Page 213 of Alpha Mates

I turn at the call, ready to maim, until Dean’s startled grey gaze meets mine. He stills, not daring to move a muscle as he watches me with slight apprehension.

I don’t need to look through his eyes to know what he sees—a black wolf with red eyes and blood dripping from its jaws. I look like them.

“You’re helping us do something great, Aiden.”

Let’s head home,I command through the link, moving first so they have no choice but to follow.Leave the bodies.

They would be a warning to the rest of them.

“What do you meanhe’s not here?”

Emitt’s eyes stay on my hands instead of my face. I follow his line of sight—my thumb bears down on my index finger, a twitch away from snapping the bone.

“Emitt!” I snap as I shake the digits out.

“Beckett found him. And Isabel,” he answers once he’s forced his gaze back to mine. “They went to a bar.”

Jealousy prickles under my skin, but I shove it down. It’s my own fault I’m not there with them. Still, he should’ve been home by now.

“Tell Beckett to bring him home,” I say.

Emitt’s brows dip.

“What?” I demand.

“You think Beckett can make Julian do anything?” he retorts. “Especially when he’s ‘blowing off steam’.”

“Then tell him to send me their location,” I veer off, heading for my car.

I’d been heading home to look for Julian until Emitt broke the news, and there was no way in hell I was going home to wait. Even if we were fighting, just having him close makes it easier to breathe. And after that hunt—after Dean’s grey eyes blurring and overlapping with the red ones in my nightmares—I need him. I need to get away from everyone before I snap. But I can’t do that while Julian is still out there, angry, and apparently drinking too.

Why today of all fucking days? Why did this shit have to happen today?

“Should I come too?” Emitt asks as he chases after me.

I shake my head. I can barely stand being around other wolves as it is, and I know any little thing has the potential to send me over the edge.

“Just tell Beckett I’m coming,” I bite out. “And to send their fucking location.”

Out of the pack and on familiar roads, I speed down the highway, my foot heavy on the gas. I’ll get Julian in the car. Somehow. Once he’s home, we can fight, shout, whatever the hell he wants. At least he’ll be safe. And when this shit passes, I’d tell him everything.

Ten minutes later, my tyres shriek to a stop across two spaces in front of some half-dead bar off the side of the highway. I get out of the car and head inside.

My steps are gated by the stiffness in my shoulders. The sooner I got Julian home, the sooner the hand around my throat would ease up, and I’d remember how to breathe again.

Cool air hits my heated skin as I step inside the bar. A few heads swerve my way, but I pass over them, scanning for blonde hair and blue eyes. I find them near the back of the room, and it’s like all the shit just goes away.

Julian’s laughing with Isabel while Beckett looks to be fighting his own smile. I can hear it from here, his laugh, and its sweet and free. His eyes are bright as he and Isabel talk.

They’re animated with it like they haven’t seen each other in years, and he lookshappy. Genuinely fucking happy. And it guts me to know the only reason I haven’t seen him like that lately is because of me.

Julian deserves better. He deserves a whole lot better than me.

Max whines, wanting to deny that truth as I cross the room. I’m not loud, but Julian’s eyes lift, finding me quickly, and watching the joy seep from them has my heart clenching painfully around itself.

By the time I reach his side, Julian’s face is the plain, cold mask I’d seen for most of my life, and I hate having it aimed at me.

“You snitched?” he accuses, glare on Beckett.