He noted one of his men watching the truck from the distance, hidden in the woods. Good. Elgin had given the word to make sure no one ruined her tires again while she remained here.
""Night, Leidolf." She seemed to want to kiss him, her gaze shifting to his mouth, her tongue sweeping over her lips as if in preparation, but when he leaned over to kiss her the way he really wanted to, she opened her door and headed for the inn.
Watching her hurry up the flagstone walk, he knew he should leave it be. Let her go. Then again, he could come by in a couple of hours and try to see her one last time before she left for good. Maybe she"d change her mind and share a bite of breakfast with him anyway.
He rubbed the whiskers appearing on his chin. h.e.l.l, he needed to give her his number in the event she left before he could see her again in the morning, just in case she did return to the area and wanted to visit him. He opened his door, slammed it shut, and hurried toward the inn, telling himself he had the most honorable of intentions. Even though he was dying to kiss the vixen good night, no sweet and una.s.suming peck on the cheek like she"d given him. Truly, that simple sign of affection had stirred him up all over again.
Like a wolf on the hunt, he picked up his pace as the door to the inn closed shut behind her.
Ca.s.sie"s heart raced as she ran through the hallway, heading for the kitchen and the back door that led out to the herb garden. As soon as she reached the kitchen, she heard the front door open. Leidolf. Had to be him. Coming to say good night? Hoping for an invitation to stay the rest of the evening, maybe. At least, she figured, he wanted a kiss. And she would have given it to him, if she hadn"t worried she was getting herself in deeper trouble.
She opened the kitchen door with a squeak, just about giving herself a heart attack as he stopped before the door of her room and called out in a low voice, "Ca.s.sie? It"s me, Leidolf." He didn"t say anything for a moment. "I forgot to give you my number."
Feeling bad that she had to leave him without further word this way, she exited the house, shut the door, and slipped behind some shrubs in the event he heard the squeaking door and came to investigate. He didn"t. Yet she had a job to do, and being with Leidolf or any other lupus garou wasn"t going to help her get it done.
She waited until the front door shut. When Leidolf"s Humvee roared to life, she remained where she was until he drove off. Then she raced around to her truck, unlocked the door, and threw in her briefcase. She"d change out of her dressy clothes after she parked in the woods. Now was the time to find the little red wolf.
As soon as she got on the road, she thought she was being followed. She glowered at the headlights behind her. She"d picked them up close to the B&B. Surely, Leidolf hadn"t been watching and waiting for her to sneak off.
She considered the height of the headlights. Looked like a pickup truck. She tapped her thumbs on the steering wheel. Someone was probably guarding her truck so no one else tore up her tires. Either that, or it was Alex. She groaned.
Without any other choice, she drove two hours out of her way in the direction of California until the truck finally turned off. And then after driving another fifteen minutes to ensure she didn"t pick him up again, she returned to the location where she"d seen the red wolf from the road.
At the turnout for the trailhead, Ca.s.sie parked, changed clothes, and slept for a couple of hours. Then she grabbed her field pack and took off into the woods to locate the red wolf. After three hours of hiking up and down the hills and valleys, and crossing two rocky creeks, she was sure she was closing in on the elusive wolf.
In hot pursuit of her goal, she slipped through the dappled forest, the filtered sunlight giving it a ghostly appearance. Her boots barely made a sound on ground cushioned with years of acc.u.mulated composting leaves, the earthy smell mixed with that of the ancient Douglas firs in the Mount Hood National Forest. She lifted her nose and sniffed the chilly spring air again, trying to locate the female wolf"s scent that she"d smelled after tracking her into the area.
Was it a regular lupus or a lupus garou?
Had to be awolf. A werewolf wouldn"t be running around in its fur coat in broad daylight. Or shouldn"t be. Unless she was in trouble. Then that would put a different spin on the whole scenario.
As a wolf biologist, Ca.s.sie was normally interested in only one thing: a plain, old wolf and its pack that she could study to dispel the myths and legends about the big, bad wolves--and get paid so she could continue to devote her life to their cause. She swallowed a lump in her throat. She owed their kind.
Her shoulders growing weary, she shifted her backpack and crouched down to observe the ground, looking for signs of wolf prints. The water lapping at a bank some distance through the trees caught her attention. Maybe the wolf had left tracks on a muddy bank while she paused to drink there. Unless the bank was rocky...
Ca.s.sie headed in that direction to check it out.
