Her Protective Mate (The Ward Wolf Pack Novella Series, Book 3)

by Theresa Hissong

“I would’ve been, too,” he grunted. “So, what happens with the bears now?”

  “We wait,” she guessed. “Nash and the others have been patrolling our territory to make sure the bears don’t cross our line again, and so far, they haven’t. I’m hoping they will stay in Cantwell.”

  “Cantwell isn’t far,” he reminded her. In the great landscape of Alaska, the natives were used to driving sixty to a hundred miles like it was just a quick trip to the store.

  “It’s far enough,” she promised. “Let’s finish eating. There’s more we need to talk about. Just know that we are okay for now.”

  “For now,” he grunted and returned to his seat.

  Booker watched Aspen as she cleaned up after their meal. He’d tried to get her to relax, but she insisted on splitting the work. He cooked, and she cleaned.

  He honestly could get used to having her in his cabin, but he was also worried.

  Her confession about what she was didn’t shock him as much as finding out there were other shifters who wanted to hurt her and her family. That didn’t sit well with him at all. If he thought he was protective of her the first time she was there, now it’d ramped up to a need he couldn’t even express.

  “What do you want to do today?” she asked as she dried her hands on a clean towel.

  “Thought about fishing at a lake not far from here,” he supplied. “How do you feel about heading out for a little hike?”

  “Let’s go,” she beamed. “It’s been a while since I’ve fished.”

  He told her to get her things together, and he left to gather two poles and a small tackle box. They’d fish for whatever they could find and have that for dinner. If they came back empty handed, he had some of the moose they’d harvested a few days earlier he could make a meal with to feed her before bed.

  “The lake is full of fish,” he said as they walked. “It’s one of the reasons why I picked this land.”

  “Why did you come out here?” she asked as they walked.

  He knew the question would come up eventually, and he wasn’t going to lie to her. His decision to move to Alaska was to save his own life.

  “I moved out here to get away from humans,” he admitted, chuckling when she paused in her steps. “Yes, Aspen. Much like you, I wanted to hide.”

  “Where are you from?” she continued.

  “I was born and raised in a bad part of Chicago. Most, if not all, of my immediate family were drug addicts, and by the time I was eighteen, I’d fallen into their footsteps. I didn’t want to live like that, and I just so happened to see a show on television about life in Alaska. There was no hesitation on my part. I put everything I could into a backpack and sold what little I had. I was able to get a bus ticket as far as Spokane, and that’s where I worked for two years to save up enough money to buy this land.”

  “That was a lot of work to save up for land,” she mused.

  He moved a limb out of the way and allowed her to pass ahead of him. “I bought a cheap car and lived in it the entire time.” He shrugged when she stopped to face him. “I didn’t have to pay for housing that way, and I saved almost everything I had earned doing construction work. Having that knowledge helped me when I moved out here and built my cabin.”

  “That had to be awful for you…living in a car.” She shivered.

  “It really wasn’t,” he promised. “It was a new experience, and it kept me out of trouble. I knew if I fucked up, I’d lose my car, and my car was my only way of getting from Washington to Alaska. I cherished everything I had, and I still do.”

  They quieted as they walked, and even though he knew Aspen could hear an animal coming a mile away, Booker still watched his surroundings to keep her protected.

  “Can you smell wild animals or hear them first?” he asked. There was so much he needed to learn about her, and he felt like there wasn’t enough time to get everything in one day.

  “Usually, we hear them,” she admitted as they reached the lake. “Scent works on the wind, and if we are in the woods, sometimes it gets blocked by the forest. Natural animals give no care about making sounds, unlike a shifter. A shifter has the ability to be silent when they move around.”

  “That’s not very different than when I’m hunting,” he added, setting the poles against a tree along the shoreline. He set his bag on the ground and squatted in front of it, removing a few lures for them to use to entice the fish to bite the hook.

  “The senses are very important,” she added.

