Page 91 of Alpha Mates

My best guess? Hooking up with a guy for the first time—paired with letting another alpha make him come—has him spiralling the way I had after he tried to kiss me for the first time. But we’ve gotten good at talking about that type of stuff. And just being us. We were in the same boat and all that campfire shit, so why can’t he talk to me now?

“Maybe it was too much too soon,” Emitt offers as we head for his car. “You know the Black Moons are a bit more traditional about things. I mean, even Beckett—”

I wait for Emitt to finish his sentence, but it never comes. I glance at him, frowning when I find him suddenly imitating a pufferfish out of water.

“Even Beckett, what?” I ask, stopping just a few paces from his car to face him. “Did he say something to you? Something Julian told him?”

“What? No! No.” He shakes his head like a dog trying to dry itself.

“But you just said—”

“Well, yes and no,” Emitt cuts in with a weird stream of laughter that treads dangerously into hysteric territory. I take a step back. “I just mean, the human girls love him, right? I’m pretty sure the ones in their pack do too, but Beckett’s never been with any of them before. I’m pretty sure he’s still a virgin.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “He is?”

“Yeah, and Julian probably is too.”

“Oh.”I know Julian isn’t very experienced—I’d teased him for years about being a virgin wet wipe, but that’s all it’d ever been, teasing. I didn’t actually think he was a virgin. We’re werewolves for crying out loud. We practically invented the word horny, and when puberty hit, it was a fucking free for all.

Julian can’t still be a virgin … can he?

“I’m just saying,ifhe really is inexperienced, then maybe it was a lot for him,” Emitt finishes before he pops his door open and slides into the car.

I follow after him in a slight daze, slumping into the passenger seat. If Julian had no experience before me, then his ninja act made more sense. Doing something like that for the first time, with another alpha of all people, would have me a little off-kilter too.

I mean, it’s not like I’ve been all over the place getting my dick wet, but I’d done enough to know what I liked and what I didn’t. Enough to know that just kissing Julian was better than anything else. But maybe not having that kind of experience is what’s keeping my mate away from me.

“So, what should I do?” I ask as Emitt pulls out of the small lot, steering us down the wide pack roads.

“I don’t know, give him some space?” He shrugs. “There’s not much youcando except wait for him to talk to you.”

“But I have been waiting!”

“It’s been two days.”

“And it feels like an eternity!” I wail.

Laughing, Emitt shakes his head as he takes a turn, heading for the borders. “I’m sure you’ll survive a little longer. In other news—”

“I don’t care about other news,” I cut in, but he continues anyway.

“I was thinking we should all hang out tonight,” he says without missing a beat. “Me, you, Isabel, Beckett, and Julian,” he lists as his fingers tap excitedly against the steering wheel. “We could head out of the pack for a bit.”

“You know I’m always down, but we both know they won’t be,” I reply, sinking lower in my seat. “Those goody-two-shoes only leave their pack to go to school or come to ours.”

“We’ll start them off with something easy, like a movie. I know Isabel will be all for it, and I can find a way to convince Beckett.” He glances my way. “Which just leaves Julian.”

“You want me to convince my mate, who’s currently avoiding me like a siren avoids chlorine, to leave his pack forfun?” I snort, shaking my head. “It took me forever to get him to take a weekend off. You guys should just go on your own.”

Emitt frowns and does that ugly pouting thing. “But I want you there.”

“Look, I miss hanging out with you too, but there’s too much going on right now,” I say, and my exhaustion weighs on my bones as if to testify.

The new construction projects were underway, but they sparked little spats between our wolves. Julian and I spent half our time putting out fires,the other half drowning in meetings, training, festivities—and on and on it went.

“Maybe some other time,” I say, patting his shoulder to lessen the blow. “You guys have fun tonight if you go, but for now, Julian’s not ready for trips out of the pack.”

“Alright,” Emitt sighs as we cross through our packlands and follow the short path to Black Moon territory. “But maybe some other time we can hang out within the pack? That’s allowed, right?”