Page 67 of Oakheart

I just... my whimper went a little high pitched. He surprised me.

My face was on fire when I peeked at my phone again.

He was deflecting, trying to distract me. It was working, but he was also right. Nothing good would come of me making him defend his capabilities over and over. Whatever the future required, Aleks could handle it, and however I could help, I wanted to.

So I swallowed my embarrassment down and texted him back.

Yeah, I want that too.

He sent me an impish emoji.

Aleks?

Yes, darling?Another kissy emoji made me smile.

I swallowed my nerves. I didn’t know if I’d have the confidence to say this to him face-to-face, but I wanted to be sure that I did it somehow.I just want you to know, it feels so good when we’re together. Better than anything. But that’s not why Ilove you, and it’ll always be okay if you don’t want to have sex. I like being with you no matter what we’re doing.

The dots appeared again.

Disappeared.

Shit, that was probably an awkward thing to say, and it came too close to treading on topics that we’d spent years avoiding.

When he finally replied, I took a full breath again.

I know, sweetheart. You love me because I am the funniest Russian werewolf.

Another message came a second later.

And I love you because you are the most beautiful, kindest man I’ve ever met.

Whelp, there went all chance of my face returning to a normal color any time soon. Shit.

A few seconds later, he messaged a third time. Probably because he was trying to kill me.

And no matter what we are doing, I am going to want to lick you. ;P

Yup. Definitely trying to kill me.

I sent back a heart, because it was too much for me to make words in his general direction.

But something about being able to talk to him, even from a distance, settled all the nerves inside me. That evening was the first time I slipped out of my self-imprisonment to be with the Crescent pack.

It was also the night they expelled a traitor from their midst—Kent, who had come from Idaho too, but who’d always struck me more as a hanger-on and suck-up than someone steadfast and reliable. He’d been part of our group when we were kids, sure, but he and I had stood on opposite sides of it.

Turned out, a lifetime around slimy werewolves made them easier to recognize.

He’d been working with Grant, and Dakota had been the one to confront him. He hadn’t stood back and gone to his alpha to solve every problem. He’d stepped forward and protected what mattered himself. That was the kind of mate anyone should hope for, and. .. and maybe the kind of mate I’d like to be, if I ever got that lucky.

That evening, I watched Jax’s pack come around him to comfort and support him, the same as he’d tried to offer them—to offer me.

That, I decided, was the way it’d be for Aleks when he was alpha. Maybe I couldn’t do anything about Grant, but I’d learned a lot from my time here, and I could make sure that Aleks got the support he needed from our pack moving forward.

Our pack . . .

No longer did it feel like a distant connection that didn’t fully belong to me. I was going to help shape it, build it, and I’d do whatever I could to make it better for him and everyone else we loved.

CHAPTER 34