Helena's finger didn't go down and if those narrowed eyes were any indication, she was pissed. “It's a damn good thing you caught yourself there, buster. Because A. Nobody tells me what to do. And B. I do what I want. You remember that and we'll get along just fine.”
Goddess, a woman who didn't take shit from anyone was hot. Aleksei folded his arms and grinned at her. He could not help wondering if she'd let him tell her what to do if they were in his bed and he had her arms pinned over her head and his other hand between her legs. “Won't happen again.”
Tonight.
“Good. Then yes, walk me home. If anyone sneaks a peek they'll think we're going to my place to get it on.” She turned on her heel and headed down the sidewalk.
Aleksei followed after her like a puppy on a string. A puppy who was on high alert and examining every shadow for potential threats. Helena might know about his world, but no human outside of the ones who'd mated the wolves in the Troika pack knew the extent of the war.
Niko had ended most of the infighting when he became the Wolf Tzar. But there were still a few one-blood bastards out there that would love to take out a Troika Enforcer, or his mate. Just the thought of a one-blood getting anywhere near Helena had his wolf rising back up to the surface.
Mark her.
Claim her.
Mate her.
Grr.
Aleksei hurried to catch up to Helena and took her hand in his. “Just in case someone is watching us.”
That same zing went from her skin to his and he squeezed her hand tighter. Helena tipped her head to the side and the slyest of smiles turned the corner of her lips up at the edges. All that anger at him melted away and the sizzle between them was back.
Too bad he had to let that sizzle fizzle. Just a minute more. He knew he had to let her go, but she felt so damn good and he wasn't used to anything that made him feel...anything. He'd take it while he could.
Theirs wasn't a leisurely stroll up the walk. Even if this was a fake rendezvous, they were making it look like they were in a hurry to get to a bedroom. Was Helena doing that on purpose, was she that eager to get rid of him? Or could it be that she was genuinely anxious to take him home and into her bed?
They did have some serious chemistry between them. He knew why. She likely didn't. Humans didn't know about fated mates until they were pulled into the wolf world, like the Troika alphas' women had been.
Aleksei knew all about how human women thought. Helena wasn't the first one he'd been interested in. At the beginning of the pack wars he'd been getting down and dirty with a hot piece of human ass. But that's all she'd been to him. He'd never shared his true self with her, hadn't confided in her that he was a wolf-shifter.
Once he'd come back from the Crescent pack a broken man, that relationship had gone down the tubes real fast. If he couldn't tell her he was a wolf enforcer, he certainly couldn't turn to her in his darkest moments and admit that he'd been forced to watch silently as his alpha was politely poisoned.
Aleksei's stomach churned. He was one weak-ass enforcer who hadn't even been able to see through the treachery of a wolftress even as she tempted him with the same wolfsbane that killed Piotr Troika.
He wasn't fit to be with a human, he wasn't fit to be with a wolf. He surely wasn't fit to be with his one true mate.
The sun was setting now, and Helena's skin, hair, and eyes shimmered in the dusky evening. The moon wasn't yet full, but shone bright on the horizon. She was so fucking beautiful and that scared the living shit out of Aleksei. He was a fool for thinking he could be anywhere near her and not ruin her life like he had destroyed his own.
Helena turned her key in the lock and smiled over at him. “Do you want to—”
“I gotta go. I'll, uh, call you.” He bolted off her front step and into the nearest alleyway. His wolf howled in his mind, chastising him for leaving his mate alone and unprotected.
The second he was out of sight he let the wolf take over and his bones cracked, his muscles reshaped themselves, and his skin split as his fur burst out of him, busting right through the fancy clothes Selena had insisted he wear. His paws hit the dirty concrete and immediately turned back toward Helena's place.
It took all Aleksei’s will to overpower that innate instinct. It took truly admitting to himself, he would upend her life by claiming her. That was what it took to make his wolf realize that even being anywhere near her was putting her in danger.
Aleksei took off in a fast run toward the Reserve where he could run and run and run until he was so exhausted he couldn't return to Helena even if he wanted to.
Pie VS Sexy Times
Well, that was a weird fucking day. Helena stared at the back of her door for a full minute before she shrugged, dumped her bag and her keys on the little table just inside, and headed toward the kitchen.
Dammit. She was supposed to have Thanksgiving leftovers to snack on. Pie. She should have at least four flavors of leftover pie. A couple pieces to eat tonight until she was uncomfortably full, as anyone should be on Thanksgiving Day, and another two for breakfast the next couple of days.
Mmm. Pie for breakfast was the best. It was even better as morning after breakfast.
Now, because she'd agreed to have a temporary fake boyfriend, she had neither the sex nor any of the goodies to sustain her during the holiday aftermath. She wasn't a hundred percent sure that trade off was worth it. No, wait. It was if he actually held up his end of the bargain and got her out of all the awkward where's-your-date questions over the next few months.
The holidays were the worst for peer pressure to have a mate.
Mate? That was a strange word. Why had she thought that?
Must be the lack of sugar. Or the lack of sex. Especially after those sweet, hot, delicious kisses Aleksei had laid on her.
Helena popped open her freezer and pulled out a container of whipped cream she'd been saving for her leftovers. This would have to do. The first spoonful was delicious. The second was meh. The third? Downright revolting. This dessert topping needed some dessert, and she didn't mean the edible kind.
Whipped cream was good for all kind of fun things. None of which she had or was going to get, because...fake boyfriend. Ugh.
No boyfriend and no pie. One of those two things she could fix, and she knew the absolute best person to call for help. Heli owed her one anyway.
Helena texted her best friend the pie emoji and the praying hands emoji.
Heli immediately messaged back with the universal sign for no.
No? Heli was being a pie hoarder and Helena knew it. This called for the big guns. She dialed Heli's number. It rang and rang and rang. No answer.
Super not fair. Now it was war. Helena typed out another text and her phone rang almost immediately.
Heli panted like she’d been on a marathon run. “You are not coming over to my house and stealing my pie.”
She needed this. Bad. “Yes, I am.”
“Get your own pie.” The phone muffled at the end of that sentence and there was some sort of a squeal in the background.
“I want yours. It's the best. And you’re my best friend so you have to help me in my time of need.”
“Fine.” She huffed, in that way only a bestie who always had your back did. “You gotta give me at least another, uh, fifteen minutes.”