Page 302 of Alpha Mates

Step two—complete.

“Admit it. Y-you’re doing this on purpose,” he stammers, and I’m frowning before I can even think to play dumb. Since when does Aiden stammer?

“What?”

“You’re doing this to me on purpose,” he groans, voice fraying as I trail my fingers higher up his back. He shudders when I tease the nape of his neck.

“Julian… I wanna …” His eyes dart between mine. “I want …” His pupils dilate a second before he presses his lips to mine.

I’m used to frantic kisses with Aiden. Slow, sweet ones too. But this one is laced with so much desperate need. Starving.

It muddles my mind, and almost too late, I feel the tug of my pants’ drawstring.

I pull away with a gasp and grab his wrists in an unyielding grip. We pant against each other and Aiden tries to kiss me again, but I turn my head.

“Aiden. Stop.”

He falters, the lust clearing from his face as he blinks at me. Then he crumples, scowling with a low whine that has Alex himself scratching at me to comfort him.

“I just want to hold you, Julian.”

“Hold me or fuck me?” I ask, as if I’m not actively trying togethim to fuck me.

Is this fair? Probably not. Manipulative? Most definitely. But Aiden knows who he’s mated to, so I try not to dwell on the guilt.

“Wait, no!” he blurts. “I mean, yes, but no!” He’s panicking now, and it only gets worse when I push him back so I can stand up.

I put space between us, only a little, so I can get control back over this, but Aiden sees my retreat as a dismissal. He scrambles after me.

“Julian, I don’t just want sex,” he promises, chasing me into the hall. “Julian.” He grabs my arm, forcing me to look into his eyes, and my heart breaks.

This better work out in the end, or I’m going to skin Emitt alive.

“I just … I just—” he clambers for the right words. “I want to be with you because I need my mate. It’s not just sex, Julian.”

“You—”

“I’ll do anything,” he cuts in, eyes wide. “I won’t do anything you don’t like. I just want you,” he vows as he steps closer, walking right into my web. “Anything you want.”

Almost there …

“Anything?” I ask, biting the inside of my cheeks to gold back my grin.

“Anything,” he swears.

Good.

I fist his shirt and yank him to me. His eyes widen just before our lips crash together in a kiss much rougher than the one he gave me earlier. Even so, I don’t give him a chance to try to dominate me, and I certainly make no effort to hold back.

After days of not having him properly, my body vibrateswith the need to consume him, and I let that hunger bleed into the kiss. I bite his lip and swipe my tongue over the tender skin before I shove him into the wall.

Aiden moans against my tongue as I slide my hands under his shirt and up his sides. He shivers for me, and I smile as I drive my thigh between his and rock against the hard line of his erection.

“Agh—” he moans as I break the kiss to suck on his jaw, tracing the ink climbing up his neck with my tongue.

He bucks against me, grinding hard. My cock jerks when he whimpers as I drag my nails over his nipples. I’m leaking long before I pull back to look him over.

He looks like adream, one I’ve messed up and made dirty. I can see him trying to breathe, to focus, but that just won’t do.