Page 12 of The Mating Need
Dryness coated her tongue. She managed to find her voice again. “What if some of the Lupines decide to bunk there for the night and they seeme?”
Troy’s palm felt warm as he cupped her cheek. “I won’t let anything happen to you, darling. I’ll say you’re my girl, and you weren’t ready to mingle with a lot of Lupines until you felt comfortable.Deal?”
Did she have a choice? Jenny nodded, fighting the urge to flee again, never look back. She had made it on her own for more than a year, struggling to survive, shifting at night because the dark sky and the stars provided safe cover. Since meeting Troy she’d growncomfortable.
Maybe too comfortable, relying onhim.
Best to never rely on another, no matter how attracted she was tohim.
“Promise me you’llstay.”
Clever Troy. He read her like a well-wornbook.
“I promise,” she whispered, knowing she was stuck, swimming in his brown gaze, the tenderness she saw there. Tenderness no one bothered to show her for a long time. Maybe years. “For awhile.”
How easily she’d fallen for this Lupine. How hard it would be to leavehim.
He sighed. “I hate leaving you. Come with me. Knock on the front door. With your pretty face, they won’t be as scared of my uglymug.”
His easy grin coaxed a laugh out of her. “Right. One look at you and all the females will swoon at yourfeet.”
He grinned again. “Maybe it is. Never did care for silly females swooning over aguy.”
His expression turned serious. “You’re the only girl for me Jenny. In wolfskin or out ofit.”
The glint in his eye indicated as well, in bed or out ofit.
Jenny cherished their relationship too much and was far too honest with Troy to start playing those kind of games other females did to entice a male into staying. She wanted him, badly, but intimacy wasrisky.
Handing over her body and her heart meant chaining herself to his side. Like her mother did with herfather.
Troy glanced overhead at the sky, his nostrils flaring. “Smells like rain coming. Bad thunderstorm. Let’s get you settled in that cabin before Ileave.”
Typical Troy, ensuring she had all she needed before attending to himself. That unselfishness was far different from what she’d encountered in her previous life, even before she lost herfamily.
He knew how much she hated thunderstorms. Thunder like that day when she’d lost her entireworld.
At the cabin, he brightened the gloomy interior with wildflowers he picked for her, putting them in a glass jar filled with water. Troy checked the propane refrigerator andnodded.
“You have enough fresh meat and supplies to last you a while. Reckon it’ll be enough for now, until I can get here andvisit.”
He closed the door and leaned against it. “I don’t want them knowing about you until they learn to trust me alittle.”
He cupped her cheek and she leaned into his caress. “Maybe I’ll trot down to the ranch as wolf and visit you,Troy.”
“No.” Troy’s tone was sharp as he jerked away his hand. “Too risky. The only way you should approach the ranch as in Skin. Lone wolves are suspicious enough, Jenny. If you want to run as wolf, stick to this territory and hunt game here. Don’t even go near the pasture or the lodge as wolf. They’ll shoot you. They have pack, and cattle, toprotect.”
“Okay. I’ll stayhere.”
Over the jagged, distant mountains, indigo clouds scuttled across the sunny blue sky, the threat of rain growing closer. Jenny smiled at Troy to mask her fear. Much as she longed for him to remain with her, she knew he needed to dothis.
I have no right to hold you back. You have to go your ownway.
“I promise I’ll be fine. Now go. Maybe if you’re lucky, they’ll have a nice steak for dinner. Those sure did look like fat cattle when we saw them the othernight.”
Troy hesitated. “What about dinner foryou?”
Jenny nodded at the propane refrigerator and the stove next to it. “I know how to cook. I’ll be fine. Besides all that fruit and veggies, well, I’ll probably grow fat and lazy while you’regone.”
