The male voices sounded distant as I slowly regained consciousness. It took my head a moment to clear enough for me to realize that I was being carried by one of them and he wasn’t being particularly cautious about jostling me about.
Confused and uncertain of what to do, I kept my eyes closed while I focused on the words being passed back and forth between the two brothers.
“I can’t believe you brought them here just before the full moon. What were you thinking?” snapped Noah.
“I had no choice,” Oscar defensively said. “I’m on a time crunch. Kenzie’s the only one I could find to help at the last minute. When she asked to bring Lisa, what was I supposed to say… no psychics allowed?”
“It’s bad enough that she’s psychic and could pick up on something, but she carries a touch of the bloodline,” Noah complained. “It’s faint, but I could smell it in her urine. We’ll be lucky if they leave her alone now that she’s marked the woods with her piss.”
“Yes,” Oscar mused. “That’s unfortunate.”
“It would have been so simple to give them a small tour of the place upon arrival,” Noah criticized.
“I got here only minutes before you did, brother,” Oscar barked.
I could feel Noah’s chest fill with air and then purge it out in a sigh of resignation.
“Well,” he huffed, “I can’t babysit her the entire time. I’ll have to leave Snow here.”
“Is he enough?” Oscar hesitantly asked.
“He’ll do what he’s told,” Noah replied.
“But is he enough,” Oscar asked again.
“It depends on who comes and how many,” Noah replied. “Does Kenzie know anything?”
“No,” Oscar said in earnest. “To tell you the truth, I had it in my head that they’d bypass this place and we wouldn’t have to say anything.”
“Not with that pool of urine she left behind. The woman’s got one hell of a bladder to hold that much,” Noah grumbled. “We’ll be lucky if half the mountain doesn’t pick up on it.”
“Can we disguise the scent?” Oscar hopefully asked. “We have a few days before the moon is full.”
“I plan on covering it as much as possible, but it’s soaked into the ground,” Noah said. “Maybe, if we’re lucky, we can mask it at least enough that it doesn’t draw those from the other side of the mountain.”
“We should still probably tell Kenzie,” Oscar suggested.
“Is she trustworthy?” Noah asked with concern.
“I mean to marry her one day,” Oscar replied.
“Don’t you think you should date her first?” Noah asked with a chuckle.
“There is that,” Oscar chuckled back.
“Damn, what a mess,” Noah huffed.
Unable to keep quiet any longer, I opened my eyes and looked at the strong jaw of the man who held me in his arms.
We were almost to the cabin when I said, “People pee in the wild all the time. I don’t know why my doing it is such a big deal.”
“It’s not the pee, but who did the peeing,” Oscar mysteriously said.
Looking at him as if he had four heads, I scowled as I complained that I had no clue what he was talking about.
“It’s you,” Noah offered. “You’ve got specific genetics that leave a special scent. It’s unlike that of the normal human.”
“I’m a normal human,” I protested.
“The hell you are,” Oscar blurted out.
Feeling alert and agitated, I looked into Noah’s dark, bottomless eyes and said in a firm voice, “You can put me down now. I can walk.”
His eyes lit up with what I assumed was amusement as he said, “I have no doubt that you can.”
To my surprise, he made no move to put me down. Instead, he climbed the steps to the porch with such ease and grace that one would have thought that he was carrying a pillow instead of a one-hundred-ten-pound female.
Oscar scooted ahead and opened the door to the cabin so that his brother could continue without interruption. It wasn’t until we were well into the room before Noah unceremoniously dropped me onto the sofa.
“What’s going on?” Kenzie asked as she scurried to check on me.
Her look of concern shifted to amusement once she realized that I was perfectly fine and simply fuming inside over Noah’s behavior. She could feel the chemistry between him and me, but could also feel us both resisting it. If Noah stuck around, she bet it would prove interesting to see how things progressed.
