by L. P. Maxa
“Gorgeous, right?” Jasper paused, his hands on his hips and his breath coming out in a fog inches from his face.
Blake nodded, climbing another few feet to stop next to him. “It really is.” She turned, taking in the path they’d ascended. Their footsteps were almost completely covered by the new flakes falling from the sky. “Thanks for bringing me out here.”
He shrugged, sitting down on a fallen pine tree. “I’m glad you wanted to come.” He worried his bottom lip, his gaze on his lap for a moment. “I know we all said we’d leave what happened between us at the cabin in the cabin. And I’m sure you’ve talked things through with Riley. But I just, uh, I wanted to make sure that you and I were okay.”
For the first time since she’d met him in Riley’s tiny dorm room, Jasper was showing a side of himself that wasn’t cocky and playful. Blake sat next to him, knocking her shoulder against him. “I’m fine, thank you for checking on me.”
“Riley isn’t like us, you know? He worries and he regrets. He feels.” Jasper hung his head a little lower. “I know he’s worried about his friendship with you. I know he’s pissed at me for starting things that night. I hate having him mad at me. He’s my brother, my family.”
“He has nothing to worry about when it comes to me.” Blake had assured Riley over and over their friendship was the same as it was before the night in the cabin. She’d fight tooth and nail to will it so if she had to. “Out of curiosity, though, why did you start things? You knew he wasn’t into it. Why’d you push him?”
Jasper chuckled lightly. “I’m an asshole, that’s why. I was pissed he’d lied to me about you. I was feeling jealous and slighted. I missed my best friend. I came to surprise him and found he hadn’t been honest with me.” He picked up a stick, etching circles into the snow. “Don’t for one second think he wasn’t into it though. I know Riley. I know him better than he knows himself. He wanted you.”
“If he wanted me, he could’ve had me long before the cabin.” Blake rolled her eyes. “We’ve partied, danced, cuddled. Riley has never once made a move on me.”
“Doesn’t mean he didn’t want you, doll face.” Jasper cut his gaze to hers, his dark hair falling over his forehead in a casually cool way. “He never acted on it out of fear.”
At that, Blake scoffed. “What did he have to be afraid of?”
“Losing you. Losing your friendship.” Jasper stood, dusting off his ass. “Losing himself.” He held out his hand, helping her to her feet. “We better head back down the mountain, I’m sure ol’ sourpuss has noticed we’re gone by now.”
Blake let Jasper keep her hand, helping her climb down a few larger boulders, his words playing on a loop in her reeling mind. She’d never gotten the feeling Riley was into her, or that he wanted to take their friendship further. Was Jasper right?
Her initial reaction was hell no, but he’d known Riley longer than she had. Her mind went back to that night in the tiny cabin. The way Riley’s fingers felt digging into her hips, the way his lips moved over her skin, kissing every inch of her. She took a deep breath, pausing to unzip her jacket. The mere memory of them together was enough to heat her blood. She felt flushed as she waved her face, trying to create a breeze. She tilted her head to the sky, letting the soft snowflakes land on her skin, cooling her down.
“Blake, you okay?” Jasper was a few steps below her, his forehead wrinkled in concern. “You’re all red.”
She nodded, taking off the heavy winter coat she’d borrowed from Axie. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She wasn’t about to tell Jasper she overheated thinking about the way Riley felt moving inside her. That was the opposite of leaving the cabin back at the cabin. Plus, he’d probably smirk and ask her what she remembered about him. She closed her eyes, clenching her teeth as a flash of Jasper pulling her hair up and kissing the back of her neck came unwelcome to the front of her mind. Fucking those two was like the acid flashback that never quit.
“Are you sure? You’re kind of shaking.” His voice was closer, like he was coming to her rescue.
The only problem was, she wasn’t sure what was wrong in the first place. She wasn’t a workout fanatic by any means, but it wasn’t as if they’d been on a strenuous hike. They’d rested for the last five minutes and yet she was still overheated and out of breath. “I think, um, maybe I’m dehydrated or something? The altitude? I’m really hot. I swear, it feels like my blood is simmering in my veins.”
