Page 48 of The Mating Need
Chapter 10
After a long swimin the river to refresh them, they walked back toward the lodge. Jenny felt different. It wasn’t merely the heated intensity between them, and the shift in their relationship from friends tolovers.
For the first time in her life, she felt comfortable in her own skin. Troy did that forher.
They decided to take the four-wheeler to explore the access road near the Timberline wolf pack. Scents abounded in these woods, a miasma of smells, along with a faint, but discernable, smell of metal shavings. The metal shavings scent bothered her the most. She’d never smelled anything like it, and her instinct warned it wasn’tnatural.
Orbenign.
All the previous contentment leeched out of her. She glanced at Troy, whofrowned.
“Something’s not right here,” he said, his fingers tightened on thewheel.
“Let me check on the wolfpack.”
“I’ll go withyou.”
But the female alpha and the pups were safe inside their den. They peered down to see her asleep with the pups, another wolf guarding the entrance. The wolf growled at them, and theyretreated.
As they returned to the four-wheeler, Troy shook his head. “I don’t get it. The wolf pack is okay, but there’s something not right about this area. Are you able to detect anything with yourmagick?”
She shook her head. “I just want to get out ofhere.”
Finally they cleared the woods and entered the open pasture, much to her relief. He stopped, hooked an arm around her waist as they looked at the jagged mountains in thedistance.
“So beautiful,” he murmured. “Serene.”
Troy glanced down ather.
“Do you think you’d like to remain here, Jenny? Because I like it here, the more time Ispend.”
Staying here for good took a leap of faith. More like a canyon leap. Jenny didn’t want any of them getting close to her. Sam was right. She did push people away fromher.
Those who did tended to get close lost their lives. It happened before, and she never wanted it to happenagain.
Only Troy, stubborn, darling Troy, her best friend, refused to abandon her. She’d taken it one step further and made love with him. Sharing her body was onething.
But sharing a life with himhere?
She opted for caution. “It’s too soon to tell, Troy. But it is nice, all these surroundings. Beats sleeping on a forestfloor.”
Helaughed.
When they returned to the lodge, Troy put away the picnic items in the kitchen while she sat on the sofa, feeling her body sink into it as if it were a giant marshmallow. She ran her fingers across the tan leather, sighing wistfully at the butter softness beneath hertouch.
Despite the July warmth, a fire crackled in the stone hearth. The Mitchell Ranch Lodge was warm, welcoming and dangerous. Filled with Lupines who would turn on her in a heartbeat if they saw her as athreat.
Troy came into the living and joined her, swung an arm around her shoulder. “Told you this place was allright.”
For a minute, she snuggled against him, unable to resist the temptation. Yeah, her resolve was melting like winter snow in Florida. But for now, she enjoyed the closeness and the feeling of beinghome.
Even if this could never truly be herhome.
Troy swept a hand across the air. “Everything here is something each Lupine in the pack contributed. Artwork, vases,lamps.”
She flicked a finger at a table lamp fashioned from deer antlers. “Trophy lamp from ahunt?”
He chuckled. “More likely something someone bought from thestore.”
