Page 54 of Hunter Moon

Aspen looked at me, and I shook my head. I didn’t need pie or cherry-apple butter either, so long as he kept his promises.

“Nope,” he said. He paid and helped Juniper put the pie, cider, and mason jar into a canvas sack. It wasn’t just any old bag, but had the grove’s logo on it, and I saw the bob of Aspen’s throat as his thumb ran across the mark.

It passed as quick at it came, but this was the bridge for Aspen and Juniper. Neither one was all that good at waving their feelings around, but they were both Groves. That meant something.

Even if Aspen wasn’t completely crazy about apples.

With his hand on my back, he took a step away from the counter before Juniper brought us up short. “Asp?”

He swung around. “Yeah?”

I could feel the rigid hopefulness in the press of his arm against my back. I figured Juniper was just going to say something nice, but she tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips for a second.

“A bunch of us are going to The Cider House tonight. Colt’s doing an interview on CNN about the Condition, so we were going to watch it together. Me and Lin and Ro. Cliff. Ridge and Alexis. Probably a few others. You should come.”

Aspen glanced at me. There was no doubt in my mind that if I told him I wanted to stay in, he’d offer to stay with me. It was tempting, to hide out together from the world. The sad, hurt part of me wanted that.

But the best thing for Aspen—the thing that’d ensure he’d stay for good—was finding his roots with the pack. Even if going out had been a lot for me lately, with Aspen there, I could manage.

Hell, I might even enjoy myself.

“We should go,” I said firmly.

And there—his smile was soft and fragile, like he’d been afraid to ask me for anything. Warmth swelled in my chest at the thought of giving Aspen something that made him happy.

“We’ll try and make it,” he said, the lack of firm commitment was clearly meant so I could slip out if I changed my mind. But seeing Aspen happy? There was no way I’d take that away.

Juniper’s frown disappeared. “Great! And Aspen?”

“Yeah?”

“Try and throw a compliment Colt’s way. Lin’s head over heels for the guy—you know how alphas are with their mates. All proud and whatever. I think it’d go a long way. Just, like, don’t make it creepy.”

“So don’t tell Lin I want to wear his mate’s pretty face like a Halloween mask?”

“Jesus, Asp!” Juniper was back to glaring.

I covered a snicker and turned away.

Aspen held up his free hand. “I saiddon’tdo that. I’ve got it, Junie. NoSilence of the Lambsweirdness around Lin’s big-city bae. No problem.”

When he took my hand and we headed out to the Mustang, I watched him out of the corner of my eyes. “You’d better not get in trouble with Lin again,” I warned. “You missed him becoming a total badass, but he might be able to take you now, so don’t push it.”

Aspen gasped, but the bag cradled in his arm kept him from putting his hand to his heart. “Well, I’d never!”

All I could do was roll my eyes. But Aspen’s kind of mischief? That was the sort I wanted to be in.

33

Aspen

I’d already been introduced to Linden’s hard right, and how much it had improved over the years I’d been gone.

Admittedly, I was still sure that Linden couldn’t take me down unless I let him. My brother had improved over the decade I’d been away, but I’d been literally training how to fight, and fighting, for all that time. Linden had been doctoring, like he was supposed to.

But a fight wasn’t going to be the end of me. It was probably insufferable of me, but I was sure that I could handle anything and anyone in a fight. Like I’d said to Lin, if he told me to go after the Reids, I’d have done it in a second.

It had always been Grovetown that had the ability to kill me. No teeth or claws or even guns scared me much. It was going home that made me quake in my boots, and the thought of not being wanted there anymore. Seeing my siblings, and having them turn their backs on me. Brook telling me that he didn’t want to see me again.

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