Chapter 24
Aiden
“Is he okay?”
“Holy fuck,” I jolt, looking up to see my snickering best friend.
Emitt dumps himself into the seat across from me, with Isabel and Beckett trailing closely behind.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve scared you,” he muses. “Someone’s getting sloppy.”
“Hardly. I was just distracted,” I mutter, sneaking a glance down at Julian to make sure he’s still asleep. Thankfully, he remains out cold against me despite the new bodies spawning around us like Pokémon.
“Um,” Isabel interjects, eyeing Julian then me. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine,” I assure her before she can freak out over her alpha being unconscious off their packlands. “‘Just tired.”
“Why is he wearing your shades?” Beckett asks, with a frown that mirrors Isabel’s.
Because his eyes are rolling behind them, is what I want to say, but I value my life, and don’t need Future Julian to end it sooner than planned.
“He said it was too bright before he fell asleep. He stayed up late last night reading, so I’m not surprised,” I lie before I wave a hand at them. “You guys can go ahead. I’ll get him home once he wakes up.”
Honestly, I would’ve taken Jewels home ages ago instead of to this small corner at the back of the school, if it weren’t for how much I know he needed the rest. In the pack, he’d be back in alpha mode.
I wanted him to catch as many Zs as he could before then.
Classes just finished, though, and now we’ve got company.
“He seemed fine earlier,” Beckett mumbles, annoyingly still harping on the Unconscious Julian matter.
“Well, he’s not now. Drop it.”
If not for the merging of our packs, I’m sure Beckett would’ve acted on the homicidal glint in his eyes, but we are merging packs, and I’m going to be his alpha in more than name soon, so he holds back.
He still looks a half-second away from damning that all to hell until Emitt puts a hand on his shoulder.
Beckett glowers, lips parting to say some bullshit I’ll make him regret—
“Aiden?” Julian grumbles as he wakes slowly.
Damn Beckett and Emitt and Isabel too! Damn them all!
“Why don’t you guys go do a perimeter check of the cars to make sure they’re not secretly bombed?” I suggest with a sneer I can’t curb.
They stare at me, then roll their eyes in unison like some freaky set of triplets.
“When he’s up—properly—we’re heading to the packlands,” Beckett states, reluctantly following Emitt’s lead to stand. “It’s not safe to stay beyond them longer than necessary.”
“Yes, yes, I will not put us in danger, yada yada,” I reply, shooing them away as Julian lifts his head, blinking around.
With heavy-lidded eyes and strands of his hair pointing in every direction, he looks half-dead, but that doesn’t stop him from looking gorgeous. Gorgeous and slightly maimed, because the truth our friends don’t know, is that Julian passed out after his fourth orgasm, which had been beyond hot.
Yeah, I may have taken it too far—even with our lupine endurance—but how could I stop when he’d been moaning my name? And yea, I didn’t love the taste of him at first, but it grew addictive.
“Where are we?” he mumbles, frowning as he rubs his strained throat—hoarse from all his moaning. Goddess, he sounded perfect when he was losing it. “Aiden?”
“Huh? Oh,” I shake my head, trying to get rid of the lust creeping back. Fuck. “Still at school, but it’s over now.”
His brows knit. “Did I fall asleep?”
“Yeah,” I say, smiling as I tuck his hair behind his ears. He shivers at the contact, and my pants grow tight as his cheeks light up.
… Maybe I am half incubus.
“Sorry,” he mumbles, blinking furiously behind my shades.
“You’re sorry for falling asleep?” I tease him with a grin he returns. “If anyone’s sorry, it’s me. I’m the one who got a little carried away.”
“I did too,” he replies with a chuckle that warms my heart to an almost nauseating degree. “I’ve never felt like … that,” he admits, words failing him. His eyes lift to mine. “It almost felt like what they say a rut is like.” He frowns. “Or a heat.”
“Thank Goddess we won’t have to endure that,” I groan with relief. He nods, but the small frown lingers. “What? Are you worried we will?”
“Of course not,” he dismisses quickly, but he’s still too tense. “But, I have a question.” He points at his face. “Why am I wearing your shades?”
I chuckle, as I always do, at the sight of them sliding down his nose.
“You were slipping in and out of this realm,” I tease as I stand to my feet, taking my shades with me to reveal his pretty blue eyes. “Your eyes were rolling—total horror show.”
“You are such a dick,” he grumbles, jumping to his feet.
“Careful, Jewels. That tongue of yours is getting nasty.”
It isn’t that Julian never curses. Just that it used to be rare, only slipping out when he was pushed. But since spending time with me, they’d started surfacing more and more.
