Saved by supper. Hannah was grateful for the reprieve. She knew it was only temporary. She and Reece would have to talk tonight about his earlier declaration to her father.
Her father. She shivered and pulled her borrowed sweater tighter around her. Did she want to see him? She wasn’t sure. She sure as hell wasn’t going to Montana.
“Let’s get you something to eat.” While she’d been lost in thought, Sage and Rina had left the two of them alone.
“I’m not really hungry.” She knew she needed to eat, but the stress had suppressed her appetite.
“I know, sweetheart, but just try a little. I promise you, Gator makes a mean hamburger and grills a juicy steak.”
Just the promise of a steak made her nostrils flare and her stomach growl.
Reece grinned and led her toward the grill. All the males hung back while the women fixed plates for the children and then themselves. Reece handed her a plate and nudged her toward the grill.
Gator, grilling tongs in hand, waited for her to make her selection. “What will it be, chère?”
The aroma of barbecued steak was delicious. It hadn’t been all that long since her soup and sandwiches, but her metabolism was running fast as her body worked overtime to heal her. “Steak please.”
“Excellent choice.” Gator set a large, juicy steak onto her plate and motioned to the end of one of the table. “Help yourself to potatoes and corn.”
“Salad too,” Sylvie reminded him.
He growled and muttered. “And salad too, if you must.”
Reece leaned down to whisper. “The men seem to think that salad is girl food.”
Gator gave him a mock scowl and pointed the grilling tongs at him. “No steak for you. You can have a burger.” He paused for dramatic effect. “And salad.”
Reece clapped his hand over his heart. “I’m wounded.” He held out his plate. “Give me a burger.”
Hannah watched the byplay, unsure just how much was teasing, and how much was real. “I can share my steak with you,” she offered.
Gator grinned and shook his head. “Look at you, Reece, playing on the woman’s sympathies.” Then the badass wolf winked at her. “He knows he can have steak, chère. There’s always plenty to go around.”
She felt her cheeks getting warm and nodded. As she turned away, she heard Gator say, “Don’t let her get away. She’s a good one.”
Some of her embarrassment fled and she felt herself smiling.
A tug came on her sweater and she looked down to find Etienne watching her. “I want some potato salad. Can you get some for me?”
Hannah’s heart melted. Totally charmed by the little boy, she took his hand in her free one. “Of course. You show me what you want.”
“Anny makes really good potato salad,” he confided.
“Well then, I’ll just have to try it.” As she put a small scoop of salad onto the boy’s plate, she felt someone watching her. She turned her head to see both Reece and Gator staring. Gator nodded and went back to dishing up burgers and steak. Reece’s eyes narrowed and she felt her blood heating. She recognized that look all too well. It was the one he wore when he took her to bed.
Feeling flustered, she went back to helping Etienne until his mother joined them and took over.
She was a quiet woman with a scar on the right side of her face. The mark in no way detracted from her looks.
“I’m Sylvie, in case you don’t remember,” she offered as she put a piece of corn on her son’s plate.
“You have a wonderful son,” she told the other woman.
Sylvie’s smile was warm and genuine. “Thank you. We think so.” She rubbed the top of the boy’s head. Etienne glowed under his mother’s praise.
“I’m hungry,” the boy announced.
His mother laughed. “You’re just like your father, always hungry. Let’s get you seated.” Sylvie took the boy’s plate and led him away.
Hannah knew without looking that Reece was right behind her. “You have everything you need?” he asked.
She sensed he was talking about more than just the food on her plate. “Yes.” At this moment, with him by her side, she had everything she needed. And when Sage waved them over to sit with him and Rina and Elias and Sue, Hannah knew she might be able to have everything she’d ever wanted if she was brave enough to reach out and take it.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Reece knew it was good for Hannah to be around the pack, but he was glad when it was finally time for them to head home. Hannah had insisted on helping to clear away the meal before they’d left. She seemed to be getting along well with the women. That was a good sign.
She sighed and shivered.
“Cold?” It was full dark now with only the stars to light their way home. Wouldn’t be long now until the first frost.
“A little.”
He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to his body. “Not much farther and we’ll be home.” He used the word deliberately. He wanted her to start thinking of this place as her home.
“This place is beautiful.”
There was a wistful tone in her voice that made him wonder about her past.
“Did you always live in cities?”
She ran her fingers over the top of a bush as they passed. “My father thought it would be safer that way. We did camp out from time to time. Usually in-between moves from one city to another. He needed to shift.”
“Did you ever wonder why you couldn’t shift?” Reece drew her over to a fallen log and used it as a bench. He sat and tugged her down beside him. She hunched her shoulders in and clasped her hands between her legs.
“He told me it was because I was a half-breed. He never held back the truth from me. Not about my mother or what I was.”
Reece wouldn’t have minded having a few words with her father right about now. It was one thing to prepare a child for the world, quite another to leave her with an inferiority complex. He knew her father’s words had hurt her, made her feel not good enough. His leaving as soon as she was grown had put a seal on it.
