by Sky Winters
And that's exactly what he told himself as he took the blanket off his bed and covered her gently with it.
Chapter 4
Iona awoke the next morning to the smell of food beside her face. The ground had been uncomfortable, but nothing she wouldn't have been able to handle if she shifted into her wolf form. As she sat up she drew her eyebrows in confusion. A heavy chain was dragging behind her as she sat up. A large collar had been placed around her neck, anchored to a large boulder that hadn't been there the night before.
“It's in case you turn on us and decide to shift into a wolf,” Adair said to her. “Now eat.”
“How's the boy?” she asked, genuinely concerned for his well-being. “Were your healers able to do any good for him?”
Adair opened and closed his mouth, unsure as how to respond.
“He is well, but he is asking for his parents.”
He said this pointedly, as if trying to elicit some form of guilt from her. She leaned over her plate and grabbed a piece of bread with her teeth, tearing off a chunk expertly without using her hands. Adair shifted uncomfortably, but continued watching her.
“You do know I had nothing to do with that, right? I mentioned that once or twice but you didn't quite seem to hear me.”
“I know nothing,” Adair said. “And I will know nothing until the boy is ready to talk about what happened that day.”
Iona sighed loudly and took another bite of her bread.
“Think I could have some water?” she asked. He gestured toward the bowl on the floor beside her. She rolled her eyes. “You want me to shift?”
“How else will I know if the restraints will hold?” he asked pointedly.
“Right, yes, of course,” she said with a sigh. “You know it will ruin this dress though. It seemed significant to you so you might want to take it first. What was it, an old lover's?” she asked, unable to hide an irrational twinge of jealousy.
“No,” he said firmly, and she felt sorry for asking. It was obviously a sore subject for him, and he turned around quickly to hide his face. “I suppose you should just remove it then. I will untie your hands just for now. Take the dress off and hand it to me slowly.”
She knew that he would be able to bite her in half no matter what she did to try and escape, and so she did as she was told. He watched her undress steadily, and she suddenly felt very embarrassed to show her body to him. It was different when she shifted, because she didn't really have control over what might happen to her wardrobe. However, there was something more intimate about the act of undressing in front of somebody in her human form. It made her want to hide, and she began to resent him for watching her.
“I hope you like what you see," she said sarcastically as she slipped her arms through the sleeves of the dress and let it drop to the ground. He pursed his lips but said nothing, and she felt a little thrill. Obviously he did. Of course he wouldn't say anything like that to her, and she was glad for his silence. She decided to shift into her wolf form as quickly as possible. She would be more comfortable that way, and could sleep on the floor without any problem.
Iona closed her eyes and felt the change began to take form within her. Adair watched with wide eyes as a glow began to emanate from within her, before the entire room was bathed in light. When the light lowered, standing before her was a majestic white wolf. The wolf stared steadily, and he had the strangest feeling that there was nothing aggressive about this wolf. She was tame, and not interested in picking trivial or petty fights. Maybe he had been wrong about her all along. It was a lot easier to sense the truth from animals that it was from people, and because of his Dragon shifter blood, he had a feeling that she was more herself in this form then she was in human form.
The collar around her neck was a little bit loose, and he approached cautiously to tighten it. She watched him warily, but didn't move, and allowed to graze her soft mane with his strong hands after he completed tightening the collar. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen, both in human and in animal form. This train of thought was troubling him, and he knew he had to take a break. Otherwise, she might get into his head. He decided that it would be a good time to have the men watch her, so that he could go investigate the area where the fire was and make sure that it was true that the boy's parents were truly dead.
She watched as he left the tent. After she was left alone, three men entered and sat around her. She knew she shouldn't shift back into her human form if they were around. For some reason, she was not comfortable exposing her body to them, at least not as comfortable as she was with their leader. As they spoke amongst each other and waited for him to return, she gathered that his name was Adair, and that he was the clan’s leader. The men seemed to adore him, and she felt somewhat privileged to be sharing and abode with him. Even though she thought he was arrogant, he was very handsome and well mannered. If he wasn't so against her, she might actually like him as a person. She sighed and laid her head on her paws, staring at the door, anxious for him to return.
***
Adair flew toward the scene where he had found the child and the wolf. He realized on the way there that he still did not know her name. He could only think of her in terms of her physical appearance. She was unbelievably beautiful, and if she wasn't such an unusual case of potential evil, he would have liked to get to know her better. Unfortunately, he cannot trust her, and he would have to discover for himself whether or not the boy's parents had survived whatever had befallen. He kicked himself for not checking sooner, but in the heat of the moment, all he could think about was tending to the boy's wounds.
