Page 282 of Alpha Mates

She nods. “It’ll just weaken me.”

“… Oh shit.”

“Yep,” she whispers, before looking back to the sky. “The Gods are real cunts!”

She shouts that part before falling back against her invisible bed with a big sigh, as if she’s exhausted herself just thinking about it.

“Why’d you tell me all of that?” I ask as she spreads her arms out wide, waving them around like she’s making snow angels.

“Are you forgetting that you asked?”

“Yes, but you didn’t have to tell me,” I argue, and her head falls to one side. “But you did.”

“I felt like it,” she says, then glowers at me. Her brow twitches like she’s confused by herself before her expression hardens. “Don’t think anything of this, you friendless pig.”

I gasp. “I’m not friendless,” I retort—annoyed and now offended too.

“You’re right. That’s me,” she says, back to cackling again. “I’m self-projecting.”

“You’re a bit weird, Katerina,” I say, not bothering to hold my tongue. It turns out I don’t have to with her.

Any hostility she’d shown when we first met hasn’t made a single return. Honestly, she’s too strong to worry about any threat, and clearly, she didn’t see me as one anyway.

“Yeah, I am, but who wants to be normal? Plain bitches, if you ask me,” she scoffs, then clasps her hands together and hauls herself to her feet. “Now, I’ve had my fair share of werewolves today, so I’ll be on my way.”

Before panic can set in, my body drifts back to the roof. I cling to it. Solid ground. Solid ground is so lovely.

“Don’t call me again unless you really need me,” she states with a firm finger. “Otherwise, I’ll see you soon to cash in on that favour.”

“Don’t remind me,” I grumble.

Katerina’s devious smile curves across her lips—and then she vanishes right before my eyes.

“Is your witch friend gone?” Julian asks the moment I walk into the study.

I stop a step short. “We are not friends.”

“Sure, because werewolves are famously chummy with witches,” he replies with enough sarcasm to coat the walls.

I ignore the jab and circle the desk, where his favourite notebook lies open, pen abandoned mid-thought. He watches me warily.

“Want to continue what we started earlier?” I ask, moving behind his chair. I slide my hands down his chest and Julian sucks in a staggered beneath that makes me smile.

“I’m working. Pack business,” he protests weakly, but his pen slips from his fingers the moment I slip my hands beneath his shirt to splay my fingers over his firm chest.

“But we’re finally alone,” I whisper against the shell of his ear, my thumbs brushing his nipples. He arches despite himself. “Besides, didn’t you want to play?”

“Agh—Aiden. Not now,” he whispers breathlessly, his tone pleading.

I pull my hands back and Julian sighs with relief, mistaking the pause for mercy.

I spin his chair around and drop into his lap, pinning him. Then I lean in and suck on his mark. Julian gasps, hips bucking, and I reach between us to grip his neglected cock.

“A-Aiden!”

“What was it you said to do earlier?” I ask, tugging at his drawstring, letting his trousers fall open for the second time today. It’s easy work after that to slide my fingers in and take him back in my hand. He’s just as hard as before. “Can you remind me?”

Julian fusses while I stroke him, straining beneath me like he’s not thrusting into my hand.