Page 89 of Taken by Moonlight
The large gray timber wolf to his right gave a wolfishgrin.
“Few things are that private around me,” Dantemurmured.
Thoughtful, I kept stroking his hair. He whistled, and the pack dispensed, bounding playfully off into the woods, Alex and Gabriel amongthem.
“Shouldn’t you be with your people?” I tried to keep the hope out of my voice. I did want him to stay and was pleased he had opted to be with me in humanskin.
“Alex and Gabe will take care of them. I need to start giving them more responsibility.” Dante smiled up at me. “I wanted to be with you. My dimples. MyPeyton.”
I couldn’t stop thinking about Cherise, the frightened girl who worried she’d lose her home. “Dante, I have a question aboutCherise.”
He remained relaxed, but in the moonlight, his dark gaze sharpened. Intense, protective green flashed through his aura. I inhaled the sharp, earthy musk of him, all male and leather andwolf.
“Goon.”
“How did you handle her when she first came to yourpack?”
Dante rolled upward, sat on his haunches, staring into the forest where the pack had run. The children were safe inside the lodge, asleep, guarded by two of Dante’s best fighters, who opted to stay behind. If trouble threatened, they’d press the alarm and the entire pack would comerunning.
But I sensed the tension in him, the alertness that never fully fled, except when we made love. Even then part of him held back, as if he feared losing allcontrol.
“When she came here, Cherise was suffering from severe trauma. Being separated from her parents, unable to find them, shoved into an iron cage like a wild wolf, had left hermute.”
A weight settled on my chest as I imagined Cherise, terrified of everything, wondering what would happennext.
“She was detached and unhappy, jumpy every time someone tried to talk to her. Tragedy does that to ashifter.”
To a human as well, I thought, remembering my parents’deaths.
“I knew we had to restore her sense of security and safety. Everything had been taken from her. I simply did what any good alpha would – used visualization exercises for Cherise, meditation in the open field to center her on nature, and guided her to recognize her own triggers when she would get scared. I encouraged her to seek any one of the pack if her parents were not present, for example, if they were out hunting. Everyone in the pack was instructed to be a big brother or sister to her and reassure her. Finally after six months of constant therapy, she became verbalagain.”
We both went quiet when he finished speaking. His aura flickered angry black, threaded with sorrowful red, the kind of red that bleeds, not the passionate crimson. Dante was a compassionate soul, and a strong one, but seeing that little girl so traumatized must have eaten away athim.
It hurt me as well, even though I wasn’t pack, wasn’t directly affected. I hated it when children were in pain. It does something to my insides, makes me angry and grief-stricken. Shifters have it worse than most human kids when they lose their parents because they’re unable to defend themselves against predators, both human and shifter. Most shifter children don’t experience their first change into animal form until they’refourteen.
Dante opened my arms and I went into them. For a few moments we rested there, staring at the stars. It wasn’t sexual, and it was quitecomforting.
The pack returned, circling around us, but Gabriel and Alex entered the circle and curled up next to me, one at my feet and one at my back. I sensed this was more than mere affection, but perhaps a ritual unfamiliar tome.
I didn’t care much for secrets, as much as I enjoyed the body heat and comfort they displayed. As if sensing my distress, Dante sprang up, pulled me to myfeet.
“Everyone, go about your usual activities. Your assignments for tomorrow will be handed out tonight by your teamleaders.”
At his words, the pack ran off, some shifting into human form as they left, others choosing to remain aswolves.
In wolf form, Alex and Gabriel circled around us, like a wagon train, as Dante escorted me toward thelodge.
“Would you like to watch a movie? I need to check on the children,” Danteasked.
I gave his nude, amazing body a long look. “You’d better put some clothing on, bigguy.”
Laughing, he snapped his fingers and jeans, a loose white T-shirt and sneakers appeared on him. He looked relaxed and happy, not at all like the powerful leader of a pack that faced a bloody battle in themorning.
Instead of leading me toward the lodge, he walked toward a copse of trees about 100 yards away. Dante pressed his finger on a small metal pad in the center of the tree. Upon close examination, I realized the tree was fake, but blending in perfectly with theothers.
The pad lit up and a portion of the ground opened, showing stairs. Intrigued, I followedhim.
The stairs ended in a small hallway. The air was fresh and cool, and pretty glass sconces lined the carpeted hallway. It looked like someone’shouse.
