Taming the Beast
Chapter 44 (Caroline)

"Do you think that Lena will still have some breakfast left over?" she asked me as I drove. I smirked to myself.

"They won't even start eating until I get there," I answered her. I reached my hand over and laced it with hers as I drove with one hand. Keeping my eyes on the road, I brought her hand up to my lips and peppered kisses along her hand before resting out hands in between us and rubbing light circles into the back of her hand. I glanced over to see her smiling as she watched me. I chuckled. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing," she shook her head with a smile. "I'm just... I'm happy; legitimately happy. I can't remember ever feeling this good. It's like there's... I don't know, fireworks running through my body. I can feel every single one of my nerves," she said giddily. I smiled as the skin near my eyes crinkled.

"I'm happy too, love. Did you get your mark yet?" I asked her.

"The mark on my side? You were kind of there for that Keegan," she said sarcastically. I laughed and shook my head.

"Check your mark," I told her. She pulled her shirt up to look at her side and gasped. I'll take that as a yes. She brought her shirt up more for me to see. It was there. She had an intricate swirling tribal design that went on her side and covered her ribs, all the way up into her sports bra to where I marked her again this morning in crimson. Almost like my blood made the tattoo. I could see one of the lines swirl into my initials. She admired it for a while before she pulled her shirt back down. She looked at me expectantly.

"Don't you have one?" she asked as we pulled up to my house. I smiled and turned the car off before I lifted my shirt. Right over my heart was a tribal design that was similar to hers. I looked to see that her initials were in cursive over my heart, connecting to the design the fanned out over my peck. Mine was manlier that hers, obviously, but it was in the same blood crimson. Caroline reached her hand forward and ran her fingers over the slightly raised skin gently.

"How long does it stay?" she asked. I put my shirt down and kissed her gently as I took her hand in mine.

"A few weeks like it is now. Then it fades over the course of another two weeks until it's gone," I answered. She frowned suddenly.

"Will it stay is one of us dies?" she asked. I growled at the thought but sighed and calmed myself down.

"Yes," I answered. I pushed my door open and Caroline met me around the front of the car, putting her hand in mine before we walked to the door.

"Hey, I didn't mean to upset you, I was just curious," she apologized softly. I shook my head and kissed her temple.

"It's okay, love. I know," I muttered. She smiled.

"I wonder if Danny is still here," she thought out loud. Her eyes went wide. "Danny won't know, will he?" she asked, slightly scared. I chuckled and shook my head as we finally reached the door. "There's no turning back now. Here going nothing," I muttered before I pushed the door open.

(Caroline's POV)

The first thing I noticed was Natasha standing next to a very scary looking man, talking to Lena. He looked like her father or something. The next thing I noticed was my brother playing video games with the guys. Everyone looked at us when we walked through the door. Keegan pulled me behind him a little bit as all the wolves in the house started sniffing the air. That's when I realized that every wolf in this house, including one who wanted to kill me and her father, knew that Keegan and I were mated. The guys paused the game.

"You didn't," Gregg practically begged, being the first to speak. Lena walked up to me and Keegan moved out of the way. Lena hesitantly lifted my shirt. She sighed in disappointment when she saw the natural tattoo.

"You got a tattoo?!" Danny bellowed. I wanted to laugh at him, but I kept my mouth shut.

"I-It's just henna," I lied. "Danny, I have things to deal with privately here. Will you take Preston back home? I promise, we'll explain everything later," I practically begged. Danny stared at me and sighed before he gave in. Everyone was quiet as he went upstairs and came back down with Preston sleeping in his arms. He kissed my head as he passed me.

"I'll see you at home," he said sternly. Keegan growled lowly but I elbowed him in the stomach lightly. Danny left closing the door behind him. I turned and gave Keegan a look. He smiled sheepishly as a light pink covered his cheeks.

"Sorry," he apologized. My lips turned up into a smiled.

"How could you mate with a human?!" Natasha's dad asked angrily. I flinched away from him as he took a step forward. "You were supposed to mate with my daughter!" he continued yelling.

"Your daughter's a bitch," I muttered to myself, forgetting about the superhuman wolf hearing. The angry man moved like lightning. He yanked my arm towards him. I yelped before he was off of me and Keegar was standing in front of me.

"Touch her again and I will end you where you stand," Keegan seethed at the man. Natasha's dad was bigger than Keegan, but somehow, I knew that Keegan could take him.

"What are all those disgusting scars? What are you like emo or something?" Natasha put her two cents in. I quickly lowered my shirt as tears stung my eyes. Great, she was the absolute last person I wanted to know about those. Keegan's growl was loud in warning. Natasha's eyes widened before she shrunk back and lowered her gaze. The tension in the room was almost unbearable. Lena moved beside Natasha as the guys stood up and quickly formed a circle around me. I was trying not to show weakness. I held my head high and blinked back my tears.

"No, Caroline was right. Your daughter is a bitch. She's not fit to be Luna, anyone could see that. She's selfish and rude, and she has no heart. She's only worried about herself. The truth of the matter is, Caroline is Keegan's mate, human or not. And we all know what happens when one of us, especially an Alpha, is kept away from his mate... and we don't want that, do we?" Lena said, jumping to my defense. I gave her a small grateful smile which she returned.

