Choices (3 page)

“If that’s the case, why doesn’t my brother intimidate you? He’s been with plenty of females.”

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say.

“I don’t want to hear about Alder’s conquests,” she said, managing to slip from his grasp. “Alder is gentle, patient, and he…I don’t know, I feel safe with him and he doesn’t intimidate me.”

His voice deepened as he said, “You only think you want it gentle. I can do things to you that—”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” she said, waving her hands in front of her. “I’m not ready for that sort of stuff. This is all new to me.”

“What’s new?”

She shook her head. “Never mind. Can I go back now? I think Lark’s already suspecting there’s something going on and I don’t want to give her any more ideas.”

Though she’d asked permission, Taylor didn’t wait around for an answer. Hale watched her head back towards the river, feeling confused, angry, and hard. As his erection slowly receded, his head began to clear and his anger lessened.

Hale was a wolf. He could be patient. The night had only just begun and his brother would be gone until morning. There was plenty of time to wear away at her resistance and get her into his bed.

“You mean to tell me when you smell this, your mouth doesn’t water?” Fenix prodded.

Taylor gave him a withering look. Fenix had insisted that they go back to the den to eat breakfast with the others. She’d wanted to go back to the cabin and work on her coop, but she felt bad that Fenix was stuck with her and decided that letting him eat breakfast with his friends was the least she could do.

She expected his friends to be other big, scary looking males, but it was just the opposite. Holly seemed to be his closest friend. She sat with them as they ate, along with two female wolves who either weren’t very chatty or didn’t appreciate having Taylor and Lark joining them.

“My mouth waters. I just ignore it,” she said irritably.

Lately, her mouth had been watering a little more than usual at the sight of cooked meat. She’d never been totally opposed to the consumption of meat, but rather she didn’t like the modern convention of factory farming. As the days passed in the valley with nothing but wild strawberries to fill her stomach, she began to wonder if it wouldn’t be so bad to maybe have some turkey from time to time.

Fenix tossed the bone of his drumstick into the fire. “And you humans act like you’re so much smarter than us.”

“You’re the one that eats animals when there are plenty of plants to go around,” said Taylor. “Shifters, of all people, shouldn’t want to eat animals.”

“Why, because we’re animals?” Holly said, shooting Taylor a look that dared her to agree.

Taylor didn’t like Holly, though unlike with Beka, the fox shifter had yet to give her a solid reason why. Holly seemed to be the type of person who enjoyed arguing for the sake of arguing. She was also extremely intelligent and ridiculously beautiful, two qualities which no woman should be allowed to possess simultaneously.

“No, I just think that it’s primitive to eat animals when it’s easy to grow crops.”

Holly grinned. “I can’t wait to see how you make it through with nothing but plants to eat.” Her eyes gleamed with mischief. “When you finally do snap and come to your senses, make sure you stay away from my turkeys.”

“Taylor doesn’t need your turkeys,” Lark said, offering a show of support. “She’s going to have quail eggs and spinach, too.”

“I was also thinking there may be a way to preserve the strawberries,” Taylor said. “Turn them into a jelly or something.”

As much as she hated the strawberries now, she’d probably miss them once they were gone for a few weeks.

“My mom used to can them,” Holly said offhandedly.

Taylor’s brows rose. She’d forgotten that Holly was the daughter of Old Fay, the former owner of the cabin.

Holly went on to say, “She used to can everything. Strawberries, blueberries, onions—”

Taylor cut her off. “There are onions in the valley?”

“Yup. There are also whitecaps all over the forest and honey as well, if you’re brave enough. Oh, and the radishes should be out next month.”

Taylor had a vision of onions fried with honey and her stomach audibly growled. “Do you know where they are?”

Holly rolled her eyes. “Of course I do. I know where everything is.”

“That’s great! Can you write it down for me, or maybe draw a map—”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Holly gave her a pointed look. “Because I don’t like you.”

Taylor’s heart sank. She could hardly argue with that logic, especially since the feeling was mutual.

“
Maybe
…” Holly said, drawing the word out until it was a taunt. “If you did my cleaning duties, I might start liking you more.”

