Page 384 of Alpha Mates

“This is serious,” he says, settling on his knees and clinging to the paper. “A couple of years back, I did something horrible to you. I regret it now, and I don’t think I would’ve done it if I knew how much it would hurt you.”

“I mean the laxatives sucked, but I got over it,” I reply with a shrug.

“Not that,” Julian groans as he shifts. “I’m talking about when I burnt down your art room.”

My mood plummets, and he sees it. “I did it because I knew how much you loved the place and how much time you spent in there,” he rattles quickly. “I wanted to hurt you.”

My jaw tightens. “Julian—”

“Just let me finish,” he pleads.

I’m weak to him, even now. I nod.

“When I was pouring gasoline,” he continues, “I got to this one piece near the end that made me stop.”

His fingers tighten around the paper, and my heart leaps for one wonderfully horrible second. It’s canvas paper—I can tell now—and my heart starts hammering in my chest.

“I’d never seen anything so beautiful in my life, and it almost made me stop the whole thing. But I’d already started and it was too late. I saved that one, though. For myself. And—”

“Julian, you didn’t!” I lunge, snatching the painting from his hands.

I unravel it fast, and nearly drop it when I see what it is.

“Oh Goddess,” I rasp, tears stinging my eyes fill.

“I was digging through the attic in my parents’ old house a few months ago, and I found it,” he says while my eyes rove over the painting I tried so desperately to remember. It’s even better than I remembered, and fuck, I really was good.

“Back then, I thought it was just a good painting of some pretty cottage, but it isn’t,” he says with a weak smile when I look at him. “This is the home you built out there.”

“It was the design piece,” I admit with a nod. “When I started playing around with the idea of building something there, I painted this. It was my safe space. What I wanted that to look like.”

A familiar meadow lays in the foreground, sunlight pouring through glass panels of a minimalist structure nestled between trees. It’s beautiful and just like what I created. I can hardly bear to set it down, but I force myself to so I can look at my amazing mate.

“I can’t believe you kept it,” I say.

Julian shrugs, eyes soft. “I couldn’t let it go.”

“Thank you,” I whisper, pulling him into a fierce hug. “Seriously. Thank you.”

“I’m happy you like it, even though it’s yours and I’m just giving it back,” he chuckles awkwardly, making me laugh as I roll it back up and put it away carefully. “Now for me!”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to top that,” I say, digging into the front pocket of my bag.

“It doesn’t matter,” he declares readily, beaming with excitement that tells me it does.

Julian might not know it, but he’s a complete sucker for gifts. Luckily for him, he has a mate who loves giving them to him.

“Close your eyes and count down from five,” I instruct while I fit the box behind my back. “Open them when you’re done.”

Julian shuts them and starts counting as I pull my hand around. I turn it to him and open it right when he reaches one. Blue eyes I’ve known all my life pop open.

They land on what I’m holding, and freeze. His eyes fill with tears, and when they lift to mine, I almost forget what I’m supposed to say.

“Julian Heil,” I start, voice shaking. “You’ve been a pain in my ass since day one and I always wanted you gone. You were the annoying Batman to my Joker, and I couldn’t stand you.”

He chokes on a laugh, eyes shimmering.

“But then I found out we were mates, and I stopped seeing you as my enemy. It was bumpy. I fought it. I didn’t want to love how it felt to touch you, or how it felt when you said my name—but I did. I loved every little thing you did.”