Page 125 of Alpha Mates

“He left me,” I grumble, more like a whine.

Emitt giggles a little. “You’ll see him in a few hours. Less if you stop moping and get us home.”

“Sure,” I mumble, dragging my feet all the way to my car.

Emitt and I have driven home together so many times that it’s automatic the way he pushes his seat back, grabs the AUX cord, and props his feet on the dash while I start up the engine. By the time I swing out of the lot, his music is pounding so loud it threatens to blow the speakers.

“So,” Emitt yells when we’re halfway home. “Why are you constantly trying to suck on Julian’s candy cane?”

“Emitt!” I look at the deranged imp I call a friend. “What the fuck, man?”

“What?” Emitt asks, looking genuinely confused. “Your lips were all swollen and your voice is fucked, literally. It’s a dead giveaway.”

I rub at my mouth, glaring at the road. “It isn’t shit. You’re sick.”

“And you’re avoiding the question. Why are you both so …feral?” He makes a claw motion with his hands, and I roll my eyes. “I’m being serious. You’re dying for each other.”

“I don’t know.” I shrug. “It’s different now, I guess. We’re attracted to each other and acting on it.”

“All the time?” Emitt scoffs. “You guys have been like fucking bunnies today. Youstinkof sex.”

I don’t reply to that, mostly because I can’t. Truth be told, I don’t think being attracted to Julian and having an alpha’s libido can fully explain how ready I was to have Julian just now, or how I wanted to kill my best friend for simply being close by. But I also have no idea what else it could be.

“I guess we’re compatible,” I mumble, and Emitt snorts a laugh.

“You can say that again.”

We roll into familiar lands, and I drop Emitt off at his place, but it feels like ages before I’m free to return home. I get out like some lovesick idiot, hoping against all hopes that Julian is there, but I know before I even step past the front door that he’s not.

My shoulders slump, and I almost whine with Max as disappointment fills us.

Perhaps, we wolves should come out,he suggests, going for casual, but he might as well be holding up a sign that says “trick” over his head.

No,I retort, and the whining climbs to new heights.

This isn’t fair, he argues.

How is this not fair, Max?I collapse onto the couch.

You spend all this time with Julian, but when will I get to speak to Alex?

I frown.When have you ever wanted to speak to Julian’s wolf?I counter as I toe off my shoes.You hate him. It’s one of the things we bonded over from the start.

That was before,Max complains.Now he smells good.

I roll my eyes, but guilt gnaws. I know it’s not fair I haven’t allowed him to have control lately.

Max and I have always had a great handle on things, we balance each other out well. But you don’t let a wolf out when they’d recently become aware of their mate.

Wolves are more … well, they’re more inclined to act on instinct than their counterparts. They’d fuck and bite and mate each other within a few hours. And then you’d be left doing things backwards by trying to build a relationship around a permanent bond.

Alphas were worse, and given the state Julian and I were in, I was in no mood to test what Max and Alex would be like together.

I am not a pup!Max snaps angrily.I have control.

And if Alex strips in front of you?

The silence that follows is deafening.