Savage Salvation

by Ellis Leigh

  Once the dogs were fed, Cassiel walked with Luc to the building she used to dry her fish so they could store the cart, then led him back to the pens. Unable or unwilling to leave his side. Especially as the shadows began to lengthen and deepen in color. It was time to head in for the night for sure. The sky had darkened to a degree that made her neck itch, and she was done being out in the gloom. Without leads or harnesses, she released the dogs from their feeding chains, slapping her hands together and watching them run around a little before whistling for them to come home. They responded immediately, racing onto the porch. Settling in a line to one side of the front door with their tails wagging and their ears cocked. They were ready.

  “Stay,” she ordered before heading off to the wood pile to grab a few extra logs for the fire. Not for herself—she preferred to sleep in the chill of the summer nights. Besides, her dogs kept her warm. But Luc…well, he was Luc and likely not used to living the way she did.

  As Cassiel completed her tasks, Luc stayed beside her. He didn’t push her, didn’t rush her or question her chores. He simply followed her around, making sure to jump in when he could, staying out of her way when he couldn’t. He carried the logs back to the porch—an unnecessary and yet appreciated gesture—following her straight to the entrance of her little home.

  No time like the present.

  The dogs rushed inside when she opened the door, their fight to be first pulling a subtle chuckle from her guest as the remaining dogs trotted behind them. Once inside the house, though, Luc’s confident demeanor shifted. He suddenly seemed uncomfortable. He also dwarfed the place, Cassiel observed as she padded to her tiny kitchen to put on the kettle to boil some water. Perhaps that was why his eyes couldn’t hold still, darting along from point to point as if trying to take in every detail of her place.

  It wasn’t until she opened the refrigerator that he even seemed to take a breath.

  “You have electricity?”

  She patted the old Kenmore model she’d paid a small fortune to have brought up to Bettles. She’d even had to borrow a larger sled and a few dogs from the local tribe to bring it to her cabin. Worth it, though. “Solar power. I tried to use the river that runs behind my place for hydroelectric, but the distance was a bit too much. I upgraded to solar a couple years ago. I also have a backup generator and a decent supply of fuel just in case. I don’t really need it except for in the summer months—no one, not even the dogs, wants to eat rotting fish.”

  He nodded, still looking around. Still absorbing all the pieces of her life. Her trinkets and drawings, books and blankets. All the things she considered so very personal, suddenly on display to a stranger. She couldn’t watch him any longer, so she moved to prepare their dinner instead. Trying to ignore him. Fighting not to feel the weight of his eyes on her as they continued to move.

  He’s just a man.

  “So, the drying rack outside?”

  “I have friends who bring me salmon. I dry that and the char I catch out there and then smoke them for feeding the dogs in the winter. We get a great breeze here, so I can dry fish all summer long.”

  “But you bring some inside.”

  “If the wind stops or it gets too hot. Last month, I kept everything I caught inside because we were up in the eighties during the day. Now that we won’t break fifty again, it’s all outside.”

  But it was when she turned on the faucet to wash her hands that he grew positively incredulous. “Indoor plumbing.”

  A man who was obviously surprised by such things as an actual toilet and sink. “Of course I have indoor plumbing. The toilet is one that composts, so there’s no line to run or sewer to deal with, and the water is mostly rainwater.”

  “You’re ingenious.”

  “No, I’m a woman who grew up in homes with these things and who doesn’t want to live without them if I don’t have to. Just because I live in the wild doesn’t mean I want to camp out every single night of my life.” She stared out the window, the darkness making her want to shrink away from the fragile glass. The shadows so very deep and dark, menacing. “Besides, it’s best not to be outdoors once night falls. You’d be smart to heed that warning.”

  Luc stepped closer, taking up every inch of room, it seemed. Goodness, the man was huge. “Because of the wolves.”

  She swallowed hard, trying like hell to keep her hands from shaking as she put a pot of stew on the burner to warm. “Wolves, bears, wolverines…all manners of predators up here.”

