Instead, Lily whooped, startling Sara enough that she flinched. “I knew it! This has to do with Rafe. I just knew it.”
Sara spluttered through several half-begun sentences and abruptly halted her pacing by the window. The day outside was ending with a gorgeous sunset. Beams of light slanted through the tall pine trees in her back yard, beckoning her out to play. She really should go for a run.
“What? I didn't say anything about Rafe.” Babbling. Definitely babbling, which she tended to do when nervous. “Hey, why don't we go get a drink in town later? I'd love to get out and find a cute cowboy tonight. Maybe I'll meet someone like Kieran and have that instant animal attraction.”
Lily laughed again. There was a rich quality to her voice, something Sara had noticed over the past month since Lily met Kieran and time basically stopped for her. Those two were meant for one another, true mates. Lily never gave too many details about what sex with Kieran was like, but she didn't have to. The man made her glow, which meant it was great. Sara was thrilled for her friend. After what Lily had been through, she deserved the joy and renewed interest in life she'd found.
It would be sort of nice to have that sort of connection with someone herself. Maybe. A comfortable yet burning hot connection. The kind she'd shared with—
Sara shook off that thought. That big golden wolf was not going to invade her thoughts again. Never mind he was in them twenty-four/seven already.
“Sorry, I've got a date with my mate tonight.” Lily sounded so ridiculously giddy at the thought it made Sara smile. Lily and Kieran were almost living together now. Apparently, though, date night could still be a lot of fun. “But you could go out. And invite Rafe,” she ended in a teasing singsong
“Lils! Why are you going on about Rafe, anyway?”
Sara almost held her breath waiting for the answer.
“Because,” Lily said in a drawl, “the attraction between the two of you is so obvious it almost clubs me over the head. Don't think I haven't noticed. I've seen it for about a month now.”
Sara's jaw dropped. If Lily could see it, other wolves could, too. At the same time, pleasure tickled her spine. If Lily saw it, then it also was real.
“I swear, Sara, if he hurts you at all, I'll give him a chewing out he'll remember.”
Sara spluttered again, then laughed. The best thing about best friends was how they watched out for one another. Sometimes it even trumped blood ties.
“Thanks. I'll remember that. But I'm a big girl, Lils. I can handle things.”
To her own ears, she sounded like she was defending a theory full of holes. Restless, she picked up her pacing again. Outside the window, pine branches danced in the light. She itched to get out there and run. Or something.
“Besides,” she said, “there's nothing there. He's just—Rafe. I haven't been with anyone in a little while, so it's natural I'm responding to being around him. He is a guy, after all.”
Lily's voice teased through the line again. “A guy who's attractive to you, Sara. Why not just go for it? I've never known you to not go after a guy who catches your interest.”
From someone else, that might have sounded catty. From Lily, it was nothing but honest. Wolves needed to mate, regularly. Their hot body temperatures—literally higher than those of non-shifter human beings—and wolf shifter genes demanded plenty of sex to help contain and appropriately channel the innate wildness. Sara had never had a problem complying with her natural urge to mate. In the wolf world, it was not remotely judged as morally loose to have sex. It was just what wolves had to do. Sara'd always loved it.
Now, she didn't feel the urge. Except when she looked at Rafe. Or thought about him. Or mentioned him. Or heard his name in conversation.
With abrupt clarity, she knew how to solve her maddening restlessness. At least for now.
“Lils, you're the best, you know?”
“Um, thanks,” Lily said, sounding a little puzzled.
“Listen, I've gotta run. Literally. I'm kind of climbing out of my skin and I think I need a good workout. All this energy about the rogues. Know what I mean?”
Lily's voice softened. “I do. Have a good run. Talk tomorrow?”
“For sure. Have fun on your date.”
Lily's purely happy giggle echoed in Sara's ears as she ended the call and gathered her clothes. She definitely would go on a run, much later tonight. But first, the hot springs called to her with their soothing waters. That was exactly what she needed to calm the mating urge she was feeling. A mating urge for the one darn wolf who would not see her for who she really could be.