Before anyone could explain the dynamics of the situation, Snow appeared in the doorway. Kenzie sucked in her breath, but made no other noise as she stared, wide-eyed, at the beautiful beast.
Seeing her reaction, Oscar slapped the side of his thigh and called the wolf to him. Snow obediently moved next to the handsome veterinarian like a dog might a master.
Scratching the beast behind its ears, Oscar lightheartedly said, “Meet Snow.”
“He’s beautiful,” Kenzie muttered with awe.
“He’s going to be staying with you while you’re here,” Noah offered.
“The hell he is,” I blurted out.
Snow snarled and Oscar raised a brow.
“I was under the impression that you two made friends,” he said.
“If you mean my standing still, terrified, while it sniffed me from head to toe is making friends, then, I guess we did,” I said, “but it was one sided.”
“How so?” Noah asked.
“I never sniffed back,” I announced.
Whether it was meant to be funny or not, my remark got a roar of laughter from the room until I eventually joined in.
“Have you any idea how scary that was?” I asked when the laughter settled down.
“Lisa’s an author and a city girl,” Kenzie explained. “She’s not used to being around domestic animals, let alone wild ones.”
“So, she came into the deep woods where there are wild animals all about to relax?” Noah incredulously pointed out.
“Piss off,” I snapped.
I’d had just about as much of his pompous attitude as I could stand. Host or no host, the man was rude and insulting.
“I’d say you did enough of that for all of us,” Noah chuckled.
“You do have one king sized bladder,” Oscar noted.
“Are we back on this topic again?” I asked with exasperation.
“What topic?’ Kenzie asked with confusion. “Your bladder?”
“I couldn’t find the outhouse, so I peed in the woods,” I explained. “Apparently, that’s a no-no.”
“Peeing in the woods is a no-no?” Kenzie repeated with confusion. “Someone needs to explain what’s going on. I’m very confused.”
Oscar eyed Noah as he said, “We have something to discuss. You might want to sit down for it.”
After directing Snow to settle in front of the fireplace at the far end of the great room and making sure that everyone was seated in a comfortable position in preparation for the talk, Noah was the first to break into conversation.Focusing his attention on Kenzie he said, “I’m aware that you and my brother go back some years.” When she nodded, he continued, “He thinks very highly of you which is why we’re trusting you with something that’s been held secret.”“Not just from you, Kenz. From everyone,” Oscar quickly interjected.“I see,” Kenzie said in a slow and thoughtful manner. “Is this a secret that I want to know or should even know?”“I’m not sure you’ll want to know it, but you definitely need to know it,” Oscar replied.Kenzie looked at me and said, “What about Lisa? I’m assuming she needs to hear this se
After raiding the outhouse that was in the opposite direction from the one I took when searching for it and placing the contents they’d removed from it in a hefty pile over the spot where I’d urinated, Oscar and Noah said their good-byes. Kenzie had been given last minute instructions and had audibly vowed to start out first thing with the intention of getting the job done in record time. Oscar vowed the same.That night, I slept very little. Every sound in the night made me jump. With the moon on the verge of being full, it was bright enough for me to see the cabin’s surroundings without the aid of a light. I periodically peered out of the window to search the tree line for a man who was really a werewolf come to steal me away.I was still awake when I heard Kenzie clambering about the kitchen in an effort to get going for the day. It was obvious that she wasn’t a morning person. I’d neglected to bring a robe
I relaxed on the porch and enjoyed the cabin’s natural surroundings for an easy hour after watching Kenzie adjust her backpack as she hiked off into the woods to begin tagging duty. She was right about the weather. I’d shed my sweater almost immediately upon returning from using the outhouse. Sitting on the porch while reveling in the sensation of the faint warm breeze that caressed my flesh and feeling the heat of the morning sun on my face as it climbed higher over the treetops was so fantastic that I’d actually forgotten about Oscar and Noah’s outrageous werewolf claims.I’d also forgotten about Snow.It wasn’t until I was floating on my back in the clear lake water and spotted him sitting on shore near my clothes that I remembered the wolf. He looked so majestic as he sat watching my every move that it was almost breathtaking. Seeing how proud and tall he held himself also made me feel more at ease a
