Page 92 of Second Chance Mates

All night, I try my best to mingle at the party, but realistically, I just want to be by Jaxon’s side. I remind myself it’s his birthday and everyone here wants to speak to him. I have to learn to share.

“How’s it going?” Lucy pops up beside me with Sebastian on her arm.

My lips curl at their presence. “Good. How about you guys?”

“Oh, you’ll never guess who turned up,” Lucy begins to ramble, but I zone out when my eyes rest on Jaxon across the kitchen. He’s standing with Kayden and a few other wolves from the pack.

My eyes study him intently, occasionally humming towards Lucy so it sounds like I’m listening. His dress shirt is rolled up to his elbows, thick forearms on full display. My parted lips close in case I start drooling. He looks ridiculously good. More than good—divine.

I focus on his face and watch as he laughs towards the group, showing off his perfectly straight teeth. He reaches up to swipe his thumb across his bottom lip. Ugh. Why is he so attractive? I wonder if he knows what sort of power he possesses in a room like this. I shake my head. Of course, he does. He’s an Alpha.

Stop eye-fucking me, baby. Jaxon’s voice is loud and clear through the mindlink. He’s laughing away with his pack—I didn’t think he noticed me.

How does he know I’m checking him out?

Unless you want me to do something about it, then I suggest you stop.

I blush furiously and look down to my feet. Sorry, I say timidly.

My chest can barely keep up. I wait for my anxiety to hit me, but it doesn’t. Instead, it does something weird to my insides. Lucy is somehow still talking. “S-sorry, Lucy,” I murmur to her. “If you’ll excuse me.”

I quickly push my way out of the kitchen. Lucy calls after me, but I don’t turn back. My skin is about to melt off the bone. I climb the stairs faster than I’ve ever moved before stepping into my bedroom and running to the en-suite.

I bend over the sink and splash my face with cold water, but it doesn’t help. I’m burning up. Sizzling. I look at myself in the mirror. God, I am beyond flustered. I barely recognise myself with pink-tinted cheeks and dilated pupils.

I curl my fingers around the basin and grip, taking steady inhales until I calm down.

Or don’t.

31

JAXON

Oh, shit.

I’ve really done it this time.

I watch as Ava darts out of the kitchen, and I mentally scold myself for being so crude. The way her shameless gaze lay on me, like I had no idea, but I did—I felt everything. It sent my wolf wild, and I let a stupid thought slip through the mindlink. I’d be an awful liar if I said I didn’t mean a single word because I did. Goddess, the things I would do to her with her full consent. My wolf claws at me desperately.

I excuse myself from the group and follow Ava. Oh, Goddess. I’ve got a lot of making up to do. I told her I’d go at her pace, and now, I’m jumping the gun because of everything she makes me feel when she looks at me.

I follow her scent and find myself walking straight into her room. I notice the bathroom door is ajar. My knuckles raise to brush the wooden frame as I look at her through the tiny crack. Her hands wrapped around the edge of the sink. “I’m sorry, Ava,” I blurt. “I should not have said that to you. It was wrong and completely out of line.”

Ava jumps at my voice. She must be drowning in her own head. She presses a hand flat to her chest. “Crap, you scared me.”

After a few moments, she emerges from the bathroom and stands in front of me. I glimpse her face and acknowledge how small she is compared to me now her heels are off. I expect to see concern or sadness on her face, but I don’t see any.

“It was extremely inappropriate, and I–”

“Jax, I don’t care about what you said,” she cuts me off.

My brows clench. “You don’t care? Because you literally ran away.”

She breathes out a string of air. “Okay, I did care,” she agrees. “But not in the way you think. I wasn’t offended by what you said.”

“Then why did you run off?”

Her hands fumble as she looks up at me. “I-I just got a bit…hot.”

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