Page 11 of Malek

Malek frowned. Well, that wasn’t the reaction he was hoping for. His mate was a contradiction. One minute he swore the man believed what they were saying, the next minute, he was laughing and looking at Malek like he thought Malek was crazy.

“This is no joke,” Malek said. His heart started beating faster, and a feeling he wasn’t accustomed to gripped him. What if his mate decided not to stay once he realised this wasn’t a dream or a hoax, or whatever it was that was currently going through his mind.

“I bet I hit my head on the trail, and I’m like in a coma, and this is all a dream,” Axel murmured.

His mate reached out and pinched himself, and yelped at the pain.

Malek flinched, even though he couldn’t feel what his mate did, but just the thought of Axel feeling any kind of pain jarred his soul.

Malek leaned down and kissed the spot that Axel had pinched, then placed a kiss on his mate’s lips.

“You can’t be real,” Axel murmured, “Things like this just don’t happen to me, but my mind says I’m awake and not dreaming, but then I go back to thinking how is this even possible?”

Malek shrugged, and gave the only answer he knew, “The goddess brought you to me, and all I know is, from now on you are mine to protect.”

“You’re serious?” Axel asked, looking Malek in the eye, his tone filled with awe. “Wow. I don’t care if this is a dream, it’s the best one ever, and I never want to wake up.”

Axel shifted closer to him, his head going back to Malek’s chest, and Malek couldn’t help it, he nuzzled Axel’s neck and breathed in Axel’s scent. He couldn’t stop the growl that escaped, and his wolf practically purred at the scent of their mate.

His wolf was pushing right beneath the surface, wanting to claim Axel, but Malek knew there were things he had to tell the other man. Things like what it meant to be the mate of an alpha wolf. And he wasn’t sure if he should drop everything on Axel now, or maybe wait until later.

“I want to tell myself this isn’t possible, but my brain says this is real, you’re here and I’m awake, so I know it is.” Axel leaned back and looked Malek in the eye, “You’re real…”

Malek nodded.

“And you’re mine…”

Malek nodded again, his heart beating faster…

“I don’t care, if I’m hallucinating, nothing has ever felt this right in my whole life, not even Matt.”

Malek growled at the mention of another man’s name from his mate. He didn’t expect his mate to be untouched, but he also didn’t want names of whoever had… yeah, he wasn’t going there.

Five

Axel

“Who’s Matt,” Malek said his friend’s name like it was a curse word. Axel could feel him trying to control himself, but Malek couldn’t quite do it, and why did that make him so happy?

Axel felt Malek’s growl rumble through his chest. He leaned forward and couldn’t stop the smile that appeared on his face, at this man’s reaction to Axel just mentioning another man’s name.

This was the best day of his life.

Even though his mind kept trying to tell him he’d lost it, there was this part of him that felt the truth in Malek’s words, although his logical mind kept telling him shifters weren’t real. Just something between the pages of some very hot book.

But, his eyes had seen what they had, and Malek was sitting here telling him they were. And leaning into the warm expanse of his chest, Axel felt safer and more cared for than he could ever remember feeling in his whole adult life.

There was a sense of rightness, of being where he was supposed to be, of home, that surrounded him, and Axel knew it had everything to do with the man whose arms were holding him right now.

Holding Axel like they never wanted to let go.

The heat from Malek’s body surrounded him, and Axel couldn’t help but sigh, and relax further into his embrace. Feeling a sense of completeness that he never had before, he didn’t try and fight it. Being with this man felt right. For the first time, he wasn’t feeling like he had to be anything but himself around a guy to have him like him.

If he was honest, his only thought at the moment was how he could go back to kissing Malek.

“Matt was my best mate, he’s getting married today, or I guess I should say he got married today. I kissed him, and that’s why I ended up here.”

Malek growled again. And as much as Axel enjoyed his mate—fuck,he had a mate—as much as Axel enjoyed his mate’s jealousy, he hated the distress he could feel coming off him.