Page 3 of Running with the Alpha’s Son (The Alpha’s Son #3)

“Jasper? You all right?”

We’ve been standing in the hall for a solid minute and Jasper hasn’t said a word since I told him he had to meet my folks before we went on our date.

“Are…are they here now?”

“They just popped out to pick up their order of Thai food. They’ll be home in a bit. But they said we had to wait so they could meet you before I’m allowed to go anywhere.”

Jasper’s shoulders relax and he exhales. “Okay.” He closes his eyes like he’s meditating, and when he opens them his expression is uberserious. “I’ll meet them.”

I smile. What a champ. “Great.” For a moment we hover awkwardly. “We probably have a bit of time before they’re back. Do you…want to see my room?”

A light flicks on at the back of Jasper’s eyes. “I’d love to.”

Doing my best to seem casual and not at all freaked about having a boy in my house or showing that boy to my room for the first time, I take Jasper’s hand and lead him upstairs.

Outside my room, I stop and gesture for Jasper to go in ahead. He shoots me a sideways grin that makes my stomach do a little flip and then wanders slowly inside. I watch him as he takes in the space. I did, of course, clean up a little bit. The dirty clothes are in the hamper, the bedsheets are pulled up neatly. Jasper wanders in a small circle, slowly, like he’s in a museum, taking in each detail. He runs a hand across the surface of my desk, still sort of messy, his fingers coming to rest on the edge of the sketchbook.

“It’s a good room,” he says, nodding approvingly. “Smells like you.”

“Oh god.” My face heats up and I dart my eyes to the floor. An errant dirty sock I must have missed during my cleaning spree is sticking out from under the bed. I snatch it up and toss it in the hamper, shutting the lid, unwilling to turn back around. Jasper is suddenly behind me, wrapping one hand gently around my waist.

“I love it,” he says, breath hot against my neck. His lips find the curve of my shoulder and I melt under his kiss. He spins me around to face him and pulls me in close.

Moon gods, is this really happening? I’m making out with Jasper Apollo in my little Stony Point bedroom. My raggedy childhood wolf plushie, Mr. Bitey, is watching us from his spot on my dresser, my old retainer is in its box on the desk, and my bed is right there.

Jasper’s kisses intensify. His lips and tongue taste like cherries, his hands are firm on my back, our chests are pressed together. For the first time, we’re alone in a room with no more bullshit keeping us apart. We’re here and we’re together. There’s nothing in our way.

Awkwardly, I take a step in the direction of the bed, and Jasper mirrors my movement. Without breaking apart, we maneuver like two penguins glued together, across the room, unable to stop ourselves from kissing. My toes bump against Jasper’s feet as we stumble a little and then, finding the edge of my bedframe, tumble onto the mattress.

“Ouch,” Jasper says, pulling away. I open my eyes to see him rubbing his head where he must have bumped it against the wall.

“Are you okay?”

He eyes me hungrily, grinning like a wolf about to chomp down on a lamb. “I’m great.”

In a flash he’s whipped off his jacket and is suddenly on top of me and we’re making out again. His body is warm and solid, and I like the weight of it. His hand is on my thigh, which sends a shiver running through me. I slide my hands up his back, firm and taught under my touch.

I don’t seem to be able to catch my breath but I don’t mind. I feel like I could do this for eternity. My whole body is zinging, my skin a mess of tingles, my heart and lungs and stomach filled with golden light. My fingers are lost in Jasper’s hair, his hand cups the side of my face like a pillow. My tongue catches on his slightly elongated fang and I enjoy the prick of it. Jasper’s hand comes to rest on the waistband of my jeans, his fingertips sliding under the hem of my hoodie and finding skin, making me gasp. This is euphoria, this is everything, I never want this to end.

“Ahem.”

We shoot apart at the sound of someone clearing their throat, and I turn, breathless, to find Mom standing in my doorway, an unimpressed expression playing on her face.

“Am I interrupting something?”

Awkward doesn’t begin to cut it.

Jasper and I are sitting on the sofa in the living room like a couple of dogs who have been told to sit and stay. Dad is sitting in the armchair across from us and Mom is standing, one hand on her hip, the other on the back of Dad’s chair—both of them staring us down like a firing squad.

Seriously, I have been kidnapped, held at gunpoint, almost thrown off a roof by a psycho werewolf, and I would rather be reliving those moments than sitting on this couch right now.

Jasper has his palms flat on his knees, his back straight, his hair still a little ruffled from our aborted romantic moment upstairs. He’s supposed to be the next leader of our pack, an alpha in training, our superior in every way, but I’ve never seen him look more like a bashful kid, scared after having been caught doing something he knows he shouldn’t have. If I weren’t about to wet myself as well I’d find it ridiculously adorable.

“Jasper,” Mom says, her mouth a tight line. “It’s nice to have finally met you—although I would maybe have preferred if you weren’t horizontal at the time. But it’s a pleasure. Max has told us, well, not much about you.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too,” Jasper says, struggling with eye contact.

“So…” Dad says, fiddling with the armrest. “You must have had quite the upbringing.”

“Yes, uh, sir.” Jasper’s voice is low and quiet, like he’s struggling to get the words out. “It has been quite different, I think.”

“Having the alpha for a father must be, well…I suppose inspiring is the right word.”

Jasper shifts uncomfortably.

“My father is a great man—a great, er, leader.”

