Page 170 of Alpha Mates

The wolf that is now mine.

This wolf that I love.

Chapter 33

Julian

Insistent buzzing, like a bug knocking against my ear, wakes me. I groan and swat the slab of muscle at my side to deal with it.

By the grace of Goddess, he pieces together the problem without me having to speak. I bury my face in the pillow while he stretches over me to grab the phone. Finally, the noise stops.

The mattress bounces as Aiden slumps back down, and then everything is as still as it was a moment ago. I’m drifting back under when the buzzing starts again, and practically drags me back to full consciousness by my ankle.

“Aiden!” I groan, sliding my pillow over my head.Thisis precisely why I don’t have a phone.

“Sorry,” he rasps, fumbling to answer the call. “What?”

The pillow muffles most of the reply, but it’s impossible to not hear the “CONGRATULATIONS” that someone—namely Emitt—shouts from the other side, before something like confetti popping.

I frown, wondering what on earth Aiden needs to be congratulated for, until my senses circle to the fresh mark sealed over my right shoulder. Sleep forgotten, I carefully slide the pillow away to look up at my mate.

Aiden’s already looking at me, and though he’s a tousled mess with bags beneath his eyes, there’s no missing the way his lips tug up into a picture-perfect smile as he registers it at the same time.

“I’ve got to go, Emitt,” he says, sliding the phone from his ear to hang up.

He tosses it somewhere over his shoulder and shifts down until he’s lying beside me again. I pull him an inch closer, and my heart beats faster as that small smile of his blooms into a full-fledged grin.

“Morning,” he whispers. He leans in, tentative, until I meet him halfway for a gentle kiss.

“Morning,” I murmur. I try to bite back my colossal smile so I don’t look so … childishly happy, but I am, so I probably still do.

“How are you feeling?” he asks as my feet shift between his, a small echo of the way I’m vibrating on the inside.

“I’m fine,” I say before his concern becomes my own. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” he replies without pause, a quiet hopefulness in his eyes. I recognise it because it’s what I feel right now.

“I’m good too,” I whisper. “It’s agoodmorning.”

He laughs, and the sound is lighter than I’ve ever heard it. “Yeah, it is a good morning, Jewels.”

His gaze drops to my mark, and it’s almost like he’s touching it with the way I shiver.

I still can’t believe it. That we’re mated, that we actually did it. And that I likedhowwe did it so much.

Truth be told, I’d been nervous about the logistics of it all, even knowing which roles we’d take. Sure, I liked Aiden on top when we were making out, but I wasn’t too sure that would translate when we actually had sex.

As it turns out, it translatedverywell. Any initial discomfort I felt was forgotten once we got into it, and then … I shudder, my stomach clenching at the memory of Aiden thrusting into me, stretching me open, filling me with his cock. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, he marked me and accepted mine in return.

“You’re grinning like you’re trying to seduce the tooth fairy, Jewels,” Aiden purrs.

“I’m happy,” I answer simply, because there’s no reason not to be honest with Aiden. I sigh as I sink into his arms. “I’m really happy, Aiden.”

His gaze softens enough that those beautiful irises seem to swirl with something golden as he rests his head against mine and lets a breath shudder out of him.

“I’m happy too, Jewels,” he confesses, sounding a little hoarse. “You-” he pauses. “You make me so happy.”

My heart flutters and tumbles, and I let it fall. I hope he can feel it—the way he lights me up from the inside. I hope he knows how deeply he’s cemented into me, how much I crave him now, flaws and all, and how he owns my heart in every single way.