Almost Out of Time

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Nicole

I sighed as Chase left the room. I was not entirely ready for the whole mating process. Did it hurt? The biting? And as for the…consummating thing…was I ready for something like that? No! I’m seventeen for crying out loud. I shouldn’t have just said I was ready…but I couldn’t control it. He felt like I’d rejected him and I love him, I could never reject him.

            “So, how’d it go?” Hannah asked with a bright grin on her face from the doorway.

            “You were listening?” I asked, my eyes widening in embarrassment.

            “When you two were downstairs, yes,” she nodded, looking a lot like a bobble head.

            “It went fine…I guess,” I shrugged, allowing my hands to slap my thighs as they fell back down.

            “You don’t want to mate yet, do you?” Hannah asked crossing her arms and fully entering the room.

            I shook my head. “I want to for him but…I just don’t know if I want to for me,” I said biting my bottom lip.

            “I understand but…why did you tell him you wanted to mate?” she asked.

            “You were listening, weren’t you?” I asked looking up at her.

            “No!” she shook her head. “I can just tell from your expression that you told him you’re ready.” She came and sat down beside me, putting an arm around my shoulders. “Honey, you don’t have to do something you aren’t ready to do.”

            “But…he told me about those other alphas—“

            “I know all about that. It’s not a big deal, Nicole. We’ll protect you from them. I think you should tell him that you aren’t ready,” Hannah said rubbing my arm.

            “What if I’m never ready?” I asked meeting her eyes again.

            She took in a long, deep breath before answering. “I don’t know. But let me ask you this: do you love Chase?”

            “I…I haven’t—“

            “Feel with your heart, not your head. When I say Chase’s name do you get tiny electric currents running through your chest? A tingle on your lips, turning them up? His face flashing in your mind?”

            “Yes,” I nodded confidently.

            “Then you love him,” she smiled.

            “Hannah, I don’t know how to do this,” I said after a moment.

            “Do what?”

            “Be one of you. I don’t know how to be a werewolf.”

            “Yes you do. It’s naturally programmed in your body,” she laughed once.

            “Hannah what if it’s wrong?” I asked in a low voice.

            “If what’s wrong?”

            “The mating thing,” I stated. “What if Chase and I aren’t meant to be mates?”

            “You have his markings, Nicole,” Hannah said patting my shoulder. “You two belong together.”