Chapter 6

JASMINE

In early July, my parents and I were sitting together at the Monday-morning service. It was a small crowd that day—only the totally devout along with the alpha and beta families. I was having trouble concentrating during the meditations and kept sneaking looks at Blake while everyone else’s eyes were closed. Suddenly, Blake opened his eyes and looked up at me, catching me staring. He gave me a quick wink and then closed his eyes again.

Was I developing a crush on Blake? How basic, having a crush on both the alpha and the beta. Could I be any more of a cliché?

After the service, I excused myself to go to the bathroom while my parents mingled with the congregation, as usual. It seemed like they came here more for the gossip than the actual service. When exiting the bathroom, I almost crashed into Blake, eliciting a gasp from me.

“We meet again!” he exclaimed, smiling widely.

“Hi, Blake,” I replied, not knowing what else to say, smiling back at him. He did have a really nice smile. It was a nice change to the broody appearance he had on the first day we met.

“Hey, want to go do something fun after this is over? I’ve been stuck in the packhouse with my father all week and I’m literally about to kill him. I need to get out. We can leave right now,” he said, grabbing my arm, trying to pull me away with him.

“No, we can’t! My parents can’t see me leaving with you.” I panicked, shoving his hand off me. He stopped walking and turned to look at me, frowning. Suddenly, an idea came to me. “If you want, I can meet you after they drop me at home and leave for work.”

Blake grinned. “Why don’t I come pick you up? Here, give me your phone and I’ll enter my number. You can text me your address when you’re ready.”

I looked around to make sure no one was watching and handed him my phone so he could enter his information. After he returned it, I strolled back over to my parents, baffled by what had just happened. My parents were deep in conversation, gossiping with another couple who also came to every service. My dad finally checked the time and nudged my mom to go so that they wouldn’t be late. They dropped me at home before heading off to work. I ran into the house and watched out the window as they disappeared down the road. When I was sure they were gone for good, I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts to find Blake had entered his name as ‘Blake Sexy AF’. I rolled my eyes. Goddess, this guy was so full of himself.

I opened a text message and entered my address, then waited on my doorstep. A black Jeep Wrangler pulled up into my driveway about ten minutes later.

He got out of the car and opened the passenger side door for me. When I approached, he reached out his muscular arm and ushered me into my seat.

“Wow, so chivalrous!” I lauded.

“Good breeding,” he responded as he shut the door.

When he got into the driver’s seat he looked me up and down and said, “I hope you enjoy hiking.”

“I do.”

“I know a good place we can go where there aren’t any humans around, and there is a pond near the base of the mountain where we can cool off after.”

“Should I have packed my bathing suit?”

“Maybe part of my plan was to make sure you didn’t.” He smirked as he backed out of the driveway.

We drove about a half hour before he pulled over on the side of the road. This was clearly not a tourist location. We were on a rural road with no cars or buildings in sight. The forest on either side was thick with trees, without any clear path or trail to enter.

He swung a backpack over his shoulders and led me into the woods until we reached the base of a mountain. “It’s not a difficult hike. I’ve done it in both my wolf and human forms before.” We began our ascent. He was right, it wasn’t too difficult. I was easily able to keep pace with him. It only took about an hour to reach the summit.

We sat down once we reached the top and he opened his backpack. “Here, I brought snacks and water.” I took a granola bar and water bottle from him, and he opened a package of beef jerky for himself. We sat next to each other and stared out over the view of the wilderness. There was something majestic about the Vermont outdoors—it was so thick with nature—maple, pine, and birch trees spread for miles, rising and falling against rocky hills and mountains.

“So, why couldn’t we be seen together by your parents?” he asked, looking at me curiously.

“I told you, I’m not allowed to hang around any males.”

“You said you couldn’t date. I didn’t know male friends were also against the rules.”

“My parents are super strict and religious. I’m not allowed to be around unmated males until I find my mate. Even then, I’m pretty sure they’ll lock me in the house until we’re married.”

He laughed heartily. “Why don’t they just buy you a chastity belt?”

