Chapter 12 #2
“Things have been?” Aiden prompts, lips tilting up.
“Never mind,” I grumble, standing with my bowl.
I’m almost at the sink when firm hands catch my waist, stopping me short before I can escape my embarrassment. My back hits Aiden’s chest as he slides his arms around me and squeezes me against him.
“Hey,” he whispers, taking the bowl from me. “Don’t get mad so quickly. I was only teasing.” He sets it down before he pulls me in again. Pressed close, he rests his chin on my shoulder and slides his hands over mine, “I would love to come with you, Jewels.”
I stare down at our hands, unable to look away while my embarrassment redirects itself for reacting so delicately. I’ve never been anything other than level-headed, especially emotionally, but with Aiden, it’s as if some hidden switch had been flicked, and now, everything is spilling out.
“Okay,” I mumble as he turns me around to face him. I want to remove those shades again, but that would require letting go of his hands.
“Okay,” he agrees. “Maybe okay will be our—”
“You are not quoting The Fault in Our Stars.”
“It’s a good movie,” he says, almost pouting, which is not cute.
“It’s a good book,” I correct. “The book is better.”
“Have you even seen the movie?”
“No, but I know the book is better.”
“Of course it is.” He fakes a gag. “Wait. How did your sheltered ass read that?”
“I am not sheltered. The library in school is non-discriminating.”
He cackles, shaking his head. “Well in that case, I say we wash up and watch the movie now. I’m in the mood to cry.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask, chuckling. I can’t quite imagine Aiden crying over a movie, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see it. “That sounds nice, but—”
“No! No buts!”
“But,” I continue and when he groans dramatically, I can’t help but laugh. “I have work to do.”
“Work?” he echoes, nose wrinkling.
“Homework,” I say, spurring another dragged-out groan from him. “I missed a lot of classes, and I need to catch up. Not to mention, I’ve got to go through the reports for your scouting trip this morning.”
“Boo. Here’s a good idea. Why don’t we skip school tomorrow, and you do all that in the morning?”
“Your solution for my workload is to skip more school and acquire an even larger workload?” I ask with a raised brow.
“Yes.”
I shake my head, but my smile remains exactly where it is. “Aiden, we are not skipping—”
“What’s the harm in skipping one day?” His pout is back in full force. Yep, definitely not adorable at all.
“A lot,” I say. “I’m not missing any more work. I know you don’t care for it, but I actually really enjoy what I learn from the humans.”
“Goddess, you’re such a prude. You’re going to become a librarian, you know that?”
“And you’re going to become a homeless man,” I retort. “Do you know that?”
“At least I’ll be your homeless man,” he says with a stupid smile that’s inexplicably contagious.
“Lucky me,” I deadpan, making him snort.
“Okay, fine. If you’re not in the mood to cry, that’s all good with me,” he says, lifting his hands in surrender. “But once you’re done with all your important work, why don’t we go out?”
“Go … out?” I say. “Like to the markets?”
“No, like out of the pack.” Even as he says it, he slides a hand through his hair to scratch the back of his head. “Sometimes Emitt and I go past the borders to blow off steam. With the day we had, I thought maybe we could do that.”
Aiden stares at me expectantly, but all I hear is “beyond the packlands.”
I hum to buy myself some time as I face the sink. We weren’t supposed to leave except for school, and sure, we were alphas now and could change that, but the rule wasn’t arbitrary. There are dangers out there that can be avoided by simply staying within our packs.
The fact that Aiden slipped out before, and regularly, was beyond worrying. We’d gone after our coronation, but given the circumstances, I’d assumed that was a one-time thing. Apparently, it wasn’t.
I’d left the pack many times, but only ever to one destination and straight back.
Two now, if we count Walmart, Alex inserts readily.
Two destinations. But this still feels like an invitation for trouble.
“It was just an idea,” Aiden says as he joins me at my side. “I’m fine with staying in.”
I glance at him. “Really?”
“Yeah, I’ve had a long day chasing after you. My legs are about to give out,” he says, chuckling as I shove him away. “You do your important work, Jewels. I’ll watch some TV.”
“Okay,” I say, gnawing on my lip as he walks away. A weight sets itself on my chest and refuses to move. “I-I’ll join you once I’m done?”
Aiden turns, his smile much bigger this time. “That sounds good to me.”
I grin back, but once I’m alone, it fades. Should I have said yes? Should I have gone wherever he had in mind instead of hiding behind rules?
