by Jade White
“I think we’re going to have to dig a well,” Chastity mentioned as she dipped a little metal bucket in and pulled the water out. Using a small cup, she dipped out a drink and sipped at it, sampling the contents with a discerning eye. “There’s a lot of iron still in this,” she announced then.
“Yes, there’s an old iron mine just north of the ridge up there,” Night explained as he pointed to the peak they could see in the distance. “Pretty sure this old town was built when the thing was still being actively mined, which can’t have been for many years now.”
“No, not since they abandoned iron in search of titanium,” Chastity agreed.
“You’ve read a bit about this place, I see,” said Night.
“Yes, it seemed the appropriate thing to do at the time.”
“You’re a very smart girl,” Night told her with an appreciative smile. “Julian must be very proud of you.”
“He’s very proud of you as well, Night. He talks about you all the time,” she told him. “Even before he found out where you were and what you’ve been doing out here. He misses you, I think.”
“I was very much like a son to him,” Night said with a nod. “Sometimes I really miss him, too.”
“Why did you never return to him, then?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “I suppose it’s because he always expected me to go out into the world and find more of our kind, maybe even form a pack of my own. And now, that’s exactly what I’ve done—such as it is.”
“You hope that Julian will send you some wolf-borns so you can start a real pack,” said Chastity astutely. “I can see it in your eyes.”
“Let’s eat our lunch by the water, shall we?” Night suggested, evading her question for the time being since it was far too close to the topic he and Boris had discussed last night.
Chastity dutifully pulled the blanket out of her bag and laid it down, followed by the food. Night couldn’t help but admire her lovely backside as she did this, all the time wondering what she would say if he mentioned they ought to bathe while they were there. Of course, in humans it was advisable to eat after the bath, but werewolves had no such difficulty so he decided to bide his time.
Seeing the way he had reacted to her inquiry, Chastity did not continue in her line of questioning. Night smiled at this, well aware that she had taken note of his discomfort and modified accordingly. He wondered if that was part of the super-wolf thing, or if it was just her. It probably didn’t matter one way or the other, since she’d been born that way to begin with.
“Well, I appreciate you showing me the location of the local watering hole,” Chastity said. “Now I’ll know how to get back to it again.”
“We’re not quite done here yet,” said Night with a smile that gave Chastity pause as she had just been getting to her feet to gather up their things.
“Oh?”
“There’s no running water in town, you know,” he said. ”I don’t know about you, but I could use a good washing.”
“In the drinking water?” she asked, appalled.
“Of course not,” he said, laughing outright now. “There’s a cave on the other side of the lake with a nice bathing pool in it. The water runs downstream from the lake. Unless you’re afraid to ruin the water just from swimming across?”
“Let’s go, then,” she said boldly, and she began to unbutton her blouse.
Night shed his clothes as well. The two of them jumped into the water together, swam across, and headed for the mouth of the cave. Chastity looked around at the rock formations jutting down from above with a curious light in her eyes, at the same time carefully avoiding looking at Night’s naked form.
Night, of course, felt no desire to repay the favor. His eyes drank in every bit of her exposed flesh with a pleased smile. If any woman could ever be called perfect, Chastity would have to be that woman. Short and slim, the dark gold thatch between her thighs a match for her tawny mane of barely managed curls that surrounded her pretty face. He would have no problem mating with her, as his body could attest since it was reacting to her even now.
“I thought we were in here to get clean, not to get dirty,” Chastity reminded him with a wry smirk as she saw the state of things.
“Mm, you know that one could always get dirty and then wash up after,” he pointed out, feeling unaccountably vulnerable under her unhindered scrutiny now that she was actually looking.
“Flirting a bit is kind of fun, Night, but I don’t know if I want the entanglement,” she said as she looked away again. “I don’t know exactly what he has in mind, but I’ve always had the feeling that Julian is grooming me for something, since he made it clear he wished me to remain untouched. Once, I suspected he wanted to mate me himself one day, but he has never acted in any way toward me but fatherly, so unless things change drastically, that really cannot be it. Either way, I don’t think I should be considering something like this without his permission.”
“Then you are at least considering it?” he inquired.
“It would be difficult not to, Night,” she admitted. “You’re very handsome, and by the look of you it would be a most satisfactory endeavor. But as I’ve said, I simply cannot.”
Night just nodded at this. He could have easily gotten what he wanted by telling her that she already had permission, but that wasn’t what he wanted to do. Instead, he decided to distract himself by opening the bag he brought along and pulling out the soaps. Wordlessly, he gave one of them to Chastity, and then took the other with him as he stepped further into the cave to be alone.
The trouble was, his body was on fire with need just from being near the girl. He knew he should have just said something and gotten it over with, but in a way, he was enjoying his agony. It would make it much sweeter when she actually did give him what he wanted.
“Night, are you ready?” Chastity finally called when he’d been gone for some time.
