Page 64 of Mating Season
Beau laughed out loud as I grabbed a cooler of meat. If we ran another season, I’d be hunting fresher game for my mate.
We won’t have to run if we claim her.My wolf grumbled, still pissed.
I’m not going to rush her.We had time. I scented the air again, relaxing in the familiar scent of pack.Once, I may have bitched about them always being around, but now…
“Thank you, Beau. For everything.”
“Alpha, you’ve done more for this pack than anyone else ever has. The least we can do is return the favor.” Beau busied himself with restocking the food crates for the other nests.
“Is Jenna okay with you being here?” I asked. The older, mated shifters weren’t driven by the same biological urges to chase and run, but they still went through a muted version of the season each year.
“Jenna and I are well past our breeding days.” Beau chuckled. “But I remember each heat well. As will you. Enjoy this time while you have it.”
“Ranger!” Aspen’s voice echoed down the mountain, frantic in her need.
I shot Beau an apologetic look before I took off running. His laughter and words followed me as I raced through the forest, leaping over wired traps.
“Don’t you dare keep our Luna waiting!”
27
Aspen
We awoke in a feverish, heat induced half-dream, still mostly sated from the earlier orgasm that put us to sleep. Stretching our human arms over our head, we worked out the kinks in our deliciously sore human body that was still coated in Ranger’s scent. He’d kept cleaning us with wet rags, but we quite liked being stained in his seed.
Strong mate.
We turned over, pressing a kiss to his cheek. He was so sweet and warm when he slept. Vulnerable. No matter. We could take care of him like he cared for us.
Naked, we crawled to the doors. They’d been left open to allow the outside in and a cross breeze to come through. Our nest smelled of sweat and sex and nature. It was perfect. We hated to leave the safety of it, but there was something we had to do.
Because someone was threatening our peace.
*
With eyes of the wolf due to the waning moon above, we walked barefoot on human feet as the night air chilled our thin human skin. The human cries came from below and we chose to stay in humanform to respond. But not yet. We’d wait until we got there.
And we weren’t in a hurry.
There was the creaking of the branch. The swish of a swaying rope. Even with the heat still riding us hard, we knew enough to wait and watch and make a rational decision on what to do with the female who’d entered our territory.
Again.
Her scent was like a taunting ghost. She’d wanted to make us worry. But we trusted Ranger. And we left our traps for a reason.
Arms over our chest, we leaned against a tree and watched the woman flail as she tried to get to the rope holding her upside down by her ankle. The camera drones were coming in now, drawn by her cries like vultures to roadkill.
She stopped moving and sniffed as she caught our scent. “Aspen! Thank the Goddess. Help me out of this.”
“What are you doing here, Edith?” Our voice was cold and disinterested as if we couldn’t be bothered to care. But we were too deep into the season to not be affected by the beast.
Even as we stood calmly, we were scenting the area and watching for threats. Edith was one wrong move away from getting her neck ripped out. There wasn’t a wolf shifter alive that didn’t know not to sneak up on a female’s nest during mating season and no one would blame us for what we did during the heat with our beasts in control.
Edith had a death wish.
It was the only logical conclusion.
“Can you just get me down?” She pleaded, appealing to our human side. But we were too evenly balanced to be swayed one way or the other without careful consideration.