“I wonder why,” he replies with a pointed look while he gathers his things. He heads for the path around the back of the school to get to the front lot.
I follow after him like a witch’s conduit, well aware that I’ve become a simpering pup for Julian Heil, but even knowing it, I find it exceedingly hard to care.
“What’s that look for?” he asks, glancing at me over his shoulder.
“Just admiring my mate,” I say, eyes tracking over every inch of him. “I hit the jackpot.”
“Yeah?” He snorts with a hiked brow.
“Yeah,” I confirm as he slows. “He’s annoyingly smart, hot as hell, adorable—” He scowls at that, and I laugh, lacing our fingers to tug him closer. “—and sweet as hell. If I wasn’t obsessed, then I’d be the imbecile he loves to claim I am.”
His lips twitch, and I struggle not to lean forward and kiss him. It makes no sense how badly I want to touch him today, to pull him to me and not let go. I’m not a fiend but fuck, I feel like one today.
I resist, though. We had fun today, but it was a lot and … new. A repeat so soon might taint it.
Julian, however, doesn’t seem to share those concerns. He kisses me with all the hunger of a starved alpha, rather than a well-sated one. My eyes widen as his hands slide over my chest and curl around my shirt, pulling me closer. And that’s all it takes.
My resolve and momentary shock burn off in a heartbeat, replaced by instinct and want. I kiss him back hungrily, groaning as my hands find his ass and—
“For the love of Goddess and all her Plains!” Emitt hollers, forcing us to pull apart and face him. He stands at the end of the path we’d barely made it down, his horrified eyes blown wide. “What the actual fuck is wrong with you guys?”
Julian is breathing too harshly to manage a response, and when I try, all that comes out is a snarl as I glare at my best friend. I want to rip his throat out. He shouldn’t be watching us. Julian is my mate, my—
I stop short, frowning as the lust slowly fades, taking the mad thoughts with it.
“You can suck each other’s faces off at home, but can we please—please—go home?”
“Yes, sure,” Julian blurts, already untangling himself from me and beelining for the lot. “I’m going with Beckett!”
“What?!” That shocks me out of my thoughts. “Why?” I shout, chasing after him.
“We need to look into something,” he calls as he races across the lot, heading straight for the wolf waiting for him. Beckett pops his truck door open, letting Julian slide in before I can grab him. The door locks as I try the handle.
“Julian,” I growl before I glare at the lumbering beta about to get in too. “Leave, and I’ll kill you, Beckett.”
Beckett pales, hesitating, and Julian’s muffled groan clears as his window lowers a crack. I duck so he can have my full glare.
“I need to do something, so you ride with Emitt,” he says with a calm I envy. I feel like I’m crawling out of my skin. “I’ll see you at home.”
What are you going to do? Why can’t I come with you? Why are you trying to separate us?
“Aiden,” Julian half-groans, half-whines. “Stop frowning. You’re too young for frown lines.”
“I’d make them work,” I mutter as I feel my shoulders slump. “Why can’t I come with you?”
His eyes dart between mine before his smile turns into a shit-eating grin I’m not used to seeing from him. “You’re kind of cute when you’re being clingy,” he muses.
“I’m always cute.”
He laughs. “Go.” He nods back at my car. “I’ll see you at home.”
Reluctantly, I nod and step back, allowing Beckett to peel out of the lot and take Julian off on their secret mission. I stare after them like a lost pup, already itching to chase after him.
“I knew you liked him, but shit …” Emitt says as he strolls up to me. “You look like a kicked puppy right now.”
“He left me,” I grumble, more like a whine.
Emitt giggles a little. “You’ll see him in a few hours. Less if you stop moping and get us home.”
“Sure,” I mumble, dragging my feet all the way to my car.
Emitt and I have driven home together so many times that it’s automatic the way he pushes his seat back, grabs the AUX cord, and props his feet on the dash while I start up the engine. By the time I swing out of the lot, his music is pounding so loud it threatens to blow the speakers.
“So,” Emitt yells when we’re halfway home. “Why are you constantly trying to suck on Julian’s candy cane?”
“Emitt!” I look at the deranged imp I call a friend. “What the fuck, man?”
“What?” Emitt asks, looking genuinely confused. “Your lips were all swollen and your voice is fucked, literally. It’s a dead giveaway.”
I rub at my mouth, glaring at the road. “It isn’t shit. You’re sick.”
“And you’re avoiding the question. Why are you both so … feral?” He makes a claw motion with his hands, and I roll my eyes. “I’m being serious. You’re dying for each other.”
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “It’s different now, I guess. We’re attracted to each other and acting on it.”
“All the time?” Emitt scoffs. “You guys have been like fucking bunnies today. You stink of sex.”