Scent of a Mate (Sassy Mates, #1)

“Yes. Didn’t you watch?” Ellie’s eyes widened.

“Yes, but you know I had to…” What the hell could she say? She picked lint off her robe, ignoring the heat crowding her face. “I had to stay on alert so we didn’t get caught.”

Ellie giggled. “Right.”

Was her friend making fun of her? She stopped the video. It was getting a little too erotic. She was still all kinds of turned on, and the last thing she needed was Ellie to sniff that.

“So tell me what you want me to do now?” Jordan asked about the book and the original plan of putting the entire ceremony in details for her family’s library.

“Write it all out as you see it.”

Jordan crossed her arms over her chest. “Do you mind if I go back to the clearing?” It’d be easier to get a feel for what to write if she was down at the spot where it took place.

“No, but you do need to be careful. We still have out-of-towners and they may be in the area.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll be careful. I don’t want any close encounters of the sharp teeth kind.” Once was enough.





Chapter Four




Instinct told Jordan to get out of the clearing the moment she set foot there. But had she listened? Nope. That would have been too easy. Instead, she’d started taking photos and visualizing what happened there. Then she glanced up to the spot she knew she’d been at when Aric found her.

That’s how the two white wolves found her. At first she’d been distracted, remembering the night with Aric. Leaves crunched. She glanced around, finally noticing the wolves. Unease bounced around her stomach, twisting her insides into knots. The two animals watched her. Without taking her eyes off them, she pulled out an air horn and a bottle of pepper spray from her bag.

“Hello. I’m friends with the Wolfe family.” She kept her voice steady.

The smaller one of the two took a step closer and sniffed. She’d started to calm, hoping the animals realized she wasn’t lying.

The little white wolf growled, initiating a mimicked snarl from the larger wolf. And then she was running for her car being chased by two wolves.

Branches and trees zoomed past her. Growls sounded so close behind her, she knew they were doing it to scare her. Goddammit, it was working. Her heart pounded hard in her chest. Fear, something she absolutely hated with every fiber of her being, filled her until it was hard to breathe. Her mind whirled, but she didn’t know what to do. Ahead, she saw a thick tree with broken off branches. Focused solely on the branches, she ran for it.

Thankful for all the tree climbing she’d done in the summers as a kid, she grabbed on to those branches and hauled her ass up that tree faster than superman going around Earth’s orbit.

She sat on the edge of a branch, gasping for air. The two wolves came into view. They glanced up and growled. Fucking great. The wood was hard and uncompromising under her ass. She rifled through her bag, searching for her cell.

Finally, she pulled it out and dialed Ellie. Nothing. She then dialed all her other female friends. Nothing. She cursed. The one time she needed them, no one answered. She wiggled to adjust her balance. The branch wobbled under her ass. She braced herself against the trunk and took a peek down. At least twenty feet of air dangled below her feet. Shit.

There was only one other option. One choice. One solution. Frickin’ hell. The last person she wanted to call was him. But seeing as the two animals at the edge of the tree didn’t look like they were going anywhere, she dialed Aric’s number.

He answered on the first ring. “Jordan?”

“I need you,” she whispered, glancing down at the two growling beasts. If it were one, she’d go up against the animal or at least try to outrun it. Against the two of them, heroics were out of the question.

“Is this some kind of joke?” He sounded surprised. And why wouldn’t he be? She left him just the night before after he’d asked her to stay. “I’ve been calling you non-stop, but my calls have been going straight to voice mail.”

Uh-oh. Maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to ignore the sexy Alpha.

She was still freaking out over having had sex, really amazing mind-blowing sex, with Aric. The moment he’d told her in that no-nonsense, growly voice to wait for him, she almost came on the spot…again. It was a bit much to take in. So she’d packed up her equipment and done what any sane woman in her position would do. She rushed home, locked her doors, threw herself on her bed, and thought about everything he’d done for the rest of the night.

Loud growls brought her out of her daydream.

“I am so serious, Aric. Get your furry ass over here.” She hugged the tree trunk and gasped. For a second she wobbled on the branch.

A soft snort whispered against her ear. “Where is ‘over here?’”

Was he laughing at her? She was in a maul or death situation here. “The…er, clearing where you guys had the scenting ceremony.”