When he finally released me, I took the plate back to the kitchen. I finished my homework with Kellan and Jason before stomping upstairs and taking a quick shower. I pulled on some cotton shorts and was about to pull on Alpha Alexander's t-shirt that he gave me the night before, but it was colder tonight than it was last night. I pulled open the drawer of the dresser and unfolded a dark long-sleeved shirt.

All the night shirts I had were stolen from various guy friends or ex-boyfriends. I had emerged from my shower moments before to realize that they were all gone. I figured Alpha Alexander would have dug through my clothes to rip out the ones that probably still smelled like a guy. I smirked at the fact that I had quite a few shirts that had once belonged to one guy or another. Then my smile dropped when I realized that he had to have shuffled through my underwear, too.

In my defense, I was not a serial dater. I had a lot of guy friends and one way or another I ended up with their shirts—when we went to the beach and they asked to shove their shirts in my beach bag, forgetting about it; jackets I've borrowed but never returned; my three ex-boyfriends who let me take them because they knew I liked to sleep in oversized shirts and it was some possessive, dominant-male thing.

The last one started to sound more familiar now that I was the mate to an Alpha.

I pulled the navy long-sleeve over my head. I remade my bed on the floor and curled up beneath the blankets after brushing my teeth. I was asleep the second after my head rested on the pillow.

I was jostled awake. My eyes flipped open and I found myself face-to-face with a sleeping Alpha. His face was soft with sleep, jaw lax and brow free of its permanent frown. He was even more handsome asleep, his hard features during consciousness replaced with the angelic features of unconsciousness.

I realized that what woke me was his tight arm wrapped around me like I was a prized teddy bear. My nose bumped his, causing him to stir. I almost yelped when he pulled me closer, lowering his head to bury it into my neck, but managed to seal my lips. I made the conscious effort to release the tension in my body. His hand had traveled up my bare waist, sliding beneath the shirt I wore. I became all too aware that I hadn't put on a bra after I got out of the shower.

I tried to ease out of his grip, but I couldn't move. His nose skimmed my neck before burrowing deeper into my collarbone. Not knowing where to put my hands, I settled for letting the one not crushed beneath him to rest against his shoulder. My fingers curled around the soft hairs at the back of his neck. He suddenly moved again, bringing our lower bodies closer together.

Something long and hard beneath cotton material pressed against my stomach.

I froze. Oh. My. God.

My eyes widened in surprise, then a giggle bubbled in my chest, but I covered my mouth before it could escape. This had to be the single most awkward moment I had ever participated in, and he was sleeping. I tried to shift away from him and his . . . happiness, but his hips followed mine. While I had experience with this particular situation, I couldn't help but find the whole thing hilarious. Maybe I was just in shock of the whole situation. Either way, I realized there was no way I could go back to sleep so easily. And while it'd be rather funny to wake him up and watch his embarrassment unfold, I also realized that such a man as Alpha Alexander wouldn't possibly be embarrassed by the situation. In fact, I strongly believed he would try to take advantage of it.

And I definitely was not ready for that.

Instead, I played with the hair at the base of his neck, closed my eyes and tried to fall back asleep. At least, I tried. What kept me from actually falling asleep was the nose that kept tickling my neck.

Then there was the tongue.

My eyes flew open as I gasped. Did he just lick me?

Yeah. Yeah, he did. And my body responded, all too quickly for my liking. I leaned into him almost instinctively, our bodies pressing tightly against one another. His fingers tightened on my waist and I knew he was awake.

"You weren't in bed like I told you to be. You disobeyed, Phoebe." His voice was low, rumbling like thunder in the dead silence.

"That shouldn't have surprise you," I whispered. I gasped again when his tongue pressed against my skin. His teeth grazed over the soft spot and if I had been standing, I would have collapsed from the sheer force of raw desire rattling through my entire body.

"You taste good." His lips brushed against my neck as he spoke, pressing an opened mouth kiss right on my collarbone.

Be cool, be cool.

"Okay." That wasn't cool, Phoebe. Not cool at all.

His hands trailed upward and I held my breath, but he slid them around my back, digging his fingernails softly into my shoulder blades, raking them down the length of my back. My hand unconsciously tightened around his neck, my breathing uneven as sensations I never knew of raced through my nerves, settling somewhere behind my navel, tightening in excitement.

"Here," he said softly, once more kissing the meat above my collarbone. "This is where I will claim you."

At the mention of claiming me, I snapped out of my reverie with a hard couple of blinks. My hand moved from his neck to his shoulder, pushing him away. He reluctantly left the crook of my neck to lift his head and look me in the eye. I managed to keep my voice steady as I said, "But not yet."

He lifted a hand from my waist and cupped my chin. "Soon."

He swiftly gave me a peck on the cheek and pulled me back into his chest, encircling his arms around me. "Sleep, Phoebe."

I didn't know if it was the warmth that was radiating off of him, or the fact that I was more than comfortable laying in his arms, but this one time, I actually obeyed him.

I slept.