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“I don’t think it, I know it. You have genuine talent and with a little bit of training, you could really do this as a career.”

Her foot is back to shifting from side to side. “Well…I’m going to head back, I guess.”

“Wait,” I rush out. “Would you like to walk with me? My wolf is restless, and I planned to take a casual walk around. Could use some company and you can tell me more about these Silvery Lupines.”

“Yeah, I would like that.”

We take off together as she tells me all about these flowers that I’ve never taken a single moment to acknowledge. It’s amazing the things I’ve missed in all the times I’ve walked this trail. When she has run through all the back history of the Silvery Lupines, she moves on to other flowers and plants scattered around the land I’ve spent years walking.

This kid just made me realize that I’ve been blindly walking this path, maybe life, this whole time. It took stumbling upon her to realize I’ve been just moving through life without seeing it. How much else have I missed in my complacency?

For once in my life, I’m listening to hear what the person is saying and not just to know when to respond. Something I’m sure Aspen will love to learn, since I remember all the times I was only partially listening when she talked about her books.

Chapter 7

Aspen

“My freaking back is killing me. You know what they don’t tell you in the books? Oh, that you are going to feel bloated, you are going to hurt everywhere, and that no matter which way you sit, you won’t be comfortable,” Nova whines as she walks with me to the ice cream parlor.

“You aren’t even that far along. Surely, it can’t be that bad already?” I say, as I loop my arm with hers.

Sighing, she chuckles. “Okay, I might be overreacting, but no one told me that wolves grow at a more rapid pace than ahuman. So, yeah, I might be only four months along, but I am more like six months in wolf growth.”

“I’ll allow it,” I say with a chuckle.

The bell chimes as we walk into Scoop, There It Is! and Sally glances up at us from behind the display. “Ladies, so lovely to see you. I didn’t expect to see you again so soon, Aspen,” she says with a sly smile on her face.

Nova looks from Sally to me with a questioning look on her face.

I shake my head. “Chase and I were here last night for a late night date. That’s all.”

Nova smiles warmly at that. “Well, isn’t that sweet? Although, that does confuse me on why I’m here then.”

“Yeah, about that. I’ll explain once we have our ice cream and are sitting down.” My head bows to hide my embarrassment.

It is weird to ask someone for advice about your mate while dating someone else. I haven’t really had a chance to explain to Nova that Chase isn’t that kind of boyfriend. I’m sure that she thinks that I have a real boyfriend and I want to chat with her about Warrick. Could be pretty confusing without all the details.

With our ice creams in hand, we both head to one of the silver top tables and sit across from each other. We each take a spoonful of our ice cream and chuckle as we both make humming noises when the ice cream hits our tongues. We found out that we love the same type of ice cream, too, which only further confirms that we were meant to be soul matches.

“Alright, you have held this off long enough. Cough it up. Why am I here?” Nova asks with a quirk of her eyebrow.

“So, obviously you have heard, and know, that I am dating Chase. But what you don’t know is that we are more in a situationship. As I’m sure you remember, we can’t mate with anyone outside of our fated mate, and definitely not outside of our species. Chase and I decided that we didn’t want to be alone anymore, so we decided to give each other that. We don’t have sex or anything like that. Just someone to hang out with, someone to cuddle with, etcetera. It’s been nice, but he is too perfect to waste all his time on me instead of looking for his mate.”

“Wait, I’m confused, I thought you wanted to talk to me about Warrick?” Her eyebrows are scrunched in confusion.

“We are getting there. I asked you here because, while Silas didn’t do the same things to you that Warrick did to me, I know that you made him work for your relationship. I don’t know what to do.”

She lets out a soft giggle. “Yeah, I made him work for it alright, but I don’t know how I would have felt if he had done the same things as Warrick. Although, if you are serious about it, and it’s really something that you want, then for sure I would make him work really hard for it. You want him to prove to you that he won’t choose another girl over you again.”

My hand slaps down on the table. “Yes, exactly.”

She gently lays her hand on top of mine. “I know you are wondering what he will need to do or how he will prove it to you. Only you have that answer. I can’t even tell you really what it was that clicked for me, but there just was a point where I no longer held the bond against him.”

Nodding my head, I say, “That’s what I was worried about.” I sigh again. “I want to move forward. I’ve always dreamed ofbeing a mother and sharing my favorite stories with my pups. Reading to them while they fall asleep. Those kinds of things. The only way to achieve that dream is to give Warrick a chance to show me he can do that for me.”

“I get it and I’m here for you, even if it’s ice cream dates. These days, I’m always down for ice cream dates.” Her smile lights up her eyes.

“Speaking of, how are you and the babies doing?”