Page 28 of Can’t Help Growling in Love (Harmony Glen #9)

Chapter

Nineteen

ASHER

The night drags slowly as molasses. I count the minutes and the hours until I can go pick up June from the hospital, and try not to fuck up my program.

I’m so antsy I’m climbing the walls, so I pre-record every segment I can, then spend the rest of the time working out in front of the couch, trying to burn through the nervous energy pulsing through my body.

By the time Stella pushes into the studio at five in the morning, I’m a furry, sweaty, trembling mess, but no closer to relaxing than before.

My boss takes a sniff of the air and scrunches up her nose. “Asher, my boy. What, ah, what’s going on?”

I check the queue to make sure I have enough time to chat, then throw open both windows to air out the sweaty smell. “Shit, sorry. I didn’t think anyone was coming in until six-thirty.”

She puts down her purse and lowers herself onto the couch. “I’m only dropping by to grab some paperwork for the sale. But now I want to know what’s got you so upset. It’s not this, is it? My decision to sell the studio?”

I gape at her. She looks so worried, her gray eyebrows scrunched together, her hands clutched tight in her lap.

“No,” I blurt out. “Gods, no. This has nothing to do with that. I’m not—I’ll be okay, Stella, I promise.”

She relaxes somewhat, though she’s still frowning up at me. “All right, what has you so agitated, then?”

I drop onto the couch next to her and think of how to explain June to her. My lips curl upward at the memory of her, and my shoulders drop down a notch.

“I met my mate,” I say softly.

Stella makes a happy noise in her throat. “Asher! That’s wonderful. Who is she? How did you meet?”

I turn to face her. “Her name is June. She’s human. A night nurse at the hospital, and she wrote to me because she likes my show on the radio.”

I don’t mention that she also enjoys the spicy audiobooks I’ve been recording. That’s between June and me.

“That’s fantastic,” she gushes. “Have you told her what she is to you yet?”

At that, I drop my gaze to the floor between my knees. “Ah, not yet. We’ve, uh, we’ve only been dating for a short while, and it’s so soon…”

Stella’s concerned face hovers at the edge of my vision. “But…the full moon.”

“I know.” I lean back against the couch, groaning. “Don’t you think I’m aware? I’ve been going mad with the need to be with her. Hence the…” I gesture at the studio with my hand, hoping she’ll catch my meaning.

Hence the crazy behavior. Hence the nervous sweat smell filling every nook and cranny of this studio. Hence my inability to keep to my human skin for more than a few minutes at a time .

“Oh, Asher.” She reaches out and gently pats my shoulder, no more than a brief touch, then pulls her hand back. “You should talk to her. If she’s truly the right woman for you, she’ll understand.”

“You think so?” I hate how desperate I sound, but I’ve never had a relationship before, let alone had to have a conversation like that with a woman. “What if she just bolts? She’s—I really think she’s the one.”

My boss—my friend—lifts her chin and gives me a stern look. “Then you give her the time to come to terms with your situation. She’ll come back when she’s ready. And if she never is, well, then you’ll know, at least. But what if it all turns out okay?”

What if it all turns out okay?

It’s the same thing my therapist has been teaching me. Anxiety only spins out the worst-case scenarios, but since we can’t tell the future, these terrible options are just as likely to occur as the positive ones.

For the first time since I realized what June means to me, I allow myself to imagine what a best-case scenario would be.

June underneath me, her head thrown back in pleasure as I fuck her. June, proudly wearing a fresh mating bite on her neck. June, living with me, a ring on her finger, pregnant with…

I shake myself when Stella clears her throat delicately. Heat rushing into my head, I jump up from the couch and go stand in front of the open window to spare her the scent of my need.

“Er, sorry,” I mumble. “That got out of hand.”

She grins, her eyes glinting. “Ah, don’t worry. I was the same when I met my Roman. Love at first sight, and we couldn’t keep our hands off each other.”