Werewolves stay in packs for a reason—we’re stronger together.
Safe from witches, hunters, and everything else behind our borders, which is how we’ve survived this long.
But still, there’s this familiar, itching thought.
The world is so big, with so much to see and experience, not to mention all the realms beyond ours.
All with their own treasuries of culture and history.
Aiden had already shown me so much, granted it was only a supermarket, but still. It had sparked ideas for better ways to sell and trade food in the markets in just that single visit. I can only imagine what else I could improve in the pack with more exposure.
But it wasn’t just the new things. I had fun that night. Real, unadulterated fun when it was just Aiden and me, without our betas watching over us, or the packs’ eyes on us, or my parents’ judgement. And I know I’d have even more fun now that we’ve grown closer.
Closer, Alex snorts. Is that what we’re calling the way he fondled your ass?
Yes, I reply sharply, even though that was not what I’d meant in the slightest.
Alex cackles but leaves me be on that particular subject, If you really want to go, maybe we should.
But we have work to do—for school and the pack.
That’s true, Alex obliges with a huff, but do not forget ‘the work’ we have to do with our mate as well. A good bond requires effort.
I know that. Mate bonds go beyond the connection.
It was strong and undeniable, but it doesn’t promise a good relationship, and I want that with Aiden.
But we aren’t just any wolves. We’re alphas, and our jobs are never-ending.
Aiden had done his duty this morning with scouting, so it was only right that I do mine.
I could handle the matter of the reports, knock out some of my homework, and then join Aiden for some time in front of the TV. I’d much rather read to relax, but like Alex said, spending time with him was important, and besides, I was discovering that I really liked spending time with my mate.
Decision made, I dry my hands before I get to work.
The reports go quickly; they’re all succinct and detailed, containing all the key information we’d told the wolves to keep an eye out for. Before long, I have a notebook filled with several well-inked pages. The same can’t be said, however, for my schoolwork.
It’s not too late to take up Aiden’s offer of skipping, Alex interjects with a hopefulness he doesn’t bother to downplay. We can do all this tomorrow if we do.
We are not skipping.
Alex groans much like Aiden had earlier. There’s nothing wrong with living a little, Julian. You’re young, not ninety. No one would blame you, not even me, if you wanted to get ‘closer’ to your mate.
I’m not letting you convince me to do something stupid, Alex, I retort, knowing very well which head he’s thinking with right now.
Fine. I’m not the one who’s going to suffer with blue balls for eternity. That’s all you.
I growl, pushing Alex and his taunts away so I can focus.
Time flies as I work, moving so quickly that when I finally bother glancing at the clock, I find the hands both pointing at twelve.
I jolt from my seat, my heart dropping straight to the bottom of my gut as I rush out the study door.
Please still be up. Please still be up. Please still be up.
My hope flatlines when I push the bedroom door open and find Aiden sound asleep. The TV on the wall is still on, but Aiden’s under the covers, lying on his stomach with his right arm stretched over the empty side of the bed.
Guilt twists and digs into my heart like a jagged knife.
Alex had been right. I’d spent the entire evening wrapped up in work when I should’ve spent some of it with my mate.
I know it’s only one night, but it was our first of being something other than enemies or wary of one another, and I hadn’t spent a minute of it with him.
I drag myself to the bathroom and make sure I’m quiet as I brush my teeth and get ready for bed. My head fills with all the things I should’ve done, but what’s done is done and there’s no fixing it.
Well, that’s not true, Alex interjects. Aiden really liked you preparing breakfast yesterday. Maybe you wake up a little earlier and do it again?
As simple as it’d been, he had looked at me as if I was something precious. And that was what had led to us hugging in the first place. My heart warms at the memory, and that’s all I need to make my mind up.
I’m only just taking the sausages from the fridge when a loud and insistent knock sounds at the door. I curse quietly as I rush over, ready to skin the wolf on the other side who’d risked waking Aiden up too early.
“Pancakes! Waffles and—” Emitt’s shout dies on his tongue when the door opens to the alpha he is evidently not expecting to see.
The wood of the door threatens to splinter between my fingers as I strain against myself not to kill Aiden’s best friend. It’s exceedingly difficult though, because there is no chance in all the Hells that all that screaming hasn’t woken him up.
“Oh, Julian,” Emitt says awkwardly, stepping back. “I mean, Alpha. Alpha Julian? I um … I was looking for Aiden.”
“This early in the morning?” I ask coldly.