Page 47 of Alpha Mates

After a moment’s hesitation, he starts towards me, each step cautious like he’s navigating a minefield. I entertain his dramatics, letting him go slow, but the second he’s within arm’s reach, I grab his waist and pull him to me. He stumbles into the space between my knees, trapped before he can think of pulling away.

Julian stands perfectly still—stiff, just like last night. His arms hover in the air like he doesn’t know what to do with them until, finally, he lets them settle over my shoulders. I press my face to his chest, and he buries his nose into my hair, inhaling deeply.

I sink into him, a slave to this, but then he brushes his thumbs over my scent glands and pleasure skitters down my spine. My eyes roll as his scent covers mine, sinking below my skin in a silent marking that almost makes me moan. I bite it back, stay silent, and so does Julian for a while. But when has Julian ever just let shit rest?

“Why are we hugging?”

I groan as he draws back to look at me. Frowning, he lifts my crooked shades without asking. I reach for them, but he catches my hand.

“Don’t,” he says. A dry laugh escapes me as I wait him out.

I count the seconds, wondering how long he’ll last before he looks away. My parents can’t get to two.

I get to ten, and he still hasn’t.

“Why are we hugging?” he asks again, like that’s the strangest thing happening right now. “Why did you hug me last night?”

“I don’t know,” I mutter, turning my head.

“You don’t know?” His voice is low, pensive. A finger hooks under my chin, tipping my face back up. “You’re the one hugging me.”

I snort. “If you don’t like it, I can stop.”

Julian’s eyes narrow into a glare that silently dares me to. When I stay as I am, the glare fades away. “Are you going to make me ask again?”

I deflate against him, knowing he won’t let this go. Stubborn fucking nerd. “I don’t know. I just wanted to,” I grumble. “I guess I like hugging you orsomething.”

Julian is quiet for a beat, unreadable, and then he’s running his fingers through my hair. “I suppose I like hugging you, too.”

My eyes widen, and Julian stares at his hand in my hair, focus snagging there instead of on me now that he’s the one under scrutiny. I grin up at him and tug him closer when I spot the faint colour filling his cheeks. I swallow my groan. That blush will be the death of me.

At first it was just fascination, but now, every time I saw the lovely pink tint, my mind becomes muddled with lust. When it reaches his ears, it fills with all the filthy ways I could make him moan my name like he had that first day.

“We should get going,” he says, stepping out of my grasp.

I itch to pull him back, but instead shove my shades back down and stand. “Lead the way.”

There are far more wolves out and about than there were early this morning, each greeting usbothwith smiles and kind words. Pride consumes me to know my pack is so gracious, with us and the situation, but I’m not naïve enough to think everyone feels that way.

Julian and I are two alpha mates, and yet there wasn’t a single complaint, homophobic remark, or ploy for our roles. With the populations of both our packs, the chance of nobody resenting us is basically zero. Someone has to be against it; they’re just smart enough to stay quiet. I just hope they keep it that way.

The drive to school is the most excruciating thing on the planet because, apparently, when Julian is at the wheel, he drives like an elder. And with no music allowed because it’s “a distraction,” I’m literally slamming my head against the dashboard the whole way.

By the time we pull into the lot, I’m drained in entirely new ways, with a pledge to myself never to let Julian drive us anywhere, ever again.

“I have a favour to ask,” Julian blurts when I reach for the door handle. I slowly settle back in and watch him shift is his seat. “Well, not a favour. It’s more along the lines of a request.”

I meet his dulled eyes, still hating what the contacts did to his natural eye colour. Julian’s eyes were unusually bright, clear. They shouldn’t be dimmed. I’d told him he could wear a pair of my shades instead, but Julian being Julian, refused.

“Would you mind us staying separated during school hours?” he asks. Might as well shove me off a roof.

“What?”

“I’m fine with how we are in the packs,” he says quickly, “but in school,can we just … stay separate? Not do all ofthat?”

By “all of that,” did he mean how tactile we’d become since last night, or hugging like we had this morning? And he wanted us to stay apart? That defeated the whole purpose of me being here. I’d come here to be withhim.

“It’s just that,” he shifts again, eyes darting away. “I want to focus on my work.”