“I’m surprised they haven’t yet!” I joined in with his laughter.

“So, I take it you don’t have one on now, and nothing would stop you from having your way with me on this mountain?” He smiled mischievously, moving closer to me. “You’re already rebelling by spending time with someone of the opposite sex.” He took my chin in his hand and held my gaze, whispering, “Why not take it a step further? What do you say, want me to be your sneaky link?”

I was suddenly extremely hot and anxious. He pushed a piece of hair behind my ear. Instead of dropping his hand, he allowed his fingers to brush against my ear and then slowly skimmed the back of his fingers against the side of my face. The gesture was very intimate, and my skin was sensitive to his touch, practically tingling with each movement of his hand. My heart beat feverishly against my chest and my breathing turned heavy. He continued tracing down my neck and along my collarbone. I couldn’t decide whether I should push him off or let him keep going, probably enjoying what he was doing far too much. He finally allowed his hand to drop. We sat there like that for what seemed like an hour but was probably only seconds, looking into each other’s eyes, his blue eyes glowing in the sunlight, focused intently on me.

He eventually turned away from me and went back to eating his beef jerky, as if we hadn’t just shared a heated moment. I took a sip from my water bottle, suddenly feeling parched.

He turned to me and asked, “So you are planning on only kissing one man your entire life?”

“Is there something wrong with that?” I asked defensively.

“Just seems kind of boring.”

“It doesn’t seem boring to me.” As I said it, I wasn’t sure if I liked the idea as much as I had thought my whole life. My stomach trembled as I imagined what it might be like to disregard all my prior convictions and kiss Blake. I couldn’t help but focus on his lips—they were quite alluring, rosy with a full bottom lip. I envisioned them being both firm and gentle, wagering he knew how to use them too.

“What if you don’t meet your mate anytime soon? What if you’re still mateless at thirty?” he asked, distracting me from my thoughts.

“I never gave it much thought,” I replied. We sat in silence for a minute. Then I asked, “What about you? Was your first kiss with your mate?”

“Nah, I was a horny bastard in high school. Being the future alpha definitely has its advantages in that area.”

“What happened to not screwing around with pack members?”

“Let’s just say I learned that lesson the hard way.”

I looked at him curiously, wanting to know more about him. “If you don’t mind me asking, when did you meet your mate?” He seemed to hesitate, letting out a deep breath. “It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” I said, realizing that maybe I’d overstepped a boundary.

“Not long after I turned eighteen,” he replied suddenly. “She was two years older than me, and I’d always known her, but we’d never hung out, so I didn’t know much more about her than her name. She was a warrior. She was extremely tough and beautiful. I used to call her my A****n woman. We locked eyes during training one day, and a realization came over me that we were mates.” He looked out into the distance as he told me this story.

“What was her name?”

After a beat he said, “Ria.”

“Are you afraid you won’t find another mate?”

“No, I’m not interested in finding another mate.”

“Don’t you want an heir?”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t fuck anyone else.” He turned and smiled at me, but I could see there was a bit of sadness behind his eyes. “Anyway, what’s this? Twenty questions?”

“I’m just curious about you,” I responded quietly, realizing I had definitely asked too much, and this was a touchy subject for him.

“Enough about me, why don’t you tell me more about you. What do you do for fun?”

Not able to think of anything interesting to tell Blake, I replied, “I’m pretty boring. I mostly just work and go to school. I’m also part of the temple choir.”

“You’re right, that’s pretty boring.”

I chuckled and continued, “Like I said, my parents are really controlling. They basically have me on a tight leash.”

“What would happen if you just stopped doing what your parents said and started making your own decisions?”

“I’m pretty sure they would kill me. My mom can be pretty scary when she’s angry.”

“Good thing she doesn’t know you’re alone with a dead sexy man in the middle of the woods. And good thing I have the alpha aura, so if she goes after anyone, it will be you rather than me.” He started laughing. “Either way, I haven’t given up on getting you out of your clothes today, and it’s starting to get really hot, so I think I’m getting closer to my goal. Let’s hike down to the water I was telling you about earlier.”