She nodded in response. Another growl rippled through Leo. This time it caused the footsteps to stop. The bear hadn’t scented Leo. Finally, the bear moved, coming into sight. Aislinn raised her bow, but Leo held up his hand to stop her. She looked at him, her brow dipping in question. Then he motioned to the two cubs that popped out behind the bear. The mother bear watched Leo and Aislinn warily as she ushered her cubs forward past them.
Leo’s lion liked the idea of a fight, but Leo had no desire to rid the two cubs of their mother. The trio kept walking until they were out of sight again, and Leo and Aislinn both relaxed.
“That was awesome,” Aislinn said, her breathing a bit hitched.
“Have you never seen a bear in the wild?”
“No, which is surprising considering how much time I have spent in the woods. To see a mamma and her babies no less. My dad would have freaked!”
“I’m glad I got to be here for your first time.”
Leo hadn’t meant the comment in a sexual way, but Aislinn immediately blushed, which sent a surge of longing straight through Leo. She was beautiful. Her eyes flickered past his right shoulder, and before he could react, her bow raised and the arrow whizzed past his ear. Leo turned hoping she hadn’t changed her mind and shot after the bear. He was relieved to see the arrow had hit a rabbit.
“I make a mean rabbit stew. If you’re up for catching a few more, we’ll have just enough,” she said with a wicked smirk.
The woman was alluring on all fronts, her body, her brains and her abilities all aroused Leo. He had a feeling he would follow the woman into the pits of hell and back if she simply asked him too.
6
Aislinn
Her and Leo hunted for another hour before they finally had enough rabbits to make a decent sized stew. Aislinn was surprised at how well she liked hunting with him. For someone who was a total stranger, she felt as if she had known him her entire life. Her favorite part aside from getting to see the bear and her cubs was when she convinced Leo to shift and hunt in his lion form. She knew hunting small game like rabbits was nothing to him but seeing it had been majestic.
His mane was full and rich, and even on all fours he stood above her waist. She hadn’t noticed it before because she had been too nervous, but his hair color was the same shade of yellowish orange as his mane. Aislinn’s hand itched to reach out and run her fingers through the silky looking hair. It was also all she could do to not turn around when he had undressed before shifting.
She had definitely noticed the day before how perfect his body had been. He had muscles in all the right places, and just soft light patches of hair perfectly placed as well. His skin was olive with a dusting of freckles all over. Aislinn had never had much of a type when it came to men, but she decided quickly that Leo was most definitely her type.
They walked back to his cabin in a silent comradery. Leo showed her where all of his kitchen tools were as he began to skin the rabbits.
“Wow, a girl could get used to a knife set like this,” she whistled, tracing her finger up the side of one of them.
“It’s industrial grade. Stick with me huntress and I’ll get you a set,” he said with a wink.
Aislinn hated it that she blushed again. She had never reacted to a man like she was Leo. All he had to do was look at her and she felt butterflies in her belly. Not the normal ones either but the gigantic metal ones that were at war with one another for space. Trying to tone down her raging hormones, Aislinn began cutting up the already skinned and cleaned meat for a stew.
Once she had the meat on to cook, she moved to help Leo finish skinning the rest of the meat. They worked together with ease as if they had been doing it for years.
“You’re pretty good at this,” he said.
“I’ve had some practice. When did you know you wanted to be a butcher?”
Leo didn’t answer her right away. The quiet silence throbbed between them as he seemed to choose his words.
“Honestly, aside from the opportunity falling into my lap, I chose it because the lion inside of me craves that connection with nature. If I were to begin hunting in a small wooded area like this, I could easily kill off everything here. In order to help take the edge off, I began shadowing the local butcher, many moons ago. It helped, so I stayed with it after he passed.”
Aislinn swallowed after his response. She had never said more than two words to a shifter, so she didn’t know much about them. Now that they weren’t in the woods, the differences between Leo and normal men showed even through even more. He was the tallest man she had ever come across and his chest was a mass of rolling muscles. Pretty much every part of his body was muscular to the point of unreal. He had that primal appeal to him, his voice was deeper, rougher, but Aislinn found that she craved that roughness.
“Do you still hunt, for your lion?”
“Of course, I hunted today with you.”
“Before today though, how long had it been?”
“I usually allow myself to hunt a couple of times a month. I keep it to mostly small game, or sometimes I’ll fish in the creek.”
“I didn’t know there was a creek here?”
“Are you a fisher as well as a huntress?”
There was something about the way he called her a huntress that sent jolts of desire straight to her womanhood.
“I do. I don’t fish as much as I hunt, but I enjoy fishing.”
“Well, how about tomorrow, once I get my work done, we go over to my favorite fishing hole.”
“I’d like that. Maybe I could help you get your work done. I am pretty good with a knife.”
Aislinn wanted to hide her head in the ground. She couldn’t believe she had just flirted over cutting up dead animal carcasses. No man wanted to be with a woman that did things like hunting and fishing. If she wanted to get Leo to see her as more than just a hunting buddy, she needed to try and show him she was a woman and not just a huntress, as he called her.
“I start at six in the morning. I’d be glad for the company.”
