15

Aspen

Oh no he didn't, my wolf growled.

I'm pretty sure he did.

My first instinct was to run away and let the wind take the words I heard. Maybe my insecurities were getting better or it could've been the mind-blowing orgasm I just had, but I chose to believe this was a misunderstanding. Because if my future mate wanted a female to run with him, it was damn sure going to be me.

Get ‘em girl. My wolf retreated.

"Am I interrupting something?" I asked sweetly as I rose to my full human height. Beau's wolf whined beside me and I scratched behind his ear. Ranger's eyes narrowed.

"Don't you dare glare at him," I snapped. "He's not the one talking about running off with some other female."

Beau's wolf snorted.

Fallon coughed to cover a laugh.

Ranger rubbed the back of his neck. "That's not what I meant."

"No?" I asked. "Enlighten me then, because it sounded a lot like you were going to ask another female to run with you."

"That's exactly what he said." Fallon grinned. I was glad someone was having fun.

Ranger let out a masculine growl of frustration as he stalked forward. Each step was in tune with the pounding beat of my heart. He came to a stop, blocking out the moonlight as his dark form towered over me.

"You misunderstand." His direct tone made my wolf swoon.

I stood on my toes so he had less of a height advantage and pressed my finger into his chest. "Good, because no other female is running with you this season except for me."

Did I mean it the way I said it?

To be determined.

But my beast was riding me hard and demanding I stake my claim.

"Unless you don't think I'm cut out to be your Luna." Yes, I heard the earlier words he'd said, but I was giving him a chance to explain. If we were going to be together forever, we might as well figure out our communication styles now.

The rumble in his chest was a primal warning as he caught my wrist and pressed my palm against his heart. "Are you going to stand there with my handprints on your ass and my spit between your thighs while challenging me?"

He remembers , my wolf preened.

It was like an hour ago. I rolled my eyes.

"Gross." Fallon put her fingers in her ears. "You know we can still hear you."

Beau shook his muzzle with a huff and trotted to her side.

My eyes widened as I looked to the trees.

"I ripped the cameras out when I first woke up," Fallon explained, sensing my nervousness.

I tried to take a step back and regain control of the situation, but Ranger held fast to my hand.

His deep laughter wrapped around me like the shadows cloaking the forest, blocking out the sights until I could only focus on him. "Hold on, Luna. Let's get back to the part where you said you were running this season with me."

"Oh." I cringed. I really did say that.

Hurt flashed across Ranger's eyes, but it was gone in a blink, and I watched as his face turned to stone. "We'll lay ground rules. Get that contract written up."

He was throwing my teasing words back at me but there was no humor in them anymore.

"That's not what I meant." I grabbed his arm before he could turn away. "I just…"

He look at my hand where it clung to his forearm before raising his eyes to meet mine.

Words, Aspen.

"I want to be with you."

"But," he prompted.

I squirmed under his full attention. "No buts. I just need time to figure this Luna thing out."

"I told you I'd give you time," he said. "Which is why I'll find another ceremonial female to help lead the run."

Ceremonial? What did that mean?

Not his mate.

I let out a tense breath. "You'd do that for me?"

"I made you a promise that I'd give you anything you want." Ranger searched my face as if he couldn't understand why I hadn't remembered. "If you need time, I'll smash every clock in the world."

"Enough with the threats." I choked back a sob. He was such a beast. I loved that about him. But I sucked at emotions. I didn't know how to say this was all too much, too fast. And I didn't know if there'd ever be enough time to truly process the whirlwind we'd found ourselves in.

Ranger turned, snarling, as he put me behind his back. John came crashing through the woods. He was breathless and in human form as his nieces stayed as wolves, trotting behind.

"Did you figure out what you're going to do?" John asked Ranger. "Because we're not going to make it to tomorrow night."

I slid my hand into Ranger's, holding it tightly as I felt the tension in him build. I ached to soothe it. And so that's what I did. "I'm coming with you."

He turned his tortured expression toward me. "You don't have to do this."

"I want to." Thank the Goddess I was standing downwind so he didn't get a face full of my slight lie. "What exactly am I supposed to do though?"

*

This was some serious bullshit.

My whole adult life I'd been gypped and I was still pissed about it as my wolf trotted alongside Ranger's wolf down the mountain. Fallon, Beau, John, and his nieces ran with us.

I could sense Trenton out in the woods trailing us at a distance. We were still connected through our pack link until I officially accepted another Alpha as my own or the government shifter relations agency assigned me to another pack. But I refused to acknowledge Trenton despite his earlier apology. I wanted absolutely nothing to do with Nuva Pack.

Lunas or their stand-ins typically led the females on the run. I sure as hell didn't know that before today. Linda, Derek's wife and our pack Luna, wouldn't even come to the run during mating season. I didn't know to question it because I'd never known another way. In other packs, females stuck together–even just for ceremony–and made sure they were okay, protecting their group from males gone rogue and encouraging each other until they selected a mate.

I was cheated and robbed of what sounded like a beautiful experience just because I was born into a shitty pack. It was worse that I didn't have a mother or female figure alive in my life to tell me how messed up it was.

I hated my old pack.

Ranger's wolf came to an abrupt stop. His nostrils flared as he turned his snout to my wolf and I could sense his frustration at not being able to communicate directly when he was picking up my emotions.

Tell him I'm done feeling sorry for myself.

On it. My wolf put her tail in the air, prancing forward and rubbing her body against him as he leaned into her.

My feisty girl swiped at his nose before she took off running out of reach of his massive paws.

I gave her a mental fist bump as I dried my metaphorical eyes. No more ‘woe is me' for me.

I may not have had the mentorship to be a great Luna, but I was a quick student and mostly self-taught anyway. Screw Nuva Pack and their backwoods ways.

Ranger's wolf watched my wolf as she trotted ahead of him like she hadn't just challenged his beast. I swear I could hear his human side laughing.

That made me smile.

He was my Alpha now and if he needed a Luna, I was going to be the best dang Luna the world had ever seen.