Page 21 of Mating Season

His girls…Was my sister included in that statement now?

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. “And what if they don’t want to go?”

“Guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” He shifted where he stood and shook out his massive brown coat.

Behind me, the other Alphas were closing in and hanging on my every word. I growled, sending them back a few feet to give my beast room to take over. Screw these stinky ass males. They could take care of themselves.

John was right.

We had a girl to worry about.

11

Aspen

I was not cut out to be a spy.

Fallon wasn’t much better. We crouched behind the bushes overlooking the little pond and nests on either side, trying to be quiet as we gawked at the scene below.

There was no way the Tulia sisters didn’t have some sort of sway with the show. Both their nests were water-front property, set upon the pond’s sandy shore like prime real estate locations. On the hill past their nests were a few more crates tucked away in the woods.

This was a nesting neighborhood.

One I hadn’t been invited to apparently.

I wasn’t sure if I should be grateful or a little bit jealous that my nest was placed so far away up the mountain. Most females liked a little space during the season, right? Or was that just me?

Despite Amber and Danielle–who stayed in wolf form behind us–describing the whole Meghan and Edith gathering like someHunger Games-type chaos, this felt more like a sorority party gone wrong with the females bringing gifts in exchange for food and the chance to drink water from the pond.

It was a little frightening, but not as bad as I imagined.

The camera drones were loving it. A cluster of them hovered like seagulls filming Edith, Lilith, and Meghan sitting on some sort of log chair setup while the line of females brought them offerings.

The buzzing of the drones would hopefully cover the sound of us spying because we weren’t exactly stealth. A change in the breeze would give away our location and if any of them had been in tune with their wolf’s senses, they would have noticed us a few yards ago when we’d come tumbling down the mountain.

I didn’t tumble.My wolf huffed.I slid on my rear end like a lady.

Fallon picked at the final flakes of black paint on her nails, growling like they were a personal affront. I had to give it to that bit of polish for still hanging on after Goddess knew how many shifts now.

“What?” Fallon bared her fangs when she caught me staring.

“Nothing.” I looked out over the bushes again. It was a little tense down there, but some of the girls were laughing. I didn’t see Cindy in the mix and wasn’t sure what Amber and Danielle wanted me to do. Fallon knew these girls better than I did.

They’re scared of Cindy.My wolf sounded just a little too haughty, like she was the one who’d fought her the other day and not me.

I was there. I lent you strength.

You did not.

“Ouch.” I rubbed my side where Fallon’s bony elbow hit. “What was that for?”

“There’s Cindy,” Fallon whispered.

Amber and Danielle whimpered as their wolves slunk deeper into the cover of the trees.

No freaking way.

A massive fiery red wolf came stalking around the side of the pond. She was so big it didn’t seem real. Like a dire wolf on steroids or how I’d imagine our Viking ancestor shifters might have been. Her paws hit the ground with thuds and were at least twice the size of my human head. I was still staring in shock, watching in slow motion as Cindy’s wolf lifted her gigantic snout and sniffed in my direction.

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