Temptation (Journal of the Wolves of Spruce Hollow) by Tarrah Betts Read Free Book Online

high school classes and obsessively following Aspen around in my wolf form.
    I’d follow her to elementary school in the mornings and wait around and watch for her on the playground at recess and lunch. Then I’d wait until her mass of strawberry blond curls made an appearance in the rush of students bursting though the front door of the school at dismissal time.
    Aspen usually walked home from school with her older foster sister but sometimes she walked alone.
    I didn’t like that.
    She was too vulnerable and unprotected when she walked home alone. Anything could have happened to her on that short walk home. She could be abducted or she could be hit and killed by a drunk driver or something.
    Hell, I didn’t know. Humans were so much more fragile than Weres. All I knew was that I had to guard and protect her and it didn’t matter to me that it took up all my time and therefore took me away from Spruce Hollow and the pack.
    There was no way I could leave her, alone and undefended.
    I changed a lot in those eight months. I was no longer a regular teen, like the rest of my young pack brothers. Their biggest worries revolved around having fun, meeting girls and getting their drivers license, while I obsessively worried about my mate, her safety and our future together.
    It even affected my personality and changed me into a really serious kid who was mature beyond his years. Of course, this was also ultimately what helped me in securing the position of pack Beta at only nineteen years old.
    Finally, the Alpha managed to have Aspen placed with a female Were who’d recently lost her mate prematurely.
    Her name was Valerie and she was completely heartbroken with the loss of her husband. It was a perfect match for both Aspen and Valerie, as they both needed someone to love.
    I was so relieved; I finally had my mate somewhere secure, where I could keep a close eye on her until she matured enough to actually become my mate.
    That was 10 years ago and Aspen had moved on from the sweet, little, curly haired silky seal in a pink bathing suit to a hormonal, moody, amusing, mischievous ball of teenaged angst and budding sexuality.
    She drove me crazy in almost every way you can possibly drive a person crazy.
    Take tonight, for example. After our door slamming, threat hurling, yelling fight, I wanted to go back into her room, rip those tiny little shorts off her butt and throw them into the damn garbage, then throw her over my knee and spank her for being such a little brat.
    Of course, the pleasure I would have received out of that would have been twofold.
    I’m sure I would have had to go to my room and jerk off afterwards, but I was willing to take that risk.
    Being close to Aspen did strange things to my body and my thoughts and that’s precisely why I constantly had a girlfriend. To keep my mind occupied and my hands off of her.
    I tried to stay away from Aspen as much as possible now that she was a teenager, while still steering her life and choices but I still found it difficult to resist her. I tried to stay in phase most of the time when I was around her now because she and my wolf were absolutely mad about each other. She had him wrapped around her little finger like a piece of silly string.
    Cripes, lately she’d even had him playing fetch in the yard, like a dog.
    I was not a DOG. I was a male Were. A ferocious, predatory beast! Not a dog that chased sticks then brought them back and dropped them at your feet like a good boy.
    It was humiliating, but my wolf didn’t mind at all. He just rolled over to get his belly rubbed. He didn’t care that she was a rebellious teenager right now. He just wanted to be around her.

Chapter 4
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    T here were six of us out tonight and we were happy to see one another. As Were brothers, not only were we pack members but we were family as well. I considered these men my brothers as much as I would consider a full biological sibling, my brother.
    The bond was so