He said nothing, merely watched her with questions in his eyes as she studied him. Suddenly the memory of him taking her, of him seating his huge cock between her legs, of being stretched as he thrust deeply inside, filled her mind. Her pussy clenched in reaction. She felt the warm spiral of desire strike at her very center, knew she must be soaking through her panties just from the thought of making love with this man.
She wondered if he smelled her arousal. If his instincts and abilities were that defined…if he was as much the wolf as he appeared.
He stared at her for a moment longer, his nostrils flared, his eyes narrowed, then he leaned forward and tapped on the darkened glass. The window rolled down barely enough to allow conversation. “Oliver. The woman has chosen to accompany me. Take us to the cabin, please.”
The driver nodded, the window silently closed, and the big car rumbled to life. Xandi leaned back against the soft leather seat, folded her hands in her lap and shut her eyes in a moment of thanks. Suddenly, she felt his fingers tentatively brush over hers, his callused fingertips slip across the back of her right hand. She held her breath. Slowly, he turned her hand palm up, then closed his fingers firmly, clasping her hand in his. She exhaled, a long, slow breath. Held tightly to his hand. A sense of peace washed over her body, a sense of—finally, after years of waiting—finding her way home.
Xandi was aware of changes in the road—rough pavement giving way to smooth and then becoming rough again—and of two different times when the car slowed and must have passed through gates, but the tinted windows hid almost as much of the outside from her view as they did the inside from anyone trying to peer in.
Mostly, she was aware of the warm hand in hers, the fingers wrapped firmly about hers. She sensed the inner tension in the man/beast sitting next to her. Neither of them spoke, yet she’d never been so aware of another person in her entire life.
He radiated energy—controlled energy—as if his body might explode at any moment. She wondered what thoughts must be racing through his brain, wondered if he felt regret, anticipation…desire?
She should have been terrified. Should have felt some sense of fear, well aware she was essentially acting as an agent in her own abduction. Instead she was pure anticipation and untempered lust. Her body ached with need for him. She felt as if she’d shed some unneeded husk, another body or soul that had ruled her heart and mind for much too long. Shed it like a lizard’s skin, leaving her fresh and clean, waiting…wanting.
In all her thirty years, she’d never known this sense of rightness before. This pure knowledge that, following this man, learning from this man, was the thing she’d been created to do.
Xandi blinked. The car had stopped. The door next to her companion opened, and Oliver stood to one side. “Sir?”
Her rescuer slipped his hand free of hers and got out of the car, his movements unbelievably graceful for one so large. He held his hand out to Xandi. She tightened her fingers around his and let him pull her gently to the door, then to her feet. She felt awkward and unsure, standing in the bright sunlight in front of a huge redwood home.
She wasn’t ready to look at him. Stared instead at the lovely structure practically growing up out of the snow-covered ground.
It was certainly no mere cabin. Decks wrapped around the home and stretched into the trees, and massive windows reflected the bright morning sun. Snow-capped mountains peeking out above the dark green forest framed the entire scene like an ad for an expensive ski vacation.
Snow covered the ground, so it was impossible to tell what the landscaping might be like in warmer weather, but Xandi imagined azaleas and rhododendrons, spilling masses of color, along with deep beds of ferns.
She was aware of the silence, more so once Oliver climbed back into the limo and drove along a curved driveway to beyond the far corner of the house. Finally, after she had exhausted her view of the home and surroundings, she turned and carefully appraised her host.
In the cold light of day, he was beyond beautiful. She should have felt fear. Most likely, if she had chanced upon him on a darkened street, she would have run screaming in panic. Now her perception of him was colored by knowledge. The tenderness of his kiss, the gentle strokes of his fingers…the controlled thrust of his massive cock.
“I haven’t properly thanked you,” she said, looking directly into his amber eyes. The thought crossed her mind that she could never grow tired of looking at him, of being near him. “I would have died out there. How did you find me?”
He dipped his chin, acknowledging her thanks with a tilt of his head. “I was in the forest. I sensed you nearby, sensed your spirit fading. It was little enough to carry you back here.”
“I was miles away from here.”
He took her arm and led her up the broad steps without speaking. When he reached the front door, he paused and looked down at her, at her fingers clasped tightly around his forearm. “I often travel far at night. It is my way.”
“You saved my life.”
He opened the door and waited for her to precede him, closed the door, then turned and leaned solidly against it as if it were an anchor. His hands still grasping the handle, he studied her for a moment. She couldn’t read the emotion in his amber eyes, but there was a sense of quiet desperation about him.
“No,” he said, his chest rising and falling with a very deep breath. “You may very well have saved mine.”
Chapter 3
The room to which he took her was elegant yet very simple, done all in soft shades of gold and green. The bed was large, the bathroom luxurious, with a tub big enough to swim in. He left her there with instructions to meet him for breakfast in another hour.
She took her time bathing, not at all surprised to find a big fluffy robe hanging behind the door when she finally climbed out of the steaming water. A hair dryer lay on the counter, along with a comb and a brush and even a new toothbrush. She dried her hair and brushed it out, then left it hanging loose about her shoulders. She checked a couple of drawers, looking for makeup, then finally gave up and went back into the bedroom, fully intending to put her old clothes back on.
A forest-green gown of softly knitted cashmere lay across the bed. There wasn’t any underwear, but she didn’t mind. The fabric clung to her body, caressed her flesh. Warmed her. She stood in front of a full-length gilded mirror and studied her reflection.
The style was amazingly simple: a scooped neckline, long sleeves and a natural drape to the gown that followed the flow of her body, emphasizing her rounded breasts and slender waist, her full hips and unusual height. With her gray eyes and dark russet hair, she knew she couldn’t have chosen a more complimentary shade or design.
She turned away from the mirror and noticed her purse, the small leather backpack she’d lost the day before. It sat on a table next to the bed. She picked it up, saw her wallet was still inside, that everything appeared to be where it belonged. Sighing, she found her zippered cosmetics bag, put on a bit of lipstick, then set the bag back on the table.
Xandi stared at the bag for a moment, gathering her thoughts. Everything over the past few hours had about it a dreamlike quality, almost surrealistic in nature. She suffered a brief moment of fear, the sense that maybe she should call someone, tell one of her co-workers where she was…who she was with. She glanced about the room, suddenly noting the lack of telephone, radio and bedside clock.
Then she smiled. Folding her hands in front of her waist, she took a deep breath. She had no idea where she was. There was no reason to call, no reason for fear. She’d asked for change.
She’d found it.
Now was the time to do something with it.
He sat at a round glass-topped table set in a windowed nook in the large kitchen. She’d expected to find him in a more