I overheard a couple guys talking about how they were glad they’d cut down those trees because there was no doubt the electricity would get cut and they’d need it for a fire.
I internally cursed because I hadn’t even thought about making a fire, probably because I didn’t know where the hell to start for something like that.
Add that to the already long-ass list of shit I needed to learn while living in the middle of nowhere.
I saw the shelf of candy and said fuck trying to eat healthy. I grabbed a few candy bars just for the hell of it. Nothing better than wine and chocolate in front of a fire I might not even be able to build.
I’d seen bundles of firewood right outside the supermarket, and I didn’t doubt those were for the tourists. Locals were with it enough to cut their own instead of having to buy it at the store.
After checking out and telling the cashier I wanted three bundles of wood—praying that was even enough—I made my way out to the Jeep, loaded it up with my groceries, and pulled the vehicle up to the curb so I could load the wood in the back.
I left the Jeep idling as I climbed out, popped the back, and loaded in the wood. There was a crack of lightning that lit up the nearly darkened sky, followed by a boom of thunder. I felt those vibrations all the way through my body and knew this storm was going to be something fierce.
After hauling ass to get the other bundles of wood into my Jeep, I left the parking lot and headed back home. It was when I pulled into my gravel driveway that the pellets of rain started, just little drops at first, but I knew with each passing moment they’d get more intense.
I guess I was about to experience my first real scenario of mountain living.
6
Asher
I’d been thinking about what Cason had said, how I’d been blocking myself from fully accepting Ainsley and my mating, that I’d let my fear override everything else that was natural to me.
I deserved this.
She deserved this.
I was tired of living my life in the shadows, not that anyone but myself had put me there. And even though the storm raged outside, the wind howling as if tornado sirens were being let off in the distance, there was one thing for certain I was about to do.
Go to my mate.
Fuck everything else: the weather, my wants and desires, the fear of screwing this up.
Because when it came to Ainsley, there was no other
option for me.
What she wanted, desired, cared about, was all that mattered. And it had taken a figurative push to the face by reality to put me in my place.
I didn’t know anything personal about her, had only spoken a handful of words to her, but I could still hear her voice in my head. It was the most beautiful sound that had every part of my body tightening, that had my bear feeling restless yet relaxed all in the same breath.
And despite not knowing when her birthday was, what her childhood had been like, or what her favorite meal was, I knew in time I’d come to memorize all of those things.
Because the most important thing in the world was … that she was mine.
I grabbed my keys off the counter, slipped my jacket on, and headed out the door. I put my hood on, bracing myself against the rain and the wind. Thunder boomed, lightning cracked against the darkened sky, but that wouldn’t stop me.
I stood there and looked around, felt the electricity in the air, the weather and Mother Nature saying “fuck it” and giving all they had. It was the perfect weather for confronting my mate and telling her what I needed, what we both needed. It was the same wild intensity outside as I felt inside.
I went to my truck and climbed into the driver’s side seat, shutting the door behind me. It was fierce outside, real and raw. And as I cranked the engine and started heading toward Ainsley’s place, all I could think was one thing.
I’m about to make her mine. Finally, after all these years, after knowing that there was a female out there for me, I was about to finally get to experience my mate.
As I drove down the mountain that’s all I could think about, repeating it over and over in my head, feeling this renewed strength move through me.
Normally it would only take a ten-minute drive to get to her cabin, but with the debris flying around, and the weather, it had taken me double that amount of time.
I pulled to a stop in her driveway, the trees surrounding her cabin swaying forcefully. I cut the engine and sat there for a minute, my body shaking as energy moved through me, anticipation and excitement rolling in me like waves.