  “Why do you stay?”

  She shrugged, stirring. Focusing on the stew because looking at him had become far too difficult. “I like the peace and quiet.”

  Luc stood silent for a long time, the only sound coming from him the whisper of his breath. At least until he said, “You like living alone.”

  A statement, not a question. One that flicked at sore places inside her because she knew where this particular thought process might go. And as she had no interest in traversing those dark and dangerous roads once more, she kept her answer clipped. Vague. “I’m used to it.”

  “And your family?”

  A harder flick, one that almost made her twitch. “Never had one.”

  He quieted again, his breath growing hushed. Softer. The sound soothing the anxiety building within her. Lord, when had she gotten so sensitive? She never had been one to talk about her past, but she’d long ago come to grips with it. Luc asking her a simple question shouldn’t have rocked her world the way it had. Shouldn’t have made that age-old hurt resurface. Something about him, about his presence in her space, set her on edge and made all her emotions escalate. That had to be it. She just had to get him to stop asking personal questions, had to redirect the conversation to something safer for her. Something that wasn’t all sorts of screwed up. Something—

  “Will the dogs be okay with me taking up some of their space? I’d hate to make them uncomfortable.”

  And there he went, retreating to a topic that put her firmly back on solid ground. Surprising the hell out of her, too. “Oh, sure. They’ll be fine. They might puppy pile on you at some point in the middle of the night, though.”

  “I’ll be prepared.”

  “Good.” She looked up finally, meeting his gaze. Giving him a grin. “I care about my dogs more than most humans, so I’m glad you already know your place. Now, how about you set a couple of those bowls on the table? This stew will be done in just a few minutes.”

  He did as he was asked, heading to wash his own hands in the little bathroom first. Giving her enough room to take a deep breath. Dinner, clean, sleep, and then he could go. Could stop filling her space with his handsome face and those eyes that stabbed her straight in the heart. Could take his manly self right back out into the wild where he belonged. And he did belong there—she could sense it. Feel the wild within him. Luc was no more a city person than she was. He had the wilderness in his soul, just like her.

  Which only drew her to him more.

  7

  Cassiel confounded Luc at every turn. There were things about her that definitely spoke to him, that called to his wolf in a primal sort of way, but she was a human. At least, it certainly seemed that way to him. Mostly. The more time he spent with her, the more he questioned it. In her home, with all her things, he could smell wolf on her, but only barely. The scent weak and whisper-thin. And there was no sense of lupine spirit around her or within her. No feel of the energy of the wolf to grasp. There was just her, alone in her little cabin with her dogs. Looking so very beautiful to him.

  But as he stared at the woman who’d taken him in for the night, the only wolves he could sense were those who made up his own pack. The Dires and Omegas were definitely on their way to the camp around the lake, close enough for him to feel not just their energy but their emotional state. He could sense their excitement and worry, some anger, too. He had a feeling he was going to pay for bringing them up here, particularly with Thaus and Levi. Not that he could blame them. Still, the women deserved the chance
to make their own decisions. The rest of the pack would need to work to keep them all safe. He’d make sure they did.

  But first…

  “I don’t have a couch,” Cassiel said as she stacked furs and blankets on the floor. “And my bed’s only a twin, so there’s no room for two.”

  He’d make room to share a bed with her if she invited him in, not that he could tell her that. “The floor will be fine.”

  “Are you sure? I can sleep on the floor, and you can take the bed. It’ll be a spell before you can get a mattress up to that homestead.”

  Luc caught her eye, loving the way her neck flushed with blood when she looked at him, the way her heart skipped a beat loudly enough for him to hear. “This is perfect. Thank you for your hospitality, Cassiel.”

