

Next, she hugged me.

“You take care of this girl. I mean it. She's spent her whole life caring for others. It's about time she’s taken care of.”

I nodded. “That's the plan.”

I hated to see them go, but I knew they had important lives back in their Pack now. I was proud as shit to even know them and count them as family, part of the brotherhood.

The rest of the guys said goodbye to us as they left to return to the house and hang out. I could have gone with them, but there was no way I could force myself to leave my girl voluntarily. She was going to have to be the one to put up boundaries if she needed them because as far as I was concerned, she was mine and I would take every second I could to be with her.

“I guess they all know, huh?”

“Know what?” I asked.

She sighed. “That we're mating.”

“I guess so. Does that bother you? I mean, I didn't say anything to them. Damon has this sort of Alpha detector that alerts him to mating males in the area or something like that. He sounded pretty convincing so I'm pretty sure he wasn't bullshitting me. And the others, well, I guess they just noticed. Sorry.”

She shrugged. “It is what it is. Nothing we can really do to stop it, right?”

“Right. I guess? To be honest, I don’t really know. I've watched friends go through it, but it's just not really what I imagined.”

She turned worried eyes up at me.

I reached out and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

“They always made it seem so stressful and yet this feels as easy as breathing.”

We stood there staring at each other until Kylie ran over and linked her arm through Lauren's and dragged her away, following the others out of the building. I did the only thing I could think to do—I followed behind her like a lost puppy dog.