– "You Act As If I Don't Have Enough Enemies."

I stare up at my sexy Mate, hoping that he'd buy my bullshit about Practise and not protest about it. He looks at me with unfocused emerald eyes for a few seconds in silence, before he slowly nods his head up and down.

Yes!

"Um, okay." He mumbles under his breath, and I can see his muscular chest rising steadily as he takes a deep breath in.

He's trying to calm his erratic heartbeat, I realize with smugness, extremely overjoyed at the mere prospect of having such an effect on my Mate with just a small kiss.

'You would've melted to a puddle on the floor, if our Mate had so much as brushed his lips against our skin,' My Wolf mocks me. But this time, I don't snap back at her with snarky comments of my own, like I usually do.

Instead, I wholeheartedly agree.

I definitely would've.

I shake my head out of my mental monologue and slowly let my arms drop from around my Mate, trying so hard to conceal my reluctance in doing so.

"Okay, Anders. Take a shower now. I'll give you a tour of my house." I say with a smile, and pat his stubble covered cheek affectionately, unable to curb in the urge to touch him. He looks surprised by my overly touchy-freely behavior, seeing as we met only yesterday, but I ignore his reaction, acting as if nothing is out of the norm.

I pirouette on my heel and walk towards the door, when my Mate's husky voice fills my senses, as he voluntarily calls me for the first time.

"Wait!"

My heart freakin' flutters at that.

I hide my grin and turn back to him with an expectant look, curious.

"What's your name?" He asks shyly, chewing on his upper lip slightly.

Oh man...The lips I wanna bite so damn much...

"Fuck," I groan under my breath, swallowing hard.

"Huh?" He asks, looking at me with a confused look in his cute green eyes.

What?

Oh, the name!

"It's Alarice." I inform with yet another smile, that seems to have taken permanent residence on my face, since the minute I met my SoulMate, my other half.

"Alarice," He tries my name out in his tongue, repeating it in a deep whisper.

I shiver automatically.

Crap. I hope he didn't notice.

"Y-Yeah," I say, my voice coming out in strangled croak. "I...I'll see you soon," I nod hurriedly, and almost run to the door, opening it as quickly as possible. My jerky hands fumble with the knob for a few seconds before I grab it properly and twist it, exiting the room that is redolent with the amazingly mouthwatering scent of my innocent Mate, which so badly makes me want to tie him up.

Yes, the threat I made was not a fake one.

I close the door behind me and lean on the painted blue wood with a sigh, letting my head fall back and hit the door with a low thud.

Phew.

How am I gonna resist this temptation for an entire month?

It's like giving a cookie in a Kid's hands and telling him to not take a bite.

Besides, according to the story I told him, we need to stay married for at least 12 months, before we can legally apply for divorce.

Not like I will ever let that happen anyway.

That's besides the point.

"Why did you lie to him?!" A voice whispers loudly, and I turn my head sideways to see my best friend glaring at me, his bulky arms crossed across his chest.

"What?" I whisper back, a defensive edge coating my tone. "You expect me to tell him that my Dad wants to see me marry my Mate as soon as possible, because my 'wild' days are supposed to be over now that I've met him?! We're too young in human years for that. And if I try explain, He would run for the hills when he finds out what we are!" I continue in a furious whisper, glowering.

"Where is all of this coming from? Two days ago, you considered humans to be some sort of low-life creatures," Kade mocks, glancing me up and down with mirth-filled eyes.

"Shut up. I never said that their were 'low-lives'." I deny, looking away in embarrassment.

"Well, you didn't use that term, but your behavior clearly showed what you thought," He teases, smirking.

"Maybe I was wrong." I admit begrudgingly, looking away.

"What was that?" Kade asks, as he raises a hand and leans forward, cupping his ear with a huge-ass grin plastered on his lips.

"That's the not the issue now," I snap in a whisper, trying to change the topic.

"You can try all you want, my Alpha. But I have your admission recorded," He pulls his hand from behind his back, revealing his phone clutched in his palm.

"What?!" I exclaim and leap forward, trying to snatch it from him,

"Shh!" Kade shushes loudly, taking a quick, cautious step back. "That's not the 'issue' now," he uses my earlier words and makes air quotes with two fingers of his free hand, making me sigh in annoyance.

Crap.

'You two are making too much noise. Even human ears can pick up what you're talking.' My Wolf warns when I open my mouth to reply and I immediately shut it, listening to her words.

'Cause as much as I hate to admit it, she almost always right.

"Fake marriage, huh? Interesting." Kade smirks at me in a manner that suggests that he finds the whole situation amusing.

"Shut up." I snap in mock-anger, trying to control the embarrassed blush that is fighting against my will to coat my cheeks.

"Are you...are you actually blushing?!" Kade exclaims, his hands going to his mouth in mock-surprise. "Oh em gee!" He squeals in a high-pitched fake girly voice, imitating a bimbo as he bounces up and down.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" I whisper back, pursing my lips against the smile that's threatening to overtake.

His shoulders shake with silent laughter.

"Seriously though. I never knew that you were such a good liar."

"If it makes things better, even I didn't." I shrug good-naturedly, smiling.

"Ha. But I wanted to ask you, who'll play the role of jealous ex-BFF?" Kade asks, looking all serious now.

"Kade, You act as if I don't have enough enemies."

With that, we exchange smiles that only the two of us can decipher the meaning of.

I wink, and he laughs.

I have the best, best-friend out there.

•••