Page 129 of Alpha Mates

I’m not so quick to speak this time, but I don’t have to. I’m sure he hears the way my heart kicks up because I hear his do the same.

Aiden and I have never spoken about mating.

It’s one of those things I figured would happen eventually, but the when hasn’t crossed my mind. I want it though. I want to complete our bond and to be mated to Aiden in body and soul. But I don’t know if he feels the same.

Does he want to have sex with me? To mate with me? And if he did, was it one of those things he just saw as a responsibility, or did he wantme?

It’s been a while since I thought of anything between us as a responsibility to our packs, and I’m almost a hundred per cent sure it’s the same for Aiden, so why does saying as much feel like a foreign prospect?

“Can I tell you something?” I ask quietly as my fingers tighten on hisshoulder.

He tilts his head, peeking at me from the corner of his eye. “Anything.”

“In case you need to hear it,” I say, breathing in, “even without the heat … I want to complete the mating bond with you.” His eyes widen. “Not because the pack expects it, not out of duty. It would be something I want.” My heart thunders. “Itissomething I want.”

Aiden draws back, but he doesn’t move away from me. He just stares, his eyes darting between mine with what I hope is interest.

“And I know we’ve been figuring this whole thing out, but I do want you, Aiden,” I add in the quiet. “I like what we have together, bond or not.”

“You do?” he asks, and the hope threading his voice breaks and mends my heart all at once.

“Yeah, I do,” I confirm with a nervous smile. “I want us to mate.”

My heart is raging in my chest, and my throat is so tight I might as well have swallowed cement—but in for a penny …

“Do you?” I ask.

Aiden blinks, breaking his blank stare before he nods, lips tipping into one of those warm smiles that unravel me.

“Y-Yeah,” he says, fumbling over his words as nerves get the best of him. “I do.”

“Really?”

“Really, Jewels,” he promises, sliding a hand around my waist to pull me close. “You have no idea how much I want you—want to complete this bond. I’ve wanted to for a while, but I wasn’t sure how to bring it up, with us both being guys and alphas.” I chuckle and he cracks a smile. “I thought you’d freak out about bottoming for the first time, but—”

“Bottoming?” I cut in, my brows draw tight over my smile. “What’s that?”

His grin wavers and soon disappears altogether as he suddenly pales.

“What?” I ask, straightening. “Is it something I should know?”

Sure, my sexual experience was limited to what I’d done with Aiden, but I liked to think my sexual knowledge was far better. I thought I knew everything I should, but perhaps not because I’d never heard the term ‘bottoming’ before, and now Aiden’s looking at me like he’s eaten something sour.

“No, no,” he dismisses, before he pauses and scratches the back of his head. “Actually, yes it is. I just never thought I’d have to explain it to you, or anyone I guess.”

“Is it that serious?” My nerves start to mount.

“No,” he insists, but he doesn’t give me anything else.

Was it a position we have to perform? I doubted it because, as far as Iknew, there was no required sexual position to take when mating. As long as we could both bite one another … But Aiden said it was somethingIwas supposed to do, so was it something I was had to perform beforehand?

Whatever it is, speaking about it scares Aiden because he keeps glancing at me with the type of fear I haven’t seen from him in years.

“Just tell me, Aiden,” I sigh when the seconds tick on and agitation replaces my anxiety.

“Well,” he starts very slowly, frowning until an idea seems to take root and his eyes suddenly light up. “When two people like each other very much, they have sex. More often than not, it’s a man and a woman. The man has a penis which he—”

“I know how sex works, Aiden,” I snap, putting a curt stop to his abhorrent version of a sex-ed talk.