Free Destined For The Alpha: Six Heart-Racing Shifter Romances (Werewolf's Harem Book 7) by Vivian Wood Page B

came Ben’s voice, muffled by the door.
    “Just a sec,” Aurelia grumbled, frowning. Glancing at the soft light filtering through her curtained windows, she guessed it was probably late afternoon by now. Staying up all night with Ben had totally thrown her off schedule.
    Rolling out of her bed, she grabbed the oversized sleep shirt she’d abandoned earlier and pulled it over her head. No time for panties, much less pants.
    Opening the door partway, she squinted out at Ben.
    “What’s up?” she asked, grimacing as she pictured how messy she probably looked right now.
    Ben’s eyes widened as he took in her skimpy attire, and his nostrils flared just before his eyes dropped straight to her bare thighs. Aurelia blushed; it’d been so long since she’d spent time around other wolves that she’d forgotten how fine their sense of smell could be. Ben could easily tell that she was totally bare.
    Ben’s eyes snapped back up to her face, and he cleared his throat. He was being a total gentleman. 
    “Ben?” she prompted, trying not to be grumpy with him for disturbing her sleep.
    It helped that Ben’s dark curls were a complete mess, showing that he’d probably just rolled out of bed too. Coupled with his huge grin, he was too cute for Aurelia to be mad. 
    “I, uh… I have a surprise for you. I thought you might be hungry,” he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and shrugging his shoulders. His hesitancy melted a small, frigid corner of Aurelia’s heart.
    “Starved, actually,” Aurelia admitted, giving him a smile.
    “Cool! I didn’t bring it up here, obviously. Like I said, it’s a surprise. You’ll have to come downstairs,” Ben said, his gaze burning into hers. His nostrils flared again, and Aurelia sensed his struggle to keep calm. Single wolves threw off crazy pheromones to one another, and Aurelia’s scent was obviously tormenting Ben right now. She needed to put some clothes on pronto, just to be kind.
    “Okay. I’ll be right there,” Aurelia said, giving him a nod before closing her door.
    “Wear shoes,” Ben added from behind the door. “Comfortable shoes!”
    Pursing her lips, Aurelia opened her closet. Comfortable. Right. She chose a pair of lightweight cotton leggings in mint green, a tight-fitting dark grey racerback tank over a cotton bralette, and her new cross country trainers. Out of respect for Ben, she put on a pair of black boy short panties before she dressed. She grabbed a waist-clip satchel, similar to a fanny pack worn on the hip, and stuffed a couple of emergency items in it.
    When she got downstairs, she found Ben standing in front of the kitchen’s big French doors. He was outfitted to hike in grey shorts and a blue t-shirt, complete with trail shoes and a large backpack. 
    “Hey!” he said, beaming when he saw her. He sounded faintly surprised, as if she might have changed her mind and simply not ever come downstairs. It made Aurelia wonder about the quality of the females he usually hung around.
    “Hey yourself,” she said. “I’m guessing we’re hiking?”
    “Yeah, if you don’t mind,” he said, the question plain on his face.
    “Absolutely. I love to hike,” Aurelia said, waving a hand. “If anything, I’ve been cooped up too much in the last few months. Before I got here, I didn’t even leave my flat to explore the cities I was living in, much less get to hike.”
    “Really?” Ben asked, grabbing two big re-usable squeeze bottles of water from the kitchen counter. Handing one over, he opened the door to usher Aurelia outside.
    “Yeah,” she nodded. “I don’t know how much Lucas has told you about my situation, but it was getting pretty dire. I was being hunted, and the people looking for me were growing more and more sophisticated in their operation methods. I was basically a hermit by the time I got to India.”
    Aurelia noticed that the water bottle had a carabiner clip, and she attached it to the back strap of her hip pouch, letting the