Page 39 of My Bad Boy Alpha

After narrowing her eyes at me even more, she finally sank down into the bubbles with me and leaned her head back against the edge, sighing softly and smiling to herself.“Guess what.”

“What?”

She bit back a smile.“I think I have real friends.”

Warmth spread through my chest, and I shifted in the water to wrap my arms around her waist and pull her into my lap.Water sloshed over the edge of the tub, but I couldn’t find it in me to care about it.

“I’m so proud of you,” I murmured.

While she had been trying to hide her smile, a wide grin stretched across her face.She set her hands on my round shoulders and curled them around the muscle.“We spent all morning together training and then?—”

“You were training?”I asked, shocked.

Cheeks reddening and rounding, she nodded.“I wanted to surprise you.I think I’m getting stronger by just a little bit.Maxine and Sina are very good at fighting, so I wanted to practice with them to be a good luna for this pack.”

My chest tightened, and now,Icouldn’t hide my smile.“You were training for us?”

She nodded and drew her hands across my chest muscles.“Only because of you.If you hadn’t pushed me endlessly to become a better version of myself, to push away my insecurities, then I never would’ve even thought about it.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes, it is,” she whispered and rested her head against mine.“I love you, Stone.”

CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX

ZURI

After Stone bathed with me—yes,my big, bad mate bathed in a bubble bath—he helped me into one of the robes that he had bought me the other day down in Durnbone.I smoothed it out with my fingers and stared into the full-length mirror at him behind me.

For a while, I hadn’t known what had come over me last night when I practically begged him to put a pup inside me.But now, I did.I hadn’t gone crazy.I hadn’t let the Moon Goddess affect me with that heat.

I had been in my right mind.

“Is there a reason you’re drooling?”Stone asked, arching a brow at me.

Biting back a smile, I peered at my mark in the mirror.“Just admiring my mate.”

“Don’t start with me,” he growled.“Or I’ll cancel my meeting tonight to?—”

“Put a pup inside me?”I asked, lifting my gaze to his in the mirror again.

Another growl escaped his lips.“You’d better watch that pretty mouth of yours.”

“Or what?”

He moved closer to me, his large hand grasping the back of my neck and his tongue on the mark he had left on my skin.He flicked it, his tongue ring making me warm in all the right places.“Or Iwillput a pup inside you tonight.”

I twirled around, my lips curled into a small smirk.“Good.”

“Where has the soft, scared,hates everything about meZuri gone?”he asked me.

“She’s”—I paused, my voice barely above a whisper—“fallen for you.”

Once he snatched my chin in his hand, he drew me toward him and pressed his lips against mine.“I’ll be back.James is here,” Stone said, snaking his arms around my waist and pulling me closer to him.“Don’t let anyone else into the house, okay?According to our scouts, Derrit is making his way closer to here.”

“Okay.”I nodded, gently patting his chest.“I’m not going to let your psycho brother in.”

After letting out a low chuckle, he kissed me on the lips and then disappeared out of our bedroom door and into the hallway.A couple of moments later, the front door clicked closed.I fell back on the bed with my arms sprawled out and sighed.

---