With both of us lost in our own thoughts, the silence during Noah’s and my trip off the mountain was acute. With my mind tortured by what had happened to me, I paid little attention to the drive or the time that it took.When he pulled down a long, narrow drive that was lined by ancient and massive looking oak trees that mingled with balsom fir and white pine trees, I forced myself back to reality.Positioned in the middle of a clearing that was circled by a thick mass of the same species of trees that lined the drive, his cedar sided house looked lonely, but majestic. The lawn was well manicured, but void of any shrubs or flowers. Since he was a busy man, it didn’t surprise me that he’d kept the landscaping simple to care for.Having met him at his rustic cabin and noticing the weathered cedar siding on the house, I was surprised to see how technically advanced his furnishings were. Being a fan of antiques and old homes, the d&eacu
Dr. Mitchell Blake was a small, wiry man in his mid-fifties who looked like a perfectly normal man. Had I not known that he was one of Noah’s pack, I’d never have guessed it. Then, I never would have thought Noah to be a werewolf either. The good doctor’s appearance helped to lessen the trauma that I experienced at having to expose myself to a stranger for an intimate examination. His mild mannered politeness also didn’t hurt.“You’re torn in two places,” he informed me after completing my internal exam. “They aren’t excessive, but I’m going to give you a cream to insert for the next few days. It will help to accelerate the healing process.” As he turned his back to me and searched the cupboards for the medication that he wanted to supply me with, he added, “No sex until I’ve examined you again in two weeks.”“No worries there,” I said with a tr
It was dark when I felt someone’s weight lowering onto the mattress beside me. Still groggy, I was only vaguely aware of the fact that Noah was now sharing the king sized bed with me.“You’re in my bed,” I drowsily slurred.“Actually,” he said with a low, soft tone, “you’re in mine.”Forced into a slightly more coherent state from the surprise of discovering that I’d been sleeping in his bed for the better part of the day, I said with dismay, “This is your bed? I’m in your bed?”“There’s no need to panic,” he assured me. “I want to keep you close. It makes sense to put you next to me during the night. This is the most vulnerable time.”Hearing his words, I moved a little closer to him. My body was still trembling. I wasn’t sure if it was still the remnants from the attack or from the reality of
Inserting the cream that the doctor sent home with me proved to be more difficult than I’d expected. The pain in my ribs and my fear of making matters worse prohibited me from being as flexible as I needed to be in order to do it properly. I was still struggling with maneuvering my body to better accept the applicator when Kenzie knocked on the bathroom door.“Are you okay in there?” she asked with a concerned tone. “Noah tells me that you’ve been in here for some time.”“He noticed I went to the bathroom?” I cried with disbelief. “Is there no privacy in this house?”“Not if you want to stay safe, there isn’t,” she replied. “What’s going on. Do you need help?”I hesitated for a moment before giving in and telling her that I did indeed need help. When she entered the room and I explained why her assistance was required,
When I awoke the following morning, there was no sign of Noah. Since he’d risen before me the day before, I didn’t think much of it. Instead, I settled back into the pillows while I waited for him to arrive with coffee and a bagel, as he’d done the morning before. To my surprise, he didn’t come.I waited for half an hour before I climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom to relieve myself. I was surprised at how comfortable I was wandering about in the bra and panties that I’d slept in. I couldn’t explain it even to myself, but Noah’s house felt like home to me.After taking the time to brush my teeth, wash the sleep from my face, and eliminate my bedhead hairdo, I pulled on my shorts and a tee shirt and headed out of the bedroom in search of him.Although I felt more alert from the hours of sleep that I’d had, I was still feeling the effects of the sedative. The world had a touch of surre