Page 8 of Becoming His

Smiling and shaking his head, he chuckles. “Oh, I’m sure he’s being very helpful. I’m Tate Daniels, Professor Daniels here.” He gestures to the room. “No need to call me sir though. It’s only my second year teaching, and it’s strange being on this side of things.” Opening the door for me, he says, “I won’t keep you. I just thought I’d introduce myself. I’ll see you Wednesday then.” I give him a small smile and thank him before heading to my next class.

I walk over to the science building. I’m early enough that the class before is just letting out. I stand near the wall and wait for the group to pass. I’m one of the first to enter. There are about ten large tables with two chairs at each. I find a seat and bring out my phone to keep busy.

The seat at my table gets pulled back, and I know it’s a shifter. When I look, he’s smiling at me with his hand out. “I’m Sam, and you must be Sophia.”

I take his hand. “You know that how?” I ask.

His smile gets even bigger. “Casper hasn’t stopped talking about that damn sandwich and cake all day.” He laughs. “Not to mention you, beautiful girl, are the talk of the campus. Everyone, and I mean, everyone, wants to know who the new mystery girl is.” He gives me jazz hands. “Casper is having a fit, telling them all to back off, you’re his,” he says and bumps my shoulder with his.

I scoff. “His, hardly. I just met him and Michael on Saturday. He is, however, helping me. He’s very kind.”

He lets out a full belly laugh. I find myself laughing along with him; it’s that infectious. When he calms down, he says, “You’re just like he described. You’re going to drive him crazy, and I can’t wait to watch it.”

Not really sure what he means, I just shake my head at him. Seeing my confusion, he leans close to me and whispers, “All the ladies fall at his feet, almost as many as his brothers, but you, you’re not. And, I can’t wait to watch my best friend eat a big ole piece of humble pie.” He cackles. Sam has warm, brown eyes, light brown hair, and a very friendly face. I already like him.

The professor walks in and tells us these will be our seats for the rest of the semester and passes out a diagram of the room for us to write our name on where we are sitting. Any group work will be with the person seated next to us, and I’m grateful my table mate chose me.

Sam keeps a running dialog about anything and everything, every second the professor’s not talking. I find him fascinating. He is so full of life.

When class is over, I tell him I’m heading to the union to meet Sniffer, which has him doubled over with laughter when I tell him that Sniffer is Casper, and ask if he’d like to join us.

“Good God, yes. Even if I had to skip class, I wouldn’t miss it.” We walk slowly to the union, and he fills me in on the gossip of every person we pass. By the time we’re there, my whole face is red, and I know more than I ever wanted to about my classmates. I think he’s making half of it up just to see me squirm.

MASEN

There’s a knock on my door, and I’m hoping it’s not Roxanne. Fuck, I need to stop sleeping with her. Then, she’d stop acting like my girlfriend. I’ve told her I don’t feel that way for her anymore, but I keep having sex with her. She knows I sleep with other women, but she doesn’t seem to mind. I can’t blame her for assuming. Other than not sleeping over or coming to my house, I still treat her the same. Old habits are hard to break.

Opening the door, I find a pensive-looking Casper. His hands are deep in his pockets, and his shoulders slump forward. “What’s up, Cass? You need a drink?” I ask when he comes in and sits down.

“Yeah man, that’d be good.” I make us each a drink and wait for him to talk. I know he will when he’s ready.

“Remember the girl I was talking about yesterday, the one me and Mikey met at the beach?”

“Sure, you said you were in love, right?”

Nodding, he says, “Yeah, that’s her. She invited me over for lunch today. She said she had some questions. I told you how she said she hasn’t been around many shifters?”

“Okay, and that bothers you?”

“Nah man, not at all. I didn’t understand how it was possible just thought her family was a little over the top, ya know?” I can tell whatever he found out is not good.

“Shit, man, she’s had it rough. She never had a pack. Just her mom and dad.” Then, he looks me right in the eyes. “They died when she was fourteen with no pack and no family. She went into foster care, human foster care.”

Holy shit. Cass is shaking his head, staring into the scotch I just poured him. “Her first shift, she was alone, said she prepared best she could and just did it. Like it’s no biggie. My first shift it felt like I was dipped in acid for four hours!” His eyes are unfocused like he’s remembering, shuddering as he continues. “She didn’t talk about her time in foster care, but I got the feeling it was no walk in the park. All that’s bad enough, right? That’s not even the worst of it!” His face tells me how absolutely livid he is. “A few years ago, she met her Mate.”

I know there’s more and I’m almost afraid to ask, but I do. “And?”

“He left her, never claimed her, just walked away from this beautiful creature, probably the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. He just turned and walked away. Do you know what she asked me?” He seethes. “She asked me If I thought there was something wrong with her... with her!” He explodes from the chair, throwing his glass against the fireplace. His chest is lifting with heavy breaths. “It about ripped my fucking heart out, she was so quiet, so so quiet. I don’t think she even meant to say it out loud. It was just there, and she couldn’t take it back.”

None of this makes any sense. “Is she sure it was her Mate?” I ask calmly. Trying to soothe him.

“I asked the same thing, couldn’t believe it. Told her that doesn’t happen, right? She said she’s sure it’s not something you can doubt.”

I drop my hands between my spread knees. She’s right, there’s no doubting it. “Shit, man, I don’t know I’ve never heard anything like that. Who passes up their Mate?” I’m just as confused as he was when he came here. I can tell he’s thinking about everything she said, going over it in his head.

“She said he had a woman with him, a girlfriend by the way they acted.” He’s sitting again and tells me, “She cooked for me, big ass steak sandwiches, salad, and a cake, a fucking pineapple cake. All the shit she’s been through, and she’s still so sweet. I think if that shit would have happened to me I’d kill somebody.” We’re both quiet for a while just thinking.

“I gotta go, man, I gotta run. This shit’s too much.” He’s right, it is.

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