She smiled as they finished the last of the cleaning. Aislinn took to chopping up the rest of the meat and adding it to her pot, while Leo handled the pelts. She rummaged in his refrigerator then, looking for vegetables to add to their stew. Luckily, the man had a well-stocked fridge, and she was able to pull out an arm full of vegetables to chop up.
“Can I help?” Leo asked when he returned.
“Of course,” she said, shoving the carrots over to him to chop.
“What do you do when you’re not hunting?” he asked.
“I’m a photographer.”
“Do you take pictures of people or nature?”
“Mostly nature, but I do like to take pictures of weddings. There’s something about the hope of a happily ever after that keeps me doing them.”
“Humans, they need to do better by each other.”
“Tell me about it. What about shifters? Do you guys get married or is it more like casual things?”
Leo laughed a deep booming laugh then. Aislinn found the sound lyrical as well as contagious. Her own laughter joined his, and she didn’t even know what she was laughing at.
“I suppose a little of both. A lot of shifters like to participate in the more casual relationships until they find their true mate.”
“Their true mate?”
“Yes, shifters mate for life. Once you find your true mate, you will become bound to them for life. Should one of them die, the other one would follow them into the afterlife.”
“Wow, that’s beautiful. How do you find your true mate?”
“No one knows the secret. It just seems to happen.”
“How do you know when someone’s your true mate?”
“The mate bond will speak to you?”
“Immediately,” Aislinn blurted out.
“Most of the stories I have heard it’s immediate, yes.”
Aislinn’s heart sunk then. She knew it was ridiculous for her to want to be Leo’s true mate
. She had just met the man. Her only excuse was that her emotions were all over the place since her father’s death. She was clinging to Leo simply because he was the first person she had been able to connect to since.
“I hope you find yours soon,” she said for lack of anything else to say.
Leo never responded as they finished cutting up the vegetables. Aislinn checked the meat before she threw the vegetables in the pot along with it. Their conversation turned to much lighter things while they waited for their dinner to finish cooking. Talking to Leo was like talking to a lifelong friend. They laughed and shared stories for hours. He may not be her true mate, but he was helping heal her broken heart. When the night was over and it was time for her to go back to the bed and breakfast, Aislinn was nervous to leave him. He made her feel so happy, she was afraid of letting the sadness back in once she was alone.
“Thank you for spending the day with me. I really enjoyed it,” she said.
“Thank you. I did as well. You’re a marvelous huntress, and a hell of a cook.”
7
Leo
Leo wanted to ask her to stay, but he knew it would be wrong. Even though he had explained the mate bond to her, humans didn’t quite understand it’s power. If he would happen to meet his true mate while he was indulging himself in whatever was happening between him and Aislinn, he would walk away from her in a second without so much as a backwards glance. Aislinn wore her emotions on her sleeve. She had a tender heart underneath her steel like exterior.
He wanted to indulge though. Her body and her warrior mindset called to him and his lion. She was a worthy advocate. Her soft olive skin beaconed to him, too. Leo wanted to feel it beneath his rough calloused hands. Here blonde hair that hung just around her shoulders looked silky. He wanted to wrap it around his hands so that he could bring her close to him and explore her delectable lips and long exposed neck.
“Gah!” he growled out loud, trying to shake the thoughts from his mind.
He cleaned up the kitchen, trying to ignore the fact that he kept searching for her scent. Her scent was so unique compared to any other female he had ever encountered. It was a mixture the outdoors and roses. Even with his heightened attraction and sensitivity towards Aislinn, the mate bond hadn’t claimed her as his. Leo itched for it to claim her.
It had been years since he had spoken to someone as much as he had with Aislinn, let alone spend any actual time with them. He couldn’t remember the last time he had connected to someone. He liked his solitude, but now that he had a taste of companionship, most specifically his connection to Aislinn, he needed more.
Everything inside of him told him not to follow her to the bed and breakfast, but as darkness crept over the forest, he sipped out into it and made his way back to town. It had been years since Leo had utilized his lion’s abilities in his human form to such a drastic extent. As he slipped inside of the bed and breakfast, he honed in on those abilities and crept upstairs, following Aislinn’s scent to the room she occupied.
Leo listened intently, making sure Aislinn was asleep before he entered her room. The steady sound of her breathing gave him the green light. The door eased open silently, and Leo moved inside of the dark room, his eyes instantly adjusting to the darkness. Aislinn’s heartbeat seemed to echo in the quiet room, pulling Leo closer to the bed. As he approached the side of the bed, Aislinn jerked in her sleep and cried out. He stilled instantly, but quickly realized she was still asleep. Her sleep was fitful. Leo couldn’t stand to watch her struggle, so against all caution, he lightly cupped the side of her face. Aislinn instantly leaned into his touch, her facial features softened, and a peace settled over her.
Pride swelled inside of Leo that she would respond to his touch even in her sleep. She felt the same pull that he did. There was something more between them, but Leo couldn’t figure out what. Shifters didn’t have successful relationships outside of finding their true mate. Leo couldn’t seem to walk away from the human woman, mate bond be damned. He stayed through the night, studying her face as it continued to lay in his hand. She was so small compared to him. Even though she was small, Leo knew she was powerful; his huntress.