  “You know?” He paused when he stood. “I’ve never told anyone about my past.”

  “Your past is your business,” she replied. “Thank you for trusting me enough with it, and I respect your decision to move away. It had to be hard to make the first step of leaving your family.”

  It felt good to tell her about his previous life, and his heart warmed a little from her acceptance.

  “Let’s fish and find us a meal for the night,” he offered, changing the subject. He didn’t want to muddle their time with talk of the things he'd been through.

  They spent the rest of the afternoon fishing and lounging by the lake. Aspen was very experienced with working her bait, catching and handling her catch. By the time they had enough for two meals, she stretched and hid a yawn behind her hand.

  “You look like you could use a nap,” he announced. “We have enough for dinner. Why don’t we head back?”

  “I could use a little rest,” she agreed. “Mind if I crash on the couch for about half an hour?”

  “I’ll clean the fish while you sleep,” he replied with a smile. The thought of her being there, sleeping while he prepared food for her, just solidified his need to keep her with him for a lot longer than one day.

  She would be leaving early the next morning, and he didn’t know when he’d see her again. If he had his way, he’d call her brothers and tell them he was falling in love with her and ask her to stay forever.

  Chapter 7

  She slept for longer than she’d wanted to that afternoon, but Booker didn’t seem to mind when she woke up and found him outside, splitting wood at the back of his immediate property.

  Her eyes traced his body, and she liked what she saw. For a human male, he was built like a shifter, and without his shirt on, the sight of him raising the ax over his head, using his strength to break the wood into pieces, did something to her body, and her wolf was panting with need to just go over there and lick his hot skin.

  She gritted her teeth to keep her canines from growing to show how much he affected her. As it was, she wanted to touch him. She wanted to keep him all to herself and move out into the bush with him, staying forever.

  There was a connection between them she couldn’t quite put her finger on. It wasn’t just the mating call of her wolf, either. No, this felt deeper…more human. Booker had quickly weaved his way into her heart and mind. She was fairly sure she was falling in love with him, and she needed to touch him to be sure.

  “How was your nap?” he heaved as he placed another round piece of wood on top of the tree stump he used to do his work.

  “Very restful,” she admitted. “Need help stacking?”

  “Sure,” he panted. “I’m almost done.” Almost done meant there was still another hour or two worth of work to be done, but they worked together while getting the chore completed.

  Aspen caught him several times watching her as she worked, and she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t watched him either. The heavy eyes and heated glances were driving her insane, and her mating scent was thick in the air. So much so, she was almost drunk on it by the time they entered his cabin.

  “Your scent is driving me mad, Aspen,” he growled as he stalked her across the living room. She walked backward, bumping into the wall. His hands came up beside her head, and he leaned over to scent her neck, but he didn’t touch her.

  “I want to touch you,” she admitted as he boxed her in between his arms. Aspen’s wolf prowled and pushed at her skin, causing her eyes to chang
e color and her canines to thicken in her mouth. “If I do, I will submit to you, Booker, and you need to understand how that is done.”

  “Submit?” he asked, using his eyes to trace her lips. His heated gaze left a burn across her skin like he’d already touched her and marked her like a male of her kind.

  “We mate as our animals do,” she began, releasing a soft breath as she lowered her eyes. “A shifter male will take their mate from behind, biting her to mark her skin. The female will then, in turn, push the male to his back and mount him on top. She bites him next. It’s a mark to show other shifters that they are a mated pair.”

  “I don’t care if you bite me, Aspen,” he admitted. “In fact, I want you to. I want you to stay with me and never leave. The last three days have been terrible without you here.”

  “Oh, Booker,” she whispered. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, Aspen,” he stated, and his words were strong. “I want you to touch me to see if we are mated by your kind’s laws, and if we are, I want you to stay with me. I can’t imagine my life without you in it. I don’t know how this has happened so fast, but I don’t care. I need you, honey. I need you…bad.” The last word rolled off his tongue, and she felt her sex ache with need for him.

