Page 133 of Alpha Mates

“And I don’t like your breath in the morning, but here we are,” he snaps back without missing a beat.

“Damn,” I mumble, circling to the passenger’s seat. “Take that back or I’m going to put your pants in your sock drawer and fuck up your colour-coded bookshelf, Julian.”

“I dare you, Aiden Calderon,” he growls over the car’s roof. “Touch one of my books. I. Dare. You.”

I ignore the real fear that rattles through me, and pop the door open. “Fine,” I mutter. “Kill us both. See if I care.”

Smiling victoriously, Julian slips into the car, and I do the same with my favourite finger leading the way.

“Assuming we actually make it, where are we going?” I ask while he adjusts my seat and mirrors. “You’re taking us out of the pack?You?”

“It’s a surprise,” he repeats, then tugs a long scrap of black cloth from his pocket and holds it up between us.

I look from him to the fabric. “What?”

“I want to blindfold you.”

My lips pull into a smile. “I didn’t know you were so kinky, Jewels.”

Julian’s eyes bulge, and he shakes his head. “It’s not like that,” he protests while his cheeks tinge pink. I raise a brow. “It’s not!”

“Shame,” I mumble, before I put Jewels out of his misery, closing my eyes and offering myself up for whatever crazy plan he’s trying to pull off. He gently ties the fabric over my eyes, but it’s still tight. Tight enough that I can’t open my eyes more than a sliver, and when I do, only darkness greets me.

My heart plummets as the darkness swallows the world whole.

I close my eyes, trying to find comfort in the darkness of my own making, rather than the one that transported me back to the last time I’d been forced into the dark. It doesn’t work. I try deep breaths, but those are just as useless at ushering out the panic clogging my chest. Eyes opened or closed, darkness waits for me now like it did when I was seven and on that fucking table.

“Are you okay?”

Julian’s voice cuts in like a blade through butter, and when his hand slides over my shoulder, the pressure on my chest immediately unravels.

“Fine,” I rasp as I try for a smile, but my stiff lips strain it. “I’m fine, just not the biggest fan of the dark.”

It’s more honest than I mean to be and more honest than I’ve ever been, so maybe that’s why I jolt slightly when Julian slides the hand on my shoulder down to my chest, right over my heart.

He keeps it there, firm and strong, until my racing heart slows and my breathing follows suit. I focus on his hand and try to keep my expression plain. I know he’s watching me in that quiet, critical way he watches everything. I only hope that just this once, he doesn’t see it all.

“I’m taking your hand,” he warns gently before his free hand wraps around mine and carries it over the armrest. “You can keep it here,” he says as he settles it on his knee. “That way, you know I’m right here, okay?”

I nod stiffly, and I can picture his small smile even without seeing it. My chest fills against Julian’s palm before he slides it back up, gliding over my collarbone and throat. I’m leaning into the touch long before he tilts my face towards him, and by the time those lips press against mine, I almost whimper with relief.

This kiss is nothing driven by lust. It’s pure comfort, and I relish every second of it. I squeeze Julian’s knee as he slides his hand around my neck, bringing me closer to him until there’s nothing but him.

“Better?” he asks as he draws back.

My skin tingles where his breath brushes against me. I nod.

“Good,” he says with a final peck before he pulls away completely and starts the car.

I sit back, sinking into my seat while I keep my focus on the hand I have on him, the only anchor I have in the dark.

If not for the bone-deep knowledge that the man beside me is my mate, I’d be out of the car and rolling down the highway to get away from his clone.

We haven’t been driving for long, but it’s farther than school, and farther than anywhere I’d ever been with or without Julian. At the start, I tried to track our route, but after the first few familiar turns that led us onto the highway, I was utterly lost. That was almost an hour ago.

The only reason I’m not freaking out is because I know Julian would never do anything he wasn’t a million per cent sure was safe, and I don’t want to put a wedge between Julian and him doing something “wrong” once in a while, but a man can only be patient for so long.

“Where are we going?” I whine, squeezing his knee. “I’ve been blind for hours.”