Ecstasy Untamed (Feral Warriors #6)(78)

There! She'd stepped into the kitchen, wearing a trim light green shirt with buttons down the front, her hair loose around her shoulders. He could see her clearly now, pulling a wineglass down from one of the cupboards. The lights shining down from the ceiling cast her face into shadow. Were those bruises beneath her eyes real or just cast there by the lighting?

He watched, fascinated, as she opened a bottle of red wine, poured herself a glass, and lifted it to her lips. Pleasure coursed through him, and he was suddenly glad he'd made the trip. Seeing her like this settled him, easing a tension he hadn't realized he'd been feeling.

She recorked the bottle and turned away from the window. He sank to the ground, his chin on his paws. It was enough, he told himself. He should go home now and tell Xavier that he'd seen her. That his sister was fine.

A movement caught his eye at the back door. His ears lifted and he pushed himself up. Was she . . . ? Yes! Natalie opened the glass sliding door and stepped out onto her deck. It was all he could do to keep his big wolf's body planted on the soft earth and not bounding forward.

A sigh blew through his man's mind, snuffling out his wolf's mouth with a small, pleased whimper.

She was . . . beautiful. In the setting sun, her hair looked like spun gold, her features calm, as always. Perfect. She stood erect, her limbs long and lovely, her body curvy in all the right places.

As he watched, she took a sip of the red wine, then lifted her free hand to brush away something on one cheek. Then the other.

Tears.

He whined with misery, his emotions always leaking out when he was in his animal.

Natalie froze, her gaze jerking toward him. Her eyes widened, and he knew he'd been caught. Shit. He was going to scare her to death. Should he turn and run? Yeah, he should. But, goddess, he couldn't leave her like this. Not with tears in her eyes.

He rolled onto his back, scratching his back in the underbrush which, by the way, felt damn good as he put on the Happy Dog act. Then he rolled onto his stomach and laid his head on his paws watching her, hoping she wasn't scared. Then hoping she was because what was he thinking? He was a wolf! He knew he'd never hurt her, but she didn't know that.

The smart thing for her to do would be to back slowly into the house and close the door. And, goddess, he didn't want her to do that.

Another whine escaped him.

Natalie's expression softened as she took a step forward, and another, then sat on the top step leading off the deck into the grass. "You're beautiful, do you know that? Are you really a wolf, or just a very big dog? I should probably be afraid of you, shouldn't I?"

Damn right, she should.

Instead, he made his tail wag, the one thing it never did on its own, and was rewarded by a calm Natalie smile. Goddess, he'd missed those.

She held out her hand and made kissing noises toward him, and it was all he could do not to roll over with glee.

He started toward her slowly, reminding himself to keep wagging his tail, to open his mouth and let his tongue loll out in that dopey way that made dogs look like they were smiling. His gaze remained fixed on Natalie, watching Natalie, mesmerized by Natalie.

She watched him without fear, with a mix of delight and curiosity. "You are gorgeous, do you know that?"

Ha. She wouldn't say that if she saw the scarred mess that was his man's face. Actually, she'd seen his man's face. She hadn't called him beautiful, but she hadn't run away screaming, and that was something. A huge something.

He closed the distance between them, his heart jackhammering against his ribs. Up close, she was even more beautiful, her skin flawless and creamy, her mouth soft with that smile that had kept him company in his dreams. But her eyes still glistened with unshed tears, her lower lashes spiked and damp, and he wished with everything inside him he could give Xavier back to her. If only the Ferals could find a way to steal the kid's memories of them and all he'd seen, and send him home.

Natalie reached for Wulfe slowly. The moment her hand slid into his fur, his body shuddered with pure pleasure.

Desperately, he wanted to shift into man form and tell her the truth, that Xavier was fine. But he'd frighten her shitless if he tried it. Naked, scarred. Shifting. Yeah, humans didn't take well to that stuff. He'd tell her the truth, then just have to wipe it out of her mind again.

No, there was nothing he could do. His being here wasn't helping her at all.

And all he'd managed to do for himself was to see her misery firsthand. To know there was nothing he could do to help her.

And to realize how much he wished that she could, in some way, be part of his life.

An hour before sunrise, as soon as the draden were gone for the day, the Ferals, Kara, and Faith made their way through the woods near Feral House, coming out on the rocks high above the rugged Potomac River. Faith clung to Hawke's hand as they stepped down to the wide goddess stone. A light drizzle had been falling most of the night, and she was already soaked and cold, though the shivers that hit her with periodic frequency might be more a result of the nerves that were tying her into knots. She was terrified of what would happen when the shifting triggered the darkness inside her. Would she turn on the other Ferals and try to kill them? Would she try to escape? Would she lose her clothes when she shifted and end up standing before them all, stark naked?

Kougar had promised her they'd thought of every angle and would be placing a spell that would keep her from getting away, no matter what. The nakedness, Hawke had assured her, would be something she'd get used to if it happened. Which was of little help that morning.