Rafe stretched, a bone-cracking, utterly luxurious stretch. He arched his back as he reached his arms behind him and held the position for a long moment. His entire afternoon had been spent at the computer, writing and filing a special report the Alpha had requested. Now he deserved to relax this evening. With a sigh of pleasure, he contemplated the hot springs just over the front gate.
The local hot springs just north of town were close to the Black Mesa den. Unbeknownst to the managers, wolves frequented the spring late at night, after hours. Nothing could keep out the leap of a wolf over a fence. Then it was an easy shift back into an already naked human body, which led to a relaxing slide into the natural hot waters.
Right now, the springs were still open for business for about another ten minutes. Rafe leaned back against his truck. Then he had a better idea. Lowering the tail gate, he jumped in. Lying on his back, feet hanging over the end, he rested his head on his arms and regarded the moonless sky above. The stars clustered together between the black lumps of the surrounding mountain peaks and the dark, feathery shapes of pine trees.
Looking at the night sky made Rafe think of his childhood. He used to lope around the pack's territory with his siblings, exploring the nuances of being a wolf, learning the land, and guiding himself by two things: his nose, and the stars. The Alpha required all pack members to be able to navigate by the stars in human form. Wolf form allowed them to learn the land through the incredibly sensitive properties of their keen noses, but sometimes wolf form wasn't available to them. If ever unable to shift into wolf for any reason, they had to know how to read the stars in order to find their way safely back to the den.
Ursa Major shivered above. Rafe knew the night air still held spring chill, but his shifter metabolism operated well at greater temperature variations than that of a human's. His skin felt warm to the touch despite the coolness of the air. A few dimmer stars tantalizingly appeared and disappeared if he stared right at them. A quiet snort of laughter puffed out as he thought of how many hours he and his siblings had spent doing that very thing when they were young.
Car doors slammed in the parking lot. People were leaving as the place closed for the night.
He pulled in a quick breath through his nose. A strong advantage any shifter had over a human was that wolf senses were still fairly keen even when in human form. Right now he couldn't smell things nearly as well as he when he padded about on four legs. But he could scent a person or a vehicle over a mile away, which was well beyond the ability of any human on earth.
His head swiveled sharply and he sat upright. One scent carried to him on the cool air.
Sara's car. On the highway. Slowing down. She was about to turn into the hot springs.
A subtle grin eased its way across Rafe's face. Well, wasn't this an intriguing turn of events.
Sara let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding as she swung her little car—all hers! She'd saved forever to buy the cute little thing—into the parking lot of the hot springs. A lot of people preferred going all the way to Pagosa Springs for what they called a real hot spring experience. Sara preferred the local one here, just a few minutes down the highway from the den. It was close, unpretentious, and had some of the most healing waters she'd ever been in.
Sara loved hot springs. She'd been to every natural hot springs—and some pretty unnatural ones, too, overly developed with all the heart st
ripped away from them—within a two hundred mile radius. Some were awfully nice, but the local one remained her favorite. Sentiment drove most of that. This was her home springs.
Even though she always snuck in, like many of the other Black Mesa wolves. Well, everyone who liked to go bought an annual pass, as strongly suggested by the Alpha. Even so, all the younger pack members still cherished sneaking in at night as an honorable way to experience the hot springs the way they truly should be: natural, unfettered, and unregulated.
Sara shrugged her little bag over her shoulder before she even turned off the engine, and had her legs out the door while she still pulled the key out of the ignition. The scent of pine trees, hot water, human sweat from inside the building, motor oil, and wolf swept over her.
An almost electric shock went over her. Wolf. One particular wolf.
Rafe was here. At the hot springs. Where she was now, too. About to get naked and dunk into the water. Where he would be naked, too. Also dunking into the water. The same water she would be getting into, also naked. Naked like Rafe. At the same time.
She audibly gulped. Her wolf rose, curious. Why shouldn't Rafe be naked? Wearing clothes into water was silly. Wearing clothes at all was silly.
