Page 18

eighteen

ASPEN

Enzo was gone when I woke up. I don’t even know why I was surprised when I found the bed empty again, but I was.

I groaned at the ceiling when I realized the mattress was empty and cold, beside me.

I went to the trouble of making the bastard an incredibly simple dinner, and he still just?—

My arm brushed a piece of paper. It crinkled.

I frowned.

Grabbing it off the pillow beside me, I read the short message:

Thanks for the food, I owe you one.

Enzo

I read it again.

And again.

Finally, I crumpled it up and let out a sound of disgust.

I hadn’t minded making dinner for him. Sure, I’d been pissed at him—until I found him asleep in the kitchen. The man was clearly exhausted. The pattern of his arm hair had looked permanently embedded in his gorgeous face.

It hadn’t taken long to put together why.

He’d driven most of one night, only sleeping a handful of hours.

He’d been up late the next night during my… preheat. Which was a truly terrible name. I wasn’t a freaking oven. But it fit, so whatever.

We were up early the next morning and thoroughly wiped ourselves out during heat. And that same evening, he had taken off to hunt a rabid wolf or three. Or five. No one ever updated me about the specifics.

He hadn’t gotten back until after noon, and seemed to have been running in his wolf form the entire time he was gone. Based on the way his stomach was growling and he barely had the energy to walk from the kitchen to the bedroom, I had to guess that he hadn’t eaten much, if anything, while he was gone.

So yeah, I didn’t mind taking care of him. His exhaustion was partially my fault. I probably shouldn’t have started a fight with him after he met my parents, but it was too late to go back in time.

And besides, even after he had some sleep and calories in him, he had ditched me again.

With a note so emotionless he could’ve left it for his brothers. Or my brother. Hell, it was close to the same thing he’d written on the card he’d given Silas.

Thanks for the food, I owe you one?

What kind of bullshit was that?

He wanted me to be his mate, didn’t he?

I rubbed my eyes.

Maybe I needed lessons on mating with someone without caring about them or something.

Or maybe I just needed… a distraction.

Yeah, that would do it.

On my phone, I had kept up with a list of things I wanted to do if I ever made it out of hiding. Casual sex was on it, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen. Going running in human form without perfume was one I could make happen. I itched to breathe fresh air through my lungs, without the stench of my perfume changing it.

I pulled it up for more. Some of them were a little ridiculous, but sometimes the small, ridiculous things felt like the most important:

-Go to a public library for fun

-Walk around a grocery store without perfume to smell all the smells

-Get a tattoo

-Get a massage

-Get a manicure/pedicure with those uncomfortable-looking fake nails, just for the experience

-Go to a gym

-Go clothes shopping in person

There were a bunch of possibilities. One of the only things I’d ever done that came with an honest-to-goodness risk of discovery was getting my hair done, but all of the hairdressers in the salon were human, so it hadn’t really been dangerous. And I’d only done it to blend in, which took the fun out of it.

I wanted a tattoo—a few tattoos, actually—more than I cared about any of the other things. So, if I was waking up alone, I was going to do what I wanted.

Get a tattoo.

There wasn’t a chance that Enzo or his brothers had thought ahead enough to put that on the list of things Fletcher wasn’t supposed to let me do. They were smart, but they weren’t that smart.

Excitement coursed through me.

I was going to get a tattoo.

Hopefully.

I texted Fletcher.

Me

You outside my room again?

A wolf barked outside.

That would be a yes.

I took a quick shower, making sure to scrub my hair so I could get Enzo’s scent off my body, just to bother him. When I washed my lower half, I had to fight a grin. His scent would officially be gone from there too.

Given the way my brother would be guarding me, people would still have questions. Word about what I was had already spread, too.

But at the moment, there was nothing truly tying me to Enzo.

And that felt a hell of a lot like freedom.

I slipped out of the bedroom with my hair still wet and my feet still bare. Enzo hadn’t bought me any new shoes when he replaced my clothes. It seemed safe to assume that mine were gone after he invaded my cabin at Creek. The perfume on them could’ve been wiped off, so I hoped he’d donated them, at least. I hoped he’d donated everything. Throwing them out would be a huge waste.

“What are you planning?” Fletcher asked, his voice wary as he caught up to me. He’d shifted fast and pulled on a pair of pants, not bothering with a shirt.