He wondered if he’d ever be able to break through it, to make her realize just how amazing she truly was. He rubbed his hand up and down her spine. “Have you ever run with a wolf? Did your father ever take you?”
She looked up at him and frowned. “Why would he?”
Why would he? Now Reece really wanted five minutes alone with her father. Maybe he thought he was protecting her from harm, but the effect was just the opposite.
“Sage has always run with me. He runs with the pack. So does Cherise. She’s a full werewolf but she can’t shift because of a childhood illness.”
“Werewolves don’t get sick.” Hannah’s frown deepened. “What happened?”
“I’m not quite sure. Some kind of fever, I think. The point is, she runs with Cole, with all of us. You can too.” He took her hands in his. “You’re faster than a human. And whether you realize it or not, you’re all wolf.” He released her hands and stood. “Well? Will you run with me?”
Her heart beat so fast and hard, she half expected it to burst out of her chest. This was something she’d never expected to experience. She’d always envied her father the freedom to run wild through the woods. It had never occurred to her that she could do the same. Just because she couldn’t shift didn’t mean she couldn’t run.
Reece didn’t wait for her decision, but began to strip. He pulled off his T-shirt and dropped it onto the log. Once again, she was grateful for her nocturnal vision. His shoulders were wide and his stomach flat and muscled.
“A run will help us digest supper.” He grinned as he kicked off his sneakers and pulled off his jeans. He wasn’t wearing any underwear. He was very aroused and she found herself getting warmer by the second. Now that she’d eaten, it was a bit easier for her to regulate her body temperature. Of co
urse, food had nothing to do with the sudden spike. That was all Reece.
His body began to shimmer. He fell forward onto his hands and knees, which morphed into paws before he hit the ground. Fur pushed out from beneath his skin. His jaw lengthened and his forehead flattened. A huge wolf with dark brown fur and blue eyes stared expectantly at her.
She found the process of shifting completely fascinating. “My father rarely let me watch him shift,” she told him. It had made the whole thing seem even more magical, and something she wasn’t good enough to be able to witness. Reece didn’t feel that way.
Reece growled. He didn’t need words for her to understand.
“What’s done is done.”
There was no point rehashing it all. But wasn’t she living in the past? Allowing the thoughts and hurt feelings of a child to run her life?
And why hadn’t she realized that before?
He nudged her arm. She shook off her past. Right now she was in a beautiful forest with an amazing wolf. She spun around and began to run away from the houses. Reece was right at her heels and then passed her.
God, he was beautiful. She knew he’d scowl at that word, but it was the one that best suited. He was primal, a part of the wild world around him. He was silent, the big pads of his feet making practically no sound. She, on the other hand, sounded like a herd of elephants crashing through the underbrush.
She watched how he carefully placed his feet to maximize his silence in the natural terrain. He avoided dry leaves and twig and used the moss and hard-packed ground to his advantage.
Reece ran beside her, adjusting his speed to hers. Why had her father never done this with her? She would have loved this as a child.
She suddenly stopped, raised her arms in the air, and spun in a circle. The night sky blurred above her head as she went faster and faster. She laughed and stumbled. She managed to catch herself before she ended up on her ass.
Reece was right there, letting her lean on his heavily muscled, furry shoulder. “Thanks,” she told him. He turned his head and licked her face. His tongue was wet and slightly rough. She laughed and rubbed at her cheek. “I’ve been kissed by a dog.”
His eyes narrowed and she laughed even harder. He gave her a hard nudge that sent her tumbling to the ground. She lay there and stared up at the sky. He stood over her and looked down. “You did that on purpose,” she accused.
He shrugged and tried to look nonchalant, but she could see the humor in his gaze. Then his ears perked up and he went on alert, his big body blocking hers. She scrambled to her feet and dug her fingers into the fur of his back.
She hadn’t even thought about safety when they’d left. All she’d wanted to do was run.
A female wolf burst into the clearing. Her eyes gleamed in the moonlight.
A man ran out behind her and skidded to a stop. “Hey, Hannah.” Sage dropped his hand onto the top of Rina’s head, the move possessive and protective at the same time.
“Hi, Sage. Hi, Rina.” It felt weird to be talking to another wolf. She couldn’t help but stare at the woman. She was more delicate in build than Reece, but still powerful.
“I didn’t know you were going out for a run,” Sage said. It sounded more like an accusation, and it was directed at Reece.
“It was a spur of the moment thing when your brother discovered I’ve never run with a wolf before.”
“Never?” She could hear the disbelief in his voice. “But your father was—” He broke off when his wife bumped him. “Yeah. Sorry about that. So where are you headed?”
Sensing her discomfort, Reece placed himself between her and his brother. She couldn’t let that happen. She wasn’t going to come between them. She calmly walked around Reece, putting her closer to Sage. “I have no idea. I was just running. I honestly have no idea where I am.”
“There’s a stream not far that way. Just beyond is a hill. From the top, there’s a great view of the valley and the night sky. You up for it?”
“Lead on.” She might be tiring, but Reece needed this time with his brother.
