Call of the Wilds (20 page)

He blinked, but she didn’t disappear. “Am I dead?”

“No.” She laughed. “They drugged you, same as me. Lay still. It will wear off.” She sat with her arms wrapped around her knees and watched him like a snake charmer fixed on a cobra.

“Ahh.” He groaned. Whatever Frank had used to knock him out did its job and then some. “No, I don’t want to wake up yet. I like this dream.”

“I’m glad, but you’re not dreaming. I’m as real as you are.” She moved closer. “Feel me.” He couldn’t deny the warm, solid pressure of her hand on his bare thigh or the heavy curtain of black hair that tickled his chest when she leaned over him. He reached out for the silky strands and let them slide through his fingers. She closed her eyes, tilted her head into his hand, and kissed his palm. His fingers traced her nose, narrow and straight, a perfect Grecian nose, but not Mia’s. He pulled his hand back.

“Who are you?”

“You really don’t know?” Hurt shone in her eyes.

He sat up and waited a minute until the room stopped spinning. The truth hit him like a tidal wave. “Sable?” Mia’s little sister. His sworn sister, as precious to him as his own blood sibling. She’d been much younger the last time he saw her, but there could be no mistake.

“Yes, it’s me,” she said in an injured tone. She tossed her hair back over her shoulders, revealing large firm breasts with brown areolas, the nipples already hard with arousal.

Her flawless body, so much like Mia’s, sent chills through him. It hurt to look at her. He forced himself to face her. “How is it possible?” He wanted to believe she was real, but he had no faith in miracles. He shook his head in amazement. “I looked for you, for everyone. They were all dead.”

“My parents saved me,” she recited in a dull, emotionless voice. “They saw the men coming, and they hid me in the crawl space under the kitchen. I begged them to come with me, but only one more could fit, and they wouldn’t leave each other. When the screams stopped, I knew they were dead, but I stayed hidden for days, afraid to come out. Finally, I had no choice. I could hardly move my legs when I crawled out.”

“My God.” All the horror came flooding back. She told the tale with no tears, but he knew she had pushed it to the back of her mind like he had. “You were only a child. How did you survive?”

“Our house didn’t burn, but I couldn’t stay there. I did what I had to. I ran. When I went to the city, the police picked me up and put me in foster care. I didn’t shift until I ran away. After that, I kept moving. I always looked for someone else who might have escaped.” Her face softened. “I never thought I would find you. I thought you died with the others.”

“I should have,” he said brokenly.

“No. We survived for a reason.” She ran a hand over his scarred legs. “I untied you and took off your clothes. I wanted to see if they hurt you.” She looked at him, questions in her eyes.

“The scars are old and not as bad as the ones in here.” He put a hand over his heart. “I got caught in a trap and I couldn’t save your sister.” The guilt and shame flayed him raw. “I’ll never forgive myself. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. You’re lucky to be alive.”

“Lucky?” he asked bitterly. “I’ve spent years missing all that I had.”

“You have me now. We have each other, and we can start over.” She rubbed at the blood on her face.

“You’re hurt?” Worried, he scrutinized her closely.

“No,” she remarked matter-of-factly. “It’s not my blood.” She gestured at the body lying in a crumpled heap on the dirt floor. “He’s dead. I had no choice. They wanted me to kill you. It was them or us.”

He reached out and caught her hands. “Who?”

“The deputy. The sheriff ran away.”

“Son of a bitch!”

“I didn’t want to hurt them.” A single tear rolled down her cheek. She moved closer, and he pulled her onto his lap.

“It’s not your fault. You only defended yourself.”

She wrapped her arms around him. “I did it for us.”

“I won’t let him hurt you again,” he promised vehemently.

“When I saw you from my cage, I thought you would help me,” she sobbed.

“I’m so sorry. I knew you were different the first time I saw you. I should have realized.” Guilt and remorse overwhelmed him. “I promise I’ll never let anyone hurt you again.” If only he’d recognized her in the beginning, he could have prevented all this. He’d been so sure they were all dead. He had escaped. Why hadn’t he believed there might be others? He pulled her close. “You’ve been through hell.”

She clung to him. “I’ve been so scared, so alone.”

“You have me now.” He buried his face in her hair. She smelled like Mia, felt like her. He remembered the joy of sharing his life with his mate. Time and space shifted. He found himself in another world, lost in Mia’s arms. When her bare chest pressed against his, her fierce heat stirred a vague yearning inside him. His wolf responded and woke hungry for sex. Her warm breath fanned his face. Her fingers on the back of his neck tangled in his hair. He closed his eyes, and she kissed him. When she slipped her tongue in his mouth, he reluctantly pulled back, reminding himself she wasn’t Mia.

“Mmm,” she murmured. “You taste so good.”

“No more,” he warned huskily.

“Yes, more. It’s been so long.” She started moving against him and reached down to caress his growing erection.

“This is wrong,” he warned and grabbed her wrist.

“No.” she moaned in protest.

“Sable,” he said gently. “We have to get out of here.”

“Please,” she whimpered. “I’ve been alone so long. I had nobody.” Her slim fingers stroked up and down his length.

