Chapter 12
Julian
“You go shower while I’ll make us something to eat,” Aiden says the moment we walk into his place.
“You want to cook?” I ask, one brow raised. “Better question—can you cook?”
Aiden scowls at me, but the slight twitch of his lips betrays him. “Just go wash that shit off.”
“Miss my scent that much?” I tease as I step back, but Aiden catches my wrist and pulls me in before I can take another. Our chests meet and our breaths mix as he looks at me.
“Yes,” he replies unflinchingly. “I do.”
It takes biting my tongue to silence the delighted sound his blatant honesty triggers, but there’s no hiding the way my body reacts to the confirmation and just him. I liked Aiden reserved, but I like this uncapped side even more.
His eyes hold mine, and I don’t dare look away.
I’d been far too worked up to notice earlier, but he isn’t wearing his shades anymore.
His eyes are so impossibly lovely. I thought they were pure obsidian, but standing this close in the daylight, I realise that they aren’t.
A light is there—a secret touch of gold that tugs at me, urging me to explore.
Goddess knows I want to, but with how close we are right now, I’m barely coping as it is.
“Okay,” I manage with what little blood is left in my brain. The rest is travelling south, fast.
“Okay,” Aiden replies, lips curving into a familiar smile, only this one is laced with gentle fondness I’m still getting used to.
I swallow hard, and then once more for good measure, before I trust myself to speak again. “I’m going to shower.”
Aiden hums. “You do that, Jewels.”
Traitorous heat crawls up my neck, but I turn around before Aiden can see it or name it something unfathomable again. I march down the hallway and his rumbling laughter chases after me.
Get it together, Julian!
I head straight for the shower, not because Aiden wants me to, but because I want to clean the day’s gunk from my skin. And maybe a little because I want to keep my mate happy.
My fingers find my lips while hot water rains down on me, tracing the raw edges that Aiden claimed so wholly. He’d been timid at first, unsure like in the car, and I’d worried it was the wrong move, but then …
“By the Plains,” I whisper as I try to muffle my groan, but I’m no better at stifling it than I am at keeping my lips from stretching into a massive smile.
We kissed.
It doesn’t feel real, like I might open my eyes and find Aiden glaring at me from the other side of the bed, but it happened.
Aiden and I had actually kissed, and Goddess help me, I feel like it’s happening all over again just thinking about it—about Aiden and those soft lips or that sinful tongue that had made me moan like … like an omega.
My ears tingle as a fierce heat encapsulates my entire body, but I don’t try to scrub it away. The kiss had been perfect, and so had the words before it.
I hadn’t realised in the car that Aiden was scared, or even nervous. I’d been too excited and then too hurt by what seemed like a blatant rejection to see him clearly. But replaying it now, I can’t find the repulsion I thought I’d seen.
“Julian? Are you still alive?”
Jerking so hard I almost fall on my ass, I cling to the shower wall and my raging chest. The water is still hot, but the bathroom’s all fogged up now so only Goddess knows how long I’ve been in here.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I call back while I grab my soap and loofah. “I’ll be out in five minutes.”
“I’m starting a timer for exactly that!” Aiden shouts back, and I grin as I hear him go.
Within what I hope was five minutes, I’m out of the shower, lotioned, dressed, and heading back out in a t-shirt and shorts with my damp hair up in a knot.
“Four minutes and thirty-two seconds,” Aiden says the second I step into the kitchen. He stands in front of the counter, his head cocked back to see the oven’s clock.
His shades are back on. I frown. If I were to hide them all, would that make me a bad mate?
“You just made that number up,” I say, trying to ignore them.
“Yeah? Try proving it.” He cocks his head and grins.
I stare at the idiot I’ve known all my life, and my soul lights up with joy where annoyance was supposed to be.
I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that switch.
Hovering beside him, I eye the large bowl of mixed fruits and vegetables, and next to it, a plate that held a beastly sandwich filled with what looked like everything.
“I know you eat other things besides salads,” Aiden rushes out when I open my mouth, “but it’s all I know how to make that is purely green.”
“Okay,” I reply, noting the way he shifts on his feet.
He shrugs. “I at least tried to make it good for your veggie ass.”
He’s nervous. The realisation makes butterflies swarm inside of me, fluttering about with all the excitement of a newly shifted pup, and it takes everything to keep my smile small as I peer at him.
“This is fine, Aiden,” I assure him. “In fact, this is a welcomed surprise. Honestly, I thought you were incompetent at anything that doesn’t have a touch of violence.”
