Page 32 of Hunter Moon

Just looking at the picture hit me right in the solar plexus. I didn’t know why I’d transferred all my data to the new phone, when I hadn’t planned to contact anyone with my new number. Self-torture, probably. I’d always been pretty good at that. Maybe it was a Grove trait.

“I think that’s completely understandable,” Deb finally said, reminding me I was in the middle of a call. “We’ll get you into your new house so fast you’ll forget the motel completely. I’ll call you back as soon as I have more information.”

I agreed and ended the call, but it didn’t matter anymore. All I could do was stare at Brook’s message.

18

Brook

I’d meant to spend the whole day moping, but something about those flowers had turned everything around. I no longer wanted to lay in bed and play games for hours until I forgot how bad everything sucked. I wanted to do something.

Luckily, there was plenty to do. There were still leaves in the yard that needed raking, a bush in the yard that needed trimming even though it was getting late in the season for that. It’d been a while since I’d changed the oil in Mom’s car too.

All day, I went through and checked off chores that I’d been putting off for the last couple of months, but in between them, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked my messages.

Aspen and I sent messages back and forth—little things, just him saying he was happy to give me those flowers, me asking how his day was, that kind of thing.

It didn’t make up for him being gone for so long, but it was nice. I’d missed talking to him, even when what we were talking about didn’t matter much.

Hell, maybe especially when it didn’t matter much.

All through dinner with Mom and Harmony, I didn’t pull out my phone. I didn’t want them to ask who I was talking to, or see a smile on my face I wasn’t ready to acknowledge yet. But the second I got back to my bedroom, I flopped back on the mattress and stared at the screen.

Good dinner?Aspen had sent.

Weirdly good. Mom says hey.I sent back.

I could practically hear Aspen’s laughter in the room with me, full and deep, when I got his next message.I call bullshit.

A few seconds later, he sent another.But I say hey back.

That was Aspen—on the off chance my mom had actually acknowledged him, he didn’t want to be rude. Lots of alphas would have been pissed at a bunch of omegas holding them accountable, but that wasn’t Aspen. Hell, it wasn’t the Groves at all.

I hadn’t figured out what to say to him when a third message in a row popped up on my screen:Can I call you?

That hit me in the chest, stealing my air. Could he? I mean, obviously, he could physically hit the buttons and dial my number. But I wasn’t sure I was ready for that.

The only thing I was sure of, in fact, was that I didn’t want to say no to him or shut him out entirely.

Instead of answering, I hit the button for his contact and called him.

He picked up almost immediately. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I said back. The silence hung for a few seconds before I came up with anything else. “Where are you?”

“The motel. You?”

“My room.” Another beat passed. “This feels kind of like we’re sneaking around again, huh?”

Aspen laughed. “I think we’ve aged past curfews, Brook.”

My sigh was long and low. “Maybe you have.”

I had too, but ever since the Reids had snatched me outside of work, everybody’d been hovering around me, making sure I was okay, sending out search parties if I didn’t tell people exactly where I was going at any given time. It was kind, and left absolutely no doubt that my pack cared about me, but it was overwhelming too.

Aspen didn’t seem to know what to say to all that, but it didn’t matter. With him, filling the silence wasn’t so hard.

“So, what’d you really do all day?” I asked.

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