Scarlett sighed in relief. "Yes, thank God."
"Okay, well you have a good day ma'am."
Scarlett smiled, "You too officer." And ended the call.
Everyone in the room but Ashlynn had heard the conversation. Adam and Ben had wolf hearing, and Aaron was sitting close enough to overhear. Ashlynn looked around to everyone. "Okay, what did he say?"
Adam hugged her. "We are in the clear Love! The attack has been confirmed as a wolf attack, and the cops told the locals to stay out of the woods after a couple drunk men tried to shoot some tourists, claiming the 'tourists' were werewolves."
"Tourists?" Ashlynn said with a dumb look on her face.
Scarlett laughed. "Yea, the cops assume it was tourists that the old men caught in the woods getting their freak on."
"Come again?" Ashlynn said, looking between Adam and Scarlett with an evil look on her face.
"I don't know, I guess when they told the cops we were naked, that's what the cops assumed the 'tourists' were doing! But the cops don't really believe any of it by the way he talked."
Scarlett's voice had happiness in it again. Ashlynn was happy to see the change in her. She hadn't been herself the last couple weeks. "Well that's awesome! Then let's go home!" Ashlynn blurted the words before thinking. When she realized what she'd said she turned to Adam. "I mean your home."
Adam shook his head and kissed her blushing cheek. "No Love, it's your home now too. And Scarlett is now part of the pack, so it is her home as well."
Everyone turned in shock to Aaron when he spoke next. "I want to be part of your pack. I want to be a wolf too!"
Adam sat up a little straighter. "Really?"
Aaron reached over for Scarlett's hand. He took hers in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Yes. I want to spend every minute of my life with her and if it is possible for me to get some extra time with her, I'll do whatever it takes to get it."
"I understand." Adam said as he smiled back to Ashlynn.
A brief moment later, Ben stood and said, "I don't know about all of you, but I could use some breakfast."
Adam nodded. "I think there is an IHOP in this town."
Ashlynn bounced on the bed. "Excellent! I love IHOP!"
Scarlett looked around to Aaron and laughed. "Home of the one-legged women!" Referring to a joke she had told him a long time ago. Everyone gave them a strange glare but ignored it and gathered their things to leave.
As Aaron and Scarlett followed the others down the road, Scarlett laid her hand on Aaron's thigh. "Are you sure about this wolf thing?"
He smiled. "I'm positive! You are my everything and I want all the time I can get with you. I want to experience all of the things you experience, and if becoming a wolf every month is one of those things, well, then count me in."
"Aaron, it is incredible. Since I've become a wolf, I feel so alive, I have so much energy, even my mood is always up! Nothing has ever made me feel like this but you!"
"Me?" Aaron asked sounding surprised. "Well I guess I can't be sarcastic, because I feel the same way about you. Just the thought of you sends this vibe through me like nothing else."
She smiled at this as she leaned over and laid her head on his shoulder.
They turned into the parking lot after Adam and parked in the space next to him. They went inside and a waitress showed them to a big corner booth.
When the waitress brought their drinks and took their order, Aaron leaned up and turned his gaze to Ben. "Ben, I understand you've done a great deal for Scarlett in the past week. I want to thank you for everything!"
Ben shook his head. "Don't thank me. There is no way I could stand by and let harm come to anyone."
"I couldn't either, but you've really went out of your way. Both of you." He changed his direction to Adam, but then back to Ben. "Thank you both!"
Chapter 24
With full stomachs everyone drove home and unloaded the luggage. They entered the cabin and carried their things to their rooms. Aaron brought in his things as well, and took them to Scarlett's room. He wasn't exactly comfortable with staying here, but with the events that have unfolded and Scarlett becoming what she now was, it was just one more thing about her he had to accept and part of accepting that meant understanding the need for her to be here with Adam and Ben as she learned about who her new self was.
They were unpacking some of their stuff when Ashlynn knocked on the door and stuck her head in. "Could you come here for a second, Scarlett?"
Scarlett stepped out into the hall with her, and knowing that all the wolves in the house could hear, Ashlynn whispered as low as she could, "I hate not having any privacy around here with all the super hearing and whatnot!"
Scarlett tried to contain a giggle as she stared at her. "You need a tampon?"
Ashlynn's eyes widened at her question. "How did you know?"
Scarlett struggled with her best poker face as she simply stated matter-of-fact like, "I can smell it."