Rina spun around and led the way. Hannah ran with Sage on one side of her and Reece on the other. They didn’t stop at the trickling stream, but jumped over it and kept going. Rina dropped back beside her and Reece and Sage took the lead. When Hannah began to falter, Reece slowed.
She shook her head. “Run. I’ll catch up.” When he stubbornly stayed, she waved him off. “Go. Please.” She didn’t want to hold him back.
Sage slapped him on the shoulder. “Afraid you can’t beat me to the top.” Laughing, Sage took off. Reece gave her one last long look and then took off, his long legs eating up the distance.
Beside her, Rina gave a chuff of laughter. Hannah smiled at their playful antics. It was easy to imagine them as children and then teenagers. Rina was right. They did belong together. There was no way she could allow them to be separated. If she left, she’d go alone.
That thought left her with a cold lump in the pit of her stomach. Now that she wasn’t running, she was getting chilled. She’d worked up a sweat racing with Reece and his family.
When she and Rina reached the top of the rise, Reece was prancing back and forth in front of his brother.
“Yeah, I let you win,” Sage informed him. “Didn’t want to embarrass you in front of your woman. Mine knows what I can do,” he added as Rina went to his side.
The sexual undertone in his words made Hannah’s cheeks heat. Wolves certainly weren’t shy when it came to their sexuality. It was simply another part of themselves that they fully accepted and appreciated.
“What do you think?” Sage waved his arm toward the valley below. There was a mountain in the distance and the night sky was a carpet of stars. The moon was a bright crescent.
“It’s gorgeous.” She shivered and strong arms wrapped around her. Reece stood behind her, using his body to warm her. She hadn’t noticed him shifting. Sage and Rina had moved off to the side. He was sitting next to his wife with her head resting on his shoulder.
“Not nearly as gorgeous as you.” Reece kissed a path up her neck before nibbling on the lobe of her ear. She shivered again. This time it wasn’t because she was cold. Reece could arouse her with little more than a look or a touch. There was no doubting his arousal. His erection dug into the base of her spine, a solid reminder that he wanted her.
She wrapped her arms around herself. She was totally confused by her feelings for Reece. Mixed up with them were the feelings she was developing for his family and pack. She liked them. They were good people, open and generous toward her in a way she’d never experienced. She felt at home with them, and that was priceless to a woman who’d never really had one.
“You okay?”
His concern was nearly her undoing. Tears filled her eyes but she blinked them back. She was grateful he was standing behind her and couldn’t see her face.
“Just tired.” It wasn’t a complete excuse. She wasn’t sure how long they’d been running but she couldn’t regulate her body temperature as well as she could when they set out. That meant she was running out of fuel and her body was fatigued. Her body had naturally used most of her reserves to focus on her healing.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. We shouldn’t have gone this far.” He turned toward his brother. “I blame Sage.”
His brother whipped his head around. “Hey.”
Rina looked at Hannah and rolled her eyes. She laughed and Reece hugged her before he took a step back. “We should get home,” he announced. She felt a burst of energy behind her and knew he’d shifted once again.
Sage stood and brushed off the seat of his jeans. “Are you okay to get back? I can carry you.”
His offer touched her deeply. “Thank you, but I can make it.” She would make it. She would run next to Reece all the way back to his home. This night was special. She wanted to fully experience every
second.
They set out with Reece letting her set the pace. They’d run for almost a half hour and had to be getting close to home when she sensed another wolf. She stumbled to a stop. “There’s someone out there,” she told Sage.
“That’s Mikhail. He’s been with us almost from the beginning.”
And she was only sensing him now? The wolves in this pack had some serious skills. She’d never even known he was there. But then again, she hadn’t been looking for him. For once in her life, she hadn’t been worried about watching her back.
Why? Because Reece was with her. She trusted him to do it for her.
A large dark wolf coalesced from the darkness. He trotted over to Rina and touched noses with her. Then he glared at Sage, turned, and ambled away.
“Yeah, I love you too,” Sage called after him. Then he grinned at Hannah. “He’s a really great guy. He just has a hard time with his baby sister being mated.”
Rina bumped Sage again.
“What? You know it’s true.”
Rina sighed and walked off in the opposite direction of her brother with Sage right behind her.
Reece nudged her to get her moving again. Within two minutes, she recognized the path in front of her. They were back at the log where they’d started. Reece’s clothes were still there, so she bundled them up to carry to the house.
Sage and Rina were already on the deck of the house when she and Reece rounded the path. “Night, Hannah,” Sage called as he and Rina disappeared through a sliding glass door. It shut tight behind them.
As cold as she was, she was in no hurry to go inside. She peered up at the stars, so cold and brilliant. The sky wasn’t black, but a dark indigo in color. It was spectacular.
She’d run with the wolves. It was one of the most exciting moments of her life and also the most heartbreaking. Her father could have done this with her when she was a child. He could have shown her the wonder of being a werewolf. Instead, all he’d taught her was the fear.
She knew Reece was waiting for her. She also knew she couldn’t stand out here all night. Well, she could, but she’d be a Popsicle come morning.
Wolf in her Soul: Salvation Pack, Book 8 Page 24