Page 181 of Alpha Mates

With all the theatrics of the bumbling idiot I’m accustomed to, Emitt runs into the room.

“So, there was ice in the big freezer, but way too much to carry, so I put it in a zip lock. But then, I thought peas—people use frozen peas in movies and stuff,” he rambles as his eyes roam all over Beckett, like he can see bruises through his clothes. “So I looked for those, but I couldn’t find any, so I was like, zip lock it is! But, then my bag of ice disappeared,” he reveals, horrified. “So I had to do the ice all over again.” He reaches up to press the zip lock bag to his mate’s surely healed back.

“Thanks,” Beckett says, nevertheless, as he smiles at Emitt in a way that makes me still.

It’s intimate and sweet, and, honestly, kind of nauseating to see fixed on the guy who gave me my first porn mag. But he deserves it. Goddess knows Emitt deserves love. And the love of a mate? It’s something I can’t even put into words.

Chapter 35

Julian

“I don’t believe you,” Aiden gawks, dragging a hand over his mouth. I stay silent as I watch him with mounting regret. “Atoms were the first things we learnt.”

“It just didn’t stick,” I defend, looking between him and the textbook. “I can never remember which is the Atomic Number—or what it is for that matter.” My words taper off, becoming quieter as each one makes his eyes grow a little wider.

“I didn’t realise you werethisbad,” Aiden mutters, raking a hand through his dark hair. “I thought we’d map out the areas you need help in. I didn’t realise you don’t even know the basics. Scratch that, you know nothing.”

“I wouldn’t go as far as to saynothing,” I defend.

“Julian,” he says, and I already regret this. “What’s a Transformer?”

I frown. What on earth did science have to do with those movies he’d made me watch a few weeks ago? “Well, I can’t explain them very well, but there are the Decepticons and the Autobots—”

“No! Goddess! Not the movie!” Aiden exclaims, which only deepens my frown. He’s the one who asked. “You’re too far gone. Why did you choose to study all three sciences if you can’t even do one?”

“I don’t know,” I reply with a shrug. Truth be told, I’d been chasing my old dreams of being an astronomer, but I soon regretted that when I discovered how severely the sciences and I disagree with each other outside of my areas of interest.

“You should drop one or two when you’re back in school,” Aiden suggests, expression imploring. “I know you like astronomy, but there’s somuch more to physics that it might not be worth it. And I can help you the most in biology.”

I nod, trying not to let my thoughts linger on the current status of my education.

A week has passed since we got back and discovered that my parents had once again acted on my behalf. Pissed didn’t begin to cover it. And that anger has had nothing but time to simmer.

Luckily, like Aiden said, the school recognised me as a legal adult and were in the process of re-registering me. Slow, bureaucratic hell. In the meantime, Aiden goes to school for the both of us, then comes home to teach me what I missed.

He doesn’t complain. He doesn’t try to skip classes, or drag his feet when leaving. Every day, he goes, pays attention, and then comes home to share it all—because he knows it matters to me, even though it’s the last place he wants to be.

It means more to me than I know how to express.

“Okay, I think we can end it here for today,” Aiden says, or begs, really. “What do you say?”

I nod, chuckling as he slams his book shut and shoves it across the table.

“Now,” he snaps, making me jerk when he slaps his hand on the table and leans close. “I’m going to ask you something, Jewels, and I’m going to need you to say yes.”

“Okay …”

“As you know, there’s a party tonight.”

I groan and pinch the bridge of my nose.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. We only just got back, we can’t leave the pack for unserious business—except, yes we can. It’s literally our pack, and things are really fucking good here. Everyone loves us.”

It’s naïve to say that everyone “loves us,” even if it sort of feels that way. We’ve become a power couple—and by extension, a power pack—as we’ve navigated the merge.

Aiden, the natural mascot, knows just about everyone, which gives us clear insight into what they need and areas that need tweaking. I’m the one who turns that insight into plans, then mobilises our resources and people to see it through.

“It’s for one night and it’ll be after we’re done all our work,” he says, still making his pitch. “If you’re worried about people finding out, I’ve got the perfect escape route.” His dark eyes gleam mischievously. “Let’s go party, Jewels.”