Page 12 of Mating Season

Do you want to be responsible for another ten thousand souls?I taunted my beast with the knowledge that Chad’s death would be perceived as an official Alpha challenge, meaning I’d inherit Chad’s position in the pack.

My wolf shivered.Maiming is better anyway.

I smirked, rubbing the ache in my breastbone. There was only one other soul I wanted to worry about and I needed to get to her soon. All the political games, the emotions swirling, and the fear for the rest of my pack this season paled in comparison to the primal need to get to my mate.

I think I’d give it all up in a heartbeat.

I’d chase her to the ends of the earth.

And I’d kill anyone who got in my way.

Now you’re thinking clearly.

John’s movement caught my eye as he leaned closer to stoke the fire with a branch. He was rubbing his chest too, but that wasn’t what made my nostrils flare.

On the back of his right shoulder were two perfect crescent fresh scars, still pink from the bite that hadn’t healed over.

I looked at it in confusion, trying to understand what was staring me in the face. “Why are you here if you already have a mating mark?”

7

Aspen

I woke with a start, clutching my hand over my heart. That was the strangest dream. I’d been running through the woods and crashed into a freezing river. But I wasn’t quite drowning. It was more like floating and I was content to drift downstream. Until I looked at the moon and it yawned, showing off a mouthful of teeth.

Freaking creepy.

I shivered in the chill morning air, trying to shake the remnants of the dream. My breath framed my face in puffs of fog as the early gray dawn loomed outside my open nest-crate. Anxiety was getting the best of me. I hadn’t been able to close the doors last night for fear they’d be chained again while I slept. My thoughts were racing. No wonder I was having nightmares.

Things weren’t well in the sanity department.

In all fairness, my heat was coming soon.

I patted my pockets before realizing that even if the show let me take my phone with the whole drugging/kidnapping thing, it would have still been dead. It sucked, but I didn’t need to know the exact time since biology was running the clock now.

Tomorrow the moon would be full and the traditional run would begin. That was about the time my heat usually started.

It was only my fifth heat, but the other four followed a similar pattern. I’d wake the morning of the run feeling excess blood pumping everywhere–mostly in the downstairs region. My wolf would be extra testy and controlling.

Or maybe you’re just weak.

I smiled internally, giving her a metaphorical pat. Our heat was definitely coming soon.

A building hunger in the days prior was my first symptom. I remember reading that some females couldn’t stomach food for the week before their heat started though. It was one of those things that would’ve been nice to talk with other women about. To find out what was normal and what wasn’t. I’d learned a bit in school and filled in more blanks from the internet. But being raised by my papa left a whole lot of questions he didn’t have answers to.

Like now. Why wasn’t I that hungry?

We will be. Let’s go hunt.

Shouldn’t Ranger be the one hunting?I stretched out my arms over my head, enjoying riling my wolf. She had no issues waiting for a man to come save her.

I still hadn’t decided if I wanted to stay… Wherever here was. But I needed to figure it out fast before I had to ride out the heat–potentially alone.

Or with Ranger.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted that either.

One thing was certain, this heat would suck if I didn’t at least have a vibrator. If I wasn’t waiting for Ranger, then I needed to hike off this mountain, finda nearby town, and hope they had a cheap hotel and a sex store that specialized in wolf shifter toys.

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