  The dark-haired angel nodded and hurried into the bathroom, snagging some clothes along the way. Likely to change. To strip the cloth from her flesh and be naked and natural. Luc wished to be able to join her, to investigate every inch. To scent up and down her body and see if he could wake up whatever was calling so loudly for him. He kept his spot on the floor, though. Removing the layers he needed to and keeping himself as covered as he believed Cassiel would deem appropriate. He preferred being naked—always—but he had a feeling she would kick him out for that, and he was desperate to stay. To figure her out.

  So, his clothing remained. Mostly.

  “All yours,” Cassiel said as she walked back into the room, the clothes she’d been wearing folded in her hands, her long black hair obviously brushed and shining in the dim light of the room. So pretty, this girl. So sensual without even trying. She crawled onto her little bed in the corner and grabbed what looked like a journal, writing down words Luc couldn’t read from where he sat. Ones that weren’t his business.

  He rose to his feet and headed for the little bathroom, needing a moment to pull his head together. To refocus on why he was there—to scope out her place, figure out what his attraction was to her, and settle his wolf. Nothing more, nothing less.

  Luc relieved himself and washed up for the night, rejoining Cassiel in the main room. She looked half asleep, curled up under blankets in the dark with her eyes hooded and her breaths quiet. She wasn’t, though. He could sense her awareness of him—her body responding to his when he moved closer. Not too close, though. He wasn’t going to join her in her bed unless she asked him to. He simply needed to make it to his own without tripping over one of the canines scattered across the floor.

  Once he had traversed the obstacle course known as Cassiel’s cabin, he settled into his pallet bed, still keeping an eye on the woman across the way. Needing one more point of contact before he allowed his body to rest. “Goodnight, Cassiel. Thank you again for allowing me to stay.”

  “Goodnight, Luc,” she said, her voice breathy and quiet. “And you’re welcome—come by any time.”

  He hoped to take her up on that.

  With night fallen and the lights out in the cabin, the dark of the wilderness crept inside. Blackness was a true thing in the bush—no lights anywhere unless the moon hung bright and thick. They were in the waning, though, so even the moonlight seemed cut off and weak. The shadows grew darker and more luscious instead, taking shape and gaining weight to them as the minutes passed. And still, Luc waited. Sat and listened and bided his time until he was sure Cassiel was in deep sleep.

  And then he crawled off his makeshift bed.

  Luc would have liked to have said his curiosity with the woman was purely situational—it wasn’t every day he ran into a female living alone in the bush. He knew better, though. His wolf was attracted, his human side definitely so as well. And while he’d never hurt her, never do anything to her that would be crossing her personal boundaries, he knew what he was about to do was close. Close enough to make him need to sneak.

  He crept to the side of the bed, then leaned closer. Not touching her—that would be a gross violation of her trust—but sniffing. Scenting her. Allowing his beast to come forward and letting his senses unfurl from the cage he kept them in most days.

  Weakness. That was his first impression and one that unsettled him. Cassiel was anything but weak. But the more he sniffed, the more that feeling became pervasive. The more he sensed how deep that scent had been buried. It wasn’t Cassiel who was the weak one—it was something inside of her. There was a beast within her, one who’d never been given the chance to develop properly. One who was dying slowly—oh, so slowly—inside the human form.

  Wolf. That was the lupine scent around her, the feeling of connection between them. She was a wolf shifter after all, though not a strong one. His own wolf whined inside him, wanting to call to what he knew to be another wolf in need. Wanting to care for the poor animal that had suddenly become pack to him. Wanting to howl for her, to give his strength to her. Luc was not one to disobey the wolf spirit within him, which meant they had work to do.

  He crept back across the darkened cabin, slipping under the blankets Cassiel had provided him and staring across the room in her direction. Pack. He had a definite sense of pack with her. That could explain why he’d not been able to stay away, why he’d felt such a strong urge to bond with her. He’d gotten lucky finding those cabins around the lake and had taken that luck into his own hands by climbing onto the bush plane in the hope that she’d be at the stop in Bettles. A risk that had definitely paid off, though that success had brought more confusion with it. More uncertainty.