“You’re going to need shoes,” I announced.

“We’re going into the city?”

“Yup.”

He grimaced. “I’ll get a few more guys.”

I didn’t argue.

I was too excited.

Less than an hour later, Fletcher pulled one of the pack’s Jeeps up in front of a large tattoo studio. It was technically Silas’s. His pack was officially responsible for the postal service in Crimson River, but after he opened a new, expensive tattoo place in town eight years earlier, he’d started attracting every artistic werewolf and groupie in town to his pack.

So basically, they had a handful of old, chill shifters who handled the mail, a shit-ton of dramatic, artistic ones, and nothing in-between. Silas technically owned all of the studios that his pack ran, so they couldn’t have overthrown him if they wanted to.

Not that they wanted to.

None of those artsy bastards wanted to be in charge. The older ones just wanted to work their mail routes effectively so they could keep clocking out at three every day.

I hadn’t texted Silas about the tattoo, of course. I always tried to contact him as little as possible. We’d talked more in the last week than we had in the last year.

But a few months earlier, I’d had an in-depth, hours-long conversation about tattoos with one of the women from his pack. I’d been waiting for him to finish a complicated tattoo so we could leave for heat, and her client had no-showed, so we ended up chatting for ages.

Fletcher slept through the entire thing, but I had never forgotten it.

I didn’t have an artistic bone in my body, but I loved tattoos.

So, that woman was the person I texted. She’d given me her number after our conversation, and told me that if I ever decided to take the plunge and get a tattoo, I should hit her up. Her work was gorgeous, so I had no problem messaging her since I could finally go for it.

Me

Hey, this is Aspen Keys. We had a conversation about tattoos a few months ago, and I’m looking for an artist

Nova

OHHH YES

Aspen Savage now?

Me

Reluctantly, yes

Nova

Just tell me when

To cover the king’s mate’s skin, I will clear my schedule ;)

Me

Today?

Nova

Hell yeah

What time?

Me

I can be there in an hour, give or take

Nova

Yesss I’ll be there

Door will be locked, we’re not technically open yet. Just wait for me

It didn’t surprise me when she was late.

She hadn’t seemed like someone who was particularly concerned with things like time when I met her before.

And honestly, I would’ve waited a lot longer than the fifteen minutes I did. Even though Fletcher was watching me warily, like he was trying to come up with a way to convince me to change my mind.

Tattoo ink could change the way a person smelled. Hopefully, Enzo was into chocolate and pine trees mixed with ink. If not… well, maybe I wouldn’t have to mate with him after all.

So there was another potential perk of getting a tattoo.

“The Alpha is going to kill us,” Arthur grumbled, plopping down next to Fletcher and Jake on the bench outside the studio. It was only 9 AM, so the city was still pretty much dead. Everything was spread out so much that it never really felt alive, but still.

I was too excited to sit, so I was leaning against the truck, parallel parked just outside the studio.

“I’m surprised none of you have told him yet,” I said, half-expecting his mind to crash into mine as he told me I wasn’t allowed to make decisions without his approval.

I’d give him the mental middle finger if he tried, but I wouldn’t exactly be able to fight off his guards if they dragged me back to the truck.

“The mental connection causes him pain. We have to go through Clay or Hunter,” Jake said.

“What did they say?”

Jake snorted. “Clay said tattoos are sexy, and that it was your body, not Enzo’s. Hunter ignored it.”

I grinned.

I had no idea whether or not Enzo would agree with his brother, but I didn’t care. It was my body.

The studio’s door finally opened, and Nova smiled wickedly. “Ready to raise some hell, Wolf Queen?”

“Yes, but do not call me that.” I stepped inside, and she laughed as she yanked the door shut behind me. Growls and curses ensued, but she was already walking through the studio.

The guys all caught up to us quickly, grumbling. None of them looked suspicious of her, at least. It would’ve been hard to suspect her. She couldn’t have been more than five feet tall, and her hair was dyed a dark shade of teal that was nearly black. I couldn’t see any of her roots, so I assumed the dye job was recent, though it was the same color it had been the last time I saw her.

Part of her hair was pulled back, revealing an ear dotted with piercings. I had two in each ear myself, but they were both on my earlobes. I made Fletcher help me pierce them, to avoid any chance of risk.

