Three Alphas, Three Mates

Chapter 33 - Progress

I stare up at Axel wide-eyed.

He stops immediately, holding himself up on his forearms. He doesn't say anything at first, he just watches me as his eyes fade back to amber. Then he looks down at our current position. His eyes widen and he pulls away quickly. "S-Sorry." He sits up and tries to straighten himself out, his hair, his clothes. "I just... I didn't mean to..."

"I wasn't looking at you like that because I wanted you to stop, Axel," I clarify.

But he keeps going. "It was just the wolf. It won't happen again."

"Don't say that," I sigh. I move closer to him, fixing my own clothes and my hair. One of my twists is basically sticking straight up in the air. I pull it back into its normal position and stare into his eyes. "Please don't say that. It makes me feel like..." I search for words. "Like you weren't actually into what we did, and that just doesn't help, because I liked what we did." I smile at him, softly. I don't want him to get the wrong idea.

He just looks confused. "But I made you uncomfortable, right? That's why you looked at me like that? Because I was being too forceful."

I shake my head. "No, that... was something else." I lie back down on his sheets, unsure of how to put this. When I don't say anything else, he sighs and lays down beside me. We just listen to the silence. It feels like a lazy Sunday morning. It feels like stillness, like sadness because it's one of those happy moments you don't want to end but you know has to. I don't know how to explain it.

I look at Axel, trying to memorize everything about this moment with him on a Friday afternoon lying on his bed, pressed against his sheets, staring into his eyes, hoping that this could last forever. I slowly brush my fingers against his face, just to feel him against me again.

He closes his eyes, leaning into my touch, and breathes. "If you're not uncomfortable, Mia, then tell me what's wrong."

I want to tell him, but I don't know if that'll make things better or worse. I sigh. "Okay, it's just... Two seconds ago I had this nightmare daydream thing of Michael and Carson breaking down the door and seeing us." I stare into his eyes, trying to get him to feel the magnitude of how awkward and terrible that would be. "And Aiden was in the background saying his usual doomsday stuff and my mom and dad found out I was here and my grandma and..." I cringe just thinking about it. "I just think we should go back downstairs before—" I raise an eyebrow when I hear the first chuckle fall out of him.

"Sorry." He sits up to hide the fact that he's laughing.

"What?" I cock my head back.

"Nothing."

"Well clearly it's something," I say.

"No, don't be upset." He turns to me. "It's just, I've never seen you look so terrified." He tries to keep a straight face. Tries. "You would've thought that vision was worse than death."

I furrow my brow. "Carson going crazy because he feels abandoned, Michael putting a restraining order on you, my dad killing you if my mom doesn't get to you first..."

"Okay, okay. I get it." He takes my hand, pecking me on the lips and smirking. "We'll just have to find a better time. No big deal." He tries to play it off like he's all cool and confident, but I see the hesitation in his movements. The slight blush. The way his eyes constantly ask, 'Is this still okay?' How can he be so adorable and annoying and sexy all at the same time? How is that even possible?

Instead of telling him all that, I just say, "Okay," and stand up. My eyes wander over the other two beds in the room, red and grey respectively, but I guess that's a journey for another day. It's not like I have time for a room tour, and besides, I bet Aiden doesn't like people anywhere near his stuff.