"Natasha, let's go! The council is going to hear about this," he muttered as he stormed off, his brat of a daughter following behind him. The door slammed and everyone released a sigh of relief. I, however, released my tears. I sniffled as Keegan pulled me in to his chest. His hand rubbed my back gently as I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist. Lena came over and put a comforting hand on my back as well "Baby, you know you're beautiful, especially to me. She was just trying to get to you," Keegan said, lowering his lips to my ear. I shook my head.

"No, she's right. They are disgusting," I cried into his chest. He shushed me before I felt myself being pulled into a different chest. I was greeted with the amazing scent of cherry blossom and vanilla. It was Lena who was rubbing my back now.

"Oh sweetie, no. You can't let her get to you like that. Those scars are beautiful just like you. They show that your heroic and humble; two things that she is not," Lena said softly. I sniffled as my crying eased. It was nice to be held be a mother again. She led me to the kitchen and made me a plate of food. She sat me at the bar and let me eat ahead of everyone else, which made me feel a lot better. We made a plate for Wes and I took it down to him. Talking to him made me feel a lot better also. Finally, I went back up the stairs to see that everyone was eating quietly.

"Keegan, you're smell is different but Caroline's is almost the same as it was before," Lena said, looking to Keegan from over her fork. I took my seat next to him quietly. He smiled at me gently and kissed my head once he finished chewing. His laced his fingers with mine and kissed the back of my hand. I don't think I would ever get over the sparks that his touch sent through my body every time. Everyone was quiet as they ate. An awkward silence filled the room.

"I want to change Caroline," Keegan said softly after he finished eating. I looked at him confused as everyone else looked at him shocked. Change me how? He looked at me before kissing my hand. “If she's okay with it," he added.

"Keegan... you know how dangerous that is," his mom said slowly.

"Dude, that's like begging the council to exile you," Gregg said, shaking his head.

"But she's fine the way she is," Trevor said incredulously.

"Yeah, but only for now. What's going to happen if something comes up?" Keegan argued back.

"She would be pure white. Those things are like unicorns," Nick said dreamily. Keegan's head snapped to Nick as he growled.

"Mine!" Keegan growled loudly.

"Keegan, calm down," Lena said. I'd had enough.

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" I yelled, standing quickly. I looked at everyone around the table with my eyes narrowed, expecting someone to give me an answer. They all only lowered their heads in response expect for Keegan; who was watching me like I might explode at any second. He rubbed my hand gently and eased me back to my seat.

"Caroline, we're talking about changing you into a wolf... like us," he explained slowly. My eyes widened as I looked around the table in shock. No one said a word, letting me process the information.

"So... I would turn into a wolf... like you guys? And I wouldn't be so, breakable? And I'd be fast and have better hearing?" I asked, not really believing what I was hearing.

"And your scars would probably go away too," Trevor added softly. My eyes snapped to his as Keegan growled. Trevor lowered his head like the others and stayed quiet. "How is that even possible?" I practically whispered.

"You would heal faster too. Your body would automatically get rid of all the scar tissue," Keegan answered softly. "But I don't want that to be the deciding factor of whether you change or not. It's very dangerous and I would go over all the possibilities and the process with you, but it's the only way that the council will let you be Luna. You're already my Luna, but who knows what will happen? And now that Christopher is on a war path, I'm not sure what could happen. They might still make Natasha Luna, and I don't want that to ever happen," Keegan rambled. I reached over and held his cheek in my hand as I kissed him gently, forgetting about everyone else at the table for a moment. His hand automatically went to my hip and his thumb rubbed small circles in the side of my back. I pulled away, searching his face quietly. "I'll do it," I practically whispered. His eyes widened.

"Do you want time to think about it?" he croaked. I shook my head and let my thumb run over his cheek repeatedly.

"I love you, Keegan... and if that's what it takes to stay with you then so be it. Just tell me when and where," I said softly. Tears pricked his eyes.

"You might die," he said hoarsely.

"I'd rather die than be living a life without you in it," I whispered. He reached forward and kissed me gently. He seemed to be in a mental turmoil. Maybe he wasn't expecting me to say yes so easily.

"We should consult an elder. Just to be sure, we do it right," Lena said hesitantly. I knew she didn't want to interrupt our intimate moment but she needed to. I pecked Keegan's lips once more before I turned back to the table. Everyone was looking at their laps shocked.

"This isn't happening," Gregg muttered, shaking his head.

"We should give it a few months and consult with an elder to make sure that everything goes according to plan. We'll talk more about it later," he said. I nodded, not really wanting to discuss everything in front of everyone. I stood abruptly and everyone's eyes went to me. I smiled sheepishly.

"I have to go explain to my brother," I said.

"You can't tell him the truth," Keegan said quickly. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"I'm not stupid," I said before I scowled at him. A light pink covered his cheeks as he stood as well.

"I'll be back in a few," he called over his shoulder, leading me to his car. How was I going to explain this to Danny?☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

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