TDjal
slipped around the side of the house then pressed his large body back against
the wooden building. He closed his eyes and prayed when he heard the quick
patter of feet running past his hiding position. He opened his eyes and held
his breath as he watched Julian hurry past him as if he was invisible.
And
he wished he was.
This
thing with Julian was really getting out of hand. If the man wasn’t trying to
chase Djal down, he was staring mooneyes at him. Djal had barely had a minute
to himself in two weeks. If something didn’t change soon, Djal was going to
strangle the little guy.
It
wasn’t that he didn’t like Julian, because he did. Julian was cute, and he
made Djal laugh. But every time Julian looked at him, he had daydreams in his
eyes, and that just wasn’t who Djal was. He didn’t sleep with every Tom, Dick,
and Harry that came around but he liked keeping his options open.
Julian wanted commitment. He wanted a mate and he wanted Djal to be that mate.
Everyone knew it. Djal felt like he had become the butt of everyone’s laughter
over the last two weeks. And just because he had tried to comfort the guy
after he had been kidnapped and attacked by his ex.
Djal
knew he made a mistake when he offered comfort to the man. He knew it when he
did it. It should have simply been the beta of the pack–Djal–comforting a pack
member–Julian–as was his duty.
It
had turned into far more and now Djal was paying the price. It had gotten to
the point where Djal was avoiding pack gatherings just so that he wouldn’t run
into Julian. The guy was sweet, maybe too sweet. There was a gentle nature
about Julian that called to every protective instinct Djal had and maybe a few
he didn’t even know he had.
Djal
wanted to wrap Julian up in bubble wrap so the world couldn’t hurt him. And
that was dangerous–to Djal, to Julian, and to the pack. Djal had no doubt that
if he gave into the crawling need that ate away at him every time he smelled
Julian’s alluring scent, he would forsake everything in order to keep Julia
safe, even his duty to his alpha and their pack.
And
in all of the years that he knew Iben Khenti, Djal had never let the man down.
He wasn’t about to start now, and that meant staying as far away from his cute
little pack mate as he possibly could–no matter how much he wanted to taste
Julian’s sweetness again.
When
the sounds of Julian’s footsteps faded, Djal blew out a frustrated breath and
pushed himself away from the side of the house. He cast a quick glance down
the path Julian had taken and then hurried it into the alpha house.
Djal
wanted to sink into a hole the moment he closed the door and realized that
Iben and his mate Zack were in the great room, staring right at him with a
good deal of amusement on their faces.
“Problems, Djal?” Iben’s eyebrow quirked as the man asked a question he
already knew the answer to.
Djal
curled back his upper lip as he growled at his alpha. He was probably one of
the few people in the world that could get away with such an action without
losing his head. Iben had befriended Djal and his siblings, Sissy and Rory,
when they were toddlers. They had stood side by side in support of the man
ever since.
“I
swear to god, Iben,” Djal grumbled as he pushed a hand through his long hair
in frustration and stalked into the great room, “if something isn’t done about
Julian pretty soon, I’m going to flip the hell out.”
Iben
laughed. “He likes you.”
“He’s obsessed!” What part of that didn’t Iben get? Taking a deep,
unsteady breath, he stepped back from his alpha and lowered his tone. Iben
would have his butt in a sling if he was disrespectful. “He won’t leave me
alone, Iben. He follows me everywhere. I can’t get a moment alone.”
“Would it be so bad to be with Julian? He’s actually a pretty great guy.”
Djal’s eyes snapped to Zackary Evans, the mate to Alpha Ibenré Khenti. Zack
was crazy about Iben, and protective as hell. He saw his duty to the alpha to
keep him safe and happy. He would never understand the need Djal had to keep
all of his pack safe. It was ingrained in him, part of his very DNA. He could
no more deny his need than he could deny his pack or an order from his alpha.
“My duty is to Iben and
this pack,” Djal replied. “I don’t have time for a mate.”
“Maybe you should have thought of that before you slept with Julian.”
Djal’s eyes narrowed. While he hadn’t come right and said he slept with
Julian, pretty much everyone knew he had. Djal wasn’t proud of that fact
simply because he had been trying to comfort the guy, not fuck him into the
mattress.
But
one thing had let to another and things happened.
“It
was a onetime thing,” Djal insisted.
“Does Julian know?” Zack asked.
“I
told him.” And he still felt the weight of his guilt at the tears that had
sprung to Julian’s eyes when he did. But, no matter how he felt, Djal couldn’t
back down. He couldn’t, and wouldn’t, be the mate that Julian was dreaming of.
There was just no way.
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