by Elsa Jade
What the hell had come over her?
Not only had she tried to commit suicide-by-wolf, but when said wolf had turned into an unbearably handsome, not to mention familiar man, she had practically thrown herself at him!
Rose placed a shaky hand over her chest and willed her breathing to steady. She felt hot all over. When the wolf, or man—or whatever he was—had touched her, it had felt so profound. As though she had been waiting for his touch her entire life. When he had put his mouth on her… When he had bit her…it was as though her identity had been drained out with her blood. She hadn’t been Rose, she had been something much more primal, something elemental. Her body had ached for things that her mind still couldn’t comprehend.
Even now, as she stood just a stone’s throw from the road, she wanted to turn back and let him do with her what he wanted. It made no sense. She was already trying to escape a monster, and now she wanted to elope with a wolf? Clearly, she was losing her mind.
The gods must have been sympathetic to her plight, because when she arrived at the campsite, Alf was passed out. He snored loudly, an open flask of some noxious liquid tilting precariously in a half-closed hand. Remarkably, her basket appeared unmolested.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Rose grabbed the basket and quietly slipped away. She resolved herself not to stop until she reached her grandmother’s home. Perhaps there was no escaping Alf, but she was damn sure going to try.
Chapter Four
‡
Just after sunrise, the trees thinned and then gave way entirely to rolling farmlands. Bales of hay and cattle dotted the landscape, and in the distance, Rose could make out an old red barn and the small farmhouse that belonged to her grandmother, Pearl.
When Pearl had been much younger than Rose, she had fled her village to escape an unfavorable marriage. She had run for months, until finally ending up in a small town that was nestled in the mountains. Posing as an orphan boy, she found work herding sheep. She saved her money for years, finally using it to purchase an abandoned house on a stretch of land.
Although it had cost her all of her savings, the house and land had been dirt-cheap. The owners were practically giving it away, as the area was virtually uninhabitable due to frequent coyote attacks. But somehow, Pearl had persevered. She had restored the farmhouse, cleared the fields, and made a life for herself and Rose’s mother, a child she’d boldly borne out of wedlock.
If there was anyone in the world who would be sympathetic to Rose’s situation, it was her grandmother. She only hoped that Alf was still far behind her, because no matter how strong Pearl’s spirit, the frail old woman would be unable to stop Alf from dragging Rose away.
By the time she reached the front porch, Rose felt as though she might collapse. She felt empty and hollow. Aside from having run on no sleep, she’d been too anxious to eat anything. Perhaps even more disconcerting was the place on her neck where the wolf had bitten her. It had long-since stopped bleeding, but it continued to throb with a sensation not unlike burning. Over the hours, the feeling had spread, until nearly the whole left side of her body felt feverish.
With what felt like the last bit of her energy, Rose knocked on the door. She heard heavy footsteps, and a moment later the door opened to reveal Harris, her younger cousin. Harris was the oldest son of her father’s brother. Socially inept and a little slow, his father had convinced Pearl to let him help out on the farm a few years back. Rose wasn’t surprised to see him and even managed a smile.
“Harris, so good to see you.”
Rose didn’t wait for his response before pushing past him and collapsing into the nearest chair. The furnace glowed, radiating warmth and the scent of burning pine throughout the room. Although Rose only visited a few times a year, it felt like she’d come home.
The kitchen and living room were adjoined, and Rose had half-expected to look over and find her grandmother finishing a fresh batch of her amazing biscuits. But her grandmother was nowhere to be seen and the room felt unusually devoid of life.
“Where’s Grandmother?” she asked, glancing up at Harris. He was standing in the doorway, still looking befuddled by her sudden appearance.
“She’s gone to town,” Harris drawled.
Rose shook her head emphatically. “No, Harris, that’s not possible. I just came from town.”
“Not your town,” he elaborated, finally shutting the door.
