Reflections of the Wolf (15 page)

“I guess that’s part of why I reacted so badly when I realized that you were my mate. The anger and hurt I felt toward Roxy, knowing that the woman that I committed to wanted nothing to do with me, hasn’t ever left. I’ve spent the last two years avoiding any type of commitment. Hell, I didn’t even take women back to my place for the night, but I wanted you there. I wanted you in
my
bed, and in
my
home.” He stopped and stared out at the now-black water that reflected a pretty crescent moon on its surface.

“Thank you, Liam,” she said softly while she wiped the tears from her face. He turned startled eyes to her.

“For what?” he asked in confusion.

“For sharing that with me. I’m glad you trusted me enough to show me your pain. I can only imagine what you went through,” she said, and she leaned in to kiss him. This wasn’t the hot kiss of lovers, but the soft embrace of two people who needed each other emotionally. It was a soul-stealing experience and left them both sitting in absolute shock when they broke apart.

Clearing her throat, Tina was the first to speak. “Wow. Is it always going to be this intense with you?”

Liam chuckled. “I sure as hell hope so, Sweet Tina. If it weren’t for the poacher we’ve been tracking in the woods for the last few weeks, I would drag you into the trees and make love to you right now.”

Tina froze in his arms and glanced around her nervously, “Poacher? Like a hunter? Is it dangerous?”

“I don’t think so. He’s after wolves though, and we like to run these woods, so our pack has to be on guard. Don’t worry, we’re all careful,” he said with a smile.

Liam’s lips brushed her brow, and Tina sighed heavily. “I think it’s probably time for me to go home anyway.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, hoping that she would say no and admit her feelings for him were growing. Instead she responded with a sharp nod and stood quickly.

“This was absolutely perfect, Liam, thank you for this evening,” she said, gesturing to the now silent lake, and the glowing moon.

“The night’s not quite over. I brought you a present. It’s in the truck. Come on.” He grabbed her hand and led her to the truck.

“You didn’t have to get me anything, Liam. This picnic was enough!” she protested, but she found herself falling into step beside him and waiting excitedly while he removed a large package from the truck.

“I wish I could give you a gift every day for the rest of our lives, Sweet Tina. Let’s consider this day one. Open your first gift,” he said softly into her ear and handed her the large package.

She gasped as she pulled the paper away from the notebook-sized frame. It was a painting of a silver-gray wolf. The wolf was perched on a cliff overlooking a dark pool of water. A full moon in the sky made the wolf’s reflection in the water crystal clear. The wolf’s eyes were a cold-winter blue as it stared at her from the canvas. She knew immediately that this was a painting of Liam as a wolf.

“Oh, Liam! It’s stunning!” she said as she traced her fingertips across the ridges of paint that created the handsome wolf.

“My brother Rafe is the artist. He used me for a model a while back and then gave me one of the paintings. I thought you might like to have it,” he said, kissing the top of her head gently.

“He’s a very talented artist, but this is too much to give to a woman you barely know!” She started to hand the painting back to him, but his outstretched hand stopped her.

“I will know you soon enough, Sweet Tina. It is something that is as important to me as are you, and I want you to have it. In fact, it makes me happy to know that you will have a picture of me in your home to remind you that I’m thinking about you. Maybe you should hang it on your bedroom ceiling so that I’m the last thing you think about before you sleep. I’d like to think you’re dreaming about me,” he said with an ornery grin, and she had to laugh.

Turning in his arms while holding the canvas to the side, she lifted up on tip toes and kissed his mouth softly. When she looked up at him, his breath caught at the warm look he found in her chocolate-colored eyes. “Thank you. I will treasure it.”

“Are you working tomorrow, sweetheart?” he asked, brushing his lips across her jaw bone, and relished her scent, apples and cinnamon and feminine arousal. A low growl slipped from his throat, and her breathing increased.

“No, I’m off tomorrow and the next day,” she whispered with her eyes closed. A breathy moan escaped her when he scraped his teeth across her throat, and his heart rate doubled. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to fall hard for her.

“Good, I’ll come by tomorrow after our morning training session to see you,” he said before taking a step back from her to let her catch her breath.

When she opened her eyes, they were dark with desire, and her luscious lips were slightly parted. It was a struggle not to take her there on the dock under the bright moonlight.

“You better go, or else I can’t be blamed for trying to convince you to stay,” he said, waggling his eyebrows at her with a flirty leer.

She laughed and hugged him tightly. “All right, I’m going. Thank you again, for everything. I’ve never felt more special.” She turned and got into her car. While he watched, she pulled away with a brief wave.

Liam immediately felt the loss. His wolf was pissed that he would let her out of his reach yet again without claiming her, but he knew in his heart that he was winning her over slowly. It was more important to start their relationship on the right foot than to mark her for the world to see.

Chapter 12

Tina was in her front yard, weeding the small flower bed she begrudgingly kept, when he arrived the next day. Her pansies and marigolds were happily blooming in a bed shared with weeds, because she hadn’t had time to weed them for over a week. She heard the truck pull up and glanced back over her shoulder to see him climbing from the cab. His large frame unfolded before he slammed the truck door and smiled at her. His smile was absolutely breathtaking, and her heart jumped in her chest. She could feel moisture gathering between her legs as she watched his loose-hipped gait while he made his way over to her. Not wanting to seem too excited that he was there, she stretched to pull the last of the weeds anyway.

“Well, that’s a pretty sight,” he said, and she turned back to look at him curiously. She realized that his eyes were focused on her prone posterior, and she groaned in irritation.

“Really? Is that all you think about?” she said sitting back on her haunches to remove the object of discussion from his line of sight.