Ashlynn was speechless and thinking how that rarely happened, doubled with the look on Ashlynn's face, Scarlett couldn't contain her laughter and longer.
When Ashlynn's tongue was no longer paralized, she sighed in frustration though still trying to whisper through her agitation and shock, although she wasn't successful as it was a rather loud whisper, "ARE YOU FREAKIN SERIOUS? It's not enough that you wolves can hear every little thing but you can SMELL my period! That tips the scale of strange werewolf abilities!"
Scarlett was still laughing as she turned back into her room and motioned Ashlynn to follow. Aaron had his back to them as he placed things in the closet. Scarlett pulled a box of tampons from one of the bags on her bed and handed them to her.
Ashlynn couldn't help but notice the odd expression on Scarlett's face as she took them from her hand, but she shrugged it off and scurried to the bathroom.
Scarlett closed the door and sat down on the bed. Aaron turned and seen her not doing anything. He was about to say something sarcastic about her letting him put everything away when he noticed the puzzled look on her face. "What's wrong baby?"
"What is today's date?" She asked.
"It's the nineteenth. Why?" Aaron asked, not understanding her demeanor.
"My period is late."
His face was blank at first but then Scarlett saw a smirk form across it and couldn't help but grin back at him. "How late?"
Scarlett stared down at the floor a second then looked back up to him, "About a week I guess."
Aaron kneeled down in front of her and looked into her eyes. "Do you think that you are pregnant?"
Scarlett drew in a breath before she spoke. "I don't know, my period is never, never late. I have been extremely tired the last couple weeks but assumed it was stress and the fact that I couldn't sleep at night because I was too busy thinking about you."
Aaron placed a finger to her lips. "Shhh, let's not talk about the last couple weeks right now." Scarlett nodded in agreement and Aaron took her hand in his. "What if you are?"
Scarlett looked into his face, the face that she wanted to be the last thing she saw at night before she closed her eyes and the first thing she saw in the morning when she opened them. "I have to admit I'm a little excited about this."
Aaron tried not to let her see just yet how happy he was at the thought of them creating a life together. "I thought you wanted to wait for a long, long time before we thought about kids."
Scarlett nodded again. "I did. Things are different now though. All I've been able to think about is how much I regretted not becoming you wife already and it broke my heart to think of how badly I really did want children with you and may not ever have that."
Aaron kissed her cheek. "So where does that put us if you are?"
Scarlett smiled at him with adoration. "If I am, I am."
"So you'd be okay with it?" Aaron asked trying to contain his emotions.
"If this is what God has planned for us, so be it. Who am I to doubt him? But if I'm not, well, then you and I ha
ve some more time together to focus on each other."
Aaron got up off his knee and took a seat next to her on the bed as he pulled her onto his lap. He placed his hand on her stomach and Scarlett smiled when his face lit up as he thought about the possibility of them having a baby in there. He moved his hand to her cheek and pulled her face to his. He kissed her ever so gently, then leaned back and looked into her eyes. "So we have an understanding then? Which ever way this goes, we are okay with it?"
Scarlett's eyes sparkled with joy as she shook her head yes. She pulled him in and kissed him fiercely. She knew that things were going to be okay. Everything in her life was right as long as she was sharing that life with Aaron.
~
While everyone else was busy in their rooms unpacking, Adam went to talk to Ben. He found him out on the deck, on the front of the cabin. He was standing with his hands in his pockets looking out into the mountains. "Are you okay Ben?" He asked as he walked up beside him and took on a similar stance with his hands in his pockets, looking out into the mountains.
"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Ben asked, even though he knew why Adam was asking.
Adam tried to search for words that he felt weren't so invasive, knowing that Ben wasn't a share you emotions kinda guy. "Just that I thought something was sparking between you and Scarlett, but now Aaron is here, and," His words trailed off.
Ben never took his eyes from the mountains. "I think fate brought her here for other reasons. If we turn Ashlynn and Aaron, we are a pack again. I think fate wanted me watching over Scarlett and caring for her to show me my ability to care for a pack, to be an alpha. I briefly thought that maybe I was meant to be with her, knowing there was a reason she was brought to us, but I see how she feels about Aaron, and I see how he feels about her. It's the same as you and Ashlynn. She's not the one for me." He sighed. "But this is not the end of the story. We will all get a happy-ever-after. My she-wolf is out there somewhere."
At that moment there was a howl in the distance. Adam smiled to himself when the sound reached his ears. Fate.
Fate's Intentions Page 16