Mom tilts her head to the side, questioningly. “And how does he feel about you being mated to our son?”

“Mom!” I jump in.

“He is in favor of our pairing,” Jasper says.

That’s one way to put it.

“The alpha is fine with us being together—he encouraged it.”

“Well, how would we know that, Max?” Mom asks, just a little exasperated.

Before I can clap back, Jasper begins speaking. “My father is quite strict. He’s not always been the easiest person to have as a father, he wasn’t around so much and when he was he…” Jasper trails off and my parents glance at each other, sharing a quick look of concern. “My father is complicated, but for all his…complexities…he is wise, and he only wants the best for the pack, for me.”

“It must have been difficult for you all after—”

I shoot Mom a deathly stare and she thankfully stops before she really puts her foot in it.

“After my mother died?” Jasper finishes the thought for her. “Yes, it was the worst thing that could have possibly happened.”

At this my parents’ expressions soften. Mom leans a little more against the armchair and Dad crosses one leg over the other.

“I’m sorry,” Mom says. “It was a great loss.”

“Yes,” Dad jumps in. “It was. We all felt it, though of course, not as keenly as you and your family.”

“Thank you,” Jasper says, lowering his head.

Desperate to move the subject away from Jasper’s mom and dad, I rack my brain for anything to say. “Are we done here then or…”

“Hold on,” Mom says, regaining her posture. “Before you go I think it’s important we address a few of our concerns.”

Dad clears his throat. “The thing is Max here has finally ” — he eyes me pointedly—“told us what’s been going on for the last six months or so, and we’re just a little worried about safety.”

There’s that damn word again.

“Dad, I’m fine.”

“Wait up,” Mom says. “Just the other night you were telling us about rogue attacks, crazed wolves who wanted to kill you. It seems wherever you go, Jasper, trouble follows.”

Why is she doing this? Just when Jasper and I have worked through all of this, Mom is bringing it back up again like it’s hot tea ready for serving.

“We’re just worried about our son,” Mom says to Jasper. “As I’m sure you can understand. If we let you and Max see each other”— Let us! Excuse me?— “how do we know Max won’t be caught up in more political drama? How do we know he’s safe with you?”

“Mom, you’re being crazy. You don’t get to choose whether we see each other, just like you can’t choose if we’re mates or not.”

“Max, don’t speak to your mother like that,” Dad says.

“We have a right to know,” Mom drones on. “You’re our child, we need to know you aren’t in danger.”

“I’m not!”

“And what about when Jasper becomes the alpha—what happens then?”

“How can you even ask that?”

“It’s a valid question.”

“But you’re being ridi—”

“You’re right,” Jasper says, lifting his head for the first time in minutes and cutting me off. “My life is difficult and it’s not always safe to be around me. That’s why I called things off with Max in the past, why I tried to put so much distance between us. Even hurt him to push him away.”

Jasper is making direct eye contact with Mom and Dad now. The three of them are locked in a staring contest, but somehow understanding is beginning to dawn on my parents’ faces.

“But I’ve come to learn,” Jasper continues, “nothing is as painful or as dangerous as not being with Max. He is my mate and being apart is not an option for us. So I have made it my goal to protect Max and do all I can to keep him safe. He is…” Pausing briefly, Jasper turns to look at me. “He is the most important thing in my life. And I will do everything in my power to make sure he is never hurt, or in pain, or put in any kind of danger again. I will protect him with my life.”

I smile at Jasper and take his hand. When I glance back at my parents, they both have tears in their eyes. Dad has reached up to put his hand on Mom’s.

“Well said.” Dad wipes away a tear with the back of his sleeve.

I glare at Mom, who, despite her glassy eyes, hasn’t backed all the way down just yet.

“Things aren’t going to be easy for you two,” she says.

“ Mooooom !”

“But I think…I think together you have a pretty good chance.”

Ugh. The conversation has turned from overzealous interrogation to embarrassingly sentimental and it’s more than I can take.

“Great, so can we go?”

“Yes, you may,” Mom says. “Just be home by eleven.”

I roll my eyes but can’t help the grin creeping across my lips. “Great, see you later.”

I hop up, pulling Jasper with me. But before we can even make it to the hall he’s let go of my hand and turned around.

“Thank you,” he says, despairingly earnestly, to my parents. “I’m pleased to have met you.”

“You too, son.” Dad shakes Jasper’s hand, and Mom, after a moment of hesitation, grabs him in a tight hug.

I can tell from the look of surprise on Jasper’s face and the way his shoulders are up by his ears that he wasn’t expecting it. But he quickly softens into the hug and they stay that way until I can’t stand it any longer.

“Okay, bye!”

I take Jasper’s hand and pull him into the hall, grabbing my coat on the way out the front door.

“Thank the moon gods that’s over,” I say, slipping into the passenger seat of Jasper’s car. “I swear they’re not normally so weird and intense.”

He jumps in the driver’s side, smiling. “You have great parents,” he says. “They care about you, a lot.”

“Too much,” I say with a roll of my eyes. “But at least that’s out of the way. So, where are we going on our date?”

“I was going to tell you ahead of time,” he says, raising a cheeky eyebrow. “But after that jump scare I think it’s my turn to surprise you.”

“What? Come on, just tell me.”

“Uh-uh, you’ll just have to wait.”

I sigh dramatically as Jasper puts the car into gear and takes off in the direction of who knows where.