Marigold Right when I thought I’d successfully hidden myself away in my room for the night, Ronnie showed up to drag me downstairs for the meeting that was taking place with everyone else. In the beginning, I felt okay aside from a few nerves due to so many familiar faces, but I could feel my cool slipping away by the second as time ticked by at a snail’s pace. Scarlett and Ronnie tried to keep me engaged in conversation, but my attention was dwindling, my wolf unexpectedly on high alert. There was no denying I had smelled the fresh apple and woodsy oak aroma seeping into the room before, but never in a dose so potent as when Asher strolled into the living room a minute later. The fragrance had driven me mad when I caught the faintest whiff of it prior, and I hadn’t slept well in a week, as a result. I supposed I knew the reason why now, but it didn’t give me back those hours of rest I’d missed. Although I hadn’t known

Asher I awoke fully rested the next morning with Mari lounging across my chest, but it didn’t take me long to figure out something was different from when we’d closed our eyes the night before. Lifting the corner of the blanket, I peered down, confirming that Mari had apparently shed her jeans in her sleep. My heart rate soared, and I felt my blood drain downward at the sight of my mate’s creamy thighs on display. Fisting the fabric of the bedding in my clenched hands, I only just prevented myself from reaching out to caress her smooth skin, but I couldn’t hold back my sounds of appreciation when she chose to announce that she was awake by lightly tracing her fingers down my defined abs in steady strokes, growing firmer with each pass. “Babe, don’t start something you’re not ready to finish right now. I’m more than fine with skipping the rec center altogether if it means I get to keep your hands on me for any length of time.” I ground

Asher The somber mood hung around our heads as we ate. Mari’s gentle perfume of freshly falling rain had brought me back from the brink of the anguish that was trying its damnedest to pull me under, but I was at a loss for what to do now. An echo of the frustration my beta had experienced during the heat of the skirmish radiated through me, but I regrettably couldn’t tell him about it with his absence. I was trying to figure out where to go from here, but the only thing coursing through my mind was my need to shift and patrol a perimeter around my other half until I figured out what happened to my pack. One thing I knew for certain was that they were alive. I’d felt the connections sever when the males I found earlier had passed, that was part of the pain that had crippled me when I was in the South with Ryker. Yet, I couldn’t get a feel on where the remaining members were through the pack bond. Nothing was making sense, and m

Marigold I watched as my mate warred with himself over my request for a minute, but he caved in the end, my wolf virtually bursting free with enthusiasm at his eventual submission. While I knew the province wasn’t precisely the safest for the time being, I also didn’t care for the idea of being stuck by myself for hours on end again, disregarding the minor point that I needed to go through my belongings still. Asher started to lead the way outside, but I’d outpaced him in my hurry within a few steps. At any rate, before I could shift shapes, his smooth voice stopped me in order to go over some safety measures before we set off. In principle, I knew it was a smart idea to listen to him, but my inner animal didn’t give a damn right this second. I did my best to focus on my mate’s cautions, but my wolf insisted on crashing against my barriers in a desperate bid to break free all the while. The chance of the brisk air sifting thro

Asher I was near full to bursting with the emotions coursing through me. I hadn’t been thinking when I’d sunk my teeth deep into Mari’s neck, letting my body do all the thinking for me, but I would never regret my action. I had been worried Mari wouldn’t be okay with me claiming her, especially when she didn’t bite me back, but her relaxing against me just now told me everything I needed to know. My wolf was semi-satisfied with our mate bearing our mark, but I wouldn’t deny the disappointment I felt either. Howbeit, I knew from the beginning that Mari was shy, and I had expected it to take a hell of a lot longer for us to even make it into bed. Now that we were here, I had no intention of leaving for a good amount of time, though I did divide a fraction of my attention so that I would be able to keep a watch over our surroundings with my superior senses. My dick was already hardening against her thigh de novo, and I moved my h