The earrings stayed with me when I shifted, so I had never dared to wear anything bigger than small studs. Nova had two small hoops, but most of hers were around the same size as mine.

She was wearing a pair of thin leggings, hot pink Doc Martens, and a white tank top with an unbuttoned flannel shirt over the top. The flannel was rolled up her forearms. Floral and landscape tattoos covered her arms and chest, disappearing into her clothes.

She was cute. Sexy. Fun. Small .

No werewolf would ever feel threatened by her, myself included. She smelled like coffee, and underneath that, tattoo ink. With a hint of hair dye, though I only recognized the scent because of my trip to the hair salon for my highlights.

Most wolves didn’t drink coffee. We found the scent too strong.

Nova and I chatted while she sketched her own take on the designs I’d found for inspiration. My security entourage stayed in the small room throughout that, but when she started working on my skin, they moved out to the hallway and took up residence there.

The silence between us wasn’t uncomfortable when it set in while she worked.

It was peaceful.

The tattoo hurt way more than I expected, so I mainly focused on staying still rather than reacting to the constant pain. That was harder than I expected.

Time passed slowly.

Other people arrived and left while she worked.

“So does the king know that any of these are happening?” she asked me, as she cleaned the finished tattoo on my ankle.

“Nope.”

She grinned. “Don’t give him my name.”

I laughed. “I won’t.”

“This should heal up nicely in a few hours,” she said, grabbing a few large, clear bandages. “The one on your collarbone is already looking good.”

I lifted my hand to the birds she’d inked into my skin there, brushing my fingers over the bandage.

Enzo would recognize what they stood for immediately.

Freedom.

“Just text me when you’re ready to start that sleeve, and we’ll make it happen.” Nova winked at me.

She was taking her time with the bandages. More than I expected.

Her gaze flicked to the hallway, and lingered on the men out there for a moment. They didn’t so much as glance our way, having a conversation with some other guy who was in the process of getting inked.

She looked back at me, and bit her lip. “How is the Lodge? Do you feel safe there?”

My forehead creased. “Yeah, the Alpha is really protective. Hence the security entourage.”

She nodded. After another moment of fiddling with the bandages, comparing them to my leg, she asked, “Has Silas ever mentioned me?”

My crease deepened. “No.”

“Right. He wouldn’t have.” She let out a steadying breath and lifted her gaze to mine. Her green eyes went electric, and I sucked in a breath before they faded back to their human shade. “He told me about you. I’m looking for help. Protection.”

“Protection?” My voice was strangled.

I really wasn’t alone. There was another female werewolf. And Silas had been hiding her. Hiding her from me .

“Someone else learned what I am. I’m not sure who. He’s leaving me messages. Dropping dead animals at my door. Creepy things like that. Silas has tried to figure out who he is, but he hasn’t found anything, and I’m getting nervous. I don’t have anyone else to turn to, but if the king might protect me…”

Shit.

Holy shit.

“He would. His mother was a female werewolf. Him and his brothers are…” I trailed off.

His brothers.

I took her arm in my hand and lifted it to my nose, inhaling.

Coffee. And ink.

“Have you visited Greenview recently?”

It was her turn to look confused. “Yeah, I work at a studio there for a few days every month. I’m trying to train my wolf to live away from the pack. Why?”

My gaze flicked to the men in the hall.

They still hadn’t looked our way.

I leaned a little closer to Nova. “Hunter caught your scent there and has been looking for you.”

“Hunter?”

“The king’s Gamma.”

Her eyes widened. “ He’s my stalker?”

I shook my head. “He’s been combing the forest, trying to find you. That’s how he found me. If he knew who you were, he wouldn’t bother. The Savages don’t mess around.”

“My stalker definitely knows who I am, what I am, and where to find me. What does Hunter want with me? Why is he looking?”

I grimaced. “Apparently, when a male wolf catches a female wolf’s scent, he decides she’s the one and won’t take no for an answer. Enzo the man doesn’t even really want me, but he’s gone to all these lengths to keep me because of the wolf. We’re going to seal a mate bond under the next full moon.”

Her eyes filled with horror. “The king’s Gamma wants to mate me?”

“Yeah.”

She leaned toward me, the bandages still in her hands, but forgotten. “I should move away. Go to the humans.”