“Funny,” he deadpans. “That’s exactly why I mixed your salad with chicken.”
Stiffening, I eye the bowl with newfound distrust. “You wouldn’t.”
Aiden forgets our dinner to step into my personal space. “We both know I would,” he says with a devious grin.
Before I can reply, he dips down and presses his nose to my shoulder. He doesn’t mask his desire as he nuzzles my skin, inhaling deeply as though he’s only just finding air again.
“Bless Goddess,” he groans over a heavy, satisfied rumble. “I missed that scent.”
My cheeks grow hot when he wraps his arms around my waist and draws me in for more as if it’s his Goddess-given right. It feels like it, and I don’t mind as he rubs his thumb over my neck.
Goosebumps prickle over my skin as he silently leaves his scent on me like a mark. My knees wobble, and when Aiden pulls away, I have to slam a hand on the counter to keep myself upright, holding onto it for dear life while I contend with the coaxing traces of his scent on me.
“Alright, time to eat,” Aiden says, stepping back. “I’m fucking starving.”
I watch, frazzled, while Aiden plates my salad before he grabs his towering sandwich and makes his way to the small dining table.
He’s as giddy as ever while I’m still trying to recover from the warmth of his touch.
He’s all over me, his scent mixed with mine, and it’s far better than the passing traces he’d left on my wrist this morning.
“Julian?”
Shit.
Embodying the picture of calm, I bring my plate to the table. When I sit down, it does its job of hiding just how much I liked Aiden scenting me, and I do mine by keeping my eyes solely on my allegedly contaminated salad.
“I was joking earlier,” he says around a mouthful of his sandwich. How had he managed to calm down so quickly? “It’s fine.”
I hold his gaze, searching for a tell, but when all I find is boredom and dwindling patience, I gather up a forkful and take a bite.
“Or was I?”
My chewing halts. Eyes wide, I look up at my mate who lets a beat pass before he doubles over laughing, almost spitting out some of his food in the process. While he chokes and reminds me exactly why I’ve always hated him, I contemplate the best way to scalp him with a fork.
“I hate you,” I grumble, stabbing my salad.
“It’s not good to lie, Jewels,” Aiden chuckles as he sobers. He’s left with a big smile on his face, and I don’t hate it—can’t anymore.
We eat in silence after that. Aiden scarfs down his monstrous sandwich and, for all my teasing, the salad is actually good. What’s better is eating with him. It started by force with the bond, but we didn’t stop when the discomfort of being apart did.
In my house, I ate most of my meals alone. Breakfast was the only exception with my mother, which I’d never really enjoyed because she always found something to lecture me about. But it’s different with Aiden. It’s easy, comfortable—yet another thing I’m newly addicted to.
He takes his last bite and goes to speak like the pig he is.
“Swallow before you utter a single syllable, or I swear to Goddess Aiden, I’m going to stab you,” I warn, lifting my fork so he can see what I’ll use.
He rolls his eyes, but dutifully chews his mouthful and swallows before he sticks his tongue out for examination.
“Cute.”
“I try,” he retorts. “But I just wanted to know, all jokes aside, was it good?”
I raise a brow.
“The salad, Julian.”
“Oh,” I pause. “Yeah, it was good.”
There’s the barest quirk of his lips, small enough to miss, but I spot it. The butterflies come roaring back, fluttering around, refusing to die while I search my mind for a distraction.
“Um,” I start, fiddling with a slice of avocado. “I’m supposed to go back to my pack at the end of the week.”
“Yeah, I know,” Aiden mutters, smile drifting away as quickly as it’d surfaced.
“I was wondering …” Putting this small question together is somehow more difficult than blurting out my feelings earlier. “I was wondering if you wanted—I mean, you don’t have to, but … um, would you … want to come with me?”
When we’d learnt that we were free from the “mate awareness” back when things had been less, well, volatile between us, the plan had been to stay in our own packs until they were officially joined.
Until then, we were supposed to alternate, spending a week in the other’s pack each month.
Nearly two weeks have passed since the coronation, and I thought I’d look forward to sleeping alone in my own lands.
But after barely making it through seven hours without Aiden, I can’t imagine lasting days without him.
I glance up, only to scowl at his damn shades still in place. Why does he insist on wearing them? Especially when I’m trying to gauge what he’s thinking.
“You don’t have to,” I add, in case shock isn’t what’s keeping him quiet. “It was just a thought since we’ve been together since the coronation, and things have been …”