Chapter 38
Ashlynn
It’s profound how your life can change so quickly. Four months ago, I had just graduated and was looking for my first job. My father had come home and stabbed me and beat my mother, and that one defining moment forever changed our lives. We moved to a new state, to live with a new pack, with an Uncle I had only met twice, when I was a tiny child. I had started my new career, as the veterinarian at my Uncle’s packs ranch. Mom had spent time recovering from her grief, and I had gotten to know those I worked closely with. More importantly, I found my mate. My fated mate. A rare occurrence amongst our kind anymore.
As I stood in the shallow pool, at the bottom of a waterfall, naked and wet and cold, my eyes made contact with Dawson’s. Instantly, my wolf knew and so did I. There was a current, a recognition and then something foreign, yet familiar, snapped into place. It was like I watched from the outside, as we both said mate. I was frozen in place, as he walked towards me. Once I snapped out of it, I spared his body a sweeping glance. He had ripped abs, from years of hard work, definition in every muscle on his body. His thighs were thick and solid muscle. His beautiful green eyes sparkled back at me, as he stepped towards me, one hand outstretched, begging me to take it. I spared a glance down to that faint line of hair that went from his belly button to his manhood. I visibly gulped at the sheer size of his erection, tall and proud, with the tip up to his belly button. Good goddess. I don’t know if he noticed, but I felt myself blush, or maybe I was just over heating. I was thankful for the cold water I was standing in, that came just to my waist. The cool water was keeping my arousal to a minimum and hopefully covering up any scent of it.
When Dawson was a mere foot from me, I grabbed his hand pulled him towards me, our lips locking in a very heated kiss. I felt his erection up against my cool skin. This sobered me up from the moment. I was not going to mate in the woods, especially when there were hundreds of wolves running around out here and any one of them could come upon as at any moment. Even getting into the water and rinsing off under the waterfall had taken me a few minutes and a lot of looking around to make sure no one saw me, before I shifted and waded my way in. I had been covered in dirt from my little interaction with the crazy she–wolf, so I felt the need to rinse the whole experience off my body. As I pulled away from Dawson and let him know that this was not going to happen in the woods, he just smiled. He’s always so understanding, never pushing anything on me. I dared him to race back, and our wolves played the entire way back to the pack house. Once there, I darted around the tree where I had left my clothes and quickly dressed. When I came out onto the pack lawn, my Uncle was waiting there, his eyes on Dawson, as they had a silent conversation via mind link.
Dawson cursed out loud. “I will send some warriors to have a look around with one of my trackers,” Uncle Gabe told him out loud. I was now more than curious about what was happening. I approached them both and before I could even ask, Dawson turned to me.
“It seems someone turned all the horses lose from their stables. Left gates open all over the ranch. The only good part is that they cannot leave the actual ranch territory because of the cinder block wall that encompasses it, but we now need to go round up twenty three horses, yours included.” My hand went to my mouth in shock.