A shaky laugh slipped past her lips. If only the rest of the pack could see her now. This was so unlike the playful, heel-nipping, flirtatious, seemingly confident Sara she seemed to be to all of them. This Sara was getting unnerved by a guy. It was almost as if she didn't know what to do with one. Now, that was a silly thought.
Her wolf gave the equivalent of a quiet laugh.
“Sara?”
At least she didn't jump. Instead, she turned around as if half surprised.
“Rafe! Hi! What are you doing here?”
Smooth.
His slow smile told her he knew she was pretending to be surprised. He knew perfectly well she'd scented him just before he spoke. Completely unprepared for his presence here, she hadn't heard him come up behind her—even in human form, shifters could move startlingly fast and silent. But her nose could catch things before her brain had time to figure out what they were.
“I thought it was a nice night for a soak. Had to work on a report all day. My muscles are screaming at me.”
“Me, too.” Her voice came out kind of breathy. She pitched it lower and went on. “I actually wanted to go for a run. But I thought a little dip first would be nice.”
She looked around the parking lot. Theirs were the last cars. Rafe's big silver truck was a dark shadow several spaces away.
“What do you say?”
She looked back at him. Even without a moon and no artificial lights in the lot, she could see Rafe's face and his eyes. The intensity that usually underlined his manner, the strong work ethic, the loyalty to pack, was there. Yet his particular expression hinted at something deeper.
Whatever it was, it sent a shiver down her spine. When she answered, though, she tried to keep her tone playful.
“What do I say to what, wolf?”
He didn't crack even a grin. The moonlight silvered the chiseling of his features, shadowed his cheeks and forehead, made his blond hair shine where it snared the light. He looked like a stern pack leader, with an edge of contained wildness underneath. Sara shivered again. Caught in his gaze, she felt her wolf rise close to the surface. Pacing the corners of Sara's mind, her wolf whined softly. She, for one, was very clear on Rafe's half-hidden promise.
Silly human thinking, her wolf whispered.
Sara knew her wolf looked out of her eyes. She spoke quickly to stave off the invitation most likely beckoning there.
“Okay. Let's go. I came here for a dip, and I'm going in.”
Without blinking, her nose telling her no humans were nearby, Sara shed her clothes and let them drop to an untidy pile at her feet. Rafe's lake-blue eyes grew darker as he watched her.
“Race ya,” she said. She whirled, dropped to the ground, and shifted in the space between one heartbeat and the next.
“Sara,” she heard him say behind her. But the light breeze felt so good in her dark silvery-gray pelt, tickling its way through the individual furs, that she ignored his voice and flew over the ground, paws hitting then instantly leaping away again. She headed for the back of the main building, toward the hottest spring located at the rear of the property.
Sara's breath came easily as she loped along. With each inhale she took in the scents of the pine trees, the junipers farther west in the desert, the hot waters bubbling from the earth just in front of her. She flicked back an ear and heard Rafe's steps padding swiftly behind her, his wolf running light and sure over the ground. He ran close enough to encourage her to go faster.
The thrill of the chase, Sara's human whispered. Sara grinned and did a half-spin to the side so Rafe could see her tongue hanging out. She didn't slow down. He smiled back at her before leaping ahead, his larger frame overcoming her speed. Sara's night vision still allowed her to see him as he wove in and out of the pines.
“Hey!” she called out. “Not fair.”
“Catch me if you can!”
At his provocative tone, Sara put on the speed as well. As usual, she couldn't keep up with him merely by speed, fast as she was. Her bag of tricks included thinking fast and plotting a new course as needed, even in a split second. Quicker than thought, her paws veered to the right. She cut straight across a patch of ground just sprouting new grass. The delicate scent rose up as she crushed some blades in two bounding steps before landing back on pine needle carpeting.
Running felt good. The earlier restlessness urged a spurt of energy that took her racing away from the hot springs, over the back fence, and into the darkening woods behind.
