Chapter 59
Julian
“Why are you packing three sleeping bags?” Aiden asks while he watches me pack. I glance up and frown at him.
“In case something happens to one of the others,” I explain, though I shouldn’t have to. You’d think Aiden would’ve learnt a thing or two about me after almost six months together, but I guess not. “Have you packed everything on the list?”
“Yes—and yes, I triple-checked,” he finishes when I open my mouth. I smile proudly. Maybe he did learn something. “Am I free to go now? I’ve got a training session in ten.”
“Yeah, you’re fine,” I say, leaning back over my bag.
Aiden steps forward and brushes a kiss against my lips, then pulls away a second later.
“I’ll see you later,” he whispers against them, stealing one more peck before he steps back.
With a smile and a wave, Aiden heads out the door. I wait until I hear it click shut behind him before I let myself groan out loud.
When I first implemented the sex ban between us, I only meant for it to last a couple of days.
I thought Aiden would eventually get frustrated enough to break it and we’d go back to normal.
But my lovely mate has been respecting my stupid wishes.
Now, I’m wound up, and horny, and we’re running out of time to fix that.
Tomorrow, Aiden and I would be forcing Alex and Max to the forefront to work out their issues. It’s a drastic move—forcing our wolves to interact—but with everything going on with the rogues, we can’t afford to fight anyone without our wolves at their best.
Alex and Max need to make up. And I know, with time, they would. But I don’t want to leave them trapped together while sexually frustrated, and that’s exactly what they’ll be after a week of celibacy between Aiden and me.
We want them to reconcile, not hate us.
Plus … admittedly, I want it. Badly.
The only problem? I have absolutely no idea how to tell Aiden I want to fuck without melting through the floorboards.
Aiden normally just did the things I could never admit to liking or wanting—sensing it in our bond or acting on instinct, I don’t know. But maybe that trip to witch land had messed him up, because now, he’s waiting on my signal and I don’t know how to give it.
Sliding my hands over my face, I stifle another groan.
Alex would know what to do, but he’s as silent as ever. He probably doesn’t even know what’s going on. I need to talk through this with someone, and the only other person I ever turned to for advice was Beckett.
I shift uneasily. I’ve never talked to Beckett about sex, or anything close to it. It’s just not the kind of friendship we have. But he’s my best friend, my beta, and talking to him would be ten times less embarrassing than trying to talk to Aiden, so …
Leaving the duffels where they are on the bed, I grab my keys and rush out the door.
It takes me a while to get to Emitt and Beckett’s house.
They’d settled in a quiet corner within the pack, a secluded den in the woods that felt more like a tree house with the way it blended and stacked itself up amidst the canopy.
It’s lovely—homey—everything Beckett ever wanted after growing up in an empty husk.
Taking the porch steps two at a time, I rap my knuckles against the front door and wait. Seconds tick by while I try not to fidget or abandon this entirely.
When the door swings open, Beckett steps out without his usual boyish grin at having a visitor. Instead, he’s a dishevelled mess with a towel wrapped around his waist, sweat still dripping down his chest.
The musk of sex hits me, and I immediately take a step back.
“Julian,” he pants, green eyes wide with surprise as he clutches the doorframe. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”
“I wanted to talk. I should’ve called first. Sorry.” I mumble as I backtrack. Maybe Aiden was right about phones. “We can talk another time. I—I’m sorry for … disturbing you.”
“It’s fine,” Beckett says with a carefree shake of his head.
“Who is it?” a voice—Emitt’s—calls from inside.
“Julian!” Beckett shouts back, and my face goes up in flames.
“You guys are—” Nope, not saying that. “So I’m just—” I gesture vaguely over my shoulder. “I’m going to go.”
I nearly trip down the steps, and Beckett huffs a laugh, grinning.
“How about I meet you at Jack’s in an hour?” he offers, perfectly unbothered. I’m internally dying and he’s just fine.
“Make that two!” Emitt yells from inside. The blood in my face boils like molten lava.
“I only need one!” Beckett shouts back, and yeah, no more. I turn and run away.
“One hour!” Beckett calls after me.
I wave a hand over my shoulder, silently vowing never to visit unannounced again.
“We only have one hour … let’s make it count,” I hear Beckett say before the door shuts, cutting off whatever happens next, and I thank our Goddess up above for that small mercy.
Beckett’s uncle Jack owns his namesake stall in the market, serving grilled food between the rows of vendors. One of his nearby benches—the one I’m sitting at now—is where Beckett and I first became friends.
