More than a week had passed since Amanda had discovered the true nature of the Silver Wolves and the Dire Wolves. She no longer went anywhere alone. On the one hand, it felt a bit like being under some sort of limited arrest area, but she also felt incredibly safe. Since many of her outings were with Aspen, she couldn’t really complain, as she loved being near him as much as possible.
At night, they made love, her body succumbing to his in a way she’d never felt before. It was like being lifted into another dimension when he was inside of her. She felt like all her senses were heightened - taste, smell, touch. He knew exactly where and how to touch her. Being with him was like nothing she had ever known before.
Still, there was the fear of the unknown. He lived in a world that was far more frightening than she could have ever imagined. As much as she wanted to be with him, she wasn’t sure how long she could live her life not being free to do as she wished.
It was on a rare venture into town that things had taken another change between them, sending their temporary arrangement toward something more permanent. It was after a disappointing night at work that she had news to tell him.
Once Roy had caught on to the fact that she was with Aspen, he had let her go, telling her that he just didn’t need the extra help anymore. She had been sad, but understood his reluctance to get the bar involved in any kind of biker business in which she might find herself. Obviously, he didn’t know the half of it and she didn’t want to put him in the position of finding out, so she had accepted it without an argument.
“I have to have a job,” she had told Aspen. “I have rent to pay and, even though I don’t have any real bills beyond household ones, I still need cash for food and personal things.”
“I have enough cash to take care of you,” he had told her.
“I don’t have any desire to be some biker babe kept up by her “old man” as these other girls like you call your guys.”
“Still under the delusion you’re not my old lady, are you?” He laughed.
Amanda scowled at him. He knew how much she hated that term and only used it when teasing her. Still, this was no laughing matter. She needed a job and she couldn’t very well go get one with two burly bikers standing guard over her all the time.
“You aren’t funny.”
“Yes, I am. You are just stubborn. I tell you what. I saw what you had done with your house. I remember that place before you rented it. It was a hellhole that had been empty for almost a year because no one wanted to live in the dump. I suspect that you took it for the cheap rent and fixed it up yourself, so you’ve got some skills. What if the club hired you to do some of the stuff here?”
“I thought the club didn’t have the money for stuff like that right now?”
“We don’t have the money to pay someone cash, but we can afford the materials and pay you in room and board for now. You can stay here and eat here for free. I’ll get you out of your lease with the owner of your house. We go way back.”
“I already stay and eat here for free. Sounds like slave labor.”
“Now, now. I wasn’t done yet. The club will pay you a hundred a week for doing a bit of work around the place. It’s not much, but without housing expenses, it should tide you over for a while.”
“Throw in unlimited sexual encounters with the VP and you’ve got a deal,” she joked.
“Done,” he said.
“Whore,” she laughed.
“Yeah, but I’m your whore.”
He pulled her to him and kissed her again, running his hands across her ass as they embraced.
“Um, excuse me, Aspen, but I need to talk to you.”
“Sure. I’ll be right there.”
“You’ll be okay here for a moment?” he asked.
Amanda nodded and looked down at her plate. She had hardly even started to eat. Several of the bikers were still within her view, having come into town with them while they ate. It was rare that any of the pack went anywhere alone anymore. They always went in pairs and groups, the threat of Dire Wolves still looming large overhead. Though no one was yet certain what was going on with them or what they were up to, they were making themselves visible around town.
She took a bite of her salad and looked out over the restaurant. Several people glanced her way and then diverted her eyes when she caught them staring in her direction. It was no secret around here that they weren’t happy about how prominent the club was becoming around town and she was now viewed as a part of that. It didn’t bother her, at least not too much, not at first. She had never intended to stay here forever and with all that was going on, perhaps it was time to consider leaving.
“Sorry about that,” Aspen told her when he returned. “Found our rat. He’s been taken care of.”
“Do I want to know?”
“No, not really.”
“Aspen, why do you stay here? Why don’t we just pack up and go?”
“This my home, Amanda. I’ve lived here my entire life. These guys are my family.”
“Lots of people leave their families and go elsewhere.”
“Yes, but those people are different. A wolf can’t survive alone. They are pack animals and being only part, one doesn’t change that.”
“I just think we could be freer elsewhere, not have to worry about Dire Wolves or what they might be up to.”
