Page 28 of Alpha Mates

The lights are dim, outlining the figure in the centre of the room. I step inside, ready to lay down my own rules, but then the sound of a zipper falling fills the air and I find myself running into the adjoining bathroom with my bag clutched to my chest.

“Don’t shut the door!” Aiden yells before I can do just that.

I groan as I clutch the doorframe but keep it ajar. I hear him release a breath, but I feel anything but relieved. I don’t care what we are now. I am not comfortable or in any mood to see Aiden’s …Aiden.

“I’m going to shower. Don’t come in.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Reluctantly, I leave the door open the slightest bit before I back up and let the tension drain from my body. I meet my reflection in the mirror, and the bags under my eyes have exhaustion sliding over me.

I’m more tired than I’d realised, and it weighs on my shoulders and my eyelids like dumbbells. It pulls at me as I undress and carry out my usual nightly routine, almost falling asleep beneath the shower’s coaxing spray, before dragging myself out.

By the time I’m slipping on a clean set of sweats, I can barely keep my eyes open and the full moon’s call is long gone. Yawning, I step into the bedroom to find Aiden already snoring beneath the sheets.

“So much for no snoring,” I mumble.Would stuffing a sock in his mouth cause Armageddon?

I pay the floor a perfunctory glance before accepting the only real option before me. Sighing, I switch off the remaining light and tug the blankets back, only to freeze when they reveal a near-naked Aiden underneath. He’s got on boxers and nothing else.

I stare, mouth slack, unsure if I’m feeling shock, horror, or something else. I also can’t stop looking.

Aiden’s a healthy, young werewolf. An alpha. I shouldn’t be surprised at the sight of his large, muscled arms, powerful legs, or the rack of defined abs, but I am. My body is, because it reacts to him. But that isn’t what keeps me staring helplessly. It’s the ink scattered over him like an unfinished canvas.

I knew Aiden had tattoos—anyone could spot the ones on his arms, but I’d never known he had even more under the layers.

My eyes trail hungrily over the landscape of ink, wanting to map out the hinted paths and the meaning behind the sections of wording intertwined within what looks like thorns. My fingers twitch with the urge to touch when Aiden shifts onto his side.

My cheeks burn.No. No. No. Julian, no.

Filling my mind with images of my grandmother, Goddess protect her soul, I climb into the bed, pointedly ignoring the half-naked wolf beside me.

It takes an embarrassingly long time for me to calm down while today’s events play over in my head.

I’d become the alpha of my pack as planned.

I’d also met my mate.

Who is a guy.

Not just any guy. Nope—Aiden Calderon.

And, as if that wasn’t enough, apparently Goddess intended us to be together forever because we can’t be separated. Then, the icing on the rotten cake, I’d ended up in the scoundrel’s lap, sniffing him like an addict on wolfsbane.

I’d clung to him. Let him run his hands down my back and around my waist. Let him touch me.

It’s all wrong. So very, very wrong … but that doesn’t change the fact that a part of me didn’t hate it. Absolutely loved it, in fact. That horrible part of me also wants it to happen again … and again andagain…

So. Fucked.

Chapter 6

Aiden

“Hold still.”

I do the opposite.

Dad always said that real alphas find a way out, so I put my all into moving the parts of me I can still feel, even though it only makes the pain worse when I try.