When he reached the hut, he was disturbed to find that it had all turned to ash. On the ground there was the remains of a man, he could only assume that it was the boy's father, the same strong and proud man who had come to him years before and asked for permission to settle in the forest. Adair had admired his spunk and his tenacity, and his very pregnant wife was absolutely lovely. They were the kind of family that he had wished to have one day, but he could not envision himself having such a family with anybody in his own clan. Everybody there he knew too well, almost as if they were already family. He was never able to sexually express himself with any of the women there, it just felt too strange.
For some reason, his mind turned to the woman in his heart. She had awakened something deep within him that had remained dormant and sleeping for many years. Although the man was dead, Adair envied him for finding a woman that made him feel that way and being able to keep her. Of course the only woman Adair had ever felt such longing for was a wolf woman who probably had killed such a kind person. Adair looked around in the ashes for the remains of a woman, but found nothing. He frowned, wondering what had become of the man's wife. Perhaps the wolf had eaten her. The thought brought Adair's blood to boiling, and he rushed back to the encampment, ready to confront the woman.
He ordered the men out of his hut, and noticed the wolf's tail start wagging when she saw him. She glowered fiercely into her face, and her ears laid back in apprehension and confusion. The wolf got to her feet and tilted her head at him, expecting him to speak and listening closely.
“You did it, didn't you?" he snarled at her, a small flame trickling from his nose. “I saw the father's corpse, what did you do with the boy's mother? Did you eat her? Did you gobble her up? You do realize that humans are not food right? Nobody deserves to be eaten like that, or orphaned and left alone to die! And you were even going to kill the child. I don't know what's wrong with you!”
She tried to speak, but realized that he wouldn't be able to understand her Wolf dialect in his human form. Instead, she transformed back into human form and sat naked on the blanket that he had given to her the night before. He watched her as he paced around, fuming with rage and indignation.
“I did not kill anybody, but I could probably help you find the boy's mother. If she disappeared, she's got to be somewhere out in the woods.”
“I'm not taking you anywhere until the b
oy tells us what he saw. As far as I'm concerned, you are my enemy. You are an enemy to humanity. You are a danger to my clan. I want to execute you, but because I believe in fairness, I will wait to see what proof there is of your innocence or your guilt before I act. You don't understand just how lucky you are that I am able to keep my head right now, lass.”
Iona watched him pacing, his handsome face contorted with rage. She tried to put herself into his shoes, and imagined that she had seen an angry man lunging toward a small and helpless child. This helped her to relax, and she bowed her head, closing her eyes and a meditative attempt to find the right words to calm the man down and soothe his anger toward her.
“Maybe you could take me to the boy now or bring the boy to me," she said thoughtfully. "If he is truly able to understand what had happened to his family, and he thought that I was the one responsible, would he not cower in fear of me? If he recognizes me despite his inability to speak, but may react physically to my presence?”
“I would never do that to the poor child," Adair snarled. “For I know you would just treat him as a snack to get the last laugh on me. You could snatch him up before I have the chance to kill you out right. No, we are going to wait into the boy can speak. If he says his mother is out there somewhere and you did not kill her and eat her, maybe then you can help us to look for her. Otherwise, I am convinced that she is rotting in your belly as we speak."
“That is the most disgusting thing I've ever heard," Iona laughed scornfully. "I would never eat human flesh. Do you know how bad it smells?”
Adair did know how bad human flesh smelled, in fact, and he was often surprised by it when he was in his Dragon form. He paused and stared at her for a moment, unsure of himself. Maybe she really was telling the truth. He would not touch the flesh of any creature either, he was a devout herbalist because of his ability to sympathize with the rest of the animal kingdom. Now he thought about it, when he was in his Dragon form, she had not smelled the same as other humans. Did that mean that she was less than human, or that she did not eat the flesh of others just as he would not?
“You cannot fool me with your words, Wolf," he said, sitting heavily down on his cot. “I am weary of you, and although I would like to believe the best in every creature, I know what I have seen and it did not look favorably upon you.”
“I know what you saw, and I also know what you think you saw," she said, sitting back against the pole that she was tethered to. The collar around her neck dangled loosely over her bare breasts, and he suddenly realized that she was no longer tied up. However, she made no move to run. He had to fight another powerful urge to touch her body, and he gestured toward the dress on the floor beside her.
“Please cover yourself, it gets cold at night." He said in a low voice, looking down at the bed. "I will tie you back up afterwards.”
She said nothing, but did his words and slipped the dress on over her naked body.
“I am Iona by the way. Your name is Adair, right?" She asked him. When he looked with a paranoid glint in his eyes, she laughed and rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. "The men who were here were talking about you. They think you're quite incredible. It makes you wonder what it might be like if I wasn't your prisoner."
“If you were smart, you wouldn't be in the north woods. You would have stayed down south where you belong with your clan."
“You are going to discover that I am innocent, and you are going to feel very guilty about the way that you have been treating me. However, I understand and I am likely to forgive you. I am concerned about the child’s safety as well, as I keep trying to tell you. Unfortunately, sometimes it is just very difficult when miscommunications arise. But don't worry, we’re going to be all right once this blows over. Maybe I'll just go back home and you'll never have to see me again."
