Alpha-mates Chapter-9/ ?
Chapter-9
Jared smiled as he brushed his fingers against the familiar polished surface of his table; knowing he may never come back.
“Are you sure about this, Jaybird?”
He nodded, turning to the door when his mate appeared, his expression warm.
“Ready?”
He nodded, rising unsteadily to his feet even as his mate’s hands reached out to help him up- almost as though Jensen anticipated his clumsiness. The safety of the warm fingers pressed against the small of his back had him feeling optimistic as his left hand instinctively closed around the swell of his mid-section protectively.
Swell of his mid-section?!!
Jared froze.
“Jay?”
“Jay-?”
He jerked, his hand going to his firm- and thankfully flat, stomach automatically to check. He breathed out in relief- he was not carrying Jensen’s progeny; praise the Lord!
His relief however; was short-lived as he realized that he had fallen asleep on the drive to the Ackles’ residence and had no clue about where they were. Even now, he could feel the warmth of his alpha’s hand like a brand against his skin where the man had touched to wake him.
“Was I asleep long?” His voice sounded thick with sleep even to his own ears.
“Couple of minutes...maybe ten at most.” The alpha answered, his expression worried; having obviously picked up on the younger man’s unease.
Jared shifted nervously; although Jensen’s concern was heart-warming, he still somehow missed the warmth in his mate’s eyes that had been present in his dream/nightmare. He peered out through the windshield, “Where-where are we?”
“Well, this is it; my home.” Jensen announced as he stepped out of the car.
Jared followed suit, looking around cautiously and realizing that the car was parked in a circular driveway. As far as the eye could see; there was nothing but trees- barring the quaint little house that they stood in front of.
The house, that looked deceptively simplistic- almost rustic... with its plain brick and wood layout exemplifying its neat lines. It was spread over a considerable area, Jared surmised, although it was only single storied. In an odd way, it reminded him of the cottages on old picture-books.
Following Jensen inside, he realized that the inside of the Ackles’ residence matched its outside- the decorations were plain: nothing extravagant or flashy to mark the alpha’s prowess; but the few pieces that were artfully spread across the room (and especially the ones in the alcoves on the far wall) were obviously exclusive- subtle in their significance, but noteworthy for their beauty.
The room- and by extension, the entire house- had a homey, lived in feel that spoke of warmth and happiness. It was so different from the impersonal lines of his own residence that for a moment Jared felt a pang of jealousy. He had never had much time to simply lounge about at his penthouse- always too busy with his work- obviously that wasn’t the case with Jensen Ackles.
“It’s quite hot today, isn’t it? I mean, I was expecting it to be far cooler given the surrounding trees.”
Jensen turned to look at him, the corner of his mouth tugging at a grin in amusement at Jared’s lame, laughable attempt at small-talk. “I have a pool; you can take a swim to cool down, if you want.”
“You have a pool?”
Jensen nodded, gesturing towards the huge glass doors across the room, “Go on, take a look; I’ll get some beer...unless you want something else to drink?”
“Beer’s fine.” He nodded, walking to the screen-door and stepping outside.
Much like the front of the house, the backyard too looked more like a forest than it should. Two towering trees bracketed the enormous porch that nearly extended the length of the house while others grew in some haphazard manner- he could see that someone-he wondered if it was Jensen himself- had done some gardening in the little clearing between the trees: it was almost as though the alpha had endeavoured to disturb as little of the natural beauty as he was able. The sound of falling water had him searching the backyard in the gathering twilight to find the source. He followed the sound along the porch, not wanting to step off and venture into the dense foliage without permission; it wasn’t long before he realized that the rocky outcrop to his right- just beyond the porch- was actually a little pool.
His eyes followed the clear water to its point of origin and he sucked in a breath as he realized that what he had thus far assumed to be a natural pool was in fact, man-made.
“I wanted the pool to blend in with the rest of this place.”
Jared jerked in surprise at the alpha’s voice, not having heard him join. He walked back to where the older man leaned casually against the wooden-railing, “It’s beautiful.”
“Thanks.”
They stayed silent for a moment as Jared tried to peer out and see the fence to the property.
“It’s nice here, peaceful.”
“Yeah, I didn’t- don’t really like the noise of the city... so when my grandpa brought us here one summer, I kind of fell in love with the place. I knew that I would make this my home.”
// ‘You have such large eyes, Grandma.’
‘It’s to see you better, dear.’ //
“I-I don’t really see a fence...” Jared twisted to glance at his mate.
“Umm...yeah, this is part of the Ackles’ estate. We have ‘bout 50 acres... But, only the part till the tree line is kept private, there are fields beyond them- for farming and the like.”
// ‘and such big ears...’
‘All the better to hear you, dear.’ //
“So; no neighbours?”
“Nope... At least not for a few miles.”
// ‘Why do you have such big teeth, Grandma?’
‘So that I can eat you, dear.’ //
Jared felt the breath leave his body in a gasp.
No neighbours, Jay... Nobody to hear you scream.
