by Ruby Forrest
She let him off the hook, not pushing him for more answers. At least, not now.
The event began exactly on time and continued smoothly. The caterer was doing well, the décor was all pristine, but the atmosphere seemed to be waning. As the party was coming to its lowest point of excitement, Poppy couldn’t help a worried look from coming to her face. She wasn’t sure what was going on. Everything had been going great, but there was a lull that indicated to her that people felt that something was missing. Should she have brought in a second form of entertainment? Maybe people had been expecting some more with the wildlife? She started to regret that she hadn’t arranged for animals to play a part at the party, but she’d listened to her two associates who had said that this wealthy crowd didn’t want to see animals. They just wanted to show support financially.
***
Stetson’s inhuman sense of hearing gathered a mosaic of comments from the aristocratic crowd that they were becoming disappointed that no one arranged to have any animals from the preserve come into view through the large windows.
He was deeply irritated by the idea that these animals should be expected to entertain these people. Even more so, that they apparently didn’t understand that the preserve consists of hundreds of acres of land so there’s no way to plan where the animals within it would be. Stetson forced himself to look positive and face Poppy. She made every effort to not let it show, but she seemed deeply bothered that people weren’t having a great time.
Just then, Stetson caught the scent of lavender, his pupils dilating as he inhaled the intense scent. He looked into the crowd and found the gaze of Brett, who nodded, signaling that the guests who were in danger had left safely.
Stetson felt somewhat relieved and now was able to pay closer attention to Poppy. She still had the same worried look on her face. “Is something wrong?”
“Oh no. Everything’s fine,” she denied. At his intense, disbelieving look, she admitted, “The crowd just seems less than thrilled tonight.”
Stetson tried to be reassuring by telling her, “It’s a really beautiful party. You did an amazing job.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly, seeming to appreciate the compliment. But he noticed she still kept a worried eye on the lulled crowd. Stetson knew he wasn’t primarily there to get close to this woman, but he never could turn away his help from anyone. Stetson took her hand and asked her to show him around.
“Show you around? You’re kidding right?” She laughed. “It’s a party. People here, people there and bar over there.”
He shook his head. “No. Not the party. This observatory. You checked it out before the crowd was here right? Show me what they have here.”
She seemed to be content with the opportunity to be distracted, and she obliged him. She walked past the party goers, straight to the large wall on the north side of the room. His attention was caught first by the tantalizing sway of her hips in the tall stiletto heels, but then by the wall itself. The wall was covered in wildlife murals that had animal facts printed on them.
He and Poppy stood there gazing up at the pictures and she pointed out the interesting facts as they read them together.
He interrupted her, wanting to know the answer more than wanting to hear more facts. “Do you like animals?”
Poppy smiled at him with a twinkle in her eye and answered, “Yes. I do. They’re beautiful and people can be beautiful, but animals are just…innocently genuine.”
Stetson enquired, “What do you mean?”
Poppy smiled and took his hand, leading him to the edge of the wall. The most prominent creature on the mural was a large gray wolf which was native to this part of the country. Poppy stopped him right in front of it. She explained to him, “The gray wolf for instance. Did you know that they mate for life? For life, not just for a night. And animals only hunt when they need to eat. They don’t squabble over religion or politics. They just live and raise young.”
Stetson was floored at this explanation. He knew that there was no way she could know that she was talking about him, but he felt desperate to hear more about how wonderful animals could be. He’d never had a problem with his animal side. He always struggled more to be a human than a wolf. He felt being both was somehow wrong. Having the power of a great beast and the flawed heart of a man made him feel that somehow his existence was unfair to other humans that were weaker and unfair to other animals that didn’t know any better.
Poppy turned her thoughtful gaze out the large windows toward the wooded ridgeline and said, “I wish I would’ve tried to set up something so the guests could see some of the animals that we’re here to support. It would have been a hit, but how do you make wild animals understand that? I know it’s not likely that it would’ve even worked - the animals don’t know what tonight means obviously, but it would’ve been amazing.”
Stetson quietly agreed. Suddenly, he had an idea. “Would you excuse me?”
“Is something wrong?” Poppy responded, looking curiously up at him.
Stetson assured her, “No. I have a little ache in my knee and it’s time to take an anti-inflammatory. I left them in my car. So, I just need to go grab one, so I keep my schedule going.”
Poppy offered to accompany him, but he politely refused, saying that it would just take a few minutes.
***
Stetson couldn’t believe what he was doing. Even as he stood in the shadow of the building, stripped of his clothes and readied himself for what he was about to do, he thought, I should not be doing this. This is crazy!
But he couldn’t help himself. Poppy seemed so disappointed that her guests were not having the best time that he knew he had to do something to make her feel better. He needed to do something to help the mood change in the party. That’s how he found himself there, hidden between the building and a line of thick hedges, removing his suit until he had stripped down to nothing.
“You really are insane,” he told himself as he shook, allowing the change to come over him. He’d checked the area several times to be sure that there was no one round to witness him but, even as he changed, he found himself glancing from side to side.