  “I have to warn you, though,” she said, not in the least bit shy about what she was about to tell him. “I’ve never been with a male before.”

  “Ever?” he asked. His blue eyes darkened, and she scented his desire. It wasn’t as strong as a shifter male’s mating scent, but as a human, he still released the pheromones that told her he was aroused.

  “No, I haven’t,” she replied. “I know what will happen, though. My cousin, Harper, has prepared me for a mating since she has been through it with her mate.”

  “I’ll be careful with you, Aspen,” he vowed and moved closer.

  “I know you will,” she admitted.

  She was ready. There was no hesitation on her part. She knew what she wanted, and Aspen was excited to finally find the male made just for her, and complete it. It was time she found her forever.

  “You might feel magic when I touch you,” she warned, using both hands to cup his face.

  The moment her skin connected with his, the wolf inside her howled as the magic that lived inside her swirled invisibly around them. Like a livewire had been set ablaze in her veins, Aspen gasped when he mimicked her pose, tightening his hands to keep her from melting in a puddle at his feet.

  “Make me yours, Aspen,” he growled around her lips. He sucked air through his teeth so quickly, it sounded like a hiss. “I feel it…the magic. I know now what you mean. It’s true…real.”

  “It is,” she whispered with a smile.

  He pressed his lips to hers again, but this time, Booker scooped her up into his arms, carrying her to the bed she had used when she was there before. He set her on her feet and the backs of her legs bumped the edge of the mattress.

  “Your teeth,” he mumbled, never reeling from her exposed canines.

  “My wolf is close,” she admitted, reaching for the buttons of his shirt. “The animal wants control, but I want you to have it first.”

  “What do you want me to do, Aspen?” He hadn’t stopped in his attentions, cupping her breast as he kissed a trail from her lips to her jaw, and onto her neck. She yearned for his bite, but it wouldn’t come. He was human.

  And Aspen didn’t care.

  “Make love to me, Booker…please.”

  “Forever, honey,” he hummed as she reached for the waistband of his jeans.

  Booker lifted her hip, wedging the top of his thigh under her. His first touch of her wetness spurred him on to prime her for their connection. “Relax, honey.”

  Her moans and growls excited him, because she was very receptive to his touch. The magic she’d warned him about wasn’t lost on him. He felt it, and the connection between them grew stronger, tightening with each caress of her soft skin.

  His fingers played and coaxed at her body as he took her lips with a heated kiss. The canines in her mouth were sharp, but it didn’t matter to him. He had fallen for the woman, not the idea of a shifter for a mate. He was only human, but he would fight anyone and anything to protect her as if he was one of them himself.

  “I’m going to make love to you, Aspen,” he growled in her ear when he kissed her neck. “Then, I’m going to fuck you. Don’t you hold back on me either. Do whatever you have to do to make us a pair.”

  “Please, Booker,” she begged, writhing in pleasure under him.

  She was so beautiful. Her eyes had changed over to a hazy yellow, and a soft blush filled her cheeks, but not from embarrassment. No, she was aroused, and her wolf was present. He understood her need to bite and mark him, and to be honest, he wanted it…craved it.

  To know she would leave her mark on not only his skin, but his heart and soul, made him kiss her harder. He couldn’t get enough of her and that scent. It called to him on some primal level.

  “We’ll go slow,” he warned as he held his cock, guiding it to her sex. He kept his eyes on hers, waiting to see if he might hurt her in anyway, but his little woman surprised him when she shifted her hips, greedily wanting him inside.

  “Just do it, Booker,” she panted. “I need you, and it won’t hurt me. If it does, I heal fast.”

  “Jesus, woman,” he growled as she dug her fingers into his hips.

  They both cursed when he broke through her virginity, stalling a moment to let her get used to the feel of him inside her. Aspen pulled him back to her lips and rotated her hips…once…twice.

