“Oh,” she moaned as the previous night came back to her.
She’d left the restaurant after dinner with friends. Three humans had come out of nowhere and attacked. She had been injured, and then surprisingly, a wolf-shifter had saved her. It was all very strange.
There shouldn’t have been any wolf-shifters in the Twin Cities, but she supposed a few would slip past their radar every once in a while. Since this one had rescued her, she was shockingly unconcerned. So, that was not what bothered her the most.
Actually, it was the humans. Something about them and that whole situation disturbed her. She’d been in the lit parking lot of a busy restaurant in a good neighborhood. Why had they picked her to rob? Why there? Unfortunately, thinking only made her head hurt worse. She’d worry about it later. She should be more concerned about the present anyway.
She looked around the room, finally noticing her surroundings. Hardwood floors and walls all around showed that it was a cabin of some sort. From her spot on the bed, she looked through the window and could see the cloudy winter sky and an endless sight of bare trees with a small amount of snow coating the branches.
The scent of cedar was strong, but it wasn’t the wood cabin. It was her wolf.
My wolf?
She mentally shook her head. She’d meant, her wolf rescuer. It was obviously his place. She looked at the empty spot next to her with the rumpled sheets and the dent on the pillow. This was obviously his room. Had he slept next to her?
A cupboard slammed in the other room. Sticking her nose in the air, she caught a whiff of food cooking, and her stomach rumbled.
She searched the room for a clock with no luck, and she assumed it was late morning or early afternoon. It was light outside, and days were short in November, so midday was a good guess.
Throwing back the covers, Payton attempted to swing her legs over the side of the bed.
Bad idea.
Pain radiated everywhere. She would need to do this a little slower.
Carefully, she put her right leg on the floor first. She noticed her right leg was bare. She looked down at herself. She could feel she was sans underwear. A man’s flannel shirt was the only thing she wore. She grabbed the collar and brought it to her nose. Although the smell was faint, it was the wolf’s shirt. It had been washed after he’d last worn it, and now, her scent covered it, too.
She pulled up the shirt to look at her throbbing hip. The wound was bandaged and clean from what she could see. Next, she picked up a chunk of her hair, seeing it had also been washed.
He had bathed her, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She appreciated his care, but she knew he’d seen her naked—as if things weren’t already awkward.
She lowered her shirt and moved to place her other foot on the floor. She was working up her motivation to stand when the wolf came to the door, carrying a tray of food.
They both froze.
“Payton?”
Wow. Now, this was a man.
It wasn’t that she’d expected some hideous creature, but she hadn’t expected to feel the pull of attraction either.
He had a strong masculine jaw, showing his virility, which was decorated with day-old scruff, and striking high cheekbones that made him all the more appealing. His hair was dark gray, almost black, with a hint of white at the temples, indicating he was a gray-and-white wolf.
He was older than her, but he couldn’t be more than in his early thirties. His hair gave him an almost distinguished look, except he was more chest-thumping masculine than a suit-and-tie sort of guy. But his best feature was his eyes. They were a beautiful clear blue. Cat-shifters and humans didn’t have eyes like that, not often anyway. They were pure wolf.
He wore only shorts, giving her an excellent view of his broad shoulders and muscular chest sprinkled with dark hair to match his head. He had a tattoo of a wolf on his pectoral muscle. He was tall and would tower over her if they stood next to each other. He looked vaguely familiar, but she could only picture him younger for some reason.
Not knowing what to say, even after all he’d done, she came up with a weak, “Hi.”
“You’re awake.” He stood still in the doorway, motionless.
“Yeah, I needed to…” She moved to stand, but the pain stopped her. “Ah.”
In a flash, he set the tray down on the dresser and squatted at her feet. “What can I do to help?”
He looked so worried that she had to smile, and she almost reached out to touch his face.
“How about you start by telling me your name?”
He cleared his throat and backed up half a foot, still sitting on his haunches. “Damien Lowell.” He smiled softly. “You probably don’t remember me, but—”
That’s why he looks familiar. “Yes, I do,” she said.
His smile grew wide.
He was twenty when the pack had left. She remembered he had been good-looking then, too, even though he was thin and gangly. Shifters wouldn’t reach full puberty until around their twenty-first birthday. Damien had probably started to fill out right after the pack was exiled.
“Our dads ran L & L Construction together until…”
He lost his smile and stood, putting his hands out. “Yeah. I want you to know that I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I know.”
“I’m not my father, nor do I—wait.” He tilted his head to the side. “You know?”
“Yes. One, if you wanted to hurt me, you would have already. Two, I just”—she shrugged—“know.”
And she did. Her instincts told her she didn’t have to fear this wolf-shifter despite their parents being enemies. She knew deep down that she was safe with him. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but her intuition had yet to fail her.
He ran his hand through his hair. “Huh. That was easier than I’d thought it would be.”
She smiled at him.
He smiled, too, until he looked past her to the bed. “I ended up sleeping next to you. You were crying and wouldn’t stop unless I was in the room.”
She held up a hand. “It’s okay.”
“You sure?”
“You didn’t try anything while I was unconscious, did you?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. Now, stop apologizing.” She was more worried about the bathing than the sleeping, but she wasn’t going to bring that up.
He smiled again. “Okay.” He pointed to the dresser. “I brought you food. Are you hungry?”
“Starving. But first, can you help me get up, so I can use the bathroom?”
He was back at her side again. “Of course.”
She put her hands on his shoulders while his fingers circled her abdomen. His skin was smooth underneath her palms, and his hands were a brand around her waist. She felt a current travel through her whole body. Even injured, she felt the electricity between the two of them.
This is going to be interesting.