I can’t believe I am risking everything for this woman, he thought to himself as he stood in his huge grey wolf form. With the restraints of his human form shaken off, he felt completely free. His entire body relaxed as he stepped out from behind the hedge and began to trot over towards the windows of the observatory. Every instinct told him not to let himself be seen by the humans that were partying within the building but the thought of seeing Poppy’s smile when the party was turned around made him shiver with excitement.
The lights that shone through the windows of the observatory were far too harsh and bright for Stetson’s sensitive wolf eyes and he could see little more than the outlines of people moving around on the other side of the window. He was careful not to get too close, simply making sure he was within view of the human’s lesser sight. Through the thick walls and windows of the building, he could not hear their reactions but when he saw people drawing nearer to the glass he knew that they had seen him. He could just see several fingers pointing in his direction and he was sure that they would be gasping and mewling over him by now.
The excitement overwhelmed him and, in his determination to impress the woman he had escorted, he found himself tilting his head back to howl at the full moon high above his head. His call rung out over the hillside, bouncing off every surface.
He imagined the excitement on Poppy’s face and the urge to go back to her caused him to shake violently. He needed to hold on to his wolf form just a little while longer. He couldn’t risk changing in front of all those people. But he couldn’t stop the thought of touching Poppy, of seeing her face as she smiled with excitement and it made it extremely difficult for him to hold on. His wolf knew that he could not approach her in this guise though the beast also knew that he wanted her just as much as his human form did. Both he and his wolf were drawn to her in a way he ha
d never been drawn to another woman before. It was like nothing he had ever felt before.
Suddenly unable to control himself any longer, he found himself racing back to his hiding place where he’d left the pile of his clothes. His heart raced at the thought of being close to Poppy again and he couldn’t wait to join her back in the observatory. He wanted to witness the remains of her reaction at seeing the gray wolf, the ones that he had missed while he was out getting his ‘anti-inflammatory medication’.
The second he shifted, he knew something was different. Something had changed but it took him a moment to realize what it was. The second he looked down, he knew exactly what was wrong. His clothes were gone.
“Shit!” he growled low in his throat as he glanced around. “I know I left them here somewhere?” He pulled apart the branches of the closest bush in the hopes he might find his suit there, but it was nowhere to be seen.
“Looking for something?” The familiar voice hit his ears and he rolled his eyes. Annoyance flared up inside him as he turned to see his brother, Brett, holding the pile of clothes in a single hand.
“What the hell are you playing it?” Stetson demanded as he grabbed his clothes from his brother and began to quickly pull them on.
“I think that I should be the one asking you that question,” Brett replied with a raised eyebrow. “What do you think you are playing at, brother?”
“I was playing chess,” Stetson snarled at his brother. He didn’t like the guilty feeling in his stomach and it caused him to become defensive though, as the eldest brother, he knew he had no need to defend himself against either of his siblings. “What did it look like I was playing at?”
“It looked like you were playing with our lives.” Brett crossed his arms over his chest. “This woman really has gotten to you, hasn’t she?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Stetson shook his head as he pulled on his blazer and shoved his feet back into the confines of his shoes. He couldn’t deny though that Brett had hit the nail on the head. There had never been any reason that Stetson would risk their secret before, not since the mistake he’d made many years ago.
Brett paused for a moment, then warned in a low tone, “You know you could have just signed our death warrants, right?”
“Brett, don’t be so hard on him.” Bronte suddenly appeared from behind her husband and rested a slender hand on the crook of his arm before she turned her attention to Stetson. “There was a time when you’d have done anything for the woman you loved too.”
“And I still would, which is exactly why I am being hard on him,” Brett replied as he pulled Bronte in close to him, enveloping her in his arms as she pressed her back up against his torso.
At the very same time Brett was speaking, Stetson retorted grumpily, “I do not love her!”
“Love is the only reason I can see for risking something as great as your life and the lives of your brothers.” Bronte shook her head as though she was not pleased that Stetson was attempting to deceive her. “You were there when Brett did that for me. You know how much he cared for me. It’s time to allow yourself to realize that you care for this woman as much as he cares for me.”
“I have to go,” Stetson sighed. He couldn’t listen to any more of their ramblings. They were wrong. They had to be. He couldn’t love Poppy Wade, because he knew that she could never love him….at least not the real him.
CHAPTER SIX
When Poppy felt the finger tap her on the shoulder, she had been expecting to see Stetson, but she forced a smile past her disappointment at the woman who’d tapped her. The elderly woman gasped, “Look.”
Poppy followed the woman’s arm right down to her finger and right past it to where she was pointing through the closest window. As she turned her attention to whatever the woman was pointing at, she heard others around her begin to gasp and comment. Almost in unison, the entire room turned to look out of the bank of windows on the far side of the room.
