Seduction (The Journal of the Wolves of Spruce Hollow) by Tarrah Betts Read Free Book Online Page B

military had given us a lot of time to patch things up over the past five years. He’d saved me more than once during my overseas deployments, whether it was his night vision, scent or superior strength. I certainly owed him my life ten times over.  
    Even though we still occasionally disagreed, my wolf was absolutely right about one thing. Aspen was definitely not happy to see me. Horrified was a much better description for the look on her face.
    When Valerie had passed away and I knew Aspen would be coming home for the funeral, I had planned out a dozen different scenarios in my head. God, I’d wanted the reunion between us to go smoothly. But when I’d returned home, from pack business in Shawfield, the knowledge that she was physically close by made all those carefully thought out plans go out the window and I’d made a beeline for her.  
    Of course, when I’d found her, she was sound asleep, laying in her childhood bed and surrounded by all the letters that I had written her while I was in the service.
    The sight of her delicate, curled up form floating in a sea of old letters was actually quite heartbreaking and it wasn’t until that moment that I’d truly understood what my leaving Spruce Hollow had really done to her.
    Stunned, I’d walked back to the kitchen, plunked my ass at the table and had a beer while I waited for her to wake up and tried to figure out what to do next.  
    So much for my plans for an easy, peaceful reunion between the two of us.
    In the end, I’d decided that hoping for things to go smoothly between us was an unrealistic pipe dream. I knew now that the two of us coming face to face for the first time in five years was probably going to be dirty and ugly. And it was probably going to hurt but I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel yet, not by a long shot.  
    She was my mate and I was a patient man.  
    I’d been waiting so long for her, that to add in another few days, weeks or even months to smooth things over and make things right between us again wouldn’t make a difference in the long run.  
    We would work on our issues and I would finally tell her everything , like I should have done a long time ago.  
    My wolf had been right all along; Aspen had deserved to know what was happening between us. She’d deserved to know that we were mates. Things would have been so much easier had she only known.
    But even though I had screwed up and done things the hard way, Aspen would still be mine in the end, of that I had no doubt. I’d seen the way her eyes roved over my half naked body while I stood in front of her and brushed my teeth and flicked the channels on the tv. Her pupils were enormous and if pop psychology had taught me anything, it was that enlarged pupils indicated sexual attraction and interest.  
    If any of that were remotely true, well, then Aspen would be tearing her panties off and throwing herself at me any day now.  
    Ha! It didn’t matter, I was so fucking happy to be breathing the same air as her again that I didn’t even care whether we mated any time soon or not. I wanted to reconnect with her and start building some trust.
    There would be plenty of time for mating later.

 
    Chapter 8
     
    ~Aspen~
    I had dozed off.  
    Dammit!  
    How could I have fallen asleep? I was emotionally and physically worn out, that’s how. After seeing Roan again and finding out that he had been living in my mother’s house, I just had nothing left to fight with.  
    My emotional reserves had already been depleted by the death of my mother and I was running on empty right now.
      Lying on my side, snuggled deeply into Roan’s bed, my limbs felt exhausted and heavy. His blankets were so warm and smelled of him. I remembered his scent well, it was one that used to bring me comfort when I was younger. Well, at least up until he’d ripped out my heart and eaten it for breakfast.
    Stretching out, I discovered that my hands were untied and I was completely free to move about the