Jasper placed the back of his hand on her forehead. She flinched at his touch, at his nearness. “You’re burning up.” He took her hand in his, and she had to fight not to jerk out of his hold. “Come on, let’s get you back to the house. Maybe you’re coming down with a bug.”
She nodded, pushing aside her discomfort at his touch, and let him lead her farther down the way they’d come. After a few feet, Jasper stopped so suddenly, she slammed into his back. “Dude, what? Is it a bear? There’s a bear, isn’t there?” That was exactly what she needed as she fought the urge to take off all her clothes and lie naked in the snow. A bear trying to eat them.
“No. It’s you.” Jasper spun around suddenly, leaning in, running his nose along the column of her throat. “Holy fuck you smell so damn good.”
Blake took a giant step back, confused as to why Jasper’s hand tightened around hers instead of letting her go. “Um, yeah, I’m glad you like the smell of the sweat running down my back, but hold off on sniffing me, okay?”
He used his hold on her to jerk her closer, licking her exposed collarbone before she had a chance to react. He hummed appreciatively, the sound seeming to vibrate from his very core.
She shoved against his chest, trying to put some distance between them. “Jasper, what the fuck?”
“I can’t help it.” He shook his head, licking his lips.
She stumbled back as he advanced on her, unsure if she should laugh or straight-out panic. This couldn’t be real, could it? Jasper wasn’t about to overpower her in the middle of the woods above his brother’s house. He was Riley’s family. They were becoming friends. Friends took no for an answer. Friends honored your wishes. What the hell happened in the last five minutes? He went from concerned and wanting to help her down the mountain to stalking her back up it.
And he was stalking her, she felt like prey.
“Jasper, please, I—”
Before she could get another word out, a giant rust-colored dog launched itself at Jasper, knocking him onto his ass. The dog was growling, snapping. Blake stood stock-still, afraid to draw attention to herself, afraid that it’d turn his aggression on her instead. First Jasper went nuts and licked the sweat from her neck, and now they were about to be eaten by a feral dog. Fucking fantastic day she was having. She should have skipped the hike. She’d be safely at the house, buzzed and carving dicks out of the snow for Axie’s project.
Jasper was on the ground and how he wasn’t screaming for help was beyond her. The dog was still growling, snarling with its teeth bared and the hair on its back raised. Blake took a step back, wincing when she stepped on that stupid stick Jasper had been playing with. The dog’s large head whipped around, his eyes locking on hers. She held her hands up, hating the way they shook out of fear. She was pretty sure she wasn’t supposed to appear weak in this situation. Or was it the opposite? Was she supposed to curl into a ball on the ground? No. Wait. That was a bear. Fuck.
The dog stopped snapping at Jasper and instead made its way toward her, its head hanging lower and its tail wagging. She was frozen on the spot, afraid if she ran, it would chase her.
She made a vow to research some basic safety tips if she made it out of this encounter unscathed. The dog rubbed its head against her thigh, whimpering softly. She hadn’t grown up with pets, but she knew enough about dogs to know that was a friendly gesture. Blake slowly lowered her hand to its back, tentatively stroking its thick fur. It rested its weight against her, allowing her finally to let out the breath she’d been holding.
Jasper got to his feet, breaking
the small moment of peace between her and the big dog. It suddenly whipped its head around, growling at Jasper. Blake narrowed her eyes, taken aback by its reaction. Could it sense that she’d been wary of him only moments ago? She supposed it could feel the tension in the air. Animals could detect cancer and sniff out drugs, they sensed when seizures were coming. Surely it wasn’t far-fetched to think this dog had known that she’d been afraid of Jasper’s actions.
Blake put her hand back on the dog’s back, lightly, nervous to upset it. “It’s okay, buddy.” She wrinkled her nose, leaning back to check out the dog’s back end. “Yep. You’re a boy all right.” She patted him again. “You should go,” she told Jasper, who was standing against a tree, his eyes narrowed on the dog who was still resting against her thigh. “It clearly has something against men.”
The dog scoffed and Blake rolled her eyes. “Maybe it has something against dudes who scare girls in the woods?”