This was wrong on so many levels. Sable was family, not a lover. And even though a future with Karin remained an impossible fantasy, he didn’t want anyone else. They had something special. Something he didn’t feel with Sable. He didn’t believe Sable felt it either. She really didn’t want this. Alone and afraid, she needed proof that he wouldn’t leave her again and physical reassurance was all she knew. He’d find another way to convince her that he wouldn’t abandon her.

“Malcolm.” She whispered his name and leaned forward to kiss him.

“No, Sable,” he said, a gentle warning in his voice. Gripping her shoulders, he held her still. Her amber eyes, wide-spaced and slanted, were Mia’s eyes. Looking into them made this so much harder. He resisted the invitation in their smoldering depths. “I’m not your mate.”

Her eyes clouded with hurt. She blinked back tears.

Gods, he hated this. Another time, another place and he might have believed they belonged together. But being with Karin had reminded him what a real bond felt like. Settling for less wouldn’t be fair to either one of them.

“I won’t abandon you. You’ll never be alone again.”

She frowned like a petulant child. “You’ll change your—”

“Shh,” he cautioned. Neither one moved.

“I hear it too,” she whispered.

The car was still a distance off but moving at a steady pace. “Shift. Now.” He started changing as he pushed her off.

She growled a low warning, the sound of an unsatisfied she-wolf, but she did as he told her.

Chapter Twenty-one

In a matter of minutes Malcolm and Sable left the cabin far behind. Malcolm led her back to his house. He leaped through the window and initiated his change. An image of his human body took form in his mind and regeneration took form in his flesh. A sharp prickling of pins and needles scattered over his body, not unlike the feeling of returning circulation.

The warmth increased as one being merged into another. Bones realigned, fur receded, and his physical structure became more hominid. His black-and-white world turned colorful like Dorothy’s first glimpse of Oz. A last low growl escaped from his retracting muzzle as the wolf balked, and he sat on the floor, once again a man.

He shrugged off the letdown that always followed his change to his human body. Shifting was a miraculous escape from the pain of looking like the men who destroyed his life. He always savored his time as a four-footed creature.

Sable sat watching him, her sleek muscular wolf so like Mia’s it made his heart twist. Her eyes, bright as new copper pennies, focused on him, and he buried a hand in her thick midnight blue fur, marveling at the velvety feel. It retreated, slipping through his fingers like sand in an hourglass. Sable’s smooth, tanned skin appeared where the dark fur receded, and in a few minutes, her human body sat next to him on the floor. His hand remained on her shoulder, and she put hers over it.

“No one saw us.”

“Good. For now we’re out of danger.”

“I would have found your house on my own if I hadn’t been captured so quickly.”

“How long were you here before they caught you?”

“Not long.” She shrugged and looked away.

“Did anyone see your human form?” He hesitated to ask about the hiker, hoping she would volunteer whatever she knew.

“I’m always careful to hide what I am from humans. I could have shifted when I saw you at the refuge, but you might have revealed yourself. I couldn’t take the chance.”

His heart went out to her. After what she’d gone through, her biggest concern was protecting him.

“I never thought about traps—” She broke off with a cry.

“You’re safe here.” Feeling like a monster for interrogating her, he pulled her in for a hug. His people only killed in defense. Sable was the victim, not the villain.

“Being caged like some wild animal terrified me.” Her warm tears wet his cheek. “I wanted to kill myself.”

His heart twisted. He couldn’t stand to see her cry. Being imprisoned in a cage was a fate worse than death for a wolf-shifter. She must have lost all hope when she watched him walk away. She thought he abandoned her. If only he’d known, he could have done something and released her before Frank got his hands on her. After all she’d gone through she deserved to feel safe. He vowed to take care of her.

“I won’t let it happen again. I promise.” He wiped tears from her face with his thumb. “You must be thirsty and hungry.”

“Yes.” She ran a hand through the hair on his chest. “I’m hungry.” Her hand slid lower, and she wrapped her fingers around his shaft. He grew hard and hot in her hand.

He groaned and grabbed her wrist. This couldn’t go on. He needed to think with his head, not his cock.

“What’s wrong?” She pouted.

“We need to get you cleaned up and fed. Then we’ll talk. You can have my bed in the loft.”

Her face lit up and he realized his mistake. “Only until I get the spare room fixed up.”

The smile disappeared, but she kept her silence and followed him up the stairs. He left her in the bathroom and went back down to see about dinner. When he returned, he heard the shower shut off.

Sable came out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her hips. Drops of water ran from her hair over her breasts. “I need help.” She stood in front of him and cupped the heavy globes.

Reluctantly, he pulled the towel from her body and wiped the water from her cleavage.

She moved closer. “Use your tongue.” She smiled mischievously and tugged on the towel.

He enfolded her snugly with the towel and stepped back. “Get dressed and we’ll eat.”

“I’m hungry for you. Why didn’t you join me?” She frowned.

Lycans were raised with a healthy respect for the human body as well as the canine. They had no qualms about disrobing and shifting in front of family and friends, but bathing with Sable would have implied something else. She expected him to take her as a mate, and he wasn’t ready to accept that responsibility. They had only just found each other. He needed time to think and to consider Karin’s feelings. She’d shared his bed. He’d made love to her in this shower and promised her she’d be the last to use it. They might not have a future, but they were together now. Could he take care of Sable and still have Karin in his life? He’d have to tell Karin the truth and possibly put Sable in danger.