Chapter 9 #2
Regrets of my pending self-inflicted torture circle my mind as I drag myself out of bed and to the bathroom. As promised, the deep tub is filled with steaming water, my usual soaps lined up on the side. I glance around, tensing for the poisonous dart—but it doesn’t come.
It’s just a bath that Julian prepared for me. Something warm, giddy, and stupid sparks to life inside of me, but I don’t let myself think too much about it as I sink into the scalding water.
I could spend the day in here, but knowing Julian would sooner leave me behind than be late has me climbing out far too soon.
Dried off, I head for my closet, only to come up short at the sight of the bed, already remade with fresh sheets, and a set of clothes laid out: dark jeans, a black long-sleeved shirt, and a pair of shades sitting atop them.
He’s planning your death, Max says simply. He’s already resigned to our fate. These are all warning signs.
Julian’s always planning our death, I counter, eyeing the clothes. I think he’s just being nice.
It’s weird to think it, weirder still to believe it, but how else do you explain this?
Julian Heil is anything besides ‘nice,’ Aiden. He and his demon wolf are the humans’ anti-Christ.
I can’t argue that, but there’s the bond between us … and whatever happened last night.
It’s weird because I still hate him. I think. But I don’t hate the way he felt in my arms or waking up to him in the morning. I don’t hate that at all, and maybe I’m not the only one feeling what’s going on here. Maybe Julian’s trying to find a way to deal with all of this, too.
That doesn’t change the fact that he is a fucking psychopath!
I leave Max to his ramblings about the coming hours, and get dressed.
I whistle as I enter the kitchen and spot a plate piled high with pancakes, sausages, hash browns, and eggs. “Is that all for me?”
“Yeah,” Julian says nonchalantly while rinsing dishes.
Yeah, maybe this is the end.
“Thank you,” I say carefully while I ignore Max’s wails, “but uh … what’s the occasion?”
Julian glances at me from over his shoulder, looking at me as if I’ve proven his low opinion of my intelligence. “Breakfast, Aiden. The occasion is breakfast. Do you not want to eat?”
“I do,” I protest, grabbing the plate.
“But?”
“But nothing.” I start shovelling food into my mouth. But this is weird? But I don’t want to die if you’ve poisoned this? I don’t say any of this out loud in case … well, in case he stops.
“Did you eat?” I ask around a mouthful of greasy pork sausage.
“Yeah, I had the same thing, just without… the sausages…” Julian’s words fade on his tongue as he turns a little green.
“What?” I ask, and he cringes.
“We still have ten minutes, so feel free to take your time. You know … to take smaller bites.”
I don’t usually give two shits about what Julian or anyone else thinks about the way I eat, but now I’m wiping my mouth to look better for my mate. Thankfully, he doesn’t notice, too busy cleaning to see what he and this bond are doing to me.
I take advantage of it, letting my eyes linger on him while he silently cleans, as if he hadn’t done so much already. From the bath to my clothes, breakfast, and now cleaning … Julian is like the perfect mate. More than that. Even if he weren’t my mate, as a person, he’s …
Obviously, you have to brush aside his pompous attitude, his dictionary brain, and the rest of his annoying qualities, but once those are out of the way, then yeah. Julian’s sort of, maybe, kind of great.
“What?” he snaps when he finally catches me staring. Usually, that tone makes my rage simmer, but now it makes my heart beat faster.
He’s still covered in my scent, and me in his, and that’s all the reminder I need that things between us are weird as fuck, so I might as well enjoy something about it.
“Can you come here for a second?” I ask, pushing away my plate.
Suspicious, his shoulders draw up as he studies me. “Why?”
I roll my eyes. “Just come here.”
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 or something.”
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 us both with smiles and kind words. Pride consumes me to know my pack is so gracious, with us and the situation, but I’m not na?ve 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 of that?”
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 with him.
“It’s just that,” he shifts again, eyes darting away. “I want to focus on my work.”
I frown as fresh confusion floods in. “And what does that have to do with me?”
Julian starts to speak, only to falter aimlessly. I stay as I am, waiting until he finally just looks at me. “You know,” he mumbles.
“No, I don’t,” I reply, and it’s true. His fingers twist in his lap, a nervous tick I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do. He stares at me as if I have the answer, but I don’t hold the answer to shit. “Come on, just spit it out.”
“If we stay together, I’ll get distracted,” he says it so quickly that I almost miss it. Almost.
Distracted? By me?
Was the Julian Heil trying to say that I distract him?
Pleasure surges through me as I twist in my seat to face him properly.
“Jewels,” I sing softly, a smirk already spreading across my lips. “Are you saying you can’t keep your eyes off me?”
Julian’s cheeks go up in flames, and he immediately turns away. He tries to get out of the car only to end up in a one-sided battle against his seatbelt.
“Julian,” I laugh, catching his arm before he can escape. I force him to look at me as my chuckles die down. “I’m just teasing. No need to run.”
Julian reluctantly looks back at me with a fresh glare. Fuck, I’m starting to like those, too.
“Look, it’s fine. I’ll stay away today.”
I feel sick just saying the words, but if that’s what Julian wants, then—
“No. You don’t have to—I just want …” He sighs and runs a frustrated hand through his hair.
“I’m just that much, huh?” I ask with a sympathetic hum.
“Aiden, I will murder you,” Julian warns, but it only widens my grin. Despite himself, he smiles a little as he looks at me. “Can we just meet at lunch?”
“Lunch?” I’m not sure I can make it that long without seeing him.
“If you want to,” Julian adds into the quiet. “We don’t have to—”
“Sure.” I cut in just to make him stop, and thankfully, it brings an instant smile to his face. It’s fucking blinding.
“Okay, cool.” Julian laughs a little, and my heart does weird stuff again. “Um, I’ll see you later. Lock up when you go.”
I nod since words are currently impossible for me, and he hops out of the car, sharing one last, hesitant smile before he heads inside.
When the door shuts, I sink back into my seat, because I’m already itching to follow, to keep us close, and I can still see him in the rearview mirror.
“Fuck …” This isn’t going to end well.