Julian shook his head. “I feel weird,” he mumbled into Devlin’s neck, his fingers gripping his shirt.
“Bad weird?”
“No,” Julian answered after a moment.
Devlin hummed, unsurprised. “When your mate dies, it’s always painful. There have even been cases when the broken bond killed the surviving bondmate. Thankfully, it happens rarely, only if the bond is abnormally strong and you’ve been mated for years. The tradition to marry your dead mate’s sibling existed because the broken bond heals only around an alpha the omega trusts, whether it’s a sibling, a parent, or a new alpha partner. A broken bond never heals without alpha pheromones, you idiot.”
“Don’t call me an idiot,” Julian mumbled half-heartedly. “And if you’re implying I trust you—”
“You do,” Devlin said, propping his chin on top of Julian’s head. “Or you wouldn’t feel ‘weird’ now. Your suppressants might be suppressing your sense of smell and hormones, but your body is still somewhat receptive to alpha pheromones. You feel better now, don’t you?”
Julian’s stubborn silence was the only response he got.
Smiling wryly, Devlin dropped a kiss on top of his head. “It’s okay, brat. It’s normal. Nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“Shut up,” Julian grumbled, rubbing his nose against Devlin’s scent gland and breathing unsteadily. “Fuck, it’s so confusing. I can’t smell anything, but I do feel good.”
Running his fingers through his soft hair, Devlin said, “We are simply used to equating scent with pheromones when scent is just one aspect of pheromones. But it’ll still work better if you lower the dose of your suppressants.” He dropped his smile. “It’s dangerous, Julian. The recommended dose is recommended for a reason. You might lose the ability to have children if you keep it up.”
Julian gave a soft snort. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not like I have a line of suitors, and my popularity won’t exactly increase if people find out I’m not an untouched virgin.”
Devlin’s lips thinned. He couldn’t deny there was truth to that: alphas were too possessive to want a non-virgin omega as a mate.
He tipped Julian’s face up with his fingers and made him meet his gaze. “I promise I’ll find you another mate if you want it,” he said steadily. “But even if you don’t, you can stay in my house for the rest of your life. After I marry Liam, I’ll be your alpha too. I will take good care of you. You will want for nothing.”
Julian just stared at him for a moment, his doe-like eyes wide and unblinking. Then, he looked away, his cheeks coloring slightly. “Arrogant ass,” he muttered, getting off Devlin’s lap and springing to his feet. “Let’s go back to Li. He’s probably looking for us.”
Devlin caught his wrist. “Julian.”
After a moment, Julian looked down at his hand before looking back at him. His face was unreadable now. “What?”
“I was serious about the bond. You can’t just overdose yourself with suppressants and hope the pain will go away—it won’t. Let me help you if you don’t want to ask for help from your uncle. At least promise me you’ll seriously consider it.”
Julian pursed his lips tightly.
He was silent for a while before finally nodding.
Devlin was a little surprised by the strength of the relief that washed over him. Though the fact that Julian now smelled like him most certainly contributed to his sudden protectiveness. Alphas took care of their own, and Devlin was no exception.
He did want to be Julian’s alpha.
He was going to take good care of him after marrying Liam.
Chapter 12
Jules woke up and stretched sleepily, smiling. He felt wonderfully well rested—
Because he was.
Jules blinked his eyes open and evaluated his state. He did feel wonderful. Like he’d actually managed a full night’s sleep—and that hadn’t happened since...
The bond.
Jules carefully poked at the raw, achy thing he’d come to associate with the bond. It felt… better this morning? Not as painful as usual.
Jules mulled it over, not sure what to think. He’d half-convinced himself that what happened in the zoo yesterday had been a fluke: sure, he had felt… good when Westcliff had pushed him against his scent gland and told him to breathe, but the effect had disappeared when they returned home. So he had done his best to forget about the whole thing—it had been too unsettling—and had fallen asleep as soon as his head touched his pillow. He hadn’t expected to actually sleep through the night. Was it because of what Westcliff had done?
Jules reached for his tablet on the nightstand and looked up mating bonds on the Internet. He now felt silly for not thinking of it before. Why had he thought that the pain would just go away without any treatment? But then again, he hadn’t exactly been thinking straight at the time, so lost to pain that all he had wanted was to make it go away. Suppressants had seemed like the obvious and easy solution.