Page 127 of Alpha Mates

I sigh, biting back the urge to dismiss him. He’s clearly serious about this, and the last thing I want to do is piss him off, even if he’s being crazy.

We’ve been the same as usual—sleeping together, eating together. Sure, I want to rip his clothes off more these days, especially when he wears mine, but that was natural. He’s my mate—my hot as fuck mate—of course I’d want him. And yeah, maybe we got carried away in the car the other day at the movies, but we were just learning each other’s bodies.

I hate being away from him more and more, but that’s because we’re getting closer. Though I was chasing after him like a pup. And I did get a little carried away at school. Maybe a little too carried away? Then we almost went at it again afterwards and …

“…Shit.”

Chapter 25

Julian

“Shit!” Aiden breathes again, amused disbelief immediately morphing into uncontained panic.

“Yeah,” I mumble, as I watch him flit through the same emotions I had when I realised what was happening.

Naturally, Aiden and I have been getting more intimate, but at some point, things took a left turn, where just once wasn’t enough. I excused my reactions on being a first-timer, but Aiden isn’t as inexperienced as me, so what’s his excuse? Alex claimed he’s just a horny fucker who’s obsessed with me, but as much as I wanted to believe that, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something is up.

A rut was the first thing that came to mind—an increased libido and urge to mate one’s mate as alphas made sense, but ruts were only supposed to occur in response to an omega’s heat. Neither of us was an omega, so a heat was the only other option. The only problem was that the alphas didn’t go into heat. Or so I thought.

“It shouldn’t even be possible. I know. That’s why I left earlier,” I explain as I cut into Aiden’s mental spiral. “I went to the archives to look into it, but I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to freak you out if it wasn’t.”

“But it is?” he asks with widening eyes. “Possible?”

“According to the archives, yeah,” I reply with a poorly hidden wince. “Alphas can technically go into heat or rut with other wolves, it’s just rare because we usually mate with our selected partners before it has the opportunity to start.”

“But because we’ve been taking things slow …” Aiden pieces together as itsinks in.

“It’s started,” I confirm.

“Shit,” he says again, and if I thought he was panicking before, I was clearly wrong.

“Shit. Shit. Shit,” he echoes pacing the length of the living room at least three times before he groans his favourite word again. “Shit!”

A panicked Aiden isn’t something I’m familiar with, so I don’t know how to calm him.

When reality set in for me, my first thought wasn’t how I’d tell him, but how the pack would react if they found out.If, notwhen, because my first instinct was to keep this to myself. They might see it was as thing—further confirmation of a healthy bond between their alphas. Or, and more likely, they’d be concerned it was yet another example of how abnormal we are.

When I focused on the latter, my parents’ warning from only a few mornings ago rose to the surface with unforgiving urgency.

If Oliver was still here, you would’ve discovered that you were meant to be Aiden’s luna on his coronation day.

If I were Aiden’s luna, there would have be no question about which side this heat was coming from.

An uncomfortable shiver runs through me before Aiden suddenly spins to face me with wild, dark eyes. My heart jumps as I wait for him to say as much.

“What are we going to do, Julian?” he blurts instead.

“What?” I manage, barely breathing.

“What are we going to do?” he repeats, slower but just as urgent. And I … relax.

My fears aren’t anywhere on his radar, because whether or not I’m his equal doesn’t even cross his mind. Maybe one day it will, if someone else planted the seed, but for now, there’s nothing but trust in his eyes as he looks at me.

I clear my throat as I blink quickly, thinking. “Well, there are options when wolves are in heat and don’t want to be influenced by it. Some stay away from each other—”

“No,” Aiden dismisses before I can finish. “We’re not splitting up.”

“I’m just stating our options, Aiden,” I promise, but it doesn’t lessen the irritation in his eyes.