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“It hasn’t been all bad,” Aspen said, shooting a smile up at me. “And there are bad people everywhere. At least this place comes with great scenery.”

“You mean me and Miles, right, sweetheart?” Aiden draped an arm over Aspen’s shoulders.

Amy’s eyes went wide, flicking between the three of us before squealing so loud that Jubie whined and lay down, paws lifting to cover her ears.

“You’re kidding me right now, right?” I shook my head, chuckling at her palpable excitement. “I am so happy for you three. We have to go on a triple date.”

“Did you just make that up, baby?” Brandon asked, covering his growing grin.

She huffed and flipped him the bird. “Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it’s now a thing, and we’re doing it.” Amy leaned in close to Aspen, lifting her hand to whisper behind it, though she spoke loud enough for us all to hear. “We can talk about all the things, living with two overbearing, protective, grumpy?—”

“That’s enough out of you.” Amy squealed in delight when Carl wrapped an arm around her waist and hauled her backward. Lifting her slight frame with ease, he tossed Amy over his shoulder and slapped her ass hard. “Get the business talk done, then come find us. We can catch up on everything not Uplift around a few beers at Dave’s.”

Brandon watched them go with a gentle look on his face that vanished when he turned to me. Crossing both thick tatted arms over his barrel chest, he hitched his chin toward the cabin.

“Let’s go inside to talk about Caroline and—” He stopped mid-sentence to look at his phone screen. A frown tugged his lips down, and he lifted the device to his ear. “Hey, Oliver. What?—”

Aiden, Aspen, and I all leaned forward, trying to catch whatever Oliver said on the other end of the line. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long.

His features were stern, all business when he ended the call.

“You will not believe this,” he muttered and turned to look down the road. I followed his line of sight to where Langston was hauling ass in the opposite direction.

“Now what?” Aiden grumbled. “I swear, if anyone else was stabbed, it wasn’t because of us.”

Brandon shot Aiden a dull look. “Liam caught someone breaking into Caroline’s cabin and called Oliver after he had the bastard hog-tied.”

A huffed laugh escaped me. Of course our cowboy hog-tied the dumb asshole who?—

“Wait, did you say Caroline’s?” I stood straight and started down the steps. “Who the fuck was breaking into her cabin, and why?”

Brandon fell into line beside me as we hurried down the road.

“You can’t kill him until we get some answers,” Brandon stated, though the way he popped his knuckles and stretched out his thick neck told me that was a warning to himself too.

My heart dropped at his tone. “Who broke the fuck in, Brandon?”

“Jasper. Jasper Cain.”

I cracked my knuckles one by one. “Then let’s go find out why he was in Caroline’s cabin and what he knows about her disappearance.”

Hopefully he had information we could use to bring her home.

If not, I was almost certain we’d never see our friend again.

Keep reading for the conclusion to Aiden, Miles and Aspen’s story!

Want to know what Jasper was doing in Caroline’s cabin? Desperate to know what happened to her and the other missing women?

Find out in book 2, Claiming Ours, releasing fall 2025!

EPILOGUE

ASPEN

One year later

The phone vibrating on the bedside table had me groaning as I rolled over, blindly reaching over Aiden’s bare chest. He grumbled something about it being too early and rolled over, giving me his back. Fingers tapping across the hard wood, searching for the annoying device, I blew a few rogue hairs off my face.