“Blake. Fuck.” Jasper hung his head, drawing and letting out a deep breath. “It’s not, that wasn’t…Fuck. It’s not what you think, okay? I’m sorry I scared you, I swear, it’ll never happen again.” He gestured to the dog stationed between them. “Head back to the house, he’ll follow you.”
Blake scoffed. “Why would it follow me? Is this Jace’s dog?” She had been at the house for days and hadn’t seen even a hint of Jace and Axie having a pet.
“No.” Jasper sneered at the dog in question. “Clearly, he’s a stray.”
She peered down at her hands petting the russet fur. He seemed clean and well cared for. She had no clue what kind of dog he could be, all she knew was he was bigger than any dog she’d been around before. “Don’t follow me, Jasper. I’m still skeeved out by your shit.”
He held his hands up. “Totally get it.”
She made her way past him, grateful when he didn’t try to lick or sniff her again. Like he’d said it would, the dog followed after her, making sure to stay between her and Jasper.
She was already going through what had happened in her mind, wondering what the hell it was and if she should share any of it with Riley. He was already on edge about her and Jasper. Knowing his friend had acted so fucking weird when he had her in the middle of the woods would for sure make the situation worse.
“Blake?” She paused, looking over her shoulder when Jasper called out to her. “It’s not a dog, it’s a wolf.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Blake
Blake made her way back to the house, breathing a sigh of relief when the short gate separating the woods from Jace’s backyard came into view. The wolf-dog was still beside her, brushing against her thigh every few steps. She refused to believe some lone wild wolf decided to rescue her and help her down the mountain. It had to be some kind of wolf-dog hybrid. Someone’s pet who got lost in the wilderness. She was grateful for him either way. She’d been going over Jasper’s strange behavior, trying to make sense of what happened. She couldn’t. She’d started to feel flushed, woozy almost. He’d been concerned, and then he’d fucking licked her. She was all for some kink, but uninvited licking was not her jam.
Blake pushed open the gate, looking over her shoulder again, making sure Jasper wasn’t following her. She wasn’t ready to talk things out with him. She didn’t know if she should tell Riley what happened. Hell, she wasn’t even sure what had happened. She was feeling better now though. She’d removed her coat and gloves, letting the cold air bring her body temperature back to normal. She closed the gate after the wolf-dog casually trailed behind her into the backyard, like he’d been there a hundred times before. She hoped Axie and Jace were animal lovers.
Blake followed the sound of laughter, rounding the corner to find Axie shaping a giant cock made of snow. Jace was shaking his head at her antics, a smile on his face. There were three snowmen complete and a case of beer buried in the snow.
“Hey. So I made a friend.” Blake reached down, putting her hand on the top of the animal’s head as he sat beside her. Axie and Jace both turned and went silent. Axie bit her lips together, like she was trying not to giggle. Jace had his gaze narrowed on the wolf-dog, his hands going to his hips. “Things got weird on the mountain and then this dog came out of nowhere, helped me make it back down.”
“It’s a wolf.” Jace sighed, reaching down into the snow and pulling out a beer, cracking the tab and taking a long swallow. “It’s a motherfucking wolf.”
Axie snorted out a laugh before covering her mouth with her gloved hand. “Where’s Jasper?”
Blake moved a few feet away, sitting on a bench that was positioned by a silent fountain. The wolf followed her, sitting with his warm fur against her legs. “I don’t know where he is, my new bestie and I left him behind.” She accepted the opened beer Axie passed her. “I started feeling sort of sick, and then Jasper licked me.”
“Sick?” Axie cocked her head to the side, like she was studying Blake, searching for signs of illness.
Blake shrugged. “I don’t know what it was. I got really hot all of a sudden. It was like my blood was on fire.”
Jace nodded, lips pursed, then drained the rest of his beer. He reached into the snow once again, opening another one.
Axie ignored him. “Jasper licked you, huh? Anything else?”
“He sniffed me.” Blake shivered, feeling grossed out by the memory alone. Although she wasn’t entirely sure why. Jasper had done a hell of a lot more than lick her back at the cabin and she hadn’t been disgusted. Nope. She’d been begging for more.
