Page 4

Hellen ran through the woods, darting around trees, through shrubbery, and over fallen logs more quickly than she might have ever run before.

The feeling of turning control over to her wolf, and having the freedom and safety to run without inhibition on her home land was not one to be taken for granted.

It had been a long time since she’d allowed herself such freedom.

She took in all the sights and sounds, her nose painting an even more detailed picture as she trotted toward home, nose in the air, tail held high.

She was a sight to behold; her wolf a deep auburn with lighter reddish-blond streaks in the thicker fur around her head, chest, and tail.

And she was large. As she’d matured, her wolf had done the same, transitioning into the impressive creature she was now.

Her mind on so many things, not the least of which were the gator slides Brandt had told her about earlier in the evening, she was not on guard as she should have been, and trotted right into the large clearing her house sat in.

Stuttering to a stop as a new scent hit her, she looked around her backyard, keen eyes scanning the tree line for the source of the scent.

Her wolf started whining in her mind, letting her know what she already suspected.

It was him. Her gator. He’d found her. Turning back toward her home, she finally caught sight of him as he stepped out of the darkness, allowing himself to be illuminated in the glow of the amber porch light.

Hellen slowly approached her house, her eyes taking in all details of the male calmly watching her approach.

He was tall, and his good eye was a piercing light blue.

He had long, black hair that fell to almost the middle of his back in a thick, shiny curtain.

His skin gave the appearance of being sun kissed, almost golden in color, but it didn’t fool her — it was his natural skin tone — the sun had nothing to do with it.

The milkiness of his bad eye and the scarred skin both above and below it let her know beyond the shadow of a doubt that though it had healed, it was totally useless.

The air of danger and arrogance wafting from this male was by no means misplaced; he owned every bit of it.

Despite the silliness of his appearance, bare legs and feet sticking out from below a too little rain coat, this was an absolutely beautiful male.

A magnetically beautiful male. The same male that disappeared while she’d been gone for only two days, leaving her to worry constantly about whether or not he’d survived.

Forcing herself to adopt an I’m-not-sure-why-you’re-here and I-really-don’t-give-a-damn-that-you-are attitude, she shifted from her wolf back into her human form and walked completely nude, and without a care it would seem, past him and onto the cement foundation that made up her back porch of a sort.

She took her key from the hanging plant to the right of the door and unlocked her door.

She replaced the key and reached for the doorknob.

At the last minute she looked his way again.

“That’s my Alpha’s coat. He’ll probably be pissed.

” She turned the doorknob, pushed open her door and stepped inside, closing it behind her.

The male stood looking at her, appearing calm and in control, but the pain she scented told another story. He was doing an excellent job of pretending, but he was hurting. He stared at her, his good eye like a lance right to her soul, daring her to continue to ignore him.

So, she did the only sensible thing she could think of. She reached out and locked the door, then turned her back on him and went into the bathroom off her bedroom to shower.

The male stood outside her back door, easily looking into her home through the glass door and the large windows on either side of it.

It was not, in his opinion, a very safe home.

It wouldn’t take very much to break the glass and walk right in.

Stepping right up to the glass, he prepared to do just that, when he suddenly remembered the female had returned the key to its hiding place, as though daring him to take it down and use it.

Never one to refuse a dare, he took the key from the planter, unlocked the door, and let himself in.

Walking through her home like he did so every day, he headed toward the front of the house, following the path she’d taken.

He hesitated in her bedroom, loving the dark greens and browns and tans of the room, but then heard the sound of the shower from the connecting bathroom.

He moved toward the bathroom door and let himself into her bathroom.

He stood just inside the bathroom unmoving, watching the female watch him.

She was as beautiful here in the overhead light as she’d been in shadows outside.

He simply watched her as the steam from her shower slowly filled the room.

“You’re in my bathroom.”

He shrugged.

“Get out of my house,” she said. But her tone of voice belied her intent to make him think he was unwelcome. She wasn’t the slightest bit afraid of him despite the fact that he’d let himself in and that made her sentence no more than a statement.

“You left me,” he said matter-of-factly.

“I told you I’d be back in two days.”

“You said as soon as you could. Not two days.”

“Fine. I got back as soon as I could. It was two days. You were gone with no word. How was I to know if you’d left of your own free will or if whoever had started the job came back to finish it?”

“You want me to leave a note so they can find me again before I’m strong enough to fight?” he asked.

“No. But you could have made an effort to let me know you chose to leave.”

“Oh, I see. You worried about me. And that makes you angry.”

“Go away!” she said, her ire beginning to grow.

He simply stood his ground, not moving, not answering.

“You know what? I did worry, not because I care about you personally, but because it’s my job.

I found you in dire need, and I saved you.

And it’s what any decent person would do.

As opposed to you who just growled and threatened me the entire time I did everything I could for you.

And you couldn’t even let me know you were okay. ”

“How, exactly, was I supposed to do that?”

“I don’t know. Here’s an idea, though. How about stick around until I get back and then say, ‘thanks, appreciate it, but I’m out now!’”

“Thanks for what? Attempting to bury me alive?” he asked.

“I was not burying you alive! If I wanted to bury you alive, I could have and there wouldn’t have been a damn thing you could have done about it.”

“Seems I remember waking up in a hole, with dirt being thrown on top of me.”

“Only until I realized you were still alive. Then I dragged you out of the hole and nursed your unappreciative ass back to health. For weeks.”

“It was not weeks.”

“Yes, my ungrateful friend. It was.” As Hellen spoke, she’d been squirting shampoo in her hand and applying it to her hair, then working up a good lather. When she finished speaking, she glared at him, then stepped under the shower again to rinse the shampoo from her hair.

When she finished rinsing her hair, she opened her eyes and squinted through the water running down her face and into her eyes to try to see him, but he was gone. “Asshole,” she muttered.

“That is completely uncalled for,” he said from right outside the shower.

“Jesus Christ!” she shouted, falling against the shower wall furthest from him, her hands pressed to her chest. “Could you not do that?!” she demanded, still half-shouting at him.

“Do what?”

“Move from one place to another without letting me know you’re doing it!”

“You’re far too jumpy to be a Wolf. You’re supposed to be more calm than that.”

“And you’re not supposed to let yourself into a woman’s house without her permission!”

“You all but invited me. You even put the key back so I could use it.”

“I did not. I put the key back so my family could use it if they wanted to.”

“While daring me not to.”

Hellen glared at him.

He glared back.

“You don’t enter people’s houses without their permission.”

“Don’t dare me.”

“I didn’t.”

“You did.”

“Fine. Whatever you say, just leave.”

He continued his staring contest for only a few more moments, then turned and walked toward the door. He paused there, then turned to look at her. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

He nodded, then seemed like he was going to say something else, before changing his mind and walking out of the bathroom.

“Hey!” Hellen called out. “I don’t even know your name!”

There was no answer for a few seconds, almost as though he was considering it. Then she heard his deep, gravely voice as he gifted her his first inclination of trust. “Lucien.”

~~~

Lucien hesitated in the hallway outside the female’s bathroom, and considered not giving her his name.

In fact, decided quickly not to. Then had an intrusion of second thoughts and decided it would create more confusion if he didn’t give her his name because in that instant, he decided he’d stay a while.

Grinning to himself, he walked back through her house until he reached the kitchen, dug around until he found something to eat, then took it to the living room and sat down on her couch, eating chunks of sausage and chicken out of a plastic container of jambalaya.