Alpha Eyes (Alpha Eyes: Book 1)

Chapter 20

I sucked in a deep breath and forced my eyes open. The room was still dark and the bed extremely comfortable. I was stretched out on my stomach with my arms tucked under my pillow. The region between my legs was... sore, but quickly fading. The thought made me smile just a little.

Adrian sat against our headboard, the glow of his phone softly illuminating his face and bare shoulders. While he held the phone with one hand, his free hand absently toyed with my hair. He slowly wound a chunk of hair around his finger before gently pulling his finger away, straightening the curl.

He continued staring at his phone for several minutes while I stared at him. While some tiny part of me wanted to smack the phone across the room and crawl into his lap demanding attention, I was okay just staring at him for now. In the weird light, I could see a hint of a dimple in his cheek and the shadow of stubble on his jaw. Did he shave? How did I not notice that before?

He glanced down at me for a second, his gaze quickly snapping back to my face when he saw my eyes open. "Sorry. Did I wake you?"

Aww... Listen to him. I propped myself on my elbows and shook my head. "No, you didn't. I must have sensed that my personal heater was missing..."

He shut his phone off and tossed it onto the nightstand. "I was checking on the search for your stalker. The hunters in the pack have a group text, so they send updates as they clear areas of the pack land."

"Have they found anything?" I yawned, really not wanting this depressing topic to ruin the earlier part of my night.

"Not yet," Adrian sighed, sliding down under the sheet to lay on his side. He cupped my cheek with his hand and rubbed his thumb over my chin. "We're still trying to find a connection between everything. The gray wolf doesn't seem linked to anyone or any particular pack. The rogues never had an attack or kill order, only to cross the border and cause a scene. We'll find whoever did this, Sia. I don't want you to spend another minute worrying about it."

"I wasn't worrying about it." I stretched my arms out and dropped back to the pillow. "Are you worrying about it?"

He forced a smile that was meant to appease me, but we both knew that it was fake. "Right now, I want to focus on showing my mate how much I love her. How does that sound?"

I moaned as he wrapped his arm around my waist and dragged me toward him. "Adrian... I'm tired."

"I remember how quickly you recover, my little alpha," he growled rather seductively against my ear. "I think you're just fine."

My stomach coiled up tight, pretty much preparing me for another round. As much my wolf really being—I'm not going to say it—the human part of me could only take so much at once. Yet, my mate seemed focused on driving me right to the edge of my limits. Jaxon once told me there was really only one way to try to throw water on a flaming sex drive.

"Is your wolf taking control?"

Adrian's eyes flashed with gold sparks for a moment, revealing the inner struggle. He dug his fingers into my side as the beast fought for dominance. If the wolf won, I'd have to let my own come to the front just to make sure I survived. I really, really wasn't ready to give her freedom to unleash her Fifty Shades of Wolf fantasies.

I held my breath as Adrian closed his eyes and slowly dragged his hand from my side to the middle of my back. After a minute, he opened his eyes again and simply rubbed my back. I sighed, thankful he wasn't hauling me on top of him or rolling on top of me. Any other she-wolf probably wouldn't have fought back, considering that Adrian is a hot-as-a-Greek-god Alpha. I'd heard enough girls whispering about me when they thought I couldn't hear. The little perverts openly talked about what they would do if they were in my place. Just the thought made my blood simmer and canines prick my lips.

"Did I hurt you?" Adrian whispered, pulling me from my thoughts. His emerald eyes pierced through the darkness. Those innocent puppy eyes almost made me regret shutting him down. Almost.

"I'm fine," I mumbled. "The soreness is just about gone now."

"You really do recover quickly," he chuckled. "Some girls wouldn't be able to move after—"

"Please stop," I moaned, still not accustomed to his bold comments about our private lives. How he could just say things like that without even blushing... He'd never catch me spilling the juicy details to Ada, no matter how hard she pushed me.

"Sorry." He kissed my bare shoulder. "Seriously, though... Are you sure you're okay?"

"Adrian, seriously... I'm fine. I have alpha blood in me that makes me heal faster, not to mention that I'm mated to you. If something was wrong, you'd be the first to know."

"Good to hear," he whispered, "but that's not what I meant."

I took a moment to think about what I wanted to say. This wasn't about my physical well-being. This was about my emotional well-being. If we went down this road now, it was a one-way street that would cause a lot of questions and leave lots of room for extra emotional stress.

"I honestly don't know, Adrian. I just know that I'll be better once all of this is solved."

He nodded slowly and pulled me into his side. It always made me smile how perfectly I nestled against him, like the moon goddess cut the two of us from one original piece that was meant to be put together again. Such a perfect fit drove unmated wolves nuts. Yeah, I'd seen the jealous glares shot my way during pack events when Adrian kept me tucked against him every possible moment.

"Let's get some sleep," Adrian mumbled against my hair. "We're going to have our hands full, and the pack needs us at full strength."

I snuggled against his chest and closed my eyes. Such was the life of an alpha, always needing to be strong for everyone except yourself.