What sounded like light footfalls on crunchy dried-out leaves caught her attention. Abruptly, she stopped in the heavily wooded area, smelled the air again, and listened. Just the breeze caressing the leaves and pine needles surrounding her, and hidden in the thick foliage, birds twittering with one another or scolding her for being too close to their nest, the babies peeping for another meal. Yet for the last couple of hours, she had felt as if someone was following her, tracking her every move. So what... or who would be trailing her?
Taking a deep breath of the cool air, she didn"t catch the scent of anyone or anything else. Either she was imagining things, or whatever-it-was knew to keep downwind of her. She hoped it wasn"t Alex Wellington, trying to track her down again. Letting out an exasperated sigh, she swore she"d never convince him she strictly worked alone. And then she thought of Leidolf and those of his pack. She stood very still, listening, not hearing anything further. That"s all she needed. Leidolf or one of his people tracking her.
She brushed aside the soft needle-covered branches of a hemlock blocking her view of the source of water and... gasped.
Not at the spectacular sight of the dark blue lake, still closed for visitor day use until May, but at the naked man standing mid-thigh in the cold water, his back to her as he stared out across the region.
She didn"t see anything to garner his attention but the beauty and serenity of the vista. Picturesque Mount Hood, the snow-covered volcanic mountain in the distance, the focal point of the whole landscape, so prominent that it could be seen from a hundred miles away.
Well, it would have been the prominent feature if a naked man hadn"t been standing in the lake in front of the view, taking center stage instead.
Chestnut hair curled about the nape of his neck, shorter than she thought a reclusive mountain man would wear it. His backside was pure delight to look at, from his broad and muscled back down to his narrow waist and a toned b.u.t.t a girl could die for. Muscular legs disappeared into water that rippled in the slight breeze.
She sniffed the air but couldn"t catch his scent. Being a lupus garou, she could smell the mood of an individual like any wolf could--whether he was fearful, aggressive, cowed, or s.e.xually aroused. The way the man was standing so peacefully, she a.s.sumed his scent would be a mixture of woods, water, musky male, and blissful serenity.
Before she could back up and leave, he dove into the lake with a splash and, with a powerful momentum, began swimming freestyle. Fascinated, she watched his compelling over-arm strokes and legs slicing the water, wondering how he could stomach the cold. Unexpectedly, he plunged beneath the surface. Forever, it seemed, she watched the dark blue waters, the building clouds making it appear blacker. And no sign of the man. He remained under so long that she finally took a step forward in rescue-mode when he suddenly rose up like Poseidon, Greek G.o.d of the sea, took a deep breath, and dove under again. She half-expected him to be wielding a trident while porpoises swam alongside him.
Frozen in place, she continued to watch where he"d disappeared, when he abruptly shot up again. Only this time, he headed for the beach. She frowned. Leidolf? She couldn"t be sure with the way he dove in and out of the water so quickly and the distance between her and the beach. Waiting for him to dive again, she didn"t move. This time, he remained on the surface and kicked vigorously with his legs, his arms plying the water, his head mostly submersed under water as he swam toward the sh.o.r.e and a pile of clothes she hadn"t noticed before.
To her relief, his focus remained on the beach whenever he turned his head to take a breath of air. She was afraid that if she backed into the woods, he would notice her movement and, G.o.d forbid, realize she"d been a voyeur spying on him. Not that spying on him bothered her overly much. If he was going to run around naked at a closed park, it was his fault that she caught him at it. She still didn"t want him catching her spying on him. Especially, if the man was Leidolf.
So the plan was that as soon as he concentrated on dressing, she"d slip away.
Upon reaching the shallows, he stood, and she swallowed hard. He looked different naked, his hair dripping wet. It was Leidolf.
His strong legs plowing through the water, he waded toward the sh.o.r.e. The lake rippled at his navel, water droplets raised like translucent pearls all over his golden skin, his nipples crisply pebbled. Beautiful, powerful, tantalizing. Poseidon in the flesh, just as masculine and intriguing to women as the G.o.d who had exerted his power over them, just like his brother, Zeus.
At least that"s the effect Leidolf had on her. And she wasn"t easily swayed by men"s appearances. In or out of their clothes.
While he was looking in the direction of his clothes, she took a step back into the shadows of the hemlocks, the soft needles brushing her arms. Without watching where she was going, she stepped on a branch, snapping the dead wood in two. Big mistake. With her sensitive hearing, she thought it sounded like the noise echoed across the lake, reaching faraway Mount Hood and even Portland two hours away. Heart racing, she didn"t move, afraid to make any further noise, hoping he hadn"t heard her.
