Page 248 of Alpha Mates

But it’s too late to hide. Aiden knows now, and he’s in full panic mode.

Crossing the length of the room, I catch his arm.

“Julian,” he groans, trying to shake me off.

I don’t let him. I take his face in my hands, forcing him to settle and just… look at me. His frantic energy doesn’t fade, but his movements still. There’s a tightness around his eyes that I hate to be the cause of.

“Aiden, breathe,” I instruct. “For one second, justbreathe.”

He does, only because I ask him to. But when his shoulders drop, it’s not from relief.

“We need to get home,” he croaks, examining me from beneath his dark lashes. Reaching up, he envelops my hands with his, pressing, holding on to me. “We need to get you to the healers before this gets any worse.”

My heart pinches as I smooth my thumb over his cheek. “Aiden—”

“They’ll know what to do,” he objects before I can finish. “And if they don’t, then the elders will know something.”

“It doesn’t work like that.”

It’s the truth, and we both know it. If anyone in our pack knew how to stop someone from losing their wolf, it wouldn’t be knowledge hoarded by healers and elders alone. Everyone would know—and if they didn’t, we as alphas would.

My silence tells him that much, and it only makes his eyes darken as he pulls away.

“Well, it has to,” he mutters, voice stiff, jaw set as he goes back to packing. “It has to.”

My arms hang limply at my sides as I watch him. “You’re not ready to go home.”

“I’m fine,” he snaps. “I just need to make sure you are too.”

I curl my fingers into my palm. “I don’t want you getting worse because of me.”

“Julian,” he whispers my name with care. He sets the bag down. slides his hands over my shoulders, and presses his forehead to mine. He releases a shaky breath as his eyes squeeze shut. “Anything happening to you will make me worse. I’ll be fine once you are.”

My heart wilts, seizing terribly at such a proclamation when I didn’t know if I would be fine again.

Max had come out to try and coax Alex to the forefront, but other than a dull ache in my chest, nothing happened.

“Aiden—”

“Baby, please,” he rasps the plea, but I hear it plainly. “Please. Don’t fight me on this.”

My eyes fall shut and I force myself to nod, for his sake. Then he’s kissing me gently, his arms slipping around my waist to bring me closer, as though holding me might fix everything.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” he promises. “I just have to get us home, and everything will be fine.”

I nod again. This time, when Aiden lets me go, I let him.

The journey home isn’t nearly as precarious as the one I made here.

We travel down wide highways in Aiden’s car, crossing from one state to another. The landscapes I’d run through are nothing more than a blur pastthe window. I lean my head against the glass, watching the colours and tones shift as the hours pass.

“What ever happened to Jessica?”

Glancing back, I meet Aiden’s faint smirk as he peeks between me and the road.

“I don’t want to play,” I mumble, turning back toward the window.

“Come on,” Aiden coaxes, patting my thigh. I shift, trying to curl into my seat. “So, you’re telling me Ramon died for nothing then?”