“Yes,” he called, and then he was at her side. Chastity handed him her bar of soap and he put it into the bag, and then nodded toward the exit. Back on the shore, they put their clothes on again. The tension between them was thick all the way home, and when they arrived they joined the pack for dinner, each falling in with a different group for a little time apart.
This wasn’t the way that Night had wanted things to go between them. He had asked for a few days to see if he could get closer to the girl, not to push her away. Chastity clearly thought she was supposed to be saving herself for some unknown wolf, and if that was the case, she was bound to keep resisting any sort of urges she might have where he was concerned. It was completely maddening. And he loved it.
*
Rick was seated next to Night at the head of the table, riddling his ears with all of his findings for the day. Apparently, while he had been off failing miserably in his wooing attempts, this particular werewolf had been systematically examining all ten buildings and determining just how he might enhance the water wheel to bring electricity to each of them. It almost made him feel guilty to have accomplished so little while the newcomer had accomplished so much.
“My Lord, the real issue is that there’s a lot of wood rot all through these buildings,” he explained. “You would be far better off to start by building a better lodge so the wind didn’t blow straight through like it does now. I’m certain there must be days when rain or snow makes a gathering like this uncomfortable. A nice, big lodge complete with an electric stove to bake your bread and other items, would be just the thing.”
“Where would we be getting the wood to do that?” Night pointed out. “You certainly can’t take it away from the surrounding forest. These trees have been hiding us from the outside world for almost a century. We certainly don’t want to tear them down.”
“As to that, sir, I think I’ve come up with a brilliant idea that would make use of the trees without cutting them down,” said Rick with an excited grin. “How about tree houses? That way, even if someone did stumble onto this place, all they might b
e likely to find would be the remnants of the old town, while the real homes would be far above, hidden in more ways than one.”
“That’s a wonderful idea, of course, but that still doesn’t answer the question of materials,” said Night with a shrug. His eyes had wandered to the far end of the table where Chastity had taken refuge with the rest of the women and the two small boys. He had no idea what they were discussing, but he hadn’t seen any of the women here nearly half as animated, as she seemed to have them at the moment.
“Sir?” Rick smirked as he followed the direction of his eyes.
“Oh, sorry,” he replied, shaking his head as he looked back at him. “Mighty fine view of that table from here.”
“Mighty fine,” Rick agreed. “But I think you should know that Julian has big plans for her, whatever they are.”
“Yes, so I’ve been told,” Night replied with a smirk. “In fact, I’ve even been told what they are.”
Rick’s eyes widened. “Really, that secret’s been kept tight as a drum. Why would he tell you?”
“I’d rather not discuss it just yet,” said Night, fighting off a sudden wave of dejection. The last thing he wanted to do was let anyone know what had happened earlier that day.
“Fair enough, my Lord,” he agreed. “Anyway, about the wood. I believe that if we got it from some of the old mining town buildings, we could create quite a comfortable tree colony. You give me the go-ahead and a bit of man power, the first thing we’ll do is fix the water wheel so there’s a bit of power to be had, and then we could springboard from there.”
“Fine, Rick, you do that,” he agreed. “Just keep me informed, and I’ll leave it to you.”
“Thank you, sir,” he said with a grin. “I won’t let you down.”
Night returned to his house before Boris and Chastity, feeling somewhat tired after the meal. He knew he ought to have rejoined them, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. Depression is not something a leader has the luxury to feel, he reminded himself. He remained in the living room, tidying it up a bit before they got there.
When the door opened, the Alpha of the woodland pack was wearing an apron and using a feather duster on the ancient wooden coffee table. His hair was hanging loose down his back, and he’d rolled up his shirtsleeves to keep them from getting dirty.
Boris hid a smirk, but Chastity laughed outright. “You forgot to put a turban on your head,” she teased him. “It keeps the hair from falling into your eyes, you know.”
“Funny,” Night grumbled good-naturedly. Their eyes met and held, and he was sorely tempted to simply yank her into his arms and carry her off into his bedroom. He wondered what Boris was likely to say if he did so.
The look in Chastity’s eyes clearly indicated her awareness of his line of thinking, and she quickly turned away with a slight blush, making Night smirk as well. He deliberately brushed against her as he headed for the kitchen to put away his cleaning attire. When he returned, both Chastity and Boris had taken seats. Boris was sitting on the single chair, and Chastity’s only choice was to sit on the sofa. She arranged herself as close to the arm of the thing as possible, and found a book to keep herself busy.
“A bit of light reading?” Night inquired as he read the title, which was clearly upside-down.
“Oh, yes, it looks like it might be interesting,” she answered.
Chastity set the book aside, unaware of her mistake, thanks to her obviously jangled nerves where he was concerned. He sat a bit closer to her than was strictly necessary, and she crossed her legs, trying to appear unaffected by it. He knew better.
“So, what’s the plan for tomorrow then?” She wanted to know. “I saw you and Rick talking in great detail, so surely you must have come up with something. It seemed like it was going to take hours for the two of you to be done, and then all of the sudden you were just gone.”
