Page 245 of Alpha Mates

He hits the ground laughing, then grabs my hand and pulls me across the street without even looking. I let him. I’m too enamoured by him to do anything else.

There’s a park a few metres away, and he brings us right to thelockedgate. He looks at the chain fence, and the “No Entry” sign. Then scales it in two seconds flat.

My jaw hangs as I watch the imposter land on the other side and turn to me with a triumphant smile.

“Who are you?” I ask, but he only snickers. “No, seriously. Who are you?”

Dusting his hands off on his jeans, Julian inches his way back from the gate with a smirk that makes him look like sin brought to life.

“You coming?” he asks, eyes glowing before he strolls away as though he doesn’t hear my groan, but his chuckles tell me everything I need to know.

Sighing, I take a second to glance around before I follow my delinquent mate and scale the iron gate in pursuit of the wolf who knew exactly how to turn me into prey. Once I catch up to him, I grab him from behind and delve into a world of blonde as I kiss his neck until he laughs against me.

“You didn’treallythink that I’d let you get away with that,” I growl, licking the edge of his ear just to feel him shiver. My hands slide under his shirt, brushing over his chest, and I smirk when he jerks in my arms. “So sensitive.”

“Stop, Aiden,” he groans, trying to escape but not with any real effort.

“But look at how you’re reacting,” I protest while my free hand drifts down to knead the obvious bulge in his pants.

“No,” he stammers, pressing into me.

Julian squirms against me as though he’s an innocent incubus I’m debauching. Usually, I’d be more than happy to do just that, but there’s still that knot in my chest. I raise my hands in mock surrender and back away from his slightly panting form.

Swivelling, Julian turns those wide blue eyes on me as I step back, drifting just out of reach.

“You told me to stop, so I listened,” I say with a wink that makes his lips part.

Jewels, being Jewels, is way too proud to ask me to keep going, so he stiffly straightens his shirt, and resigns himself to a night of blue balls. He jogs to catch up, and mutters only one thing when he does.

“I hate you.”

I grin as we fall into step, our strides syncing like muscle memory. We walk in comfortable silence around the desolate park, talking about nothing and anything and everything. Through it all, Julian’s spirits stay high. His smile doesn’t waver, even though he zones out a few times with that blank look in his eyes. He’s happy. I think. I hope.

If he is, I’ll let him have it for as long as I can. I know how quickly these things can slip away.

Our walk leads us to a large garden fountain that looks porcelain under the streetlights. The water runs, not from all of its weathered spouts, but it’s still stupidly charming.

I figure we’re just going to look at it—until Julian leaps onto the edge. He spreads his arms wide as he walks along the rim with the goofiest smile.

I trail beside him from below, pretending I’m not watching for the inevitable fall, until he beams down at me and offers a hand. “Come on.”

“I’d rather not,” I deadpan, but he’s already grabbing me and hauling me up. I realise I’ll probably never learn how to say no to him.

“Shit,” I hiss when we wobble a bit, almost tipping over as Julian clutches my arms.

“Scared?” he taunts.

“Never,” I snap back.

He chuckles as my hands land on his shoulders and his find my waist, and just like that, we still, keeping each other from falling.

Then he moves. He takes one step back, forcing me forward, and then forward again. I don’t notice the rhythm until we’re almost halfway around the fountain. He’s got us spinning around the fountain like idiots and we’re … dancing.

My lips tilt up, a smile stretching across my face, and Julian grins right back—bright, stupid, perfect. Then I’m laughing, the kind that bubbles up from your throat without any plans of stopping.

We keep going, stumbling through our makeshift waltz, dancing around the fountain with smiles on our faces.

“Would you be mad if I pushed you in?” he asks, making both me and my laughter freeze.