Page 215 of Alpha Mates

“You need to leave,” I say as calmly as I can manage, but it comes out closer to a growl. “Now.”

In the calamity of my mind, I reach for the serenity I had learnt to look for when I felt like I was going to lose it. It’s been years since I’ve been so close to the edge, but I teeter on it now.

“Aiden,” Julian whispers, but I can’t tear my gaze from the bastard who looks at my mate as if he’s something he can have, as if he’s not mine.

Maybe he reaches for Julian, maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he just keeps looking at him. Maybe it’s all in my head, and I’m just looking for a reason to snap. I don’t know and I don’t care. In my mind, he reaches for my mate, and that’s it.

Rage blinds me, ripping free, and I don’t bother trying to rein it in.

I grab the guy by his collar and yank him across the table. Bottles and glasses fall to the floor, their shatter covering the sound of my fists hitting flesh, but then it stops, and that’s all you can hear.

“Aiden!” Julian pulls me back with enough strength to separate me from the bleeding man, but my rage spurs me on. “Aiden, stop!”

He’s nothing but a pompous little shit of a human who thought he had a chance with my mate—but that’s not who I see bleeding on the table.

I see red eyes. I see a crooked smile. I see all their fucking faces.

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

Shoving Julian off, I grab the closest glass bottle, cracking it on the table before I shove its jagged edges into the man’s palm. He lurches up with a blood-curdling scream that echoes in my ears—the only sound I want from them, the only sound they ever forced out ofme.

“Goddess! Aiden!” Julian yanks my shoulder, forcing my eyes away from my prize.

I snarl at him, but my rage sputters and bleeds from me when our eyes meet. Familiar blue, wide with shock, frantic with concern, and filled with so much horror it shatters something inside me. It’s like a knife to the heart, so cold and so brutal it quiets the rage almost entirely.

But it wasn’t my fault. It was him—them. He’d understand if I told him, then he’d see that this fucker was—

I blink at the body curled on the table, shaking and sobbing as strangers edge forward to try and pull him back while keeping their distance from me.

He’s not them, he’s not even him. He’s just some human and I … I’d …

My fists loosen, freeing my limp fingers as the realisation hits. Everyone’s staring. Frightened.

“Something great.”

On shaking legs, I tear myself from the scene, bolting out the way I’d came. I need to get out. I need out. I need fucking out.

Julian’s voice echoes in my muddled head. I push it out, ignoring his calls as I break past the doors, past Beckett and Isabel’s waiting figures.

I lost it. Only I never lost it, not like that, not in years, but …

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“Aiden!” Julian shouts as he gains on me. “Aiden!” He grabs my arm and I wrench free, backing away.

“Don’t!” I snap, clutching my arm to my chest. It burns this time, really fucking hurts. “Don’t touch me. Don’t you fucking dare.”

Julian’s face crumples with hurt, but he doesn’t let it linger for long.

“We need to get out of here,” he says, steady where I’m not.

I nod stiffly, glancing back at the bar. No one dared to follow us out, but I can feel their eyes on us and hear sirens in the distance.

I get in my car, and Julian comes with me. We take off, and Beckett and Isabel are close behind us in his car. It’s silent except for the frantic thud of our hearts and our rushed breaths, both too loud in this tense, cramped space.

“What the hell was that?”

Julian’s voice is a whisper, but the words come out jagged.