As morning threatened to give him away, he snuck back out of the house and headed to his butcher shop instead of making the journey back to his cabin. The work he had left for himself from the day before would keep him busy. He knew he had told Aislinn he would go fishing with her, but after spending the night obsessing over her, he couldn’t help but think maybe he needed to distance himself from the woman.
He threw himself into his work, letting the rhythm of cutting through the raw meat and solid bone put him back to his typical mindset. Instead of calming and resetting him, all it did was further enhance his underlying feelings of loneliness. Each time the doorbell would jingle, Leo would take a deep breath hoping it would be Aislinn’s scent to fill his nose, but each time he was met with disappointment. His stomach growled late in the afternoon, alerting him to the fact that he hadn’t eaten anything since his rabbit stew the night before with Aislinn.
Leo cleaned up his workspace and then washed his hands before he wondered down to the local café for lunch. To his surprise, when he walked in he about collided with Aislinn.
“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry,” Aislinn blurted out as her eyes opened wide with recognition.
“Huntress,” Leo growled.
He knew he had no right to be irritated, but he was. Was she going to simply leave town without saying a word to him. Her eyes looked down, and then after a deep breath she brought them up to his. Leo assumed her nerves were from being caught trying to sneak out of town. He decided to get ahead of the embarrassing conversation, but she spoke at the same time he did.
“Will you go to a wedding with me this weekend?”
“Be careful on your trip home.”
“Wait a minute, what did you just say?” Leo asked as her words settled in.
“Are you sending me on my way, butcher?” she asked, one eyebrow raised suggestively.
“I assumed since you didn’t show up to go fishing that you were leaving town.”
“Without so much as a goodbye? I’d like to think I made a better impression than that. I actually slept in. I can’t remember the last time I slept so solid.”
“My apologies. I’m glad to hear you got some sleep. Now, about this wedding?”
8
Aislinn
It had only been three days since she had seen Leo, but it had felt like much longer. Instead of preparing her gear for her wedding, she had spent the rest of the week researching shifters and their mating habits. Leo had explained true mates to her, but Aislinn couldn’t let it rest. For whatever reason she had latched onto Leo’s companionship, and she wasn’t in any hurry to let it go. Couple that with the fact that he was the first man to ever capture her attention and make her belly tingle.
She smoothed her short summer dressed against her body one more time in the mirror before she gathered her things to leave. Aislinn had never been a woman to worry about her looks much. She wasn’t skinny, more athletically built since she spent all of her time out in the woods hiking or she was lugging camera gear around. Her hair was blonde and straight hanging down her back, so there wasn’t much she could do about that. Her height had always been a sore spot for her, but next to Leo she looked short. It was like he had been made for her, or her for him.
Her doorbell rang, alerting her to his arrival. She glanced at the clock, he was right on time. Aislinn hurried through her small apartment, and then paused at the door, not wanting to seem as anxious as she truly was.
“I can smell you huntress.” Leo’s voice permeated the atmosphere, causing the butterflies in Aislinn’s belly to go into overdrive.
She opened the door, annoyed that once again her face was crimson.
“Hi, Leo.”
“Hello, huntress.”
His eyes cascaded down her body, leaving a trail of heat in its wake. Aislinn felt cemented to the grou
nd as she soaked in the sight of him. Their last day together they had spent over an hour talking at the coffee shop before she left town. Aislinn wasn’t usually much of a talker, preferring her solidarity in the woods. Talking to Leo was different, though. She not only wanted to tell him all about herself, she loved hearing about him.
“I just need to grab my gear,” she said, motioning him inside once she realized she was just standing there awkwardly starring at him.
Leo stepped inside and her apartment immediately felt smaller. He was so tall he had to duck to get in her doorway. The white button up shirt he wore clung to his thick arms and chest. Aislinn had a feeling all eyes were going to be on her date instead of the bride. The man was downright deliciously handsome. He glanced around, taking in most of her apartment in one look. Her kitchen and living room were all open and then she had a small hallway that led to her bedroom and bathroom.
“How was the drive over?” she asked when she didn’t say anything.
His eyes darted back over to hers. Leo’s eyes were mesmerizing, especially when he was in his lion form. Nothing seemed to miss them.
“It was good. I didn’t pin you for a woman of the city, though.”
“I know, it’s kind of why I spend so much time in the woods. One day I would love a place like yours.”
He nodded, putting his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth on his heels. Aislinn finished double checking her gear and then zipped her bag up. She was about to slip the strap over her shoulder when Leo plucked the bag from her hands.
“I wouldn’t be much of a gentleman if I made you carry your bags,” he said with a wink.
“A gentleman, huh?” She laughed.
As she brushed past him to grab her purse, his hand brushed the small of her back. He turned and followed her back to the door. Aislinn fumbled getting her keys out of her purse, the space around her shrinking with Leo’s close proximity. Her eyes darted up to his, and she licked her lips nervously. His gaze was intense, a contrast to his still relaxed body. She finally found her keys and threw her door open, taking a deep breath of the fresh air.
Summer Shifter Nights Page 42
