Chapter 17
Aiden
Pushing the old library doors open, I scan the room before leaving Emitt to man the exit. With him in position, I let my nose lead the way through the stacks to where the scent of lemons overwhelms the aged paper.
My steps are soundless as I head down the centre aisle, glancing left and right as I pass the rows of texts.
I find my target seated on the floor of the very last row with a book in his lap, long blonde hair strewn over his shoulders.
I’m allowed just that—a fleeting glimpse of my mate reading—before his head snaps up and big blue eyes lock on me.
“Julian—” I start, but he’s already on his feet and heading out the other side of the aisle. Damn it. “I just want to talk!”
“Can’t. Busy,” he declares while he runs—literally, runs—away from me, making a beeline for the door.
“You’re not busy,” I groan as I dash after him. “Julian! Come on!”
“I’m busy!” he shouts over his shoulder as he races ahead.
“Emitt! Catch him!”
Hands spread, knees bent, Emitt stands in front of the double doors like a linebacker. I have faith in him, until he starts to shake as Julian rushes him. Giving up without trying, Emitt darts to the side and lets Julian run past him without protest.
I stop myself short, watching the doors swing shut behind him, then level my gaze on my very useless best friend.
“What happened to ‘catching him if I couldn’t,’ Emitt?”
“He’s scary! And fast!” Emitt protests miserably. “He’s like a ninja.” He frowns as he peers at his hands. “Or maybe a snake …”
Rolling my eyes, I stifle a sigh. Yet another failed mission to talk to my mate.
Julian is avoiding me—has been for two days now. Ever since we’d finally stopped dancing around the want growing between us and ended up in his bed with him coming apart beneath me. It was great, hot as fuck, but unfortunately, Julian’s been on the run ever since.
I figured he was embarrassed, but I didn’t get why.
So he’d gotten off on some dry humping and nipple play, we all had our vices.
Julian was embarrassed, while I got hard just thinking about the way he spread his legs when he was beneath me and accepted every claim I made of his body.
Fuck, his moans alone had reduced my mind to one big haze of lust. They pitched higher when I played with his nipples, so of course I didn’t stop, and then he was coming.
And Goddess knew he looked fucking unbelievable doing it.
But Julian clearly doesn’t see it that way. I don’t have a clue how he sees it, because he won’t talk to me. Unless, of course, it’s something pack related. And even then, always in the company of others so I can’t shift the topic. Outside of that, he is a ghost.
Next time, bring rope like I told you, Max chides, evidently still butthurt that his plan had been rejected. It was a good plan!
We both know we could never get him tied down that quickly, I argue as I stop in front of Emitt.
“You had one job.”
“So did you,” he shoots back with a smile way too bright for someone who failed so badly. “So we’re both fuck ups.”
I shove the idiot aside, heading through the library doors and down the quiet hallway.
My pack archives aren’t nearly as large as Julian’s, so our library was the last place I thought I’d find him.
But he was smart with his hiding places.
Still, I thought if I cornered him, he’d be too proud to run away from me. I thought wrong.
“What did you do anyway?” Emitt asks, falling into step beside me.
“Why do you assume that I did something?”
“Because you’re the one trying to fix it.”
“Well, I didn’t do anything this time,” I grunt, keeping my eyes cast forward. “He just needs to tell me what’s wrong or get over it.”
“It?” he asks, brows raised.
I slow my steps as I look at my best friend, wavering on whether to tell him.
Before Julian, Emitt and I had talked about pretty much everything. He knew every detail of my first kiss, to my first time—there’s no such thing as too far with us. But did the rules change when a guy was involved?
“Come on,” he says with a nudge to my side, “maybe I can help.”
“Alright.” I drag my feet forward as I try to find the right words to describe what’s going on without incurring Julian’s wrath in the future. “Julian and I … we’ve been getting closer.” He nods. “And well, on Sunday we got even closer.”
Emitt’s eyes widen. “Ohhh.” He looks around before he drops his voice to a low whisper. “And it was bad?”
“No, it was good.” Fucking sublime was what it had been. “But Julian’s been avoiding me ever since.”
“Why would he avoid you if it was good?” he counters before his gaze narrows. “Were you selfish?” Now he’s glaring. “Didn’t give what you got?”
“Fuck you, I’m giving. I gave solely, actually,” I correct as we step out the front doors and into the daylight. “But that’s not the point. The point is, he’s been acting like I’m fucking radioactive ever since, and I don’t know why.”
