Page 24 of Oakheart

Cash

The wayAleks was looking at me, hurt overflowed from his sapphire gaze.

My chest ached, a fist squeezing around the need to apologize, and I wasn’t sure for what. He hadn’t stumbled on me... heck, I couldn’t imagine what I could do that’d make Aleks upset with me.

So far, he’d only ever been kind to me, and I had no reason to think that’d ever change. Even if I were to make him angry, he wouldn’t be like Reeve or Grant.

He was sweet to the pack kids, doting on his mother. Yes, he followed Grant around more now than ever before, but I’d never seen him join in on the raucous laughter of the men Grant kept closest.

That sound always set my teeth on edge. There was a wickedness to it.

Even Uncle Tommy joined in. He benefited from proximity to the alpha, and I wanted to think that Evie would too, but I wasn’t so sure.

There was a lot that Uncle Tommy was willing to tolerate for his privileges.

Aleks looked down at the water for a second. “No, don’t kill them,” he muttered.

Right, the witches. There was the ozone scent of magic in the air, and Aleks smelled... strange. Still nice, like cedar and sticky-sweet honey, but like he’d been away.

It was a little like the way the scent of the plane travel had lingered on him when he’d brought Viktor home.

“We, ah, got all sweaty working on the house,” I explained, a twisty feeling in my guts saying I needed to. “So I suggested we wash off. Since it’s a nice day.”

One of the first we’d had since the days started to get longer. The water was still chilly, but the sun overhead shone bright.

Aleks stared at me again. “It is.”

Right then, I wanted to come out of my skin.

Leave it to Evie to save me from it.

“Cash?” she called from up by the house.

Before I could answer, Viktor rolled to stand up, water sluicing off him, dripping from the longer strands of his hair. I didn’t think he’d cut it since he’d been home. I didn’t think hecared.

“I’ll go see what she wants,” he said, stepping out of the water.

Leaving me entirely alone with Aleks. The awkwardness that hung in the air was new—not that I’d never been awkward around him before, but this time, it felt weighted. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d done something wrong, but I knew better.

I hadn’t crossed him. And there was—there was nothing between ustocross.

“So . . . ” I said. “Witches?”

Spreading his arms and sinking neck-deep in the water, Aleks twisted, letting the river ripple over his fingers. In response, he only hummed.

Maybe that made sense, witches.

I’d never seen Aleks hang around with any of the women in the pack, or any of the men for that matter. Maybe he and Grant thought an alliance with the witches would do us some good? I didn’t know. I’d barely been aware of a nearby coven before I’d left, and I wasn’t privy to these kinds of conversations. I’d just seen them in their big black SUVs rolling into our pack territory. It was no easy thing, navigating the woods to get out here, but they seemed to know exactly where they were going.

But even if whatever Aleks was doing with those witches wasn’t that serious—well, it wasn’t like I didn’t understand a one-night stand. When I’d been living with humans and gotten particularly lonely, when I would’ve gnawed off my own hand just for a warm, familiar touch, I’d gone out to bars that served men with my inclinations.

I’d pick someone up, go back to their place, and for a little while, I felt better. Less alone. I couldn’t let any of them close, of course. I had to keep our secrets, and humans didn’t know about our world, but sometimes, I’d missed touch.

I doubted Aleks’s reasons were so pathetic. He could have anyone he wanted, any time he wanted them. But still, he was a young, handsome man, who should enjoy himself whenever he had the chance.

One day, he’d be our alpha, and that was more than enough for me. I knew already that he’d be better, kinder, than any alpha I’d ever had. My life would be better because of him, even when he took a mate.

It just... ached a little, and it didn’t make any damn sense for it to.