For some reason, the mention of Iona heading back to the south caused Adair to feel very unhappy. He frowned deeply and she gazed at the deep crease in his eyebrows as he thought. Finally, his striking blue eyes looked up into her green ones.
“Well if you weren't here to kill the child, what in the world were you doing going outside of your limits? It is completely unsafe and dangerous. Don't tell me nobody has ever told you that. I have killed you on site, everybody knows the understanding between the territories here.”
“I knew there were boundaries in the territories, but I never knew why," she said to him. “My family doesn't really understand me, or care what I have to say about anything. I was just curious about what else was in the world. I wanted some kind of an adventure. And now I'm somebody's prisoner, I guess I got what I wished for.”
“So it would seem," he said with a small laugh. “Well lass, how are you liking your freedom?"
“If that was some kind of a joke, it wasn't funny," Iona said, smiling despite herself as Adair burst into ripples of deep laughter.
“Assuming that you are innocent as you claim, I would like to extend my humblest apologies for any inconvenience. Still, you are within my territory and I could do whatever I please with you."
“Is that so?” she said, an unexpectedly flirtatious smile spreading across her lips. She had never forwardly flirted with a man before, and it was clear that she had taken Adair by surprise. A deep smile crossed his cheeks, and she realized that he had already seen everything there was to see about her body. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to flirt with him. But she had surprised herself, and didn't expect the comment to escape her lips. She had never actually wanted to flirt with anybody before, but for some reason this man held a distinct appeal to her. His reaction to her forwardness brought a flash of heat to her loins, but she ignored it and held his gaze once more.
“We will see how your trial goes," he said to her, carefully avoiding her loaded question. He stood from the cot and approached her now that she was fully dressed, and tied her slender wrists behind her to the pole. She sighed and leaned back against it, the sound of her voice bringing another deep flush to his cheeks. She watched him curiously, surprised by the power her own body had over others. She didn't want to use that power unwisely, but it was intriguing to her to discover it there nonetheless. For some reason, Adair's attention was not as disgusting as the attention of other men that she had known throughout her life.
Soon, it was time for dinner, and Adair was served at his bedside and Iona's dishes were refilled. This then the rest of the night and silence, and she quickly fell asleep, snuggled into the blanket he had laid over her the night before, curious about what was going to happen next.
Chapter 5
Over the course of the next week, Adair and Iona spent a lot of time together. Adair couldn't help but feel drawn to the magnetic personality of the woman in his hand, and she found herself returning his gaze, conflicted and confused about the feelings that she was developing for him. She loved watching him taking care of his clan, and working hard to protect them all. She couldn't help but remember how enormous he was in his Dragon form, and all of that raw power seem to be bridled and bouncing energetically behind his broad and muscular chest when he was in his human form. She felt lucky to be able to shift into an animal of a reasonable size, such as a wolf. It didn't seem that Adair had that same freedom, but he certainly exercised it out in the wilderness whenever he had the chance to.
Finally, the young boy was feeling well enough to talk about what had happened to his family. It was the day Iona had been waiting for expectantly, concerned that his mother may have been ill or died by the time she was finally allowed to go and help her. She begged Adair to try and find the woman if they would not use her nose to help them, and he had listened and sent men out to search for her. The search had turned up nothing, and she was very frustrated with the fact that he did not trust her or her senses to help in time of crisis. Especially if it meant that the boy didn't necessarily have to be an orphan. Unfortunately, Adair was still suspicious of her, and now that the boy could speak, he was going to find out the truth.
Adair was summoned to th
e boy's bedside, and he stroked the young lad's hair, trying to soothe him.
“Do you remember me, lad?” He asked with a grin.
The boy nodded. “Where's the girl?" He asked.
“What girl?" Adair asked him.
“The girl who was with you. She can turn into a wolf. Is she okay?”
Adair swallowed the lump in his throat. If the boy was concerned about her safety, which meant that maybe he had acted a little bit too rashly.
“She's fine lad, don't worry. How are you feeling?"
“I feel a lot better. But I want to see the girl.”
“Why do you want to see the girl?" Adair asked him.
“I think she can help find my mom. My dad always talked about dogs being able to smell things out. My mom was missing for a day or two and my dad was trying to cook me dinner. A big fire started and he told me to get out of the house while he tried to fix it. I don't think he fixed it. It burned for a long time. When I called him he didn't answer me. Do you think he's okay?”
“He's not okay lad," Adair said, honest but sad. “Your dad didn't make it. But I bet you're right about that woman, she can probably help us find your mom. Do want to go talk to her with me?"
The boy nodded enthusiastically and Adair lifted him easily and carried him to his tent.
“Hi!" The boy said to her brightly. He didn't seem to realize that she was tied up.