Chapter 15
Aiden
I wake up on a mission to show Julian Heil how to let off some steam.
If anyone had told me a year ago that I’d be doing anything nice for Julian, I would’ve punched them in the face—my future self included. And yet, here I am.
I, Aiden Jade Calderon, am doing this shit of my own free will because I want to make that veggie-freak I call a mate happy. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
And fallen we have, Max agrees while I work on breakfast. “Work on,” because scraping together a meal that isn’t a salad for a vegetarian keeps upping its difficulty level. You do know that this mission of yours is impossible, right? Julian Heil doesn’t have fun; he alphabetises it..
Which is exactly why I’m fixing that. Were potatoes supposed to look like this? I’ll ease him into it. We’ll start with the stuff he likes.
It’s been just under a month since Julian and I learnt we were mates, and in that time, I’d come to realise that our definitions of fun lived in two different ballparks.
I like to fuck around in any way that promises a spiked heart rate, while Julian willingly spent his free time reading books and going on walks.
But where we differ doesn’t matter ’cause today isn’t about me.
It’s about Jewels, which means taking things at his pace, and if that leads to the most mind-numbingly dull day ever, then I’d find a way to survive it.
Careful, Aiden. You’re starting to sound smitten.
I ignore Max’s taunts as I lift the pan off the flame and empty its mushy contents onto the awaiting plate. I’m not “smitten” with Julian. I mean, he’s my mate, and I no longer hate spending time with him, but exactly how much I now like Julian is not something I plan to think about.
“What poison are you concocting in here?” Julian shuffles into the kitchen, still half asleep and already critical.
“Good morning to you too, Jewels,” I greet, watching him rub one of his eyes as he drags himself over to my side. He leans against me, and my heart tries to fold in on itself.
“Um.” I clear my throat, glancing desperately at the plate like it might remind me what I was doing before Jewels came in here acting all cute. “It’s a vegetarian hash. I found the recipe in one of your books.”
Julian’s sharp gaze flicks from the open cookbook I’d snagged off his bookshelf, to the steaming plate. A single golden brow arches. He looks between the photo and my attempt once, twice. By the third time, I flip the piece of shit off.
“It’ll taste good,” I insist, snatching the book off the counter and slamming it shut.
“I didn’t say anything,” he says, laughter muffled behind his hand. “It doesn’t matter how it looks. Like you said, it’ll probably taste good.”
“You see, it’s that ‘probably’ I don’t like,” I reply from the living room. I find the empty slot and work it back into place before shouting, “You’re eating it even if it doesn’t!”
Julian’s snort drifts from the kitchen, filling the already warm space with his laughter.
Yesterday, Julian and I moved into his hobbit cottage.
It looked the same way it had the night of our birthday, with boxes waiting to be unpacked, but somehow, we’d managed it all last night.
Now, our crash point for the next few weeks looks like it’d been pulled straight out of a human magazine spread.
I like my place fine—it’s perfect for me—but I can admit that Julian’s home is actually …
nice. The wood panels on the outside of the house are dark, mirrored on the inside with soft, brown leather furnishings, and the contrasting silver of stainless steel appliances.
The open layout is flooded with light from the entire wall of floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors that face the waiting woodlands.
It isn’t my style, but it’s very Julian and, like always when I was with him, I slept like a baby last night.
“I thought I’d find you burying it in the trash,” I say, walking back into the kitchen to find him shovelling the hash into his mouth instead.
“It’s good,” he says, eyes wide with surprise.
“Of course it’s good,” I say—never mind that towards the end there, I’d just started throwing stuff in and hoping for the best.
“Where’s your food?” he asks after swallowing another mouthful.
“I’ll be hunting my lunch, and you’re going to help me.”
Julian’s chewing halts. “I will?”
I nod.
“Are you forgetting that I’m a vegetarian?”
“How could I forget?” I retort, and he scowls. “I know you don’t kill or eat anything unless it’s made of grass, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help me hunt, right?”
I try to sound casual, even though it sort of isn’t.
All werewolves, except for Julian I guess, hunt.
We always hunt with others, whether that was as a pack or as a family.
But with mates, it’s supposed to be more …
intimate. Usually, the more dominant wolf hunts for their mate while they watch on.
My skin itches to do just that, but it would offend Julian, just like it would offend me if he tried to pull that shit.
And because I can’t hunt legumes, I came up with a compromise—we’d hunt together, with Julian helping me corner my prey.
