“I’ll give you as many babies as you want,” he promised, pulling her back over his lap.
“I must warn you,” she began, but paused when he urged her to take his cock back inside her body. He was already hard again, and even though sex was still new to her, she could get use to his attentions. “Becoming what I am is not easy.”
“How so?” he asked.
“It’s painful…very painful,” she sniffled, remembering how Isabell cried in pain for three days. If it wasn’t for the pain medicines Fury had on hand, it would’ve been worse.
“It would be worth every ounce of pain to be with you completely, Aspen,” he told her, causing her heart to swell even more. She never thought she’d love anyone stronger than she did her family, but with Booker…it was easy.
She told him everything, and he nodded when necessary, but Aspen saw the hesitation in his eyes. “You don’t have to decide tonight.”
“I have to go back home tomorrow, anyway,” he admitted after a long pause. “I can’t leave my land for long. I have to prepare for the winter. The nights are getting colder, and my crops have to be harvested.”
The thought of spending the winter at his cabin appealed to her more than it should. If they were going to be mates, she wanted to be with him permanently, and that posed another question. Where did she want to live? With him? Or with her family?
Aspen was born with alpha blood, and she didn’t have to stay under Nash’s rule, but the thought of leaving her brothers and cousins broke her heart. How would she choose?
“I’ll come out to your place late tomorrow night and stay with you through the weekend, but I have to be home by Tuesday,” she explained. “Wednesday is the full moon, and we have to run together.”
“Full moon? Really?” he frowned. “Is that myth real?”
“It is,” she sighed. “There’s more I need to discuss with you about who I am and about who you want to become.”
Booker worried about Aspen, but he knew her safety was secure. The black bears had made a truce with the Ward pack, and they’d admitted to a lot of things no one knew.
It was confirmed that they’d worked with the government to round up rogue wolves, but they were sent off to Colorado and Montana where alphas were there to basically rehabilitate them. There was a lot of information, and Booker kept up as best as he could.
The black bear clan was much bigger than the Ward pack had known. Isaac Duncan was grateful for the monetary help from the government, but they’d decided to sever their ties and move to their new home just on the edge of the Ward pack’s territory. At the time, they didn’t know the white wolves existed, but in the end, it was a good thing they’d found each other.
Aspen had talked animatedly about the presence of other white wolves in America, and she’d talked about how she wanted to meet them, but everyone knew that would most likely never happen. It was too dangerous for them to leave Nash and his leadership over them.
Without an alpha, they could perish, but Aspen had given him a bit of information that gave them hope. She was of alpha blood, and with that, she didn’t need her brother to survive. As much as she wanted to stay connected with her family, she really didn’t have to, and Booker sensed she was torn between moving to his cabin or asking him to stay at her cabin next to the terminal.
But why couldn’t they do both?
She’d said herself that she was training Isabell, Nash’s mate, to take over the office. It wouldn’t be a problem for Aspen and Booker to spend their time between the two locations. She needed to be there for them during the summer, and he had enough money to pay for her flights to and from work when she needed to be there. However, he doubted her family would make her pay for a flight.
So, why not?
He could see it working…if she was prepared to split her time. He’d talk to her when she arrived that night. They had plenty of time to discuss their future over the weekend. She had to return home for the full moon, and after a lengthy conversation, he understood that, too.
It was better if she stayed with her brothers during that time of the month anyway, because Booker didn’t know how to make sure the wolf didn’t stray too far, and since he was still human, it wasn’t his place to follow her all over the mountain range.
Regardless of their decision, he had to get his cabin prepared for the winter. And his task for the day was to cut some firewood.
There was an old field of standing dead trees about five miles from his cabin, and he made his plans to spend the day out there cutting wood for his home. By the time he was back, Aspen would be there, and they could take it easy for a few days until she had to return home.
He hooked up a sled to the back of his ATV and grabbed his saw along with food for lunch and a canteen full of water. He could get more by a small stream close to the spot where he would be spending the day.
Only, he didn’t make it that far.
About three miles from home, Booker came around a corner and didn’t see the massive moose barreling out of the forest. With the green overgrowth and overpowering sound of his machine, there was no time to stop before the
