Two Halves A Whole

Chapter 16

*~ Chapter 16 ~*

I was having a stare down with a bag of grapes.

They weren’t exactly on sale; in fact they were slightly overpriced. But they looked so ripe and juicy….what the heck. I tossed them into my shopping cart and continued down my list.

Milk.

Right. Milk. You wouldn’t believe how much milk this pack goes through. For being carnivorous beings, wolves sure did go through a lot of dairy. I bent over to look through the glass door and read the labels. Skim, whole, chocolate –ooh chocolate! Yummy….should I? Could I?

A low growl sounded to my left and I frowned. That must mean no, I thought reluctantly grabbing a couple of 2%. I turned to see my mate glaring at the young man shopping next to us who’d paused to pick up some milk as well. Meeting Derek’s opposing glare, the shopper thought better of it and quickly scurried away, deciding milk wasn’t that important after all.

I straightened placing my hands on my hips and frowning at his behavior. Derek smirked triumphantly at the man’s hurried retreat then turned back.

“What?” he asked, smirk vanishing.

My eyes narrowed, “Stop scaring the humans! They have groceries to get too. This isn’t a werewolf exclusive store.”

“I know that.” He replied in a haughty tone.

“Then why on earth do you keep frightening away every human that gets within spitting distance?”

His eyes narrowed and took on an inky blackness, “They’re looking at you.”

I threw my hands in the air, “Of course they’re going to look at me. I’m not invisible you know!”

He clenched his jaw and lowered his voice, “No. They’re looking at you!”

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Huh? What is he talking about?

He huffed as he searched for the right words, “They’re….you know…checking you out?”

“Oh.” I said, understanding dawning. Humans wouldn’t be able to see the mark on my neck or smell the change in my scent to know that I was taken. I hadn’t even considered how hard it would be for Derek to put up with them. I mean if a wolf was checking me out, he could do something about it. Humans though…they were a whole new issue.

“Yeah, oh.” He said. His features were still tense and coated with an underlying anger that I knew came from his wolf. All of his base instincts were telling him to protect me because others were challenging his position as my mate. I walked up and wrapped my arms around him, placing a kiss on the rough stubble of his cheek. His arms automatically came around me and he relaxed slightly.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how hard it would be for you to come to the store with me. I only have a few more things to grab and then we can head home.”

“Home.” He said with a soft smile, “I like the sound of that.”

I moved with a quicker pace as I got the last few items on my list with Derek acting as my shadow. I needed to get him out of here before his wolf decided that enough was enough. I grabbed the last item on my list and all but sprinted to the check out. The cashier handed me my receipt with a smile, and Derek growled.

Okay, definitely time to go.

I messily scrawled my signature and pushed the paper back to the cashier who in turn handed me my copy. Out of habit I scanned the items just to double check for any errors, and that’s when I saw the phone number written at the bottom. I felt Derek’s breath on the back of my neck as I looked up. The Cashier caught my gaze and sent a flirty wink in my direction. I couldn't help the slight curling of my lip in disgust and clenched my fists in anger. How dare he?! Why I oughtta....