Read Online Once Bitten Twice Smitten: BBW Werewolf Shifter Menage Romance by Ariana Hawkes - Free Book Online Page B

she struggled to open it. “Let me out of here, goddamnit!” Chase slipped past her, unfastened the door and let her go.
    As she bolted onto the veranda, Brad met her, rushing over from his cabin.
    “Are you ok, Aspen?” he shouted. “I thought I heard you screaming?”
    “Yes, I’m fine,” she said, placing a hand on her chest and bringing her breathing under control. “I just had a shock when I discovered your friend is into hoarding dead animals.”
    “You let her into your cabin when you had last night’s leftovers hanging around?” Brad looked at Chase incredulously. “Very classy, dude.” Aspen’s mouth fell open.
    “What? You’re saying that those stinking corpses are food ?” she said. Chase and Brad both dropped their heads.
    “We only eat them in our wolf form,” Brad said, quietly. Aspen looked from one to the other.
    “This wolf thing – this is what I came to talk to you about. I need to understand who you are, and what’s been happening to me lately.” Brad laid a hand on Aspen’s shoulder, but she flinched, and he withdrew it quickly, with a frown.
    “Let’s go and sit down – someplace outside – and we can talk all you want,” he said.
    “Ok, where?” she said. Brad looked over at his cabin. His veranda had fully caught the morning sun. It looked bright and inviting.
    “Over on my porch, “ he said. They walked over there together. There were only two chairs, so Brad indicated they should sit right on the edge of the walkway instead, swinging their legs over the side. “But first, I’ll make us all a coffee, to help Aspen relax,” he said, and turned to walk inside the cabin.
    “Wait! I’ll come and help you,” Aspen said, following him in.
    Chase sat down on the edge of the veranda, scowling at nothing in particular. It seemed like every time he tried to get one over on Brad, it backfired, ending up with him doing something that made him look stupid.
    Aspen and Brad brought three steaming mugs of coffee out on a tray, chatting and laughing together the whole time. Chase’s wolf gave a little growl, and he took the mug from Brad without a word.
    “Thanks, dude,” Brad said sarcastically. Aspen sat down and Brad handed her a coffee too.
    “Thanks,” she said. Chase watched sourly as she smiled up at Brad, her blue eyes dazzling, the bright sunlight showing the full spectrum of her irises. Brad sat down on the other side of her. She was swinging her legs back and forth in a very appealing way.
    “We were just talking about Gila,” Brad said. “Aspen was telling me what she remembers from her childhood.”
    “It’s not much,” she said. “I mean I was eight when – when, you know.” She broke off. They all looked down in embarrassment.
    “Do you remember the woods?” Chase asked. She nodded. “Yeah – yeah, I think I do.” She frowned in concentration, the bridge of her nose wrinkling. “The trees seemed really tall. But I guess everything seemed really tall when I was that small,” she said, and laughed. She had a lovely laugh, like water tinkling into a stream. “And the woods seemed dark but also really green. Not like up here, where you see so much orange in fall. And there was a small stream in the woods. I remember playing in it in my gumboots, and my dad yelling at me when I splashed too much and the water got inside them!” Chase grinned. The stream was the pack’s main source of water.
    “We used to get yelled at by our parents when we came back with wet feet after playing in the stream too!” Brad said.
    “It’s funny, I almost feel like I was another person then,” Aspen said. “Like the memories belong to someone else.”
    “I guess leaving behind everything you knew was a big shock to you at that age,” Brad said. Chase scowled at him. He always knew the right thing to say, and Aspen was lapping it up, her eyes all bright and sparkly. She looked up at the sky, thinking.
    “Maybe it was, subconsciously. But I think, when you’re