My best guess? Hooking up with a guy for the first time—paired with letting another alpha make him come—has him spiralling the way I had after he tried to kiss me for the first time.
But we’ve gotten good at talking about that type of stuff.
And just being us. We were in the same boat and all that campfire shit, so why can’t he talk to me now?
“Maybe it was too much too soon,” Emitt offers as we head for his car. “You know the Black Moons are a bit more traditional about things. I mean, even Beckett—”
I wait for Emitt to finish his sentence, but it never comes. I glance at him, frowning when I find him suddenly imitating a pufferfish out of water.
“Even Beckett, what?” I ask, stopping just a few paces from his car to face him. “Did he say something to you? Something Julian told him?”
“What? No! No.” He shakes his head like a dog trying to dry itself.
“But you just said—”
“Well, yes and no,” Emitt cuts in with a weird stream of laughter that treads dangerously into hysteric territory.
I take a step back. “I just mean, the human girls love him, right? I’m pretty sure the ones in their pack do too, but Beckett’s never been with any of them before. I’m pretty sure he’s still a virgin.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “He is?”
“Yeah, and Julian probably is too.”
“Oh.” I know Julian isn’t very experienced—I’d teased him for years about being a virgin wet wipe, but that’s all it’d ever been, teasing.
I didn’t actually think he was a virgin.
We’re werewolves for crying out loud. We practically invented the word horny, and when puberty hit, it was a fucking free for all.
Julian can’t still be a virgin … can he?
“I’m just saying, if he really is inexperienced, then maybe it was a lot for him,” Emitt finishes before he pops his door open and slides into the car.
I follow after him in a slight daze, slumping into the passenger seat. If Julian had no experience before me, then his ninja act made more sense. Doing something like that for the first time, with another alpha of all people, would have me a little off-kilter too.
I mean, it’s not like I’ve been all over the place getting my dick wet, but I’d done enough to know what I liked and what I didn’t. Enough to know that just kissing Julian was better than anything else. But maybe not having that kind of experience is what’s keeping my mate away from me.
“So, what should I do?” I ask as Emitt pulls out of the small lot, steering us down the wide pack roads.
“I don’t know, give him some space?” He shrugs. “There’s not much you can do except wait for him to talk to you.”
“But I have been waiting!”
“It’s been two days.”
“And it feels like an eternity!” I wail.
Laughing, Emitt shakes his head as he takes a turn, heading for the borders. “I’m sure you’ll survive a little longer. In other news—”
“I don’t care about other news,” I cut in, but he continues anyway.
“I was thinking we should all hang out tonight,” he says without missing a beat. “Me, you, Isabel, Beckett, and Julian,” he lists as his fingers tap excitedly against the steering wheel. “We could head out of the pack for a bit.”
“You know I’m always down, but we both know they won’t be,” I reply, sinking lower in my seat. “Those goody-two-shoes only leave their pack to go to school or come to ours.”
“We’ll start them off with something easy, like a movie. I know Isabel will be all for it, and I can find a way to convince Beckett.” He glances my way. “Which just leaves Julian.”
“You want me to convince my mate, who’s currently avoiding me like a siren avoids chlorine, to leave his pack for fun?” I snort, shaking my head. “It took me forever to get him to take a weekend off. You guys should just go on your own.”
Emitt frowns and does that ugly pouting thing. “But I want you there.”
“Look, I miss hanging out with you too, but there’s too much going on right now,” I say, and my exhaustion weighs on my bones as if to testify.
The new construction projects were underway, but they sparked little spats between our wolves. Julian and I spent half our time putting out fires, the other half drowning in meetings, training, festivities—and on and on it went.
“Maybe some other time,” I say, patting his shoulder to lessen the blow. “You guys have fun tonight if you go, but for now, Julian’s not ready for trips out of the pack.”
“Alright,” Emitt sighs as we cross through our packlands and follow the short path to Black Moon territory. “But maybe some other time we can hang out within the pack? That’s allowed, right?”
I snort. “Yeah, it is, smartass. I’ll figure something out eventually. Just give me some time.”
He salutes me before he refocuses on getting us through the web of roads. Posted guards welcome us through as we pass their southern gate, but we’ve barely rolled past it when a lone figure steps into the road, forcing the car to stop.
“You have to be kidding me,” I murmur, peering through the windshield at my mother.