“I just thought the house could use a bit of cleaning, since I’m not the only one in it anymore,” Night excused himself. It sounded lame even to his own ears. “Anyway, apparently Rick has come up with a great idea for what to do with this place, and I told him that he could proceed.”
“Really?” she asked curiously. “And what was that?”
“He intends to build the bulk of our new stronghold up in the trees.”
“Tree houses?” Chastity gasped “And how are we supposed to get up to them? What is he going to do, build a huge elevator so we can haul up the furniture?”
“I don’t know, maybe something like that, I suppose,” Night said. “We haven’t really hammered out many of the details as yet. First, though, he intends to fix the water wheel so we can have electricity.”
“Hot running water would be nice,” Chastity said.
“You mean you didn’t like bathing in the cave?” Night teased her, grinning when she blushed.
“I—I liked the cave very much, but it’s not the best place for doing the dishes, is it?” I mean, you’re the one who wanted them, did you ever think of that?”
Night laughed. “I suppose not.”
“Okay, so now we know what Rick is supposed to be doing tomorrow, what about me?” Chastity wanted to know.
“Were you not sent here to teach werewolf first aid?” Night reminded her. “Perhaps you should start teaching it.”
“Is that what you want me to do?”
“Yes, I’d like you to do so,” Night said. “Some of these people have no idea how to take care of themselves properly. They are still thinking like humans.”
“Then maybe I should get some sleep so I can start fresh,” she replied.
“I put fresh covers on the bed for you,” said Night with a smile. “I want you to be comfortable here.”
“Yeah, I know,” she answered softly, blushing when he brushed a lock of hair off her forehead.
“Then I’ll bid you good night,” Night replied. He smiled as he watched her go.
CHAPTER THREE
Chastity was awakened the following morning by the sound of a songbird outside her window. She had no idea what time it was, but she was feeling quite rested. For all she knew, it might be early still, maybe even dawn. Whatever time it was, however, she knew she would never be able to get back to sleep.
In the living room, Boris was sleeping on the couch. Chastity didn’t know whether Night and Boris had stayed up drinking again, but she hoped that was not the case. It would be unwise for the leader of the pack to indulge himself in drink every evening. But she supposed that was really none of her business.
It wasn’t like Chastity would be there long. As far as she knew, she would only be there for the three months that it would take before anyone returned to the path. Asking Night for a house had only been a bit of fun. However, after the way he had been behaving yesterday, she wondered if Night would rather that she stayed.
All her life Chastity had been groomed for something special. She had no idea what Julian had in store for her, but she was certain that he hadn’t planned on this. How could he have done when Night hadn’t formed his pack until after she was born? Perhaps that didn’t change the purpose, but rather just the destination. Maybe Julian did intend for her to stay here.
It wasn’t as though she had ever been this far from home before, she thought.
The excuse he had given for her journey that she was meant to teach werewolves first aid, now seemed rather ridiculous in the light of day. What use did a shape shifter really have for poultices and remedies when they would simply heal over time anyway?
Then again, maybe she just wished her thoughts were the truth. Maybe she liked Night so much that she hoped Julian would let her stay. After all, if he wanted her for himself, wouldn’t he have taken her by now?
It was a question she pondered as she added wood to the little pot-bellied stove and lit it, then made a pot of coffee on the top. She sighed as she did so, and decided to make another batch of porridge as well. It would be nice if they managed to get some electricity and a working stove so getting brea
kfast would be a bit easier. She suddenly visualized how difficult it would be to haul a stove and refrigerator up into a tree house, and caught herself giggling about it.
Night came out of his room just as she did this. His hair was still down, but now it looked disheveled from sleep. He cast her a curious gaze over her outburst that left her blushing. He grinned at her discomfiture, and asked, “What’s so funny, Chastity? Are you remembering how I looked naked or something?”
“Why would I think your nudity was funny?” she wanted to know.
“Mostly because you didn’t seem inclined to take advantage of it,” he said, his grin broadening as her blush deepened further.
“You’re incorrigible, aren’t you?” she grumbled.
“Maybe I’m just trying to figure out the best way to seduce you,” he chuckled. “I guess putting the thing right out there in front of you didn’t do the trick, so now I’m going for saucy banter. Is it working?”
“Of course not!” she protested, much too quickly. She was well aware just how falsely her words rang when he stopped grinning and slid a hand under her chin instead.
“Really?” he asked then. “My sense of smell disagrees completely.”
“Night, don’t—” Chastity began, but then he was kissing her. It started out as a gentle kiss, meant only to tease her senses a bit, but when she didn’t pull away, it turned into something much bolder. Having no idea what else to say or do, she simply whispered his name again. “Night!”
Boris woke up with a snort, and the two of them moved apart to look over at him. “Oh, have you told her, then?” he inquired sleepily as he saw their proximity. “Good job, then.”
“Told me what?” Chastity wanted to know.
“Oh, nothing important,” said Night. “Not yet, anyway.”
“Night, will you just tell me?” asked Chastity with an exasperated sigh. “If Julian’s been handling my future yet again, I’d rather know about it now than later.”