And maybe, just maybe, we could do it without killing each other in the process.
“Alright,” Julian replies eventually, and then nods, solidifying his decision. “I’ll help you hunt, but that’s it.”
“That’s enough for me,” I say quickly. “More than enough.”
Just imagining Julian helping me hunt has Max practically wagging his tail, and me almost salivating.
“What else is on the agenda for ‘the best day ever’?” he asks, eyes sparkling with far too much amusement.
“You’ll see,” I say, grinning as I rest my hip against the counter. “I’m not telling you a thing beyond the hunt—”
“Oh yes, we must not forget the hunt,” Julian cuts in.
“Smartass,” I mumble, watching him eat. “All you need to know is that we’re taking it easy today. I promise you’ll make it back in one piece.” I mean it, but when Julian frowns, I add, “Unless you want me to put your life at risk?”
“What? No!” He laughs a little. “Taking things easy sounds great to me. I just figured you’d try to make me skydive or something.”
“That’s next week.” I manage to keep a straight face for a total of three seconds before the horror on my mate’s face gets the better of me.
“I’m kidding,” I chuckle, nudging his foot with mine.
“I’ll ease you into swimming with sharks another time, but for now, we’re just going to relax.
You can do that, right, Jewels? It won’t be too hard? ”
“Yes, Aiden,” he drawls, fighting against a smile. “I can do that.”
“Good.” I brush his hair back from his face, then step away. “I’ll get our things ready. You finish up on breakfast.”
“Okay,” he replies, but his voice is pitched just high enough to make me pause. Glancing back, I stall momentarily as I watch Julian grin down at his plate with red-tipped ears.
I bite back a sigh as I turn and use my dwindling self-control to keep moving forward instead of turning around for a taste.
“Alright,” I say once we’re standing before the treeline at the back of his house, “strip.”
Julian’s eyes almost pop out of their sockets. “I’m sorry, what?” he sputters.
“If it’s not already obvious, we’re going to shift,” I say, folding my shades and pushing them into the front pocket of my bag. “So, unless you want to shred your clothes”—I look up at him—“strip, Julian.”
“I don’t think—”
His protest dies on his tongue as I pull my shirt over my head. When I meet his eyes again, he’s blinking fast, suspiciously never allowing his attention to fall below my shoulders.
“You don’t think?” I prompt, smirking. “It’s just us here. No need to be shy, Jewels.”
I pop the button of my jeans and drag the zipper down.
The low-pitched purr is stark amidst the familiar nature sounds and undoubtedly loud to Julian’s ears.
Colour rushes up his neck and into his cheeks.
He finally lets his gaze fall, barely taking in my working fingers before he sucks in a short breath and closes his eyes.
Fuck. I only meant to tease him a bit, but my heart pounds as hard as his. And I’m cursing myself because now, I want to see Julian strip, and I’m not sure if he’ll let me.
Nudity isn’t the problem—no werewolf has a problem with that. It’s us. The growing desire between us that’s been slowly inching its way to a breaking point ever since we’d kissed. Hells, since that first day in the kitchen.
It comes in waves. Sometimes it’s small, like the way my breath quickens when he smiles, and others, it’s a tidal wave that drowns everything else. It’s a tidal wave that comes now as I imagine seeing all of Julian.
He dashes the dream away as he turns and wordlessly heads for the nearest tree. To my disappointment, or maybe relief, he pokes his head out from behind the wide trunk and says, “I’ll undress here.”
Why the hell is that even hotter?
“Alright,” I manage, turning away to give him some extra privacy.
Alright, Aiden. Stop being a horny fuck for a minute so you can undress without sporting major wood. Those don’t go away with the shift.
Taking deep, calming breaths, I work my pants off with the rest of my clothes and stuff them into my bag. When Julian tosses his my way, I shove them in as well before I finally let my shift roll through me.
It’s like sinking into a hot spring in winter—fluid and perfect in ways that unwind my muscles and all the tension in my body. The world becomes smaller as I settle into my second form, where there’s no room for my usual stresses, only the lively landscape surrounding me.
I shake out my fur and straighten just as Julian’s white wolf stalks toward me.
Like this, his eyes are even brighter, like glowing celestial stars, throwing light as he moves.
He’s slow at first—careful, like he doesn’t want to spook me—but when I don’t snap at him and allow him into my space, he edges in, listening to the bond.