Leidolf whipped his head around. She should have known he"d hear her. His olive-colored eyes widened when he saw her standing half hidden in the hemlocks. Stiff and motionless like a d.a.m.ned scared doe not moving an inch, she waited to see what happened next. Yet she was every bit the predator as much as her wolf kind were.
Except for a slight smattering of stubble, lightly reddish in color, Leidolf"s face was chiseled perfection that matched the rest of his physique from his sculpted abs and muscular arms down his torso to a trim waist. A red thatch of hair framed his staff already stirring with her perusal. Water droplets slid provocatively down every inch of his skin, caressing like a silky delicate touch.
She swallowed hard and looked up. He was male excellence. At least in the physical department. And to think she"d had that body next to hers at the club half the night, dancing nice and slow.
At first, his expression revealed his surprise to see her standing there, but then he quickly switched his attention from her to the surrounding woods as if he was looking for her hiking companions. Maybe thinking she was with Alex or someone else. His relaxed stance turning rigid, he coiled his fingers into fists and tightened his jaw. The way he hastily reacted indicated he was searching for danger, ensuring she was alone. Probably any man would have done the same thing in the event she had companions with her who were trouble. Especially when he was naked without any weapons for defense.
Apparently rea.s.sured no one of a threatening nature was in the immediate vicinity, he shifted his heated gaze back to her and took in her whole appearance.
"Are you lost, Ca.s.sie?" he asked, his expression still serious, as he lifted his chin slightly and inhaled a deep breath, like any self-respecting lupus garou would do.
In answer to his question, she shook her head, but the adrenaline already flooding her bloodstream kicked her heart into a more frantic pace. She hadn"t smelled him on her trek through the woods, but then she probably hadn"t come across his trail, and the way the breeze was blowing, she hadn"t gotten a whiff of him that way, either. Plus, if he had never been through this area as a wolf, he wouldn"t have left scent markings. With the hunter spray she was wearing so she could catch up to the she-wolf without detection, he still couldn"t smell her, either.
"I thought you had returned to California." He sounded a little bit perturbed, yet he schooled his expression. "Just hiking then?" He didn"t sound as though he thought she was just hiking. He had to have figured she was looking for the wolf she"d seen--that he knew she"d seen.
She didn"t answer his question, not wanting to get into a full-blown conversation with him and certainly not to explain her business here. She figured it wouldn"t hurt to offer an apology. "I didn"t mean to disturb your solitude."
She took another step back and b.u.mped into a branch, nearly giving her a heart attack, until she came to grips with her fear that it was only a branch and not another man behind her, this one blocking her escape path. As much as she wanted to turn and leave, she couldn"t, wouldn"t back down, tuck tail, and race off.
His stern expression shifted from a look like he was somewhat irritated that she had intruded on his privacy when he"d thought she"d left town and wouldn"t see him further to a slight upward curve of his lips, his eyes darkening, and his brows lifting and lowering quickly--signaling both amus.e.m.e.nt and further interest. As if maybe he had another chance to be with her for longer.
"No problem. Stay, enjoy the view. I"ll just slip on some clothes." He wore the most devilishly sinful expression when he said the words, emphasizing that he, and not Mount Hood, was the view she was so enjoying. She feared he had another agenda. One that meant he wanted to learn more about this wolf she was most likely searching for. She figured now he worried she"d seen one of his own people.
"Thanks, but I need to be on my way." Yet despite admonishing herself for it, she wasn"t in any real hurry to leave. She hadn"t had such a good time in forever as she"d had with him last night. Living with real wolves certainly hadn"t been the same. And quick romps with human males hadn"t either.
G.o.d, Leidolf was hot, and her body was burning up with his perusal. She took another step around the branches, still backing up, her gaze holding his. He didn"t make a move toward her, but the look in his intensely intrigued gaze said he wanted to. That if she made a sudden movement, that if she ran, he"d hunt her down. Like a wolf would instinctively do if something suddenly dashed away from him.
Some darkly wolfish part of her wanted him to, wished to be hungered after like he seemed to desire her, which was more than ludicrous. She had to find the female wolf, locate the she-wolf"s pack, and befriend them. Frolicking with a lupus garou--alpha leader type--wouldn"t pay the bills and, most importantly, wouldn"t help the wolf kind.
"Are you sure? That you really want to leave?" His lips lifted a little more, smug, arrogant.
"I"m sure," she finally said, but her hesitation to say so proved she wasn"t all that sure. Her werewolf nature was the problem, wanting a say in what she should do, how she should feel. Despite trying to keep it in abeyance.
"Are you looking for a spot to... camp for the night?" he asked, his voice dark and seductively entrancing, and a lot more enticing than she was willing to admit.
