Page 39 of Kidnapped By the Alpha

“What are you thinking about?” he asked. I hadn’t realized he had been watching me as we ate.

“Actually, I was thinking about how weird it is to be here with you. Not like that,” I said quickly when his face fell. “Not in a bad way. I just meant that neither of us have ever had the typical dating life. Yet, here we are on a romantic sunset picnic together. It’s unexpected.”

“What kind of dates have you been on before?” Jasper asked.

Now it was my turn to feel embarrassed as I realized he didn’t know just how undesirable of a mate he had chosen.

“I’ve never been on a date before,” I admitted. “No one ever asked me.”

“You’re kidding,” Jasper said. “Never?”

I shook my head. “Well, unless you count the party you took me to.”

Jasper’s surprise turned to concern, realizing he had turned my first-ever date into a covert mission without my consent.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “If I had known—”

“You would have done the same thing,” I reminded him. “You thought you were doing what was best for your pack, and I can’t fault you for that.”

“But still…” he trailed off, looking discontent.

I sat up on my knees so that I was face-to-face with him and took his hands into mine. “Jasper, I’m fine. I promise,” I said. “Besides, I’d like to count this as my first date, if you’re okay with that.”

He moved one of his hands to my face and caressed my cheek as we looked into each other’s eyes. I saw my reflection inJasper’s eyes and felt like this was the perfect end to a perfect first date.

We had finished our picnic and begun to pack up when Jasper had another idea.

“Speaking of first dates, should we let Rae and Storm out to play? I’m sure they’d like to go on their first official date, too,” he said. “We can run home together.”

“What about the car?” I asked, glancing in the direction of the road where we had left his vehicle.

“Someone can come pick it up later,” Jasper said. “It won’t be in anyone’s way if we leave it there for a few hours.”

“And this?” I said, holding up the picnic basket he had brought.

Jasper stared at it for a moment and then smiled mischievously at me as he shifted into wolf form. Storm stepped toward me, and I could see the same look of amusement that had been on Jasper’s face as he removed it from my hand with his teeth. He shook his hindquarters playfully, like a dog wagging his tail.

I laughed at his antics and reached up to pet him on his head. The last time I had seen him, I hadn’t realized just how large he was, but if he hadn’t bent his head down, I would have had to reach up to touch his face.

With his head bowed, we were eye to eye, and I could see that his irises were identical to Jasper’s.

“You’re a silly wolf,” I said. “But you’re very handsome, too.”

I kissed him on the nose and shifted into wolf form. Rae howled in enthusiasm as she ran toward home with Storm following closely behind her.

Chapter 21 - Jasper

After hearing the news about our welcome in town, the pack was patient, but only for a little while. Killian had returned from delivering my letter to Sparkle Hollow a few days after the verdict from Alpha Nile. As soon as he arrived, he let me know that we had problems in the pack.

“I’ve been hearing discontent from the wolves since the moment I got back,” he told me.

“They aren’t happy about the move to Pinedale?” I asked.

No one had come to me to say that they weren’t pleased with the progress we had made, and that made me nervous. Surely, they should have known by now that they could bring any issues to me.

“It isn’t that,” he assured me. “But some have been saying that they are wondering how long it’s going to take. They’re getting tired of waiting.”

“I don’t have an answer for that, though,” I admitted.

---