Page 1 of Mating Season

1

Aspen

“Why won’t you open?”

I took another run at the closed doors, slamming into them with a grunt of frustration as the chains rattled outside. My wolf howled in my head after lending me her strength, but even with the two of us together we’d only managed to split the plywood and put a small dent in the metal frame of the storage shed.

Whoever built it did an amazing job.

I took a step back, dragging my hands through my wild hair to tame it a bit and taking a deep breath.Think of a plan.

Let me chew through the wall?

A real plan!I screamed at my wolf.

You think of one then,she huffed.

I turned to survey the damage of the nest I’d made in the Luna Trials which was now also my prison. The plastic bin I still hadn’t opened sat in the corner with the note from Jesse crumbled on top. The bedframe was in pieces under the mattress and the floating shelves I’d attached to the walls were hanging on by loose screws.

I’d already pushed open the little window in the back, but it was still hot in here. Sweat pooled in my armpits and I shrugged off my flannel shirt, dropping it to the top of my gram’s quilt as I stoodon my tiptoes to suck in fresh air from the one-foot square window.

Once I cooled off a little, I eyed the width of the glass and dropped my gaze to my hips.

We could try shifting.

Mass distribution.I grabbed my gram’s old wood trunk because it was the most solid–and intact–piece of furniture. I slid it over to the window.Your bones are wider than mine to make up for the height discrepancy of my human form.

Okay, nerd.My wolf rolled her eyes.Hurry and figure this out. It’s getting hotter.

Give me a second.

I used part of my shifted wolf’s claw to unscrew the cheap plastic frame around the glass window and popped the pane out.

In theory, this should work.

I’m dying of anticipation.

I sucked in a deep breath, hoisting myself up onto the thin ledge.

The top half of my body went through easily enough. The problem came at my hips.

The good news?

There was a soft forest floor to break my undoubtedly ungraceful coming fall.

The bad news?

Free access to a buffet for the past three weeks had increased my waistline a smidge.

I cursed everything bagels and French toast as I twisted and turned, wiggling my hips and kicking my legs in the air behind me as my arms dangled andsearched for some kind of leverage to grip. The metal tracks and untreated wood dug into my sides and cut my skin as I finally broke free with an audibleripppp…

Of my jeans.

Not a fart.

I twisted at the last second, thanking the Goddess for small miracles as I landed with a hard thud on my back. With the wind knocked out of me, I laid there a moment staring up at the evergreens and swaying branches of aspen trees.

At least we were still in Colorado.