Before she could catch herself, her lips parted slightly, his gaze riveting to them.
"No," she said, not sounding as stern as she should have. Way too wishy-washy instead. Like she"d been about sharing his tenderloin with him and dancing also.
The gleam in his eyes said he knew he"d hooked her in part.
He still didn"t make a move toward her, though. He probably thought he might scare her away. Maybe thinking like he had last night. He looked like it was killing him to stay where he was and not advance on her, his hands still clenched, the muscles in his thighs taut. As an alpha lupus garou, he"d want to shorten the distance between them, move in real close, and check her out further. Smell her, touch her if she would allow it, like an alpha wolf would inspect another he wanted to befriend or chase off.
The sensible side of her was trying to convince herself to leave, p.r.o.nto, to do the job she"d come here for. But the wickedly curious part of her that he had awakened-- "Plenty of fresh water, fishing even, steelhead, salmon, though both are somewhat elusive, hiding, difficult to catch," he said.
"Thanks, but--"
He waved his arm at the lake, his hand opening palm up, inviting her to stay and fish. "Crawdads are easier to come by. And soft earth to bed down on is perfect for whatever you have in mind to do, plus... other conveniences are available."
"You?" popped out of her mouth before she could halt the word. He was so overconfident in the way he came across, although she imagined most women would have melted at his suggestion--like she was nearly doing when she knew d.a.m.ned well she could never tangle with a lupus garou in that manner, not unless she wanted him for a mate--so she guessed it wasn"t really a case of overconfidence on his part, but just the way things were where he was concerned.
He chuckled, the darkly humorous tone rippling through her like a beacon warning of delectable danger. He tilted his head slightly to the side and toward her as if saying yes, which sent another unnerving chill down her spine. If he"d been human, he could have been giving her a subtle, very cool nod of his head, but his action was an alpha lupus garou"s declaration.
She should have taken heed and left right then and there. But Leidolf intrigued her like no man had ever done. Not only that, but she really had a problem with backing down. Long ago, she had learned that taking that stance could be as treacherous as facing the trouble. She didn"t have to be a genius to know Leidolf definitely was trouble.
She folded her arms and tilted her chin up a hair. "The campgrounds aren"t open yet. And this one"s not for overnight use even if it was open." Not that she didn"t bend the rules herself when the situation warranted.
"Don"t tell me you"ve never enjoyed nature in a more natural way," he said.
If only he knew. "I don"t believe in breaking the law."
He raised his brows. "I don"t either. Some things shouldn"t be regulated, though." He sighed. "If you"d rather stay with me at a more private place, I own a cabin in the woods not far from here."
She shook her head.
Without any indication he was going to move, Leidolf suddenly waded toward the sh.o.r.e, shoving the water aside with his powerful legs as if the very waters would part for him, startling her. His leg muscles moved fluidly, exquisitely as his belly tightened and his jaw clenched, his whole demeanor determined and focused. And then? He gave her a suave and smoky kind of wink that said she was his. And that she knew it.
Yet she was frozen with indecision. How could she explain what she was doing here without him coming after her, watching what she did, when she knew in part he would be there to protect his own kind? Also, she was sure he"d keep trying to wear her down, to capitulate, and have a tryst with him. Worse, she didn"t trust the way she felt when she was with him. Even throughout the day, she had chided herself for giving in to dance with him like she did. Yet it had felt so right, so good.
He left the water and stalked toward his clothes, and she knew before he dressed, it was now or never.
Then everything was decided for her.
She smelled a whiff of the female red wolf, and her work ethic kicked back in.
She whipped around in the direction she sensed the wolf, took another sniff, and a.n.a.lyzed the scent. It was the she-wolf Ca.s.sie had been chasing for so many hours!
Without a backward glance at Leidolf, who would inspire the world"s greatest artists to create a marble likeness and could get her into really hot water if she"d fooled around with him, she raced off on the hunt again.
"Ca.s.sie!" he yelled, almost desperate, but she ignored the urge to slow down and wait for him.
Her field pack pounded against her back as she left the hunk of red lupus garou to further ponder the lake"s beauty and his surroundings in solitude. Although now he wouldn"t think of anything other than her and what she was doing here. She hoped she"d find the she-wolf and her pack before it grew dark, and that they were the kind she could write up in her latest journal on wolf behaviors. Also that Leidolf Wildhaven wouldn"t locate her before she was done.
She wished he hadn"t been a lupus garou, just a hunk of a man, who she could have spent some time with in a brief pursuit of pleasure.