Of course not, Rose thought, her heart sinking. Her hometown was a full day away, but only a three-hour horse ride from the farm was another town, one that her grandmother frequented to sell eggs and milk. She must have left Harris behind to tend to the farm.
“She’ll be back today though, right?” Rose asked.
Harris shrugged. “I reckon she’ll be home tonight, iffn’ it don’t rain. She don’t like to travel in the rain.”
Tonight? Alf will have caught up by then.
Rose wracked her brain for a solution, but was repeatedly hampered by her own exhaustion. Finally, she reasoned that Alf couldn’t possibly catch up until after noontime. She needed to get some rest and then plan her next move. Maybe she could hide out in the barn until her grandmother returned home. She’d happily wallow in pig slop if it meant she never had to see his greasy face again.
“I’m going to take a nap,” she told Harris. “Don’t let me sleep more than an hour or two, okay?”
*
There is nothing I want more than to taste every part of you.
The wolf’s sultry declaration rang out in Rose’s mind. On some level, she knew that she was dreaming, but she didn’t care. Phantom hands roamed over her body, caressing and squeezing her curves. Everywhere they touched, her skin was set aflame.
Long fingers pinched and tugged at her nipples, until they stiffened into twin peaks of sensation. Her back arched into the touch and she felt a moan reverberate through her chest.
So hot.
Sweat covered her naked flesh. A long, roughened tongue lapped at the places it gathered: her collar, between her breasts, and below her navel. The heat that coursed through her body seemed to flow to her center, where it pooled between her thighs. She eagerly parted her thighs, hoping that the tongue would continue its downward descent.
Instead, Rose was jarred awake by a loud banging sound. She shot up from the bed, her underclothes drenched in sweat. She went to wipe her brow, only to find that her hand had been between her legs. Mouth falling open in horror, she realized that she’d been touching herself in her sleep.
Rose was no stranger to the needs of her own body, nor was she such a prude that she didn’t indulge from time to time. But never before had she awoken in such a state, or had such an explicit dream.
Her hand drifted up to the mark on her neck. The skin felt incredibly sensitive, but not in a painful way. Her fingers skimmed over the mark and she nearly moaned. It felt good. Unnaturally good.
Before she could contemplate this, there was another series of bangs. This time, she could tell they were coming from the door that led into the hallway. It was on the tip of her tongue to yell to Harris that she was awake, until she noticed something that made her blood run cold. Beyond the mint green curtains that shaded the window, she could see the sun setting over the mountain. It was almost nightfall—she’d slept all day.
She contemplated escaping through the window, but thought better of it. If she tried to run now, she’d only be making a bad situation even worse. Instead, she picked her cloak up from the floor and wrapped it around herself. After whispering a soft prayer, she made her way to the door, turned the lock, and cracked it open.
Alf immediately pushed his way into the room. Rose stumbled backwards and would have fallen, had he not taken hold of her wrist. She opened her mouth to speak, but Alf forced her up against the wooden wall, knocking the breath from her body.
“You’re one slippery bitch, Rosy.”
Something about his expression terrified her even more than her compromising position. His eyes were wild�
��livid with rage, but his chapped lips were pulled back, baring his yellowed teeth in a crude mockery of a smile.
His breath smelled like rotten eggs and Rose turned her head away to keep from gagging. Alf gripped her chin with bruising force and made her face him.
“What, nothing to say? Run out of excuses?”
She gave him a defiant look, but kept silent. There were a million excuses she could come up with, but she knew that the question was rhetorical. His hips were pressed against hers, and she could feel his unimpressive bulge nudging her pelvis. He’d already made up his mind about what he wanted, and nothing she said was going to change that.
While Alf’s clumsy hands fumbled over her, awkwardly pawing at her breasts, she looked around for something she could use as a weapon. The guest room was sparsely furnished and the nearest object was a small vase on the bedside table. It was much too far for her to reach.
Alf must have sensed what she was doing. He gave a low laugh before saying, “You can’t keep running from this, Rosy. Wedding or not, I’m your husband and you’re my wife. I can use you any time I want, so you better get used to it.”