“It’s a wolf!” one of the guests gasped. Poppy found herself having to push herself up on her tiptoes to be able to see the magnificent sight before her eyes. Through the window, not twenty feet from where she was standing, was a huge gray wolf. Its head was reared towards the sky. The mighty howl that erupted from the wolf’s throat caused Poppy to shiver and she closed her eyes for a moment to savor the sound. The sound of excited people all around her made her spirits lift beyond belief. Everything was right in the world again. Her guests were excited, and the party was growing livelier again. When she opened her eyes, she realized that the wolf had disappeared. If not for the excited whisperings that continued to fill the room, she might have believed that she had imagined the entire thing.
“Well, I don’t know how you did it Poppy Wade, but you sure know how to entertain our guests,” Sandra spoke up from where she had been standing beside Poppy. “I don’t think a wolf has ever come so close to the observatory before.”
“I think this is a good sign that we should be working with you in the future. We have a lot of upcoming events that we should discuss over dinner sometime,” Maria added, in agreement with her business partner.
“We would love to have you organize our next charity auction,” Amber added, and Poppy felt overwhelmed with the sudden change of mood in the room. She had begun to think that she was failing in her job as an event planner as she’d felt the lowering mood all around her, but it seemed that the simplest sight of a wolf howling at the moon had changed everything.
She wasn’t sure what had brought that wolf forward out of the shadows and safety of the reserve, but she sent a silent thank you to it anyway.
“What did I miss?” She heard the familiar low voice just as she felt an equally familiar hand land on the small of her back. The simple touch caused her breath to hitch in her throat and her back twitched a little. She felt Stetson smile as he leaned in and pressed his lips gently to her cheek in greeting. The masculine scent of him wafted into her nostrils and she could feel the cool night air still lingering on his clothes as he pulled her into his side.
“You wouldn’t believe it even if I told you!” Poppy said, smiling coyly at him. He’d probably missed the whole wolf thing.
“Try me,” he said, giving her back a small smile. An intimate smile, reserved only for her.
***
“I don’t believe this!”
The way Poppy bounced with pure energy thrilled Stetson. He couldn’t help but smile as he leaned back against the table, watching her pacing up and down the now empty observatory. The room was a mess of deflated balloons, leftover food, and dirty napkins but that didn’t seem to bother her. She was ecstatic, and Stetson liked the feeling that he had something to do with that. He felt pride at seeing the beaming smile upon her face.
“This may be the biggest break of my career!”
“Believe it,” he told her with a smile. “Because you earned it.”
“I thought tonight was going down the toilet, until that wolf appeared out of nowhere!” Poppy said, still sounding as if she couldn’t believe it. “That beautiful animal sure saved this party.”
Stetson felt another wave of pride and happiness at the thought that she had just called him ‘beautiful’. It was not at all the descriptive word he would have used to describe himself but from a human point of view, he knew that the gray wolf could be viewed as a monster. It warmed him to know that she’d seen the beauty of his ‘beast’ side.
“You thought it was beautiful?” he found himself asking. He wanted her to elaborate on it. He couldn’t help but feel the happiness inside himself at her words.
“Didn’t you?” She turned to look at him. When she grew still, Stetson couldn’t help but look her up and down. Even after a long night of partying, she still looked flawless and again Stetson found himself mentally undressing her. Though the tight bodycon left little to the imagination, he knew that she was hiding a killer body beneath it. He bit the inside of his lip as he fe
lt his cock hardening in his pants.
“I didn’t see it, remember?” He tried his hardest to push back the thoughts of her naked as he wandered over to take hold of her hips. “Don’t put all the credit on the wolf’s shoulders. You did a great job tonight.”
Poppy shook her head and looked deep into his eyes as she replied, “I messed up. I should have done more to make sure that everybody had a good time. If it hadn’t been for that wolf, no one would be talking about my party tomorrow.”
Stetson couldn’t stand the thought of her being so hard on herself. He reached up and took hold of her face in both his hands. Her cheeks were warm and soft beneath his touch as he stared back into her eyes. They swirled with a myriad of colors. He had never been close enough before to see just how many different colors were locked in her sparkling irises and the realization of it burned inside him. Something so primal that he struggled to control himself.
“You were amazing. You are amazing.” He told her and with that he could control himself no longer. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. The room seemed to melt away around them until there was nothing in the world but her touch as she reached out and placed her hands on his hips. When her fingers squeezed him gently he suddenly realized his mistake and pulled back.
“I’m sorry,” he shook his head as he turned his gaze away from her. Though he did not look at her he could sense her deflating beside him, “I should take you home.”
“Stetson, don’t ap…” she began but he would not hear it. He would not allow her to tell him not to apologize. He couldn’t bear the thought of where that would lead them. Though he wanted it to lead there, oh how he wanted it to lead there more than ever, he knew he couldn’t allow it to. He could not allow himself to get involved with this woman.
“I’m taking you home.”
***
Poppy’s head continued to spin. She found herself standing in her hallway, alone and in the pitch black. She could not bring herself to turn on the light. Stetson had left her moments before with a brief, passionate kiss and some tense words of goodbye. Every inch of her body was begging her to turn around, walk right out of the door, and call him back. But something stopped her. Something about the look of painful control in Stetson’s eyes caused her to realize that he was forcing himself to stay away from her. Something about that look also told her he had a good reason for doing so.