  What was he going to do about Cassiel and her dying wolf? The need to keep her safe had grown exponentially while he’d been in her presence, which meant he needed to change his plans. Staying close to her had suddenly become a priority in his head, and finding ways to take care of her was right behind it. He and his team had an obligation to deal with the women of the Brooks Range pack, the ones he’d been hunting for so long, but Cassiel needed him, too. If the local pack caught wind of her, if they ever found her and figured out her secret, she’d be in as much danger as the other two. She was a commodity, something others would see as valuable property to control. She was in danger from more than just the local predators. She just didn’t know it.

  But Luc did, and the very idea that anyone could try to harm the little woman was abhorrent to him.

  His responsibilities seemed to be growing both massively and quickly, multiplying right in front of his eyes, but he’d manage. He’d have to. His wolf would never let him give up on a member of his own pack, and somehow, Cassiel had become just that. His to watch over.

  A Dire Wolf not of blood but of soul.

  Sunlight bathed the little cabin in the morning, pulling Luc from his slumber. He’d slept well, better than he had in a year at least. Of course, he hadn’t lived indoors very much over that time, preferring to stay in the wild in his wolf form. Even just a stack of blankets on the floor had felt like a luxury to him, and he was grateful to the little dark-haired female for the opportunity to rest. The one moving about the kitchen and obviously trying to keep from waking him. The one whose inner wolf now sang to his own, her lupine scent obvious and mouthwatering.

  It was time to get up.

  “Morning,” he grumbled, rising to his feet. She turned, and her eyes automatically panned over his body, her cheeks flushing when she stopped at his bare chest.

  “Morning.” She brought her eyes back to his for just a moment—just long enough for his wolf to lunge forward in his mind—then jerked away as if embarrassed she’d been caught looking. He liked the feel of her eyes on him, though. The heat that flared in the dark depths of them. The attraction he could feel from deep within her body. Clothes? Not needed. Hell, if he hadn’t been worried about her feelings on the matter, he would have slept naked. Shifters preferred not to be burdened with such things.

  Humans, on the other hand…

  “I’m going to make us some breakfast before my morning chores.” Cassiel took her attention away from him and returned it to the food before her. “Figured you’d need something in your bel
ly for the long hike ahead of you as well.”

  Yes. Because he had to leave her behind. At least for now. “Thank you. Breakfast would be much appreciated.”

  “No problem.” She continued to cook—fish, toast, and eggs, it smelled like—so Luc took the time to redress himself and spend a few moments in the bathroom. Hands and face washed, teeth brushed to clear away the dryness in his mouth, he headed back out to the main room. To Cassiel. Whom he would be forced to walk away from in a few hours. That did not sit well with him or his wolf.

  “Come,” Cassiel said when she spotted him, smiling his way and beckoning. “Eat with me.”

  The light shone in from a window behind her, and her smile enhanced the glow. She was an angel with a heavenly name. And he was unable to resist her. He was not about to deny her anything.

  Breakfast passed as meals tended to between two people feeling each other out—with light conversation, gratefulness on the part of Luc for Cassiel gifting him such a meal, and polite denials from Cassiel when Luc claimed that had been the best meal he’d had in years.

  “It’s just fish and eggs.”

  “And toast.” Luc held up the browned piece of bread, something he knew had to be almost a luxury in the bush. “Don’t forget the toast.”

  “Fine.” She handed him the last dish to wash—because no way was he making her cook and clean up—before moving to wipe down the table. “And toast. It still can’t be the best meal you’ve had in years.”

  He shrugged, drying the plate before placing it on the shelf where it belonged. “I’ve been out in the wilderness for a long time, and most of that I’ve spent alone. So yeah…it was the best.” He glanced outside, the yipping of the dogs catching his attention. “They’re outside?”

  “Yeah, I let them out so they could run around a little.”

  “Not in their pen.” Luc spotted three of the six little beasties chasing one another through the tall grasses. “They won’t run off?”