She had never felt so powerless in her life. If she tried to fight him, he would win. But if she didn’t fight, how could she possibly live with herself?
Alf paused as they heard the sound of the front door closing. Rose recognized the heavy footsteps of her cousin, and was relieved when Harris poked his head through the doorway. His face was red and he appeared to have been running.
Barely acknowledging the scene he’d walked in on, Harris said, “I need help corralling the sheep. The hounds are spooked. I think the coyotes are nearby.”
Alf cursed under his breath. “Can’t you take care of it yourself?”
“It’s gonna rain and we’re losing light. If we miss any, them sheep are as good as dead.”
Alf cast Rose a spiteful look, as if she’d somehow planned the whole scenario. She tried not to make her immense relief too evident.
“Fine, let’s go get the damn sheep,” he said, finally letting her go. “You stay put and fix us some dinner. If you ain’t here when I get back, I’m gonna find you and skin you, girl.”
Rose ground her teeth to keep from spitting in his face.
When he left the room, her trembling legs threatened to give way. She managed to keep herself upright, but couldn’t move for several minutes. She watched through the window as Alf and Harris set out across the sprawling pasture. Even as they became nothing more than small dots in the distance, she couldn’t bring herself to relax. Alf would be back, and sometime between then and the next sunrise, he was going to force himself on her.
She could run, try to make it to the town where her grandmother was. But there wasn’t enough distance between them now. Alf could easily catch up to her and when he did, there would be hell to pay.
For a moment, she entertained the idea of finding a knife, or even a gun with which to protect herself. But when it came down to it, would she really have the nerve to kill Alf? If she faltered, or even just hesitated, Rose had no doubt that Alf would make good on his promise to skin her.
From somewhere within the woods came a sound that should have frightened Rose. It was the deep, beckoning howl of a wolf. Her hand moved to her neck, which seemed to pulsate with awareness. She found herself drifting across the room, unhinging the lock on the window, and opening it up.
Cold, damp air clung to her face. The final vestiges of sunlight were blotted out by foreboding, grey thunderclouds. She could make out the line of trees where the pasture ended and the forest began, but saw no sign of the wolf.
Rain began to fall, heavy droplets splattering loudly on dry leaves. Rose took a step back from the window, but couldn’t quite bring herself to close it.
When she’d heard the howl, an intense longing and bizarre elation had momentarily seized her. Was she so desperate to escape her fate that she wished for a wolf to take her away?
“Even a wolf would better than Alf,” she whispered.
At least when the wolf had touched her, she’d liked it.
Liked it? That was an understatement. Even now, she craved his touch almost as much as she craved her freedom from Alf. She had not known it was possible to feel such strong sexual desire.
She heard another howl. This time, it was accompanied by a shadow that weaved amongst the trees. The mark on her neck throbbed. He was calling for her. She could feel it in her bones.
From somewhere farther away, she heard Alf yell, most likely at Harris. Whatever he said was drowned out by the noisy rainfall, but it was enough to remind Rose of her predicament.
The wolf had claimed that he wouldn’t harm her, that she was his mate—whatever that meant. Rose wasn’t inclined to trust the words of a wolf, but he had let her go when she’d protested. That was much more than Alf would ever do.
She placed her hands on the windowsill for leverage. Pushing herself up, she managed to swing one leg over, and then the other. When her feet landed on the wet earth, she realized that she hadn’t put on any shoes and was still wearing only her cloak and undergarments. She considered going back inside, but instead grabbed a rock and smashed the window. With her possessions still inside, it would look as though she’d been taken, rather than ran away. Alf may have his doubts, but he wouldn’t keep looking for her for too long.
Pulling her cloak tight, she kept low as she ran across the yard. She had no idea what fate awaited her in the forest, but there was no turning back.
Chapter Five
‡
Ronan’s pulse raced with excitement as Rose neared the edge of the field. He eagerly shifted into his human form, his hands itching to touch her.
