Alpha’s Badass Mate novel

---- coordinate his limbs well enough to follow her, so he slumped back onto the daybed and pouted instead. His mate really loves his child; well, Adom seems like an adorable boy, so who doesn't? But he also seems really bossy, like his mom. And then something poked his face. Alex opened his eyes -he hadn't realized he'd closed them -to find that it was a child's tiny finger prodding at his forehead. "Hi," he managed to croak. "Adom," Ashly scolded, rapid footsteps approaching.

He tugged Adom's hands away from Alex's face, pulling the child in towards her chest. "Why's he sleeping in our living room? Who is he, Mom? Don't tell me he's your boyfriend or something . I will not give you permission for that," Adom warned his mom, as he wanted to know. "He doesn't feel well, so he's going to stay the night, and no, he is not my boyfriend. And stop bossing me around ," Ashly said, and then she picked Adom up. With one hand, he draped a blanket over Alex.

"Doesn't he have his own house?" Adom asked again. "Why doesn't he sleep there? Is he homeless?" Ashly sighed and started to walk away as he responded. Their voices faded until Alex couldn't make out their conversation anymore, and then they disappeared entirely. Or maybe that was just Alex ---- drifting off to sleep. Alex woke up to sunlight in his face, a pounding headache, and the realization that he'd apparently slept in his clothes, jacket and all.

Also (and this was important), he was not in his own bed. He cracked his eyes open warily, squinting in the sun, and tried to take in his surroundings. He got as far as the leather couch and the concrete walls before he realized where he was. In hindsight , the mint-and - pine smell should have clued him in. "Thank God you're awake ," Ashly's voice said. She was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, wearing a soft-looking sweater.

She had her arms crossed over her chest, and she seemed to be attempting to stare Alex down. Alex sat up, groaning when it made his head throb. "There's aspirin and water on the table," Ashly said. She sounded decidedly unsympathetic. It took a few tries for Alex to actually reach that far, and a couple more before he managed to get the right number of pills out of the bottle. He drank the entire glass of water and felt marginally better. At least his mouth tasted less like day-old garbage.

Afterwards , he looked up at Ash with a sense of foreboding and asked , "What happened last night? Why am I here?" ---- Ashly scoffed at him, but...was Alex's coffee- hungover brain imagining things, or did it seem half fond? "You don't remember?

You have God knows how many cups of coffee, even though you know it's not good for your stupid brain." Alex knew this already; he tried really, really hard to cast his mind back, but the last thing he remembered was a cup of coffee and Alvin's taunting laughter. He shook his head, but before he could give a proper response, the front door chimed. He froze, wondering who would be walking into Ashly's house without knocking and terrified that he already knew the answer.

"Ashly, Adom, Aunty Monni is here!" A delighted squeal echoed from the second floor, and Ashly turned to shout, "Be careful on the stairs, Adom!" Which was about the time that Moni, Ashly's late father's best friend, and his doctor, who was also treating Alex, rounded the corner , saw Alex on the daybed , and thundered , "Alex, what are you doing here? Did your operation have success already, sweetheart?" Alex winced and gave up trying to signal to her that Ashly didn't know about his disease. Instead, he glanced through his eyelashes at Ashly, gauging her