Page 95 of Alpha Mates

“I’ll come with you,” I blurt before I have a chance to rethink it. Aiden looks up at me, and I’m sure his eyes are just as wide as mine behind those lenses.

“You want to come?” he asks, his disbelief practically wafting off him. “We’re heading out of the pack, Julian.”

“I know,” I reply. My twitching hands grab the cloth off the couch to keep busy, but I jolt at how unexpectedly cold it is. Aiden’s thick brows dipbefore he hastily shoves his remaining boot on.

“You don’t have to come,” he grumbles almost angrily. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“Why not?”

“‘Cause I know you don’t really want to be around me,” he snaps, making me stiffen in front of him. “We both know you’d just be forcing yourself.”

“I won’t. I’mnot,” I manage around my suddenly clogged throat, but he doesn’t look at me.Why isn’t he looking at me?“I’m not, Aiden.”

He scoffs as he wraps his laces around his knuckles, pulling them tight. “Sure.”

“Aiden, I just—” The words trip as I watch him lace up his boots. It’s like I’m watching an hourglass run out of sand, knowing he’ll be up and gone the second he’s done. “Look, I’m sorry, okay. I’m struggling with everything right now—with us.” Aiden’s hands keep moving, knotting the laces. “A month ago, we hated each other, and now we’re mates.Intimatemates. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it all, but that’s just me. Not you.”

Finally slowing, he sits with his gaze fixed on his boot. He’s so quiet that I barely catch his steady heartbeat before he gets to his feet with a sigh.

“Alright,” he huffs.

“Alright?” I repeat. That’s it?

“Yeah, alright. I get it,” he replies with a shrug. “I figured that was it. I understand.”

I narrow my eyes. He doesn’t sound like he’s lying, but he doesn’t sound like himself either. He sounds rigid, and as I eye him, I realise his body is the same—all tense, as if he’s straining against himself.

“Okay,” I whisper while my mind reels. “I’ll get started on dinner then. I can make the burgers you like?”

“Thanks, but I’m still heading out,” he replies, his expression unreadable as he faces me. My fingers tighten around the rag. He must see something on my face or feel it in the bond because he sighs again. “I’m not mad at you, Julian. I just need to get out tonight.”

Get out? Why? To get away from me? He said he wasn’t mad, but what else would make him want to “get out”?

“I’ll see you later, okay,” he says, already grabbing his car keys from the counter and heading for the door. He’s really leaving.

I rush after him, only just catching the door before he can close it behind him. His weighty stare pins me through those cold lenses, dark and challenging, but I don’t flinch.

“I’m coming with you,” I say, forcing the door open so I can step through. “With you guys,” I add, hoping to play it off.

He studies me for a few long seconds before he heads down the walkway with a muted “whatever.” It only deepens my worry.

Shutting the door behind us, I run to fall into step beside him until we’re forced to split to get into his car. He revs the engine and peels out as if something is chasing us. I focus on his hands as he drives, on the way they strangle the leather of his steering wheel.

“Emitt wanted to invite Isabel and Beckett,” he says, but his eyes remain on the road. “You want to give them permission to join us?”

“Sure,” I say, tugging on my seatbelt. “It’ll be safer.”

Aiden only grunts, pulling his phone from his pocket. He calls a gleeful Emitt to update him on their plans. It is safer for us to be together, and I figure the more the merrier, but is Aiden inviting them to keep space between us?

My insides squirm uncomfortably, and it has nothing to do with passing through the barrier’s magic.

How do I fix this? How do I stop my mate from being angry with me when he has every right to be? Aiden said he wasn’t mad at me, but it doesn’t feel like it. The bond is clogged, and the suffocating air in the car is no better. I can barely breathe around his muted rage.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper when I can’t stand it any longer.

The car slows as he flexes his fingers. “I’m not mad at you, Julian,” he says into the quiet. “I promise. I just …” Another long sigh, this one heavier than the rest. “I had a bad day.”

I feel my brows dip. “What happened?”