20

Ranger

The night breeze rippled my wolf's fur as we stood on a boulder overlooking the short waterfall in the creek. John's wolf took off in his own direction. He was the last of the wolves to leave. They'd all caught the various female scents along the riverbed, making our run slow and drawn out.

Aspen was a smart woman.

I enjoyed this game and the rules she'd set.

Now that the males were on the hunt, my ceremonial role had been played. If I was at home and this was my pack, I'd stay out in the territory this season making wellness checks. But I'd catalogued each of these Alpha's scents before we'd run and they knew it. Sometimes just the threat would be enough. A reminder that there was something bigger and badder in these woods would keep even the dumbest of them in line during the season.

I took one last look over my shoulder, assuring myself that I'd done all I could. It was time for nature to take her course.

Then my wolf leapt off the boulder and crashed into the creek.

We had our own female to chase.

*

I've got it. My wolf howled his triumph as he caught her scent off the side of the creek. Her intoxicatingly feminine musk mixed with the adrenaline of the rut was a potent cocktail making his muscles clench with need.

Pride filled us. She'd stayed the course until the very end. There were no other female scents this far upstream. Aspen made a worthy challenge.

Nose to the ground, my wolf followed Aspen's paw tracks through the sandy bank and rich earth beyond where she'd run to the safety of the woods and… stopped?

My wolf slid to a halt and circled the ground, sniffing frantically. Where'd she go?

Not here. I chuckled.

Don't worry. I'll find her. His confusion ran deep as he circled wider, trying to cast a bigger net and locate the trail she'd left for him to follow.

I didn't have the heart to tell him what I already figured out.

He studied each crevice and hiding spot in the area. None of it made sense. There was nowhere to go, nothing to climb and jump unless she'd shifted and scaled a tree.

His rump hit the dirt as he looked up to the night sky. What happened?

She wasn't going to make this easy. I relaxed into the consciousness that separated man from beast. Try going back to the creek.

Smart girl. My wolf jumped to his paws, tail wagging as he headed back to the water. She probably went to find us a better place to mate.

Sure she did. My palm was already itching and I smiled to myself as my beast rushed to find the new trail of the brat we were hunting tonight.