(Cassie POV) When I got home from that disaster of an almost-dinner at Blue Moon, I did what any self-respecting female would do: I ordered pizza, pulled out a tub of ice cream, and played whatever romance movies I could find on TV while I cried my heart out. I didn’t have a job or school to rush off to, so I spent Tuesday and Wednesday much the same way. The only variation was that a couple of times I ordered burgers and fries instead of pizza. On Thursday, Megan insisted that I accompany her on more wedding-related errands. While out and about, she wanted me to give her “deets” on how my date went with Jason on Monday night. I got a little teary-eyed, which she instantly noticed, but I refused to talk about it. The last thing I wanted was for my pregnant sister to feel like any of this was her fault, because it wasn’t. To Megan’s credit, she mostly dropped the conversation after she saw how upset I was. I say “mostly” because she couldn’t stop herself from giving me some ad
(Aaron POV) The Friday after the disastrous dinner, my dad asked me to go meet with one of the alphas of a neighboring pack in the hopes of establishing an alliance. My dad confessed that even he was beginning to become alarmed at the number of rogue attacks, and he worried that there was someone coordinating the attacks behind the scenes. For the most part, my dad and I have very similar mindsets. We have differences, as all father/ sons do, but nothing I considered earth shattering. The only disagreement we routinely had had to do with the transition of power. From my dad’s perspective, the increase in rouge attacks and the possibility that someone was organizing them was a threat that meant we needed stability of leadership –i.e., he needed to remain alpha until the threat had passed. For me, we needed exactly the opposite approach – we needed a showing of strength, and the best way to do that was to welcome the next generation of younger and stronger pack leaders. At least
(Cassie POV)Thank Goddess for party buses. Even with our werewolf genes, after going to four different bars, not one of the ten of us was capable of driving. Ok, Megan was, but she wasn’t a good driver on her best day. Plus, if I didn’t know she was pregnant, I would have sworn that she-wolf was just as wasted as the rest of us. If nothing else, Megan certainly was hyped up on adrenaline, wedding excitement, and the energy that surrounded us in every bar we went to.Running into Aaron at the third bar had almost been a buzz-killer for me, but I got over it quickly. There were a couple of humans that tried to get a little too handsy with me at Blooming Onion, but I was mostly successful at dodging it. Having never had a mate before, I wasn’t quite sure where touching crossed the line such that Jason might feel it. I knew he would feel kissing and I knew he would feel sex, and I knew he would not feel a handshake or a hug. But where was the line between those two things? Would
(Jason POV)Sunday morning, I was in the gym working out when Aaron walked in and joined me. Josephine told both of us to find outlets for our stress, but neither of us were particularly creative, so we increased the number of workouts we did each day and called it good.I could tell Aaron wanted to talk about something, but it seemed like all of our conversations lately had to do with Josephine’s wedding or Cassie, and I really didn’t want to talk about either of those things right now.Finally, to break the ice, I asked him how his meeting with Alpha Ryan went. He told me it went well, but it was an interesting night.“Interesting how?”Aaron didn’t say anything. “If me asking you anything else is going to trigger another conversation about Cassie or about Josephine’s wedding, please can we save it for later. I need to be in a better headspace to talk about Cassie, and if I am asked one more question about flower arrangements, table linens, or dresses, I might shoot myself.”“Wh
(Cassie POV) Monday morning, I woke to a text on my phone. “Hey, beautiful. You up?” I groaned and smiled all at the same time. “I am up now. :) Why are you up so early?” It was only 6:00 a.m. “I had to get up early so I could be at your place by 8:00 a.m.” What? My place? By 8:00 a.m.? Had I made plans with Danny while I was drunk that I forgot about? I jumped out of bed, and looked around my apartment. I had dirty clothes laying everywhere; I had unwashed dishes in the sink; and I wasn’t sure where my two vibrators were other than I knew they weren’t hidden away. (Don’t judge; I may not have had sex in a while but I’m not a saint and the werewolf sex drive isn’t limited to male wolves.) I wracked my brain and was sure we hadn't made plans, so I texted back. “What? You are coming here? In two hours?” “Of course. You told me that you are moving back to the pack, and I want to be there to help you.” “In two weeks, after Megan’s wedding. Not today.” “Yeah, well I
(Danny POV) On paper, this has been a rough year for me. My mate, Kammie, left me about nine months ago. We had been together for a little over two years at that point. I should have been upset when she left, but honestly, I was relieved. Being with her never really felt right. I guess it hadn’t really felt right for her, either, given that she never let me mark her. Honestly, I never really wanted to mark her. Mating with her was fun –there is no comparison between sex with sparks and sex without sparks—but neither my wolf nor I ever felt a strong desire to sink our teeth into her. I’ve never heard of anyone else holding off on the marking process as long as Kammie and I did. When Kammie came to me and said she missed her family back home, I knew there was more to the story. It took her a while, but she eventually confessed that it wasn’t just her family that she missed. She had been in a long-term relationship with another wolf when we met each other by chance in the airp
(Jason's POV) It has now been a full week since I have seen or talked to Cassie. My wolf has been going completely nuts, demanding that I go and see her. I knew Aaron was right that I should have gone to her immediately, especially after my failed attempt to apologize last Monday made her think I had plans to reject her. The only reason I didn't reach out to her earlier was that I was scared if I saw her I would mess things up more. It seemed like that was the only thing I was good at with her; messing up. We had agreed to meet in two weeks, but we hadn't agreed on a specific time or place, and that timing fell dangerously close to the weddings. Or, more accurately, the wedding. Josephine and Alpha Blake's wedding was postponed, yet again, because after the invitations were mailed out, it was discovered that the wedding date had been listed as 2024 instead of 2023. I expected everyone to blow up in anger when the mistake was made, and I expected Aaron to send me on any number of e
(Cassie POV)Once the movers were situated, Danny led me to his SUV and we headed towards the lake. I asked Danny about my car, but he promised that the movers would take that to my parents’ house as well.I was largely silent during our drive. I knew I had to tell Danny about Jason, but I felt embarrassed and ashamed. Admitting that Jason was going to reject me was like admitting that everything my parents had said about me while growing up was true. The only thing that made me feel less awkward about the situation was knowing that Danny had recently been rejected by his mate too. So maybe, just maybe, he would understand.Periodically, Danny would glance over at me and smile. About twenty minutes in, he grabbed my hand and squeezed. “I’m not sure what is worrying you, Cassie, but you are with me now. Everything will be fine.”I smiled back at him. It felt good to feel wanted and taken care of. So good, in fact, that maybe I would hold off on confessing to him all my deep,