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"Well, darlin', I do plan on goin' back for Christmas again this year. Gotta see my sister and all her grandbabies, you know."

I head back out in search of some caffeine and sugary baked goods.

Thankfully, Flick the Bean is only two doors down from the photography store.

My mouth is salivating for one of the owner’s new juice selections.

Hazel has been experimenting with different juice combinations to provide us non-coffee drinkers with a selection and our caffeine kick.

You can select between green tea, black tea, or guarana extract as your choice for natural caffeines.

So I’m always happy to play the guinea pig for her.

With my Orange You Glad juice and banana nut muffin from Crust Issues Bakery, I’m heading down the sidewalk back towards pack land.

I’ve got a few assignments I need to finish for my English class that are due Friday that I should probably be working on before class tomorrow morning.

The nice part of Sunday mornings in Jasper is the sidewalks are full of people as they mingle about.

You have your gossip mills that huddle together as they spread the latest juicy secret.

There are the old dudes that talk about what things were like back in their day while shaking their canes at us kids.

Then you have the kids that are either huddled inside the coffee shop, the bakery, or the ice cream shop if you can even find them in town.

Needless to say, you are 100% guaranteed to run into someone on Sundays.

Keeping my head down, I weave through the crowds along the sidewalk hoping with everything to make it without being stopped. I’m just passing Find Me Between the Pages when I hear my name called out.

“Selene!” Of all the people to stop me in town, why does it have to be Aspen ? I’d settle for Betty Winters, the town gossip over this woman.

Sighing, I turn around to find none other than Aspen pushing open the door to her bookstore.

Her beautiful long brown curls flow easily in the wind.

Does she also have to be so freaking beautiful?

Her light cream-colored blouse is tucked into her tweed pants in the most sophisticated, put together look.

Damnit, I look like I rolled out of bed and found this outfit crumpled on my floor.

We haven’t talked since the whole Warrick situation.

It’s still sick that she thought I would sleep with someone else’s mate.

I get it, I do. But, damn she didn’t even let me explain.

I know from the outside looking in, she saw us close together looking at photos, smiling at each other.

I know that he had done some shitty things in their past, but she just assumed I would sleep with a mated wolf, especially Warrick of all people.

“Yeah,” I say with a sigh. Doing everything in my power to not roll my eyes.

“I was hoping to talk with you. I know we haven’t exactly had a moment to do so and I wanted to apologize for assuming what I did.

That had nothing to do with you and I’m sorry you were caught in the crossfire.

I was hoping we could chat about putting some of your photos up in my library?

Maybe have you take some of our wolves to showcase here? ” Aspen asks nervously.

“Uh…Thank you for apologizing. I would love to have some of my photos displayed somewhere. But…I don’t really have any printed.

Definitely not in a size that can hang on the wall.

I just handed off some film to Lourie from the last pack run, if you want to look through those when she finishes them? ”

“That’s okay,” Aspen says calmly as she shifts her weight to her right foot while her left foot props the door open. “I would love to see them when you get them back. Warrick and I are leaving for Ireland next week, but if you can stop by before then it would be great.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that. Well…I’ve got assignments to work on for my English teacher. So, Imma head out.”

“Yeah, sure. Have a great day Selene,” Aspen says with a slight wave before closing the door.

My eyebrows furrow as I turn to walk the rest of the way back towards the pack lands.

The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as if someone is watching me, chills running down my back.

The feeling intensifies as I reach the other sidewalk towards You’re Bacon Me Crazy, almost as if I moved closer to them.

Looking around I don’t see anyone staring at me. Odd.

My feet stop moving as the sensation becomes too hard to ignore.

I’ve only felt like this when I was walking through the woods, but never thought much of it since there are all kinds of creatures moving through the woods that it’s more of a question of what isn’t looking at me.

But standing in the middle of the pack lands leaves me wondering who could be staring at me?

Spinning in a slow circle, I scan around me.

There is Betty with Carol, someone who rivals even Gail when it comes to meddling, chatting outside of Scoop, There It Is.

Betty only looks at me when our eyes connect, giving me a small wave.

It almost feels like the sensation is cooling the further I turn.

What the hell? Following my instincts, I turn back to the diner.

As if some bell dings in my head, I know they are in there.

My eyes squint trying to discern who it is.

All I can see through the painted glass doors is the outline of a man as he steps out of the way. Who is that?

Rushing forward, I shove open the door, hoping to catch who that was. My head whips from side to side, only finding people mingling as they eat their breakfasts. Nobody really stands out and the sensation has gone cold. Weird.

A gush of air rushes out of me as the disappointment takes over. I was hoping to figure out who the person watching me was. All I can think now is, I’m cooked.