Page 11 of Warrick (Rocky Mountain Pack #1)
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 a human. 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 of being 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?”
I watch as she rubs a hand slowly across her belly.
“They recently started kicking and it feels a lot like they are seeing who can kick me in the ribs the hardest. Rude! Oh! Last night, Baby A had hiccups and Baby B did NOT like that at all. They kept pushing on Baby A. It was the wildest thing to watch. I can already tell these two are going to be a handful.”
“That sounds like a wild experience. When do you find out what the genders are?” I can’t help but ask so many questions. I’m envious of her, but not in a bad way. I just want what she has, a caring mate with babies on the way.
“Well, the doctor said that since they are wolves, we should be able to find out in a few weeks, instead of twenty weeks like most human babies. I have already asked Silas if we can do a gender reveal party because, hello! I am pregnant with twins.” She giggles into her hand.
“Oh, I didn’t know that we were going to do all these things! How exciting! Well, I can’t wait for that. Gives me something to look forward to in the coming weeks!”
“Oh, Aspen, I’m sure that you will have more things to look forward to than that. He will come around. I’m sure of it.”
I nod my head once as I take another spoonful of ice cream into my mouth. I hope that he does. While I won’t make it easy for him, I also want my mate.
I really like the idea of him having to plan and put in the effort to prove he is serious about being my mate, but it won't be easy letting go of the past and trusting him again. There were so many times that I needed him, but he was with another woman. Nights of depression over missing my father, wishing I could call him to hear him tell me how proud he was of me. Wishing to hear his words of encouragement instead of the hole of his absence. The one person in my life who should understand it, but I can’t talk to because he is too busy for his mate.
How many nights I’ve been laying in bed wishing my mate was there to hold me when the inner demons and negative thoughts grew so loud that I was drowning in them, but instead he was with someone else?
When I officially opened my bookstore, I should have been celebrating that big moment with my mate.
“I don’t know that he will jump through the hoops, but if you think that he will, then we shall see.
I did want to mention something, though.
Aside from my mate having to earn his place back, I want to help Chase find his mates.
I might not be able to find my happily ever after, but maybe we can help Chase find his. ”
She lifts her eyebrow in question. “I’m at a loss here. I barely understand how this works for wolves and now you want me to help a completely different species find his mates?
I can’t help but laugh. “I forget how little you know about the shifter world. The mountain lion shifters don’t mate with just one person.
I don’t know much about it yet. At least not more than what he has told me.
All I know is that it’s like how we are fated to someone, but they have two mates instead of just one.
Weird, right? He casually dropped that it would be two women, but didn’t really elaborate more on that.
I’m not sure why he was so secretive about it, given that we aren’t really more than friends.
Maybe one day I can coax it out of him.”
Her mouth is hanging open. “Now, that is something I want to learn all about. Would it be invasive if I just bombard him with all kinds of questions?”
The laugh that bursts out of me is so loud that even Sally looks up from what she is doing with a questioning look on her face.
“Shh,” Nova says with a finger on her lips, while the blush blooms across her face.
I am still laughing when I say, “Yeah, Chase probably would answer all of your questions. He is such a sweetheart that he probably would just to make you happy.”
We spend the rest of our time chatting and catching up while finishing our ice cream.
I can’t wait to tell Chase all the questions that Nova wants to ask him now.
He will be so embarrassed, but it will be so cute to watch.
Also, I want to tell him about wanting to give Warrick a chance to earn his place back.
I wonder if I can get Chase to play along and give Warrick a taste of his own medicine. Wonder how he will like it to watch me kiss another man or sit in another man’s lap. Let him see how it feels—and if he’s willing to prove that he’s going to put in the work to win my heart over.