Tiger's Mate

Chapter 24 prt. 2

•Ethan•

Whatever thinking process in his head was causing him to frown — probably trying to figure out what I was obviously dismissing — annoyed me, since I knew it wasn't even worth thinking about. I decided to steer the topic to something else.

"I saw that look you threw at me," I began as a low smirk etched onto my face. "You really did like showing off to me didn't you?"

The way he looked away didn't do anything to hide the smug grin on his face.

"Maybe I did..." he allowed, before his eyes flashed over to me. "Did you like it?" His tone was teasing.

"To be honest...fuck yeah. I think I like knowing that my mate is one hell of a badass on the court," I replied, keeping my expression guarded to disguise the faint rise in heat to my face that may or may not have been because I had so easily referenced him as my mate.

He was blushing as well, but still smirked. "Why haven't you ever joined any teams, I'm sure you'd dominate in any sport," he said.

I shrugged in honesty. "No interest," I answered. "Also, guys tend to get competitive and well, I don't always have that tight a lid on my temper. Wouldn't want to accidentally toss one across the field with wolf strength."

He laughed and scratched the back of his head. "I see...yeah, that makes sense."

We talked about his practice and a few other absent-minded things as we headed for the woods, walking along the large empty road out of town.

Don't ask me what suddenly made me get the idea.

Katski was simply laughing and talking about some — thing, that I was only half-listening to because I found myself just listening to the sound of his voice rather than the words he spoke.

I think he was rambling on about being hungry. I mean, I technically just got him as my mate — the last thing I wanted was to have him die of starvation (because if werecat appetites were anything like werewolves, then food was an absolute necessity), but I was also a little too distracted to think too much of it. He was still talking when I lifted my phone and quickly snapped a quick picture of him in the light.

The sound cut him off of his complaining and he turned with a look of surprise at my action while I looked at the photo.

It was clearly a shot that had been taken while he was in the middle of speaking, the sideways view showed his open mouth and eyes focused ahead. The sun was reflected almost perfectly against his eyes and his hair, giving the illusion that he was basking in it. And he was smiling.

I heard a flash, and my eyes glanced up just in time to see Katski snap-click again on his phone.

"Did you just take a picture of me?" I questioned.

"You took one of me first." He looked down at his phone and then let out a quick laugh that he tried to cover up. "You look like you're going to kill me."

He showed me his phone and I raised an eyebrow at the capture of the unsmiling look on my face that just seemed that much more cold with the glaring look in my fridge eyes. Whereas he looked like a ray of damn sunshine, I looked dark and cold, as per preferred usual.

"You're right, I do." Damn, sometimes I really forgot how unfriendly I could look. It came with the territory of being a wolf.

"This is going to be my new photo for you," Katski snickered as he began tapping on his screen, presumably to change the setting of my message icon.

I rolled my eyes, unamused as he finished and slide his phone back into his pocket before I could even think to snatch it from him. He then shot me an annoyingly smug grin and cocked his head slightly to the side as he said, "So can I see my photo?"

"No."

"Huh? Why not?" he complained.

"Probably because you look like shit."

"Liar. You're probably going to go back and ogle my sweet-ass looks later," he smirked cockily.

"Fuck you," I said.

Ok yeah, I didn't exactly deny it, but ogle was a strong word.

Katski sighed. "At least tell me there's a cute black heart next to my name or something..." he said with a grin.

"What are you? A sixteen-year-old girl with her first boyfriend?" I questioned irksomely. Katski only shrugged.

"Minus the girl part. Add a couple more years. And...yeah." He sheepishly brought a hand behind to scratch at the back of his head as he smiled. "So I'm going to ask questions."

"I don't even have your name written on," I said and he balked.

"Huh? What do you have then?" he questioned, almost poutingly as he gave me a disappointed look.

I showed him my screen.

He stared at it for several seconds before his shoulders slumped forward and he gave me one of his most agitated groans. "Ok first off — why does my screen name have to freaking 'Kitty'?! Can't it just be my name? For once!? Secondly, there's no heart emoji!"

I rolled my eyes, smirking. "Sorry, it's a precaution. Remember that my brother knows your name and that you're a werecat. We can't have him look at my phone and seeing your screen name pop up." Then I wryly added, "And I don't do heart emojis."

"Yeah right, good excuse," he huffed and crossed his arms.

"I know," I replied, earning an aggravated huff.

"Fine." He glared. "But expect me to call you angry wolf boy from now on."

I visually cringed. "You wouldn't."

It seemed the cockiness was slowly returning. Evident from the smirk now on his face instead of mine. "I would. Watch me."

He began to tap on his phone, presumably to change my name. And so — like the extremely mature guy that I am — I tried to grab it from him instantly, only for him to use his stupidly quick feline reflexes to jump out of the way before I could. Even more maturely, as I definitely was; I chased him down the street. While that annoying cat laughed over his shoulder like an idiot.

We were panting, running, chasing and dodging out of each other's way all the way to the end of the road. I don't know when it started, but by the end, I realized at some point I had been smiling too. That was — until I caught his damn annoying ass finally and more or less tackled him back against a tree as we both caught our breath. I held him there.

"I win," I smirked.

"Good boy. You want a chew toy or a bone reward?" He teased laughingly as I scowled. He didn't try to break out of my hold.

"You're so damn annoying," I growled. Hating how my chest felt warm even as the damn werecat smiled back.

"Well, I've got to get going," he said. All too quickly he had somehow slipped under my arms before I could snatch him again and was at my other side. I only glared as he chuckled. Stupid cat agility.

While I was mentally grumbling on that thought, he leaned over and kissed me goodbye before I even knew what was happening. And by the time my brain caught up with it, he was already a distance away, sending me an all too knowing smirk. Damn that cat. How the hell was I smiling?

I groaned. What the fuck was he doing to me?