“And you, um, didn’t like it?” Axie’s eyebrows raised in question.
Blake wrinkled her nose. “No. I didn’t.” She reached out, stroking the wolf’s fur. “It felt—”
“Wrong.” Axie’s tone was sympathetic as she answered for her.
Blake nodded. “Yeah, wrong.” She kept petting the large animal who had come to her rescue, smiling when it nuzzled into her touch. “Then this guy,” she patted the wolf-dog’s head, “came out of nowhere, growling and keeping himself between me and Jasper. Have you ever seen him before?”
Jace sighed, rather violently sticking a carrot into the face of one of Axie’s snowmen. “Yeah, I’ve seen him around. He’s super domesticated for a wild animal. He’s a pussy.” Jace threw a glance over his shoulder to the animal that seemed glued to her side. “You know, for a wolf.”
The wolf-dog let out a low growl and Axie snorted beer out her nose.
“Uh, okay.” Blake was mildly offended for her new doggy friend. He’d saved her. He’d helped her. He deserved her allegiance. “He seems to like me. You mind if he sticks around?”
“He can stay outside. He might have fleas.” Jace sent the wolf-dog a smug smirk. “We’ll get him some food and water though, put it on the porch with a dog bed for as long as he decides to hang around.”
“Okay, thanks.” Blake got to her feet, patting the wolf-dog on the head. “What should I do about Jasper? Should I tell Riley what happened?”
“I’ll tell Riley myself.” Blake stiffened at the sound of Jasper’s voice behind her. The wolf-dog leaned closer, letting out a low growl when Jasper rounded the corner and came into view. “I’m really sorry, Blake, I stepped over a line. I can’t explain what happened, but please know I’m incredibly fucking sorry.”
She thought seeing him again would bring back all those feelings of disgust, irritation, and fear. Instead, she felt nothing. She wasn’t unhappy to see him; in fact, she found that she was glad he’d made it down the mountain in one piece. What the hell was going on with her? She was giving herself whiplash.
“I’ll go, um, find him and tell him what I did.” Jasper moved past her, narrowing his gaze on the wolf-dog for a moment. “Are you feeling okay now?”
She nodded, staying quiet as he made his way to the house.
When it was the three of them, and the wolf-dog, Blake sank back down on the bench, drinking her ice-cold beer. “I thought I would be pissed when I saw him.” She smiled when the wolf-dog put his h
ead on her lap. She’d never had a dog before, and she knew he couldn’t come live in the dorms with her, but maybe Jace and Axie could keep an eye on him until she could move off campus. She turned to Jace, a hopeful smile on her face. “If I check him for fleas, can he come inside?”
Jace studied the wolf-dog. “He looks mangy to me.”
The animal left her side for the first time, trotting to close the distance between her and the others before lifting his leg and peeing on the snowman closest to Jace, sending some splatter onto his boots.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Riley
Blake built another snowman with Axie, laughing and drinking beer with part of his pack. Riley hadn’t spent this much time in wolf form in months, but he didn’t want to trot back into the woods and shift. He didn’t have any clothes, and he was pretty sure Blake had grown attached to him in the last hour. He lay in the snow, watching her let loose and have fun with Jace and Axie. Thankfully, Jasper stayed inside. Riley knew Jasper’s reaction to Blake on the mountain wasn’t anything he could control. His wolf was an actual horndog, and Blake’s body craving the bond was making Jasper act in a way he never would’ve otherwise. Riley felt sorry for him. That was three times his wolf had made him react like a fucking asshole. Madden, Axie, and now Blake. Three females Riley knew Jasper loved and would protect to the death.
Riley might’ve been snarling and snapping when he’d lunged between them, but his anger had fizzled when the fog of jealous protectiveness cleared. Blake’s body was under control and he’d heard the regret and remorse in Jasper’s tone before he’d sulked into the house.
After talking to Pen, and seeing Blake have the same hot flashes Madden and Axie had before they were bonded, Riley thought he’d be reeling at the realization she’d begun to bond with him. There was no denying it. Blake was his, she was meant to be his forever.