Alpha Tristan ✓ [Republishing]

Dekaokto [ 18 ]

I felt uneasy the entire morning.

While I was excited to see my mother, the thought of not seeing Tristan for however long made my heart ache. It was the uncertainty—I had no idea how long I would be gone and that was the worse part.

I didn't know how long I could go without his kisses or feeling his arms around me. His embraces had to be one of my favourite things in the world. He made me feel protected.

I knew that I would miss looking into his eyes, oh his eyes, they had to be the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. They were attentive, deep and full of emotion. I had once heard that the eyes were the window to the soul and I never realised how much until I met Tristan.

They were dark at times, tainted by the horrors and pains of the war. From his eyes alone, you could see all the trauma he had experienced in his life. But other times, they were bright and hopeful. The fact that they looked like that whenever they were on me sent warmth through my body.

"You can't get him off your mind, can you?" Brielle smiled slowly as she poured maple syrup on her stack of pancakes.

Placing my cutlery down against the plate, I felt my cheeks heat up. We were seated in a homely cafe approximately thirty minutes away from the rest of the pack. Brielle had wanted to treat me to breakfast and she raved about the pancakes. I hadn't managed to eat much despite it being heavenly because I couldn't get Tristan off my mind. "He's all I ever think about—is it the same for you?"

Brielle's smile widened at the reminder of her mate. I barely registered the familiar look in her eyes. She was as enamoured with Christian as Tristan was with me. "All the damn time. It gets embarrassing after you mate." She leaned closer to me and lowered her voice so the humans wouldn't pick up on our conversation. "He loves to get into my mind and listen to what I'm thinking. It's resulted in a lot of sessions if you catch my drift."

I was happy that I had swallowed my mouthful because I would have choked. Brielle laughed and leaned back in her chair. "You'll understand when it happens."

That mere sentence sent my mind into a frenzy. Tristan was taking everything at my pace and I was thankful for that, but I could tell that his resolve was slipping. Last night had been a prime example of that. I knew that I wanted it to happen sometime, but I pulled back every time I felt things getting too heated.

He made me nervous.

"I can't control myself around him, Brielle. From the moment I saw him—" I blew out a breath and shook my head.

"Don't." Brielle simply replied. "Don't control yourself. He's your mate—let yourself be free with him."

Acknowledging her words, I nodded and made one last attempt at eating my pancakes. When I cleared my plate, Brielle ordered two mugs of hot chocolate and gave me another one of her signature smiles. They were genuine and sweet.