Page 44 of Wolf's Prize

“Do not cast away what you have because he made one mistake.”

Kathryn stared at the ground, toeing the earth with her boot. She missed her father, felt the absence of his calming presence, his sage advice, but the anger at his betrayal still churned inside her.

“Think about what I have said. Things are…complicated in the pack at the moment. Having someone who solely thinks of what is best for you, someone beyond the pack, someone you can trust, is to your advantage. You may need him in the coming months.”

She cut a sharp glance at Aimon. What did he mean by that? She opened her mouth to ask, but he strode off into the forest.

“Come, Kathryn. It is time to continue your education.”

With his words ringing in her mind, and the possibility of a run slipping further away, Kathryn trudged after him into the forest.

Chapter Nineteen

Aimon stopped in a small clearing not far from the keep, waiting for Kathryn to join him. He did not know if she would take his advice to heart, but he hoped she would at least consider it. She stopped in front of him, her arms still folded across her chest and her expression shuttered. With a huff of discontent, she closed her eyes and raised her nose, sniffing the air.

“Open your eyes, Kathryn. We are doing something different today.”

Her eyes snapped open and stared at him, eager.

He could not help but smile. “Yes, Kathryn. I am taking you for a run today.”

Her mouth dropped open, her arms uncrossed and she took a step toward him. She pulled herself up short and clenched her hands by her side. Had she been about to throw her arms around him? Press her soft body against him?

He nearly groaned.You are but her teacher, Aimon, nothing more.And that role was temporary at best, bestowed on him because he had the good fortune to be the first to discover her. Once she became part of the pack, as the only available female werewolf, she could have her pick of instructors, of werewolves, to continue her education. As the least experienced, certainly not the strongest, chances were, she would not choose him. It was for the best she did not thank him with an embrace.

“Before we get started, there are a few things you must understand. This will be more difficult than our exercises in the training room. Shifting out here is different. The pull of the forest is strong, and there are no locked doors to contain you. I cannot turn my back on you this time.”

Her eyes widened, her mouth forming an unspoken ‘oh’. The uplift of her chin and the set of her jaw, all signs he had come to recognize over the last few days, told him nothing would deter her. She wanted this and she would face it head on.Such courage, such determination. Her inner fire called to his wolf. He shook his head, brushing aside his primal impulses. Focus on her training, nothing more.

“I will shift first, so I am ready should you need me. I will avert my gaze,” he hastened to add. “Your modesty is safe with me, I promise you.”

A frown pinched at her brow. “Can you help with my buttons again?”

L’enfer. These infernal buttons. He had asked Anne to dress Kathryn in garments without buttons or laces. Ones she could remove without his help. And for the past few days, she had. Why not today?Of all the days…

Her hazel eyes implored him. He swallowed the hard lump in his throat, conscious of the hardening further down his body, in his groin.

“Very well.”

She removed her over-dress and turned her back to him, waiting. Fingers fumbling her buttons undone, he hastened away from her lest he be tempted to touch, as she slipped the garment off her shoulders. He looked away, but not before he glimpsed a slim waist and the curve of her hip outlined beneath her thin chemise.

Merde.

Divesting himself of his own clothes, forcing his breeches down over his erection, he quickly called forth the change. Standing on all fours, he kept his gaze fixed on the forest floor. What he could not see, his imagination taunted him with. It took everything he had to not raise his head and look his fill.

He waited, his body thrumming. Her chemise rustled as it fell about her feet, and her discarded boots hit the ground. She took a quick, apprehensive breath, then the unmistakable sound of bones shifting as she transformed filled the clearing. He tensed, ready to pounce.

Silence.

Aimon tore his gaze from the ground and looked into the eyes of Kathryn’s wolf. She stood, the dark copper of her fur like fire in the morning sun, ears pricked forward and eyes alight with curiosity. She had achieved the unthinkable. Twice now, she had mastered that which had taken him weeks.

He remained still as she approached, stalking around him, sniffing him and looking him all over. Her first friendly encounter with another werewolf. The first time seeing him as a wolf. He let her take her time, let her familiarize herself with his form. Would she admire his fur as he did hers? She paused on his right side, near his rib cage, and touched her nose to the thin ribbon of flesh where no fur would grow. Tension rippled through him.

His scar.

The pain of the enemy’s ax biting deep still haunted him. Blurred memories of clashing swords, a ring of men around him, arguing, and Gaharet’s face morphing into a black wolf’s snout leaning over him. Kathryn’s cold nose brushed his scar again, and she whined. He touched his nose to her foreleg, a similar pink patch in her own fur. Some injuries, even werewolf blood could not erase completely. She seemed satisfied with his response, and he turned toward the forest. Being the focus of her intense scrutiny had not helped ease his arousal.

L’enfer, he needed this run.

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