“Sara!” Rafe said, his voice a mix between a bark of surprise and—pleasure? Ears flicked back, she could hear him pause for the briefest moment. Then a light whoosh disrupted the air behind her, followed by a thump as he hit the ground after vaulting over the fence.
Faster, Sara's human urged. She wasted no time stretching out, lengthening her body to the maximum speeds it could reach. Her muscles flexed and worked, eliciting a happy mental groan at how good it felt.
Sara raced through the dusk-covered forest. She leapt over downed logs, dodged a low-hanging branch or three, whipped around trunks bristling with new piney growth, and absorbed a beautiful maelstrom of scents from millimeters to miles away. When she rounded a small yet thick stand of Douglas firs, she almost collided with a sudden ponderosa. Her shoulder and fur scraped by and released an intoxicating scent of vanilla and butterscotch from the tree.
Smells like baking cookies, her human thought. Sara wrinkled her nose a bit and shrugged mentally. Sometimes, her human mentioned things that had little place in the mountain forests or the desert cliffs and buttes. Sara found it best to simply continue racing and leaping and hunting and running, letting her human giggle quietly somewhere in the back of her mind.
Rafe's scent whipped into her nostrils: sharp and wild, he also smelled like crushed fern and a whiff of aspen bark where he must have rubbed too close to one. She imagined sensible Rafe having an unexpectedly close encounter with a tree and twisting madly to avoid crashing into it. Her tongue lolled out for a moment even as she ran, a grin splitting her jaw. Her canines must have gleamed for a moment, because a short huffing noise somewhere to her left let her know Rafe was nearby and quite aware of her presence.
Sara always found running an activity that cleared her mind, whether as woman or wolf. Everything else fell away. Worries, thoughts, fears all melted off when she ran, when she exercised her muscles hard. Her mind soothed to a simple mechanism of action and movement.
Even Rafe briefly left her mind. Air sucked into her lungs, rich spring earth and a mingling of smells both wild and human from the trees and mountains and scattered homes zipped by as scents detected in mere seconds. The promise of renewed life about to burst from the ground invigorated Sara's legs even more. She flowed over the earth in that state of sing
ularity between thought and doing, losing herself for joyous moments as merely a creature peacefully and completely at one with her surroundings and her own simple being.
This Sara had nothing to prove. This Sara simply lived to run and exist and enjoy this moment.
Although the hot springs would feel very nice after such a great run, her human thought somewhere deep inside. Her voice sounded a little wistful yet teasing. I wonder how long this run has been?
Sara snorted softly. Time had no meaning to wolves. Only to humans.
Someone has to get up in the mornings and show up for duty. Running isn't everything. Her human shrugged, then started picturing the hot springs. Soothing billows of steam rising, deliciously hot water to sink into, Rafe naked and willing in the spring with her....
Sara took a misstep at the fierce longing in her human's mind. Finally, she was showing some sense.
A cocked ear and sharp inhale let her know Rafe easily kept up about ten yards away, now to her right and just behind her tail. Slipping through the trees with her, enjoying the run as much as she did. She wondered if he, too, forgot about everything else when he ran.
Never, her human whispered. He's going to be an alpha. Alphas never forget anything.
Sara looped around the next tree and began loping back to the hot springs. The lights of people's houses glinted through branches here and there. Sara ignored them and let the smell of the hot water guide her back. All she needed was her nose and her sure feet.
And maybe a certain wolf.
Chapter 4
Rafe admired Sara's flashing shape ahead of him as they neared the springs again. Small but compact, she was a very well-proportioned wolf. She easily she negotiated the terrain of their home, both mountain and desert.
Glancing up, Rafe took in the massive form of Black Mesa itself rearing high above town, just south of the hot springs. The western edge of the valley signaled the change between mountains and red rock desert, from high elevation pine trees and wildflowers to junipers, sage, buttes and mesas. The Pack den sat near that change, still in the pine trees but close enough to reach the canyon country in a short run. Rafe loved his home with a loyalty born of deep connection with the land and simple enjoyment of its beauties and enormous space.
Howl & Growl: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set Page 13