He’d been so confident the night before, when he’d let her go. As he’d sauntered away from the river, his mind had been full of plans. He would take several days, gather a suitable supply of meats and berries, air out the old pelts in his den, collect a week’s worth of firewood, and even acquire a pillow.
Humans liked pillows.
But by the time he’d reached his den, all of his plans had fallen into disarray. The separation from Rose had been more unbearable than he could have possibly predicted. As he tried to execute his carefully laid plans, he was assailed with invasive thoughts.
Where is she? What is she doing? Is she safe?
She should be here with me. We should be mating. She should be safe inside my den and I should be inside her body.
The thoughts had nearly driven him mad. After catching and skinning two hares, Ronan had found himself running at full speed in the direction of his mate. When he’d finally seen her standing by the window, he didn’t care that his den wasn’t clean or that he hadn’t found a pillow. She was safe, and what was more, she had come willingly when he’d called to her.
She stopped at the edge of the woods. Her wet hair was plastered to the side of her face and she appeared to be shivering. She wasn’t wearing enough clothes, he realized, and he scowled at himself for neglecting to think of clothes. Forget pillows, humans needed clothes to keep warm, and he had no such things in his den. If he had forgotten clothes, how much else had he forgotten?
The small amount of confidence he’d felt vanished abruptly and Ronan once again felt horribly unprepared for his mate.
Even so, he couldn’t leave her, not now. He would have to find clothes for his mate later, because there was no way he was going back to his den without her.
When her eyes fell on him, she let out a soft gasp, but quickly calmed. Her scent was neutralized by the rain, but he could tell that she was anxious and a little afraid. Ronan stepped forward, shrugging off the thick pelt that he’d brought. Some rain had wet the outside, but the inside was warm and dry. He wrapped it around her shivering form and pulled her close. Her body stiffened, but he waited patiently until she relaxed against him.
“Are you going to take me away?” she asked.
“Are you ready?”
He wasn’t sure what he wo
uld do if she said no, but he still felt that it was important to ask. To his relief, she nodded.
From back towards the house, he heard the sound of something breaking, followed by a man yelling. Rose must have been able to hear it too, because her body grew tense. He heard her heart accelerate.
“Can we go now?” It was more of a plea than a question.
Ronan frowned, but didn’t question her. Whatever it was that frightened her, it would be in her past now. He would see to it that she never feared anything again.
“I’m going to shift,” he told her. “Climb on my back and hold on tightly to my fur.”
*
The journey home seemed to take forever. Not only was Ronan eager to get back to his den to mate, but he also wanted to get her out of the rain. It was pouring out, and even beneath the pelt, Rose had not stopped shivering. After a few hours of feeling his mate tremble, Ronan came to despise rain.
But he was also angry with himself. He should have been more patient. He shouldn’t have dragged her through the woods in such terrible weather.
The creek near his den had flooded, water swelling well beyond the banks. Ronan barely managed to clear it in one jump and Rose was jostled in the process. He stopped to assess her condition, and his concern seemed to confuse her. Finally, she patted him on the back.
“I’m fine.”
It was almost morning and the final stretch of rocky mountain terrain was daunting. The promise of a long and passionate day spent with his mate kept Ronan surging forward through the thick forest.
Ronan had never made an effort to obscure the entrance to his den. It was a narrow, but well-worn crevice in the side of a flat sheet of mountain stone. His den had always seemed like a sanctuary, safe and secure from any threats that lurked within the forest. But with Rose on his back, it suddenly felt too open and exposed. As he crouched to let her climb off, Ronan was already planning to find a new den.
He didn’t want to take his human form again, but he couldn’t very well build a fire for her with his paws. Reluctantly, he shifted, his tired body feeling all the more drained. When the sun rose, it would make two days that he had gone without sleeping. But though his sore muscles protested each step, his libido needed no rest. They were home now, and he could finally have his mate.