You will scream, won’t you; Jay?
“Jared?”
He glanced up, slowly backing away from the alpha, “No.”
His alpha’s brow furrowed, “What-?”
“No, please.” He repeated; shifting away as the older man approached.
“Jared, wha-?” The alpha was almost on top of him now, reaching out.
“I said NO!” He shouted, turning as he tried to twist away and stumbled to the floor. He froze in place as he stared up at the man looming over him.
Jensen extended a hand to help his mate, but stopped short when he heard the barely suppressed keen of distress. Realization dawned as he peered into the frightened hazel eyes.
“You’re terrified...of me.” He whispered, moving back to give the younger man space.
Jared just blinked at him in surprise.
“Its- its okay, man... I-I’m not going to hurt you.” He told the petrified boy, helplessly running a hand through his hair; although he made no move to touch the young man again.
The younger alpha didn’t answer, but lifted himself from the floor; still maintaining a healthy distance between them.
Jensen shook his head ruefully, “I- I don’t know how to convince you of this, Jared; but I promise that you are safe here. Nothing’s going to happen to you, not on my watch... if-if you want; you are free to drive back. I won’t stop you.”
Jared nodded, his breath still coming in soft pants after his panic-attack; but he was feeling more coherent now. “Is this- is this how you felt yesterday?”
Jensen looked at him, biting his lip as he contemplated his answer, ultimately deciding that gentle teasing was the way to go, “Well, I wasn’t scared of you.”
“I’m larger than you. You really think you can take me in a fight?”
“I don’t think either of us is getting into a physical altercation anytime soon, Jay.” He frowned.
“Humour me. You really think you can best me, Ackles?”
“Physically, you are more formidable than I am... but who says I’m gonna fight fair?”
“Is that a threat?”
Jensen shook his head, his lips pressed into a thin line, “Nope. Although, it would be a threat if I told you that I’ve never lost a fight in my life, Jared.”
Jared nodded, accepting the warning for what it was.
“Come on, let me show you around.” The topic was changed swiftly enough that Jared had to wonder whether the whole episode had been some sort of weird dream.
“Sure.”
Jensen threw open the ornate wooden doors to the first room on their left, “This is my... well, now I guess it’s our- room.” At Jared’s gasp, he added-not unkindly, “Or, you may use the guest suite, if you choose.”
Jared nodded, taking in the cosy set-up. Apparently, Jensen was more of a traditionalist than a minimalist. The room was decorated in the same rich tones as the rest of the home, although he could see evidence of the latest modern gadgets; everything had been adjusted to blend in with the old-world charm of the place. He glanced out of the window to realize that the master-bedroom directly overlooked the ‘pool’.
“Here.”
He turned in surprise to find his mate holding out a well-worn, but freshly laundered set of sweatpants and tee-shirt.
The alpha shrugged, “There’re mine; so they may be a little small for you, but I guess they’ll have to do for now.”
He nodded his thanks as he followed the alpha into the ‘guest-suite’; nearly as spacious as Jensen’s room, Jared was pleased to note that this room too was fitted with an en-suite bathroom. Unlike the other room however, this one looked out into the dark woods surrounding the house.
The tour continued into the study- and Jared noticed that most of the titles on the shelves were familiar to him. Strangely, it was the study-even more than Jensen’s bedroom- that felt intimate to Jared. He glanced at the highly wrought table that dominated the room, so different from the rest of the furnishing and Jensen gave a sheepish chuckle, “It was my grandfather’s- I couldn’t bring myself to replace it.”
“I like it.” Jared assured.
He was slightly surprised when Jensen made no move to open the last remaining door, “What’s behind here?”
Jensen made a ‘go-ahead’ gesture and Jared pushed open the door. And for a long minute, he couldn’t say anything.
It was a child’s room.
The walls were done in the same rich tones, but the colours here were a vivid swirl of blue and yellow instead of the more sedate peach tones that filled the rest of the house. One wall had a collage of various Disney characters, and an alcove was stuffed with games and colouring books. The bed with its cheerful cover was slightly higher than normal, and had a rope ladder to aid whoever wanted to clamber up; although it had protective railings on the two free sides to keep a child from falling.
He turned back to face his mate who stared back unrepentantly, “My nephew’s four.”
Jared turned back to the room, seeing all the tiny touches that had gone into making it seem like a bright and happy place, seeing the effort the man standing silent behind him had put so that his nephew could enjoy a room that would be any child’s definition of ‘heaven’. Catching a few video-games tucked in to one corner, he raised an enquiring eyebrow- no way were those games meant for a four-year-old.
Jensen followed his gaze and smiled, “Josh’s son visited awhile back. He’s twelve.”
“You love them, don’t you?” Jared could hear the wonder and surprise in his own voice but was helpless to stop it.
“They’re kids.”Jensen shrugged, “Plus, they’re my nephews... its kind-of my job to spoil them.”
Jared smiled, someone who loved children this much couldn’t be all bad, right?
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