I slam my mental walls in place before I can picture my boss in a compromising situation with her very tall, grumpy troll husband.

“I’ll talk to her,” I promise. “She’s got some things going on with her house, but you’re right, she needs to know.”

Stella gives me an approving nod, then stands and walks over to her desk, where she keeps all the important documents locked up in a drawer.

“Well, then, I’ll just grab the papers I need and let you get back to work.

And please take this as kind advice from a very old friend—you need a shower before you see your June again.

Even a human will smell whatever it is you had going on earlier. ”

Not for the first time since she walked through the door, I wish the floor would open up and swallow me. But she’s right, of course. Now that I’ve snapped out of the frenzy that had been riding me all night, I can smell the nervous sweat on myself.

“Will do,” I promise her. Then I focus on what she’s doing. “So, you’re close to selling?”

She straightens, groaning softly. “Not yet. The realtor is putting up the ad this morning. She came by yesterday to take photos of the property, and she needs these in case anyone asks to see the documentation.” She waves the papers in her hand.

“She’s fairly certain it won’t take us long to sell, though.

This town’s been growing so fast. So many people want to move here, start a family or a business. ”

“Right.” I think of June’s house and wonder what she could get for it if she sold it. If she moved in with me permanently and let go of that old place. “What are you selling for?”

Stella murmurs a number, her eyes wide. “It’s almost three times what I paid for it when I bought it thirty years ago, can you believe it?

And it needs renovation, of course. I don’t know what the new owner will use it for, but probably not as a radio station.

” She turns toward the sound booths. “These will have to go, and everything else with it, I suppose.”

Her voice turns raspier with each word, and tears gather in her eyes. But I can’t comfort her because I’m too stuck on the number she told me.

It’s a lot of money, yes.

But not a ridiculous amount. Not impossible .

Could I…?

I push away the idea—I’d be crap at running a radio station. Who would write our Nightly News for us? Who would talk to the advertising clients? Since I’ve been working here for so long, I know the place inside and out, but the thought of talking to strangers on the phone still freaks me out.

Which is ironic, given that my job is talking to thousands of people on air, but they don’t answer back, not normally.

June was a stranger listening to my show just a few weeks ago .

The reminder stops me from listing all the things that could go wrong if I bought the property and the station.

“It’s nice that Natalie has stepped up to help with the advertising,” Stella is saying as she dabs the corners of her eyes with a wadded-up tissue. “I’ve had my hands full preparing for this sale.”

I turn to her, eyebrows raised. “Natalie helps with the advertising?”

She blinks. “Oh, yes, she’s been doing that for a few years. I still write the Nightly News because I like something to do, but other than that, Natalie’s taken on most of my day-to-day stuff. Didn’t you know?”

“No,” I murmur. “But that’s good information.”

Stella pats my arm again and wishes me luck, and then she’s gone, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

I might be distracted by June, but this news… I’ll have to talk to Natalie. If she’s interested, my wild idea might come to something.

When the time comes to collect June from the hospital, I’m showered and dressed in a clean, if faded, set of sweats and a hoodie.

I’m still furry, but for once, I don’t mind going out in public like that.

Everyone else in Harmony Glen is comfortable being themselves, so why should I hide?

I’m fresh as a daisy and ready to take my mate wherever she might need to go.

I’m hoping the destination she chooses is my bed, but I don’t want to rush her.

Not when she has so much work to do on the house.

I sent her Gabric Duval’s number to help her.

When I was doing renovations on my house, the vulpine was booked solid, so I worked with someone else, but maybe June will have better luck.

But no matter how set I am on being steady and not-feral around June, my heartbeat speeds up the moment she steps out of the hospital’s back entrance.

I follow her with my gaze, a hungry ache settling in the pit of my stomach.

And when she opens the door and climbs into the truck, I nearly lose myself in her scent.

“Hey,” she greets me. “How was your shift?”

