“It’s still alive,” she said as she felt its pulse in the massive chest. “Help me get him inside where it’s dry.”
Together they managed to lift the big lobo and carry him inside close to the hearth. “I’ll light a fire,” Sara said. “You need to go for a vet.”
“I’m not leaving you here by yourself,” Michael said.
“I’ll be fine. Baylor thinks he’s killed me. He’s got the manuscript. He won’t be back. This wolf saved my life. I have to try and save his. Now go.”
Michael rose reluctantly. “I won’t be long. I also need to notify the sheriff that there are two dead men in a car that went into a ditch not far from here.”
The street fighters. Sara wondered if Baylor would stop and take his money back. She nodded and walked him to the door, making sure to draw the bolt after him.
She lit the wood in the hearth and then grabbed some towels from the bathroom. Slipping down beside the wolf, she pressed a towel to the wound but realized it was no longer bleeding. In fact, the blood had coagulated quite quickly.
The wolf stirred, and she drew back. It was a wild animal, after all, and wounded. What would it do when it awoke inside a building? Was it strong enough to attack her?
She started to ease away and then stopped, staring, not believing what she was seeing. It couldn’t be.
The lobo was transforming. Its hind legs straightened and its forelegs stretched even as the chest began to broaden and the muzzle receded. Its face widened as the fur was replaced with firm bronze skin. In another moment, a naked Lucas lay in front of her, eyes closed. The wound had completely healed.
Sara sank back to the floor. She knew otherworldly creatures existed. She had seen her share of manikins, dryads, undines, and sylphs in her use of white magic. She had called on elemental forces, too. And Nim was a powerful, ancient faerie. But she had never believed in human werewolves. That was something Hollywood had thought up. But it did explain, in avery unnerving way, the unusual color of his eyes. And maybe it explained the animalistic lust she felt for him whenever he was around her.
Her attention turned to the physical. The towel she had used to press against the wound covered Lucas’ groin. She had seen his biceps bulging from beneath the tight fabric of a polo shirt, but the defined pectoral muscles of his chest and hard flat abs were the work of the gods. The heavily corded muscles of his thighs and calves would have done honor to Cernunnos himself. Her eyes lingered on that intriguing bit of cloth covering what she really wanted to see.
Her hand reached for it and then withdrew. She shouldn’t do this. But he would never know. She stole a glance at his face, but his eyes were still closed, his breathing deep and relaxed. Her fingers itched. Just one little look.
She lifted the corner of the towel and then involuntarily gasped. Even in repose, his shaft was long and thick. What would it be like…? She longed to stroke it and feel the satiny texture of the smooth skin that covered it. Then, to her fascination, it suddenly began to harden and grow even bigger as it raised itself toward her.
“Like what you see?” Lucas asked.
She felt her face flame as she dropped the cloth. To her mortification, he was not only awake but seemed amused at her embarrassment. How long had he been pretending to be asleep? Best to go on the offensive.
Sara forced herself to look him in the eye. “I think you’d better explain to me what it was I just saw. And I don’t mean your, uh, present state.”
The smile faded from his eyes, turning them almost metallic. “I didn’t mean for you to see the wolf.”
“What…what exactlyareyou? Human?” she asked hesitantly.
“Mostly human,” he answered. “We all have a beast inside us. Mine just tends to materialize on occasion. It’s a…” He hesitated as though searching for the right word. “It’s a genetic defect.”
“Are there others like you?” The idea of the average person on the street changing into a wolf was unsettling. Her world felt like it was spinning on its side.
“Perhaps. I’ve never met another wolf.” He smiled and his eyes crinkled at the corners in a very human way. “Are you frightened of me now?”
She tilted her head. “Can you control it?”
He looked serious again. “As long as I hold my emotions in check. I obviously lost it when I saw what Balor was planning to do to you.”
Her blood heated. Did he care for her or would he have come to the rescue of anyone in that situation? “Were you the wolf who came to my aid the last time I was here at theranchita?”
He nodded and watched her carefully.
She took a deep breath, remembering how she had thought the animal had grinned at her when it loped off into the woods. “What turned you that time?”
“You were in danger. It was easier to fight the she-wolf in my lobo form. I didn’t have to kill her since she understood I was the alpha-male.”
He was certainly the alpha-male, all right. Even now, while she was still trying to accept the reality that he was a werewolf, she was drawn to his magnetism. The reality of what that deliciously hard, nude, bronzed body could do with her made her inch closer and she saw the lust in his eyes as his lids lowered partially and a corner of his mouth quirked up.
He reached over and pulled her down across his chest. His mouth slanted over hers, his lips warm and firm as his tongue probed for entry. Sara teasingly denied him and hesucked on her lower lip, causing her to whimper as raw passion overwhelmed her and drew deep into her belly.