“Hey, can I help it if I appreciate the view? If you didn’t want to be seen, then you shouldn’t have put on those short shorts and then bent over out here in front of everyone,” he said, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. “It’s not like I’m the only one out here.”

His comment made her glance around her neighborhood, and she was surprised to find many of her neighbors outside in their yards as well. She waved to one as he watched them from his deck chair on his front porch. Flushed with embarrassment, she pulled her gloves off and used her bare hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead. She hated to admit he was right, but it was obvious that more than one male had eyeballed her backside this afternoon.

“My shorts are not indecent, and you could consider controlling your base urges,” she said as she stood and brushed the dirt from her knees. Her outfit consisted of old cut-off jeans that really were about an inch too short to be in public and a yoga top that doubled as a sports bra. A pale line of skin containing her pierced belly button showed below the hem of her top, and she wore a bandana on her head. Her feet were bare because she hated to get her shoes muddy while she was working in the yard.

“I don’t really want to control them. I’d prefer to just let them run wild with you. You look good enough to eat.” His eyes were glowing with lust as he stepped a little closer to her, causing her to take a step back.

“Whoa there, slow down, hotshot. Just because I said you could come over didn’t mean I wanted to spend the whole day doing the freaky monkey with you,” she said shaking her head.

“The what?” he asked with a glint of amusement in his eyes.

“You know, the freaky monkey. The horizontal tango? The red-light romp?” she said, and she frowned when he started laughing.

“Whatever you call it, Sweet Tina, I definitely want in,” he said, reaching one hand out to brush it down the curve of her breast. Her body tingled at his brief touch. Irritated with herself for wanting him so badly, she huffed at him before turning her back.

“I’m going in the house. You can stay out here laughing your ass off, or you can come inside. I don’t care which you decide to do, but if you follow, you had better plan on being a gentleman,” she snapped at him as she pushed through her front door and dropped her gloves and gardening tools on the table by the door.

She walked to the refrigerator to pull a cold bottle of water out and took a huge gulp. She heard the front door click closed behind her, and suddenly he was right next to her with his big, hot hands resting on her hips. His hard length was pressed tightly to her thin frame, and he whispered in her ear.

“I’m not a gentleman, Sweet Tina, and I don’t want my mate on display for the whole world to see.” He took a quick step backward, but kept his hands on her, steadying her as she swayed briefly.

Chiding herself for being turned on at his dominance, she spun to look him in the eyes. “I told you that I’m not your—wait, how did you do that?”

“What?” he asked and a small wrinkle appeared on his forehead between his eyes.

“How did you move so fast?” she demanded, her eyes narrowing at him.

“Sweetheart, I’m a wolf. I move faster than a regular man,” he said, chuckling at her. The sound of his laughter irritated her. It wasn’t like she understood everything about being a werewolf. She had a lot of questions, damn it.

“What else is different about you from regular men?” she asked pulling out of his grasp and taking another long drink of cold water. She cocked her head slightly waiting for a reply.

“You mean besides my amazing prowess in bed?” he teased, and she rolled her eyes. “There are a lot of differences. Our senses are heightened, even more so when we are in our wolf form. Some of them are better hearing, vision, smell, night vision, and obviously I can also shift into a wolf. Why?”

She didn’t respond, choosing to move around him to make a quick escape from the kitchen. She settled onto the couch with her long legs stretched out in front of her and watched him as he followed her. “Were you born a werewolf?”

“Yes. We all were. Caroline is only the second human I know of to be mated to wolves and go through the change. Does it scare you?” he asked warily.

“Yes, well, no…I don’t know. I’m not scared of the whole idea, but I think I’m still traumatized from how I learned it all. Seeing her shift in front of me was like a crazy nightmare, and then there were wolves everywhere, and there was snapping and snarling…it was just chaos. I hate chaos,” she said without meeting his eyes.

“Well, just for the record, it’s not usually chaotic like that. Devin has never been challenged as pack Alpha, and Barton Diego was just a lunatic on a power trip. I’m sorry you had to find out our secret in such a brutal way, but I hope you will give us a chance. I’d hate to think you weren’t willing to see me because you are scared of me,” he said, and she could hear the hollow sound of hurt in his voice.

“I’m definitely
not
scared of you, Liam. I think I’m more scared of me. You make me feel things that I didn’t think I would ever feel again,” she said. His smile showed his pleasure that she was admitting feeling something for him.

“I’m glad, because you make me feel things I’ve never felt before. With Roxy all I felt was lust, and then it quickly turned into disgust. With you, no matter how hard I try I just can’t seem to stay away from you,” he admitted.

“But is that because you desire me physically, or because you actually want me? I deserve a man who wants me for me. Enjoying my body is icing on the cake,” she said with a grin.

“I’d love to put icing on your body, and then I could lick…” he said, reaching for her again, but she put a hand out to stop him.

“Listen, I have a hard time letting my guard down, so I can’t make you promises,” she said, and she could have wept at the flash of pain that she saw in his blue eyes, but she refused to back down. This was her life they were talking about.

“I know that, and I respect it. You have told me you need to get to know me more. Just don’t give up yet,” he said, smiling.

“I’m not a quitter, so I’m not giving up.” She laughed and relaxed a bit. She was relieved that he hadn’t started in on her about him being her destiny. She was also enjoying his company and found that just having him close made her happier. “So tell me how you became a firefighter?”

“Actually, Devin and Damon were the first from our pack, and once they were in, it seemed like a given that the rest of us would follow them. I spent four years in the military, and when I got out I wanted a job that would help me keep my skills sharp and give me the adrenaline rush that I would get when I was on duty,” he explained. His put his arm on the back of the couch behind her, and his fingers were stroking the short ends of her dark hair. Occasionally his thumb would brush against the skin on the back of her neck and send a delicious sizzle through her body.