His Arrogant Human Mate novel Chapter 23

She paused, looking back at me with guarded eyes. I jerked my head to the trail with a small smile, and she silently moved back onto the right path.

Her dark hair fell in front of her soft brown eyes, and I found myself reaching towards her to brush it behind her ear, but she flinched away from me as if I would hurt her.

I had to push down the growl the rose to my throat. She had no reason to be scared of me. She wasn't doing anything wrong. My wolf was dying to shower her with affection, and yet she wasn't having it. Caroline acted as if I was poisonous, dangerous even. All I wanted to do was take care of her. I knew how upset she was.

"Can I leave you and your friend alone without worrying about you running off, or do I have to stay in the room?"

"I won't run off," she murmured, not looking at me.

I pulled her to a stop, cupping her chin gently. "Look at me and promise."

Cara lifted her tired eyes to meet mine, and I could see the pain and exhaustion plain in them. "I promise."

"Thank you."

Andrew and Alfie's bond must have been working in overdrive because it was impossible to get Andrew away from his mate.

For the first ten minutes of the visit, Alfie was hugging Cara tightly while she buried her face in his neck. Andrew sat beside them, watching his mate with puppy-dog eyes and I almost wanted to vomit, until I caught myself doing something similar when she pulled back from him.

Cara whispered something I didn't quite catch and Andrew laughed. "Of course you do."

"What did she say?" I asked, even though I was pretty sure what it was.

"She wants to go home with Alfie," Andrew replied.

Caroline glanced at me, as if waiting for me to yell at her. "As long as you just want it, and don't try to do so, we won't have a problem, sugar. I know you miss it. That's okay."

She sighed, turning back to her friend and conversing quietly. The mark was already doing its work. I wanted to be beside her. I wanted her to be talking to me.

"Andrew, let's give them some alone time. We can talk in the kitchen."

"Do I have to, Dominic? Please. I just want to go home. I'm really not in the mood for this."

"We'll only play a couple rounds. Just give it a try. If you start losing too bad, I'll give you some pointers. How about that?" I pressed, giving her a hopeful smile.

She sighed and fell onto a chair, slouching. Andrew and I decided that it'd be fun to go with the mates against mates thing. Alfie and Andrew loaded their selected bowling balls onto the belt thing, grinning as if they already won.

I looked at Andrew, glancing down at my miserable mate before looking back to him pleadingly. "No. Mates against mates. That's final," he claimed stubbornly.

"C'mon, sugar, let's get your size," I murmured, ruffling her hair and pulling her back to her feet. It took a couple tries, but she finally got a small, teal blue one that fit her. I had to go in search of the biggest one they had, mostly because my trick was to hurl the sphere as hard as possible down the center, and the heavier it was, the better that worked for me. Once we got them in place, I cupped her chin and made her look at me.

"Caroline. Please. I know you don't want to be here, but give it a try. I'm going to try to make up for the stupid things I said earlier. I'm determined to put you in a good mood again. So..." I whipped around to face our competitors. "Loser buys ice cream."

Andrew smirked. "Deal."

We were playing on two separate lanes, our screens lined up beside each other so we could keep up with the game. Alfie and Cara were up first. While Cara took her time setting up, Alfie was already launching his into the gutter. Andrew's confidence fizzled a little bit, but when he saw Cara struggling, it came back.