What had Leidolf planned anyway? To take her in his arms? Kiss her senseless? Before he knew what she was, of course. If he"d been human, she envisioned taking him into her embrace and kissing him speechless.
Running through the woods, tracking the female"s scent the best she could, she was unable to fathom why she found Leidolf so irresistibly appealing. Maybe his gallantry last night--taking her to the town hall and having her tires fixed. Or the way he stood up to Hollis, who was determined to bully her further after she finished her lecture.
But what she really loved was the way Leidolf had shared his meal with her when he knew she was dying to have some of that juicy roast tenderloin. And dancing so divinely with her when he figured she wanted to despite her initial reluctance.
Or was it something more basic--the onset of spring, the rebirth of flowers, and the time for wild animals to have their babies. The natural drive for wolves to mate, to procreate, to have their own offspring?
She realized then she"d been spending way too much time with regular wolves and had not taken enough of a break to satisfy a more primal need--quickly rectified with a romp with a strictly human type.
Her heart beating wildly, the sense of the chase renewed, she caught the female red"s scent drifting from the west and paused to get her bearing. And then, the instinct to hunt filling her blood, she raced off again to locate the red wolf.
Without her express permission, her thoughts returned to the hot, naked lupus garou she"d left behind next to the ice-cold water, wishing just an inkling that he would chase after her and attempt to track her down, just like she was doing with the she-wolf. Which was just plain insane.
So when she thought she heard a branch snap close by, why did she glance over her shoulder, thinking he was coming for her? And hoping she would see that wicked gleam in Leidolf"s eyes again that said he wanted her and if she was agreeable, she would be his. She envisioned his powerful body, still naked, chasing after her, formidably like a wolf on the run, ready to take her down.
In an attempt to shake loose of sinful fantasies that would only thwart her mission if she gave into them, she sprinted even faster away from the scene of temptation.
Surprised as h.e.l.l Ca.s.sie had appeared here at his lake and then charged off and left him behind again, Leidolf grabbed his trousers and began jerking them on while he studied the forest where the woodland nymph had disappeared. He hadn"t been able to believe it when one of his men told him she was headed back to California last night after he a.s.sumed she was staying the night at the B&B.
Thinking he"d be alone in his isolation for the day, enjoying his lake, his refuge from leading the Portland pack for a few hours, pondering how much Ca.s.sie had affected him last night, he"d never expected to see her again. Ever. If she was back, had she stayed somewhere else, or had she returned as soon as his tracker had stopped following her? And if that was so, had she spied him following her and waited to return after he did, or had she just changed her mind and come back?
If she had returned last night and not stayed overnight somewhere else, had she been in the woods for the rest of the night? h.e.l.l. What if someone else from his pack had come into this area wearing his or her fur coat and she caught the werewolf at it?
He rubbed the stubble on his chin, unable to quit watching the trees where she had vanished, feeling as though by some miracle she"d suddenly reappear. He knew she had been struggling with the notion of staying with him. If something hadn"t triggered her to leave, a d.a.m.nable conscience maybe or something else, perhaps the need to seek out the wolf--they could have shared a few hours of bliss or more. And then he could have learned her business.
He yanked on his shirt and breathed deeply, but the breeze was blowing the wrong way, and he couldn"t smell her. Couldn"t sense whether there"d been a hint of fear in her stance or not. Although he didn"t think so. But more than wanting to sense what she"d been feeling, he craved her, which was a dangerous notion for a lupus garou who desired to have a mate and, even worse, was leaning toward the disagreeable notion of turning a human.
Grinding his teeth, he scowled. h.e.l.l, how could he think of doing such a thing? He"d dealt with enough newly turned lupus garous lately to know how much of a problem one could be. And here he was a royal with very few human roots in his bloodline.
Then he realized he hadn"t noticed any scent on her last night, either. Nothing that would clue him in as to where she was if he found her again. She had to have been using a hunter"s spray. Sure, so she could track a wolf. Most likely one of his people. He growled inwardly.
He sat down on a log and pulled on his socks and then his boots.
Her olive eyes had taken in every inch of him, no matter that he was naked, maybe especially because he was naked. Which had stirred a raging fire deep inside him, despite the frigid water. If she"d stared at his body much more, he was sure the water would have begun to boil. Yet, she had not been in the least bit embarra.s.sed by the way his body had reacted to her fascination.
Then her expressive eyes had challenged him--an alpha leader!--to leave her alone as if she was too proud to become some man"s conquest. Yet another more fleeting look had flickered across her face... a look of desire, as if she welcomed his interest, just as much as he craved hers in return.
Or was it just wishful thinking on his part?