Chapter 29

Ashlynn

My Uncle turned to me after he finished addressing my mother. "And you Ashlynn. Did you enjoy it?" My Uncle gave me a knowing look, and I choked on the wine I had just taken into my mouth.

"I ummm.....excuse me," I cleared my throat trying to get my voice. "Actually, I should probably tell you something. There hasn't been a chance to talk with everything that happened."

"Oh," Uncle Gabe had one eyebrow raised in question.

"Uh, so initially the run wasn't so great. I was actually attacked by some crazy she-wolf. I don't know who it was, but I suspect Dawson does. I've been meaning to ask him, but we haven't seen each other since that night. Did he tell you about the attack Uncle Gabe?", now I'm asking the question trying to take the focus off me.

"He did. But continue with your story. We can come back to that later." He wasn't taking my bait. I don't even know why I'm so nervous, its not like he's my father. In fact, he's nothing like my father. While he may be a tough Alpha, he's my Uncle, and he's been nothing but kind to me since we arrived.

"I found my fated mate actually." I just spit it out. My Aunt Jenna coughed and my Mom's eyes got big as saucers.

I was waiting for someone to say anything. I scanned all their faces and landed last on my uncle, who sat with a smirk on his face.

"So when will you tell us who it is?", he certainly wasn't playing games with this.

"I hope you will be good with this, because it's the choice of the Moon Goddess after all, " I began.

Uncle Gabe held up his hand for me to stop. "First of all, it's your choice Ashlynn, Moon Goddess or not. You're an adult and a very intelligent woman. Whoever is lucky enough to be your fated mate, I would think would be worthy."

"Umm, okay. Thank you." I sat picking at my napkin that was lying on the table.

Finally my Mom spoke up,"If you don't spit it out Ashlynn, I swear I'm going to have a heart attack." That broke the tenseness in the room, because every one laughed.

"It's Dawson," I knew I was smiling ear to ear.

Mom clapped her hands. "I knew it! Oh, I'm so happy for you." She jumped out of her chair and came over and hugged me from behind, placing a kiss on my cheek.

Uncle Gabe just sat nodding his head. "Good, very good. Well I think we should eat, now that we got rid of the elephant in the room."

The rest of dinner was just idle chat about what was going on around the ranch. We were supposed to start breeding the horses at the end of the week. It seems the work is just piling on in the midst of this investigation, but my Uncle told me not to worry, so I was going to focus on my work.

When dinner was over, I bid them all good night and walked back to my loft. Mom had whispered in my ear as we hugged goodbye, that we'd talk tomorrow. I was hoping she was going to tell me how things were going with Cody. I hoped as well as things were going with Dawson and I.

As I rounded the corner into the breezeway, Dawson was standing there, leaning against the wall. He looked damn good. His tight jeans hugged his muscles and his skin tight black t-shirt didn't leave much to my imagination, as I watched his muscles ripple as he pushed himself off the wall. "Hey there beautiful, you're a sight for sore eyes," he said as he walked towards me. In a few short strides he was picking me up in a hug, his nose against my neck sniffing me. "And you smell good." He set me back down with a smile, his eyes twinkling.

"Hey yourself,"I said giggling. "Do you want to come up?"

"You bet I do," I grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the steps. As soon as we walked through the front door and it shut, he pulled me into his arms again.

Dawson nestled his nose into my neck and started kissing behind my ear, down my neck to my collar bone, nipping at the place where he would mark me. It sent shivers down my spine. I wrapped my hands around his broad back, trying to get as close to him as possible. The electricity shooting over every inch of exposed skin. Dawson started walking us into the living room, pulling me down on top of him as he laid on the couch. He claimed my lips with his, a moan escaping my mouth as our tongues danced and his hands roamed up and down my sides. At some point, he had put them under my sweater, and the tingles that run up and down where his hands touched my bare skin was enough to drive me insane.

This hot make out session had my arousal pooling in my panties, and he was doing no better, as I felt his erection straining against his tight jeans. I ground my pelvis into his and he growled into my mouth, deepening our kiss. He broke the kiss, running his hand up the side of my face to my hair, pushing a loose strand behind my ear. I could see his green eyes were darker than usual, desire shown in them, and his wolf was trying to push through. "My God woman, if you didn't make me crazy before, you sure do now. You're so sexy, it makes me want to rip your clothes right off, a gentleman be damned." His words made me weak in the knees, butterflies doing somersaults in my belly.

Dawson reached his other hand up, cupping my face between his hands. He gave me a gentle kiss, then he pulled back. He was looking deep into my eyes. I still hadn't said a word. I was to afraid my voice wouldn't work. "Do you want to do this right now?" he asked. "We don't have to do anything till you're ready. I know this has been fast. I'm not going anywhere Ash, and I want you so bad it hurts." I giggled at that, thinking of his raging hard on that I could still feel against my core.

"I'm sure it does,"I chuckled.

Dawson glared at me, "Not fair," he said, but then he chuckled too.

"I'm not sure honestly Dawson. I want us to be together, but maybe tonight isn't the best night. We are both still pretty tired, and truth be told, I don't want it to be quick." I'm sure I was ten shades of red at that confession. The truth was, I wanted him to take me all night long, until we were both exhausted. The rational side of me knew that it wouldn't be tonight, not with everything going on and the coming week. If the days we spent breeding the cows was any indication, I cannot imagine the horses would be much better. While we only had five brood mares of our own to seed, there were another twenty five coming from outside our ranch. My Uncle's stallion brought in a hefty amount, as he was a well known specimen. People paid fifty grand to breed their mares with his stallion. He produced fast, strong, sleek, hot blooded race horses. He was not a common ranch horse by any stretch.

"That's fair," he said, his thumb brushing over my bottom lip. "How about I stay here tonight though. I want to hold you in my arms. I want to know that you are mine." His eyes were searching mine, maybe looking for resistance. But I had none. My defenses were down.

"Sure, that would be amazing." I went to crawl off him, and he pulled me back down. He kissed me again with so much passion, I was turning to jelly in his hands. The things he did to me, with just a kiss. I can only imagine what else he could do to me. I groaned, I had to stop thinking about it, or we wouldn't get any sleep. Dawson pulled back and gave me a smile.

"I'm going to grab some stuff from my apartment, and I will come right back to you beautiful." I nodded and we sat up. He placed another soft kiss on my lips, and stood to go to the door.

"I'm going to get in the shower.I will leave the door unlocked," I told him. The smile on his lips told me he didn't mind that one bit. I just shook my head at him and went into the bedroom. I heard the front door open and shut, as I undressed and climbed into the shower. My body was still tingling all over, my core still hot and wet with need. Maybe I was making the wrong choice. Maybe we should just complete our mating tonight. My wolf was howling in my head, mad at me for stopping Dawson. I just chuckled at her as I reached for the shampoo and lathered my hair.