I croak out a sound that was supposed to be a word, but my throat is incapable of producing human speech at the moment. I shake my head and scrunch my eyes shut, then try again.

“Great.” I don’t mention the nervous workout routine, even though I know my quads will be sore tomorrow. “How was yours?”

I’m trying very hard not to reach for her, so I dig my fingers into my knees.

If I hadn’t filed down my claws for June, I’d be shredding my sweatpants.

But thinking of that is a mistake. My fingers itch to be in her pussy again.

I want to lick her sweet little clit and see her fall apart as I fuck her with my hand.

“Asher?” June blinks up at me. “You okay? You’re growling.”

I hang my head. “Sorry. I thought I had it under control. Just give me a minute.”

The moon has barely set, and even though it’s not entirely full, it’s fucking with my brain.

She bites her lip, looking like she might say something, then sits back and clasps her hands in her lap. “Yeah, no problem. What can I do?”

I start the car and press the window buttons to let in some fresh air. It’s a chilly morning, and the breeze coming off the lake is a welcome relief. “Talk to me. Tell me about your day. Are we heading for your house?”

“Yes, please.” June settles in her seat. “Well, my shift was pretty standard. Nothing too bad, but I was on my feet all night, so I’m really grateful you came to pick me up. Feels nice to sit for a few minutes.” She raises her eyebrows at me. “Is this okay?”

“Yeah, perfect.” I can still scent her, despite the wind, but the wild need to hold her feels less urgent now. “Keep going.”

“I texted Mr. Duval,” she tells me, her voice rising in excitement. “He texted back half an hour ago and said he can stop by the house at around nine to see if this is a project he can take on.”

“That’s great,” I manage. “I’m glad that worked out.”

“Well, it hasn’t yet. But thank you for helping me. I couldn’t do this without you.”She reaches out as if to touch my thigh but pulls back at the last second. “Oh, sorry. I won’t touch you, promise.”

How can I explain to her that all I want is her touch? How do I tell her I crave her closeness so much, I’ve been a wreck since we saw each other just twelve hours ago?

Fuck .

This can’t be normal, can it? I’ve heard how it is for mated wolves, but maybe I’m an anomaly yet again. Maybe my abstinence has pushed me so far past the edge that I’m even crazier than a wolf would normally be coming up to a full moon.

Maybe I should visit the Harmony Glen pack and ask for advice. They’ve invited me to run with them, but no one ever mentioned anything like this. But if I’m different from everyone in their pack, I don’t want them to know. The last thing I need is an intervention from strangers.

“Asher?” June’s voice is tentative, but her scent takes on a low note of worry. “You missed my street.”

“Shit, sorry.” I check the rearview and make the next turn, then another, and swing onto her street. “I got distracted.”

“By what?” she asks, her gaze concerned. “We need to talk if anything’s wrong.”

I shake my head, then realize she’s right, of course. “We will. I just need to burn out some energy, okay?”

I park in front of her house and sniff the air to check if anyone’s been here since we left. I need to protect my mate, even if I have to leave her to get my head straight.

“What? Why?” She unclips her seat belt and faces me. “Asher, please.”

My hands tremble with the need to crush her to me, and that’s what terrifies me. She’s human. Breakable, soft, unaware of the vicious images racing through my head.

June, on her knees in front of me. On all fours, her ass sticking up. I pound inside her. Running away from me. I chase her down, hunter and prey. Screaming in pleasure and pain as I bite her neck, my knot buried in her hot pussy.

“Later,” I promise June and scramble out of the truck. “You said Duval’s coming at nine? I’ll be here, I promise.”

She reaches out her hand, but I’m already tearing my hoodie off. I shift before I’m fully undressed and struggle to shake off the sweatpants and socks off my back paws.

Good thing I went commando .

Every impulse in my body is screaming at me to claim my mate, to protect her by staying near her at all times.

But what if I’m the danger she needs to be protected from?

With the last shred of willpower, I tear myself away.

And I run.