“Do you think that leaving would get them off my case? It won’t. They would track me down and pick me off while they had me alone. It is their mentally, to separate wolves from their pack and take them out. That is why the one from the bar waiting until you and I were alone out at the falls. He thought he could take me, but knew he couldn’t do it with my brothers around me.”
“Okay. I guess that’s just the way it is.”
Aspen looked at her from across the table, then reached for her hands, taking them in his. He looked like he was pained greatly by his next words, as she spoke low and quietly.
“I know you didn’t ask for any of this. Maybe it was unfair for me to bring you into it without knowing what it would mean for you. I’m sorry for that. If you want to go, I will understand. I can’t go with you. I wish I could, but it would mean the end for me and, for you, if you were there when they found me. You, though, you could go and not look back. You aren’t a shifter. They wouldn’t come after you.”
“What? No. I’m not leaving you behind. If we have to stay here and just deal with the nonsense we must endure, then that is just the way it is. I’ll handle it.”
“Are you sure? You don’t have to if you want to go.”
“Aspen, I love you. I’m not going anywhere without you.”
“I love you too,” he replied, letting go of her hands and picking up his fork. “Let’s eat before our food gets any colder and get home. I’ll show you just how much I love you for the rest of the night.”
“Incorrigible.”
“Yep. So?”
“So, eat faster.”
Aspen laughed and finished his food, dropping some cash on the table to cover the food and a tip before they headed back home, the pack following along behind them. They stopped off at her house to gather a few things and put them in a van that had been brought into town to pick up supplies for the club. Aspen had motioned for a few of the club members to follow them inside, while the others stood watch outside.
“She’s going to need all of her personal things besides what we are grabbing now brought to the club. Get a group together to come over and pack it all up for her. She’ll show you what needs to come to the club and the rest can go to my cabin in the back-storage unit for now.”
Amanda admired how he was so authoritative with the guys and they listened to him. She knew none of them that didn’t at least appear to have the greatest respect for him and the best interests of the club at heart. There was the rat, but he had apparently been missing since after the incident at the falls, so she had never met him that she was aware of other than maybe a passing glance the first time she had been brought to the clubhouse.
She quickly showed the one called Cujo, for reasons she wasn’t sure she wanted to understand, the things she needed to have at the club and what could go to the cabin storage. The larger pieces of furniture had come with the house and could stay here. Gathering some extra clothes and shoes, she stuck them in a couple of large boxes they had brought in for her and watched as they took them back out to the waiting van.
“That it for now?” Aspen asked.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Let’s get out of there then.”
They were on their way back out to the bike when the police arrived. It was the same two officers that had spoken to her weeks ago when the neighbor’s dog had been killed.
“We’ve been looking for you, Miss Miller.”
“Why is that?” she asked.
Aspen motioned for the other bikers to roll out as he locked the door for her and walked over to stand beside her where the officers had stopped her on the front lawn.
“What’s this about?” he asked them.
“Our business is with Miss Miller, not you, Aspen,” one of them responded.
Amanda realized that he already knew Aspen and was obviously not impressed with his being there. Aspen was just as unimpressed with their presence, it seemed. He took a small step forward and slightly in front of her, as if to shield her from them.
“Miss Miller is my business,” he growled.
“Is that so? Don’t get your fur ruffled. We just wanted to check on her. Her neighbor said she looked as if she had been attacked the last time she saw her and then she had disappeared.”
Aspen glanced toward the neighbor’s house, as did Amanda. She could see the blinds move as if someone was peeping out—they had just moved away so as not to be discovered. Nosey bitch, Amanda thought. How dare she call the cops when she saw her arrive, which is obviously what she had done.
“Well, as you can see I’m just fine,” she told them. “Now, if you will excuse us. We have somewhere to be.”
“Is that right? You might want to be a bit more careful who you hang around with, Miss Miller. There are some real mongrels in this town,” the cop said, never taking his eyes off Aspen.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said curtly.
“Good day, officers,” Aspen said, tipping an invisible hat toward them mockingly.
Both turned and made their way to the bike, several of the club members still waiting for them thought others had already left. Amanda considered how odd it must be for the neighborhood to see them rolling up the street and parked here. It wasn’t as if it was the best street in town, but it was quiet most of the time. Now, a dog had been gruesomely murdered and there were bikers hanging out. Oh well, it would get back to normal once she was out of here. How odd to be the one stirring up trouble on the block she thought. Still, she felt bemused by it.