I’d run here once in an attempt to escape Aiden after he tore apart my favourite astronomy book. Oliver gave it to me for my birthday, and I’d never loved anything more. Then Aiden destroyed it and promised to do much worse once he caught me.
At seven, I couldn’t comprehend how it could get worse than that, so when he tried to grab me, I bolted—straight into the market crowd.
Eventually, I collided with Jack. He’d taken one look at me before he’d fixed his scruffy jaw, and sat me at a table with his nephew, who’d turned out to be Beckett.
At first, I thought Beckett was quiet. But the second his uncle left us with two lemonades, he was beaming at me like I was a slice of cake.
“Hi! I’m Beckett!” he’d said, sticking out his hand.
“Julian,” I’d replied with a glare that made him pull his tiny hand back.
“I know, and you won’t ever make friends if you act so mean,” he’d said with a slight frown.
“I don’t need friends.”
“Everyone needs friends,” he’d countered, before he all but leapt over the table to grab my hands. “I’ll be your friend. I think you really need them.”
“I don’t want you as my friend,” I’d snapped back, trying to pull my hands away.
I remember feeling so confused—because I did want friends. I just didn’t want to trust someone who would take it all back once Aiden showed up.
“Well, too bad,” Beckett had said, plopping back onto his side of the bench with a pout. “If you ask me, you’re not in a place to be picky.”
“I didn’t ask you.”
“I’ll help you with Aiden,” he’d said, making me freeze. “He’s the one always chasing you, right? I don’t get why you don’t chase him back.”
“He’s stronger.” I’d lowered my head as I whispered the shameful words.
“And you’re smart, right?” Beckett had declared, making me peek back up at him. His smile was back and brighter, too. “You don’t have to fight him to beat him.”
“Then how?”
“Use your brain, duh,” he’d said before diving onto the table again to knock my head with each word. “My parents always say how smart you are, so be smart!”
“Get off the table, Beckett!” his uncle had shouted, making him jolt before he quickly slipped around the table to sit next to me instead.
“I’ll help you,” he’d whispered as he found my hands beneath the table.
I remember staring at our hands, and liking how warm his were. “Why?”
“Because I’m your friend.”
When we left the market that day and Aiden jumped out, fists raised before I could try using my brain, Beckett appeared out of nowhere and took the punch for me. It was the first time anyone besides Oliver had stood up for me. It shocked the hell out of me.
From then on, Beckett took every hit with me, at least until I’d figured out how to land a few of my own. We were inseparable. Mostly because he clung to me, but still, inseparable.
As Beckett strides towards me now, a grin on his face, I see that boy again. Only he comes with his mate at his side. I smile, happy for him, and for the fact that he’s found someone who wears the same grin on his freckled face.
“Sorry for making you wait,” Beckett says the moment he’s within arm’s length. Lifting Emitt’s hand, still intertwined with his, he helps his mate settle on the bench before sliding in next to him.
“Blame me,” Emitt murmurs with a trickle of nervousness.
“It’s fine,” I mumble. Carter, Jack’s only helper, sidles up without prompt to set down two lemonades for us, and a soda for Emitt.
Beckett and I share a knowing look as we each take a sip.
“So, what did you want to talk about?” Beckett asks.
“Um.” I hesitate, glancing at Emitt. He blinks back at me, his light green eyes practically sparkling with curiosity.
I’d been expecting Beckett to come alone, but would he get upset if I asked Emitt to leave? It was awkward enough to talk to him, but now Emitt, too?
Come on, Julian. You just caught them in the middle of sex. True enough.
I clear my throat, and try to ignore my unease. “Well, I’m not really sure how to do this. But it’s … it’s just … Aiden and I aren’t having—”
“Sex?” Emitt blurts, then immediately slams his lips together.
I pale. Beckett glares at him. “Emitt!” he hisses.
“Sorry!” Emitt squeaks, eyes somehow growing larger. “I just assumed that with the sex ban—” This time, he silences himself by slapping his hands over his mouth. But it’s too late. My face is up in flames, and Beckett is now the one losing colour.
“Sorry!” Emitt whispers through his hands.
Why did Aiden have to tell him? Why, Goddess, why?
“That’s what I wanted to talk about,” I eventually mumble when nobody fills the silence. My admission gives Emitt the courage to lower his hands, while Beckett’s lips form an ‘O.’
“I put one in place, but I didn’t mean for it to go on so long, and now I don’t know how to … you know.”
“End it?” Beckett hazards. I nod, and he frowns. “Can’t you just say something?”
And with that, I learn never to ask Beckett for sex advice again.