A Lamb Amongst Wolves

Chapter 27

His Alpha was nervous. It wasn't overtly obvious, because Alexis was quite good at hiding insecurity, but Connor could tell from the slight tightness around his eyes and the tapping of his fingers on the steering wheel whenever they were waiting at a red light.

It made Connor smile in spite of himself.

'Don't worry,' he said, and Alexis shot him a look out of the corner of his eye. 'It'll go so well. They already love you.'

'They haven't met me yet.'

'Well, not officially, but you saved my life. How could they not love you?'

Alexis made a little sound from the back of his throat. 'They can be grateful for that without having to like me.'

'You're splitting hairs,' Connor smiled. 'They're my family. I swear they're nice, and you're wonderful, so of course they'll adore you.'

Alexis let out a little sigh and didn't reply. Connor stifled a giggle at how seriously Alexis was treating this, and his heart felt warm.

How could anyone not like Alexis when he was simply irresistible?

They had been on the road for three hours now, and were expected at Connor's parental home in time for lunch. Connor's heart leapt with joy when he began recognising the streets of his childhood, Alexis following the directions of his navigation app. At this point, Connor knew the way, but he decided to let the app handle it. He'd never used these roads by car and didn't want to embarrass himself by getting them stuck in a one-way street or otherwise making a fool of himself.

He hadn't been home once since moving to London in January, nine months ago; his parents had wished for him to come for Easter, which had also coincided with his birthday, but with everybody else on holiday, Connor had known he would make the most money then and had refused. It had been lonely, but Connor had consoled himself with the thought there would be a better one next year.

Now, seeing his parents' old, cosy home down the street, Connor felt an indescribable rush of happiness.

'This is it!' he said excitedly, and Alexis smiled.

The Alpha parked a couple of houses down, and after getting out of the car, there was no denying it stuck out like a sore, expensive thumb.

Connor really shouldn't have been surprised when his neighbour Mrs Wilson called out to him when they passed in front of her gate.

She made no secret of the fact she was staring at Alexis after she'd greeted Connor, and asked who he was.

'This is my Alpha, Alexis Redlock,' Connor replied in English, and Alexis smiled. 'Alexis, this is Mrs Wilson, my neighbour. She makes the best pudding and used to watch me as a kid.'

For a while, at least, whenever his parents hadn't had a choice. It had somewhat stopped after Lucy and Carl had realised what kind of words Connor was learning at Mrs Wilson's, and reserved for when there had been no alternative. Connor himself had found Mrs Wilson's crude language funny as a child, although he'd later come to appreciate his parents' view of things more. Paradoxically, that was also when he'd realised Mrs Wilson actually had been trying to make an effort when he'd been younger, because since he'd turned eighteen Connor had never heard as many rude words in his life.

But regardless of her preferred vocabulary, she'd always been nice to him and he was grateful for her help to his parents.

'It's a pleasure to meet you,' Alexis grinned, and Connor could tell Mrs Wilson was taken with him.