“Your wolf will lose her mind, Nova.”

She pressed her lips together, forehead creasing. “So what, I have to choose between a potentially violent stalker or the Gamma ? What was his name again? Hunter?”

I nodded. “He’s the nice brother, if that helps any.”

“He’s a Savage!”

Her voice raised enough that Fletcher looked back at us, his forehead creasing.

I rolled my eyes at him and he shook his head, turning back to the conversation. “Fletcher’s getting suspicious. He’ll try to listen in, now. We’ve got to talk quieter,” I murmured.

“Would he tell the king?”

“No. He’s on my side.”

Mostly.

“How bad is the stalker?” I asked.

“It’s easier to show you. Let me finish this.”

She quickly put the bandages on, then pulled her gloves off and slipped her phone from her pocket. “I thought about going to the police, but I can’t do that without admitting the truth.”

Nova handed me the device, and my eyes widened when I saw the messages. There was one or more compliments about her hair, her outfit, or a tattoo she’d done, every single day. He addressed her as “little wolf” every time.

That was creepy enough, but mixed in with the compliments were even worse statements.

They were definitely escalating, and the most recent messages were the most graphic by far.

“Nova,” I said, lifting my concerned gaze to hers.

“I know. He comments on all of my social media posts, too. He calls me Little Woman instead. I’ve tried reporting him, but the sites don’t think the comments are threatening.”

“You have no idea who he is?”

“None.” She dragged a hand through her hair. “I don’t know what to do. We can’t find him. Silas is the one who told me I should think about going to the king. I told him he was crazy. I mean, your king nearly killed him.”

I grimaced.

“But Silas thinks his injuries are proof that he wouldn’t let anyone else near me.”

“He wouldn’t. Hunter really wouldn’t, if he wants you as his mate.”

“I don’t want a mate.” She slumped back in her chair. “Have you seen how possessive those furry bastards get?”

I shot her a look.

She gave me a grudging grin. “Alright, you’ve seen it.”

“I obviously won’t tell you what to do,” I said, sitting up and easing my legs over the side of the chair. “But I have a pretty good idea about what it’s like to be paired with a Savage. I wouldn’t recommend it, honestly. But if I had to choose between your stalker and my king, I’d walk myself back to the Savages without batting an eye.”

She nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

“Think about it before he has a chance to act on the things he’s saying, okay?”

She nodded again.

“We could have fun in the pack together. It would be nice not to be the only girl. And life is different when you don’t have to hide.” I stood up.

“Don’t tempt me, Wolf Queen.”

“Seriously, you can’t call me that.”

“Sure I can. In two weeks, you’re going to be mated to the king.” She stood up, and I followed her out of the room and to the register. “You’re going to want a crown tattoo next time, aren’t you?” she teased, as I paid with an app on my phone.

Enzo hadn’t brought back my wallet or the small crossbody bag I used to carry my cash and candy, but I hoped I’d find it at some point.

“He’s the one talking about getting a crown tattoo.”

“So it’ll be matching crowns.” She grinned. “Does he have any other ink?”

“Nope. Just ridiculously beautiful skin.”

“We’ll have to corrupt him, then.” She handed me the receipt, and I dropped it in the trash. “Just don’t tell him I said that. I’d rather not end up with broken bones.”

“He wouldn’t hurt you for insulting him.”

“But if you insult Aspen, it’ll be a different story,” Jake said easily, stepping up beside me. “Are we leaving?”

“Yep, we’re done.”

“You should really think about getting a more comfortable couch in that hallway,” Arthur said, rubbing his ass. “Ouch.”

“We try to dissuade loitering, actually,” Nova tossed back.

“It failed today,” Jake teased. The way he was eyeing her made it clear he was interested. She looked him up and down, like she was considering it.

I had no idea if she was brave enough to risk someone catching the scent of her wolf through casual sex, but if she was really Hunter’s mystery girl… well, being with Jake would be a bad call for him.

“Text me if you want to meet up at a bar or something this week, Nova. I can’t escape these bastards, but it would be fun to get out.” I gestured to the men around me.

“Your king would let you go to a bar?”

“He’s gone so much that I doubt he’d know I went at all.”

“We would tell him,” Arthur said helpfully.

I rolled my eyes, and Nova grinned. “I’ll text you.”