Page 81 of Twisted Mates

TWENTY-SIX

Alexia

“What time is it?” I mumble as I prop myself up on one elbow and rub the sleep from my eyes. It’s much too dark in the bedroom to be morning, and I feel like I’ve been asleep for days instead of hours.

Xander’s sitting up in bed next to me, his phone in his hand. He clicks it off before reaching over to the nightstand to turn on the lamp. Turning back to me, he pushes my hair from my forehead before moving my face back and forth like he’s inspecting it to make sure I’m still in one piece.

“It’s six o’clock,” he says, setting his phone on the nightstand before giving me his undivided attention.

“PM?” I ask incredulously. “I slept that long?” We got home from the hell that was yesterday at 9:00PM or so and I passed out almost immediately.

“Yeah, you were exhausted, Alexia,” he says, picking up a strand of my hair and twirling it around his finger. “I slept for a while too but eventually I couldn’t anymore, so I just decided to read, sketched for a bit, and?—”

“Wait, you stayed in bed with me for almost twenty-four hours?” I ask. Xander isn’t one to rot in bed all day—me, on the other hand, I love a good rotting session—but he is always up and doing something.

“Of course I did, little wolf. You think I’d leave you after everything that happened yesterday? Hell no.”

This man. I move closer to him and nuzzle into his side. He slips his hand under my neck and guides me to rest my head on his lap. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

I look up at him in disbelief. “For what? For everything, but I meant for saving me yesterday. I really thought I was going to die in that creepy ass building with Carrington and Clayton shoving poison down my throat.” Tears sting my eyes at the memory of the betrayal I never saw coming. My best friend wanted me dead. And she came so close to actually getting the job done.

“I know. It scared the hell out of me too. But I got to you. I’ll always come for you,” he says, brushing my hair with his palm.

“How are we going to cover this all up? And what about Carrington?” I ask.

“We will have some questions to answer in the coming days. Thankfully, the pack elders had a feeling something was up with Clayton, and they aren’t fond of the idea of their future king being put on trial. Kai has handled a lot of the logistics of it all for now. Luckily, he was a witness to things that happened, and he is on our side. As far as I know, he’s talked Carrington into turning herself in. His hope is that if she does that, admits her responsibility in all this, then they’ll grant some leniency in sentencing.”

I don’t know how to feel. On one hand, I want that. I want her to have a chance to live the rest of her life, but on the other,I want her to suffer some sort of punishment for what she did to me. I guess time will tell.

But then two other words Xander said float back into my head, and a smile creeps over my face. “Future king, huh?”

He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”

“So youdowant to be king?”

In a graceful move, he lifts me. I move my legs until they are on either side of his and we are facing each other. Burying my face in his neck, I let his scent calm me. He always reminds me of fresh-cut wood drying under the summer sun with a hint of something masculine and wild. He smells like mine.

“I’m still grappling with what all this means. Even if I didn’t want the responsibility, someone has to act as regent until a new monarch is named. As the new patriarch of this family, that falls on me.” He pinches my chin, forcing me to look at him. “What do you want? How do you see our future? I need to know because I’m not making a move that you don’t want to make too. But if you want this with me, I’ll take the crown.”

“I was ready to take it with Kai,” I say carefully. “It was something I was prepared for. Well, as prepared as I could be. But to beyourqueen?” I rest my forehead against his. “To say I want it would be an understatement. Imagine how much good we could do for our people.”

“You are amazing, but I think you know that I feel that way about you.”

“I do. But it’s still nice to hear.” I slide my fingers through his hair and gaze into his blue eyes. “Your mom would be proud of you. She loved all her children, but there was something that lit up inside her when she spoke about you.”

He bites down on the inside of his lip and nods. “I’ll never be as great of a ruler as she was.”

“No. You’ll be better,” I say.

The torment that he feels about his mom’s death may never fully go away. But I’ll be damned if I’m not going to try and ease it. A day will come when Xander Slade looks back at his life and realizes that he has made a million selfless decisions that more than make up for the one time he left his mother’s side when she was sick.

He pulls me in and softly kisses my lips. “I love you, Alexia.”

“And I love you,” I whisper.

A knock at Xander’s door makes us both jump. “Come in?” Xander calls, not even bothering to move me off his lap, just pulls the blanket over us.

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