Page 23

We spend the rest of the day working our way through the stack of books. I have to say I am enjoying the one-on-one attention he is giving me. He hasn’t complained one time, not even when he grabbed two full boxes to carry up front for me.

He carries the last box in and I watch as the muscles in his back flex through his t-shirt. His biceps are glistening with a fine layer of sweat after carrying so many books for me. I can feel my face flush at the sight of him. What those muscles could do to me? My hand fans my face to hopefully cool down those inner thoughts.I bet he could hold me with ease against the…Warrick clears his throat with a comical look on his face. He busted me staring at him with lust flushing my face.

“You okay over there?” he asks.

“I, uh ...” I’m saved from answering when the bell above the door chimes.

My head whips to see who it is as I take a quick step back from Warrick.

Chase looks between the both of us with confusion.

“Oh, hey, Chase,” I say quickly.

He holds up the takeout bag from You’re Bacon Me Crazy. “I brought your lunch over. I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” he says, his tone questioning.

I shake off the lustful thoughts and smile brightly at Chase. “Not at all. Warrick was just bringing the last box of books up front from the shipment I told you I got last night.” My eyes encourage him to play along.

“Yeah, I was planning to help you with it after lunch. I knew you would work so hard on putting it away that you likely wouldn’t stop to eat. I brought your favorite: chicken, bacon, ranch wrap with waffle fries.” He comes over and plants a kiss on my cheek. “I also made sure to grab you a cherry coke with a splash of vanilla,” he says, with a shake of the styrofoam cup.

There is a snort that comes from beside us, and I look over to see Warrick shaking his head. He sets the stack of books down that he was lifting from the box while we were talking. I look back to Chase and he shrugs his shoulders. We already discussed ways to make Warrick jealous. We already agreed on the lengths we would go and, of course, the things we won’t be doing.

Chase leans in and runs his hand down my side, pulling me in close to him. He wraps his arm around my lower back. His other hand cups my face as I lean into it. “Tell me you will be free tonight for dinner?” Chase asks in a sensual whisper.

“Fuck this shit.” Warrick doesn’t even look at either of us as he storms out of the store.

We both watch as he disappears down the sidewalk, heading back towards the pack land. We burst out laughing. My side starts to cramp from laughing so hard.

“His face …” I can’t even form a sentence. “Did you see the way he was glaring?” I wheeze out when I finally get the laughing under control.

“Yeah, that man was not only jealous, butmadthat he was jealous. That was great,” Chase says.

A secret smile between the two of us is the only indication that we plotted this. Granted, I didn’t expect him to blow up quite that much. I figured he would get mad, maybe make some stupid comments. I even thought he would give Chase crap. What I didn’t expect was him to fly off the handle and storm out of here.

Chase helps me with the final box of books before we close up the store for the night. Like any night that he is with me when I close, he walks me to the edge of our territory, kisses me on the temple, and I watch as he walks away.

Later, as I am finishing my night time routine, I smell Wraith again. I know that every night; he sits outside my house watching over me until I go to sleep. I always pretend that I don’t know he is there because part of me worries that if I acknowledge it, then he will stop doing it. As I lay my head down on the pillow and reach over to my lamp to turn it off, I tell Wraith goodnight. He might not hear me, but I love knowing he is out there for me. Thatsomepart of Warrick at least always chooses me.

Chapter 10

Warrick

Although my morning routine has changed, I actually am enjoying the quiet of the early mornings. I have taken to jogging around the perimeter to listen to the forest as it wakes up. There is something peaceful in those moments that I’ve never experienced before. After a quick shower and getting dressed, I check the time to see that Aspen should get up to start her day, which gives me roughly thirty minutes to finish getting myself ready.

Thankfully, after we paid off the debt to the Ghost River Pack last week, things have been rather quiet around the pack lands. I didn’t realize just how bad things had gotten with Orion as our pack Alpha until I watched it start to rebuild itself. We haven’t seen or heard from the Ghost River pack since then, leaving only the opportunity to go up from here.

By far, my favorite part is seeing all the businesses really take off again, with fresh coats of paint, fresh signs going up, and the overall happiness you can feel from our members. With Orion spending all of our money on the illegal activities with the Ghost River pack, it left the businesses struggling to make ends meet, let alone keep their store in tiptop condition. Now that everything has settled down, it sure has made it where I can have the time to spend with my mate, something I am grateful for.

Baring my teeth to the mirror after brushing them, I do one last inspection to make sure I look the best for Aspen. Shrugging on my jacket, I stuff my socked feet into my boots before grabbing my keys off the key hook. The cold, sharp wind hits my face when I open the door. Goddess, I can’t wait for the spring weather to get here. Although I’m a wolf and I should like the cold, I really don’t. I like the cool, fresh mornings of spring when the dew on the flowers enhances the smells as the sun warms the earth in the morning.

The path from my cabin into the central part of the pack is littered by clumps of snow along the edges, with a light dusting covering the pathway. One quick glance at the sky tells me everything I need to know. It won’t be long before we are hit with our second snowstorm of the season. The muted gray clouds thickly cover the sky to where the sun will never be able to penetrate it today. I’ll need to make sure that Aspen haseverything that she needs: food, lumber, blankets, and salt for her sidewalk.

Mentally tallying a list of things that I need to grab from the store occupies my mind until I’ve almost made it to the coffee shop. Gail is standing outside of the coffee shop with a book in her hand and a warm smile on her face.What is this meddlesome woman up to today?

“Warrick, I was hoping to catch you this morning.” The woman knew she would bump into me here. She always plays it off like it was a coincidence.

“Were you now?” I say, with a teasing tone to my voice.

“Yes, well, I wanted to tell you all about this book that Aspen recommended. You remember? When I happened to come into the shop while you were there asking for your mate to be yours?” The twinkle in her eyes doesn’t go unnoticed.