Booker was neither afraid of her brothers nor did he care if they knew he’d invited her out to his cabin.
“I’ll see you at the end of the month for that hunt, Aspen,” he smirked, patting the counter as he headed for the back door, carrying the scent of wildflowers and the forest with him.
Chapter 2
“What are you up to?” Charlie asked when Aspen pulled her into the kitchen once all of her brothers were gone.
“I need your help,” she whispered, knowing if Nash was close, he would hear her every word.
“What are you planning?” Charlie had become her greatest friend and sister since she had mated Mason, and they got along great. Both of them were a bit stubborn, and Aspen knew she’d be on board with the idea.
“Booker asked me to go hunting with him tomorrow for the beginning of moose season,” she hurried to say. “I’m telling my brothers that I’m going out alone and you are flying me to the location. But actually…you’ll be taking me to Booker’s place.”
“Oh, Aspen,” Charlie gasped. “Is he your mate?”
“I think so,” Aspen replied, knowing her face was turning beet red. “Look, my wolf is interested, and I finally put off a mating scent when he was here a few weeks ago.”
“And you want to spend time with him on the down low, right?” Charlie asked.
“Well, duh,” Aspen chuckled. “I’ll need a pickup the next morning. He said he has an extra room, and I’m going to use it. I don’t want to touch him yet.”
“You’re staying the night?” Charlie balked. “I mean, that’s great and all…but won’t Nash and Mason worry?”
“Sort of,” she shrugged. “Usually, I hunt during the day and return late at night, but I’ve never flown out to do it. I’m taking a backpack and a tent. You know…just in case.”
“You mean, you’re pretending to camp so your brothers won’t know you’re shacking up with a male who might be your mate, right?”
“Exactly,” Aspen admitted, taking Charlie’s hand. “Please, just help me. Give me some time with Booker before my brothers start freaking out. I don’t want to be stressed when I go there.”
Charlie’s eyes crinkled as a smirk pulled at the corner of her lips. “I gotchu, sister. Be ready at seven. I’ll take you.”
“Oh! I love you, Charlie!” Aspen threw her arms around her new sister and hugged her. “I have to finish dinner and go home to pack.”
“Just be careful, Aspen,” Charlie warned. “And if you touch him, make sure you are open and honest about what you are. Don’t pull an Isabell and surprise him.”
“Are you talking about me again?” Isabell growled as she entered the kitchen.
“Me? Us? Noooo, never,” Aspen teased. “Come on. Grab your mates and tell them it’s time to eat.”
When the females left, she set the table and tried her hardest not to think about her upcoming time with Booker Dupree. Her wolf paced in her mind, wanting to be free, and she might need to shift after she packed to give the animal some time. She knew the wolf wouldn’t go in search of the human male, because he lived over a hundred miles away. If she did, she wouldn’t be back in time to catch her flight.
They had control over their wolf on any shift except the full moon one. She didn’t know how the other wolves did it, or even if they could pull back their wolf to know how to keep the balance, but within the Ward family, they accepted the fact their animal was completely wild one night a month.
“So, you’re going hunting tomorrow,” Nash said as they sat down to eat. Most of the time, Nash preferred for them to spend dinnertime together, and Aspen didn’t mind. It’d been like that since their family had been killed by bears eleven years ago. At the time, she was only twelve, and it was hard at first, but they made due. If it wasn’t for Nash’s ability to control them with his alpha genes, she had no idea how they would’ve survived.
She had the alpha gene, too, and one day, she could break off from the pack to make her own, but Aspen didn’t want to leave the confines of their compound. It was too dangerous, and with the black bears knowing they were in the area, it was more important to stick together.
“Yeah, I’m heading southwest,” she admitted around a bite of food. It wasn’t a lie, because Booker’s place was more west, but still out of the bears’ territory. She knew they’d be hiking on foot, and if they came across a bear shifter’s scent, she would insist they turn back.
“Stay out of the north,” Mason grunted.
“I know,” she replied, and refrained from rolling her eyes. If anyone was going to be open to her possible mating to a human male, it would be Mason.
“Take your satellite phone too,” Nash added, looking up from his mound of food. Isabell put a calming hand on his wrist, and he looked down at his food. “Charlie will be on call when you are ready to return.”
“Okay,” she replied and stood to dump her empty plate in the sink. When she turned around, Mason was giving her a look like he didn’t quite believe her story.
Booker stood on his wrap around porch, looking toward the northeast. He couldn’t believe Aspen had taken him up on the chance to hunt with him. The female was obviously knowledgeable about hunting after a chat he’d had with her when he called on his satellite phone the week before to verify her arrival. He wondered if she’d told her brothers where she was going, and he made a mental