  “Oh, gods,” she hummed and nipped at his neck. “I want to bite you now.”

  He thrust, drawing back, slow and steady, moving faster and faster each time. Oh, he could get used to her body. It was shear perfection.

  “Do what you must, Aspen,” he reminded her.

  “Let me,” she paused, gritting her teeth. “You…you have to mount me from behind, Booker.”

  Before he had a chance to slide out of her carefully, she bucked and pushed him. The action startled him for a second, but she scrambled to get on her hands and knees, bowing her upper body to the mattress.

  Then he remembered what she’d said. Without missing a beat, he slid his cock back inside her, reaching for her hair. He sunk his hands into the long, soft strands and made a fist at her scalp. When he pulled her up so her back met his chest, he wrapped an arm around her hips so he could use his finger to work her clit.

  “You need to come for me, Aspen,” he ordered, nipping at her neck again. But this time, the growl that came from her throat was more animal-like than any other time he’d heard it before.

  “When I climax, my wolf will take over,” she warned as she cried out.

  He fucked her harder with each word that fell from her mouth. He read her like a book, and knew exactly when her orgasm reached its peak. With a growl, she dislodged him, flipping him to his back.

  She took his cock with a warm hand and guided it back into her body as she shifted her hips, riding him to his own release.

  And the moment he shouted her name, the woman he’d grown to love pushed his head to the side and sank her teeth into his neck.

  He must’ve blacked out for a moment, because the next thing he remembered was her lapping at the mark she’d made.

  “That was amazing,” she hummed as she slid off his body and snuggled up to his side like a contented puppy.

  “Are you okay?” he worried, rolling on his side to face her. He ran his finger over her soft cheek, feeling the heat of her skin.

  “Better than okay,” she smiled, then yawned.

  “What do we do now?” he finally asked after laying there, holding her close.

  “Well, I guess you should go meet my family,” she mentioned.

  “Your brothers aren’t going to kick my ass, are they?”

  “I doubt it,” she chuckled, kissing his shoulder.

  They were distracted when the sound of a small plane filled
the quietness of his forest home. They both paused for a second before Aspen gasped loudly, “Shit! That’s Charlie’s plane. What is she doing here?”

  They scrambled to dress, and Booker watched as she bolted out the door at an unhuman speed. He tried to keep up with her, but she was already at the landing strip by the time he arrived and Charlie taxied to her location. The moment her brother’s mate dropped from her seat, he knew something was wrong with their family.

  “Nash has called an emergency meeting,” Charlie fretted. “Aspen, I need to take you home.”

  Chapter 8

  Aspen couldn’t wait for Booker to arrive. He was finally coming to meet her family. Charlie would fly there to pick him up as soon as they were done with the pack meeting with her brother. If it wasn’t for his urgency to get everyone together, she would’ve brought him home with her.

  The moment she walked into Nash’s office, she noticed Isabell standing next to her brother, comforting the alpha as he sat at his desk with his fingers rubbing his temples.

  “What’s going on?” she blurted, feeling a bit of panic overcome her.

  “Have a seat, Aspen,” Mason said from her right. She hadn’t even noticed him standing against the wall with Charlie at his side. Harper and Fury were with him, too.

  She hurried to take the seat in front of her brother’s desk and glanced at Isabell. His brother’s mate just stepped back from him and let Nash deliver the news.

  “I received a call from the Duncan clan this morning,” he announced, pausing when everyone in the room gasped.

  Aspen’s thoughts immediately went to her mate. He was in the woods alone. If one of them found him and saw her mark on his skin, they’d come after him, too. She was torn.

  “What did they want?” Fury growled.

  “They’ve requested a leader’s summit,” Nash stated, glancing at Mason as he cursed when he felt Nash’s power pulse. Aspen felt it, too.

  “They want a meeting?” Aspen gasped. Nash was in full alpha mode, and everyone but Charlie felt it. He was on edge, and rightly so.