Taylor hadn’t even known that Holly had cleaning duties. Like Beka, she must have managed to weasel herself out of them on a regular basis.

“For how long?” Taylor asked dryly.

Holly lifted a shoulder. “Forever.”

“That’s not fair,” Taylor said, scowling. “I’ll find them on my own.”

Fenix spoke up. “You’re not going into those woods on your own anytime this century.”

“I don’t see why I can’t go into the woods when you’re with me.”

“You’ve got it all wrong,” he said. “I’m your babysitter, not your chaperone. You go where I go.”

Taylor looked away from him and stared into the fire, too depressed to be mad. The day had started off so well but now it was a major letdown.

“I know where the onions are.”

Silence fell over the group and Taylor turned, already knowing who’d spoken. Alder and Hale had very similar voices, but Hale’s was just a little rougher.

There was something about seeing Hale bathed in firelight that seized her libido and wouldn’t let it go. She loved seeing the alpha’s rows of hard muscle highlighted in the orange glow. There was something intensely masculine about the light dusting of curls that trailed from his taut abdomen and disappeared into the skins he wore around his hips.

“You do?” she asked, hoping he hadn’t realized she was checking him out.

“I can take you to them.”

Taylor almost turned him down on principle. The last time they were alone together, he had—for lack of a better word—ravished her. She had no doubt that, if given an opening, he would try it again. Still, aside from their terrible first meeting, Hale had always stopped when she asked him to…

“Okay,” she said, moving to stand.

In an uncharacteristic show of chivalry, he put a hand under her arm and helped her up. He smiled, a flash of white teeth that seemed more predatory than endearing. Uneasiness settled over her.

Taylor didn’t trust Hale, which was crazy when she considered that the day before, she’d accepted him into her body. It was such an intimate thing to do, yet she hadn’t thought twice about it and that spoke to the pull he had over her. As much as she didn’t trust Hale, when it came to him, she trusted
herself
even less.

Unlike the last time she’d ridden on Hale’s back, the wolf didn’t seem to be in a great hurry. He followed a meandering trail at leisurely pace, occasionally stopping to scratch at a tree. Taylor remembered that this was how the werewolves like to mark their territory and she supposed it was better than peeing.

Halcyon Mountain was just as wide as it was high. With the thick forest concealing all but the immediate surroundings, she hadn’t realized they were ascending the mountain until Hale stopped briefly on a rocky bluff. The valley lay stretched out below and in the distance she could see her cabin, a small brown speck alongside the lake.

Her cabin.
Her home
.

For a moment, she was overcome with a sense of déjà vu. The last time she’d stood on a bluff overlooking the valley, it had been with Alder. It had been the first time in a long time that she had dared to hope that things might actually get better.

It really put things into perspective. As Hale continued his trek through the forest, Taylor considered her new life. As complicated as it was, she no longer feared for her life. At least for now, she was safe.

Feeling a sudden swell of emotion, she quietly leaned down, laying her head on Hale’s neck and loosely encircling her arms around him. The wolf paused for a second, cocking his head to examine her from the corner of one gold eye. Presumably realizing that there was nothing wrong, he continued on.

With Alder, Taylor always found it difficult to believe there was a wolf that lived within him, whereas she found it easy to forget that the beautiful wolf beneath her was actually the brutish Hale. She stroked his fur absently, loving the feel of its rich, silken softness between her fingers.

When Hale stopped again, he gave no indication that they had reached their destination. Realizing they weren’t going any further, Taylor reluctantly climbed off his back.

He shifted, bones and muscles quickly popping and rearranging themselves until he was back in his human form. The skins he’d been wearing earlier had been discarded in his initial shift, leaving him naked now. She couldn’t help but notice that he was partially erect and, as she looked away, wondered if the alpha was ever
not
aroused.

“Over here,” he said, heading towards a group of evergreens.

Taylor followed him, pine needles crunching beneath her moccasins. Beyond the trees was a grove with tall grass. Hale stood on the edge of the grove, seemingly waiting for her to do or say something.

“I thought you were taking me to get onions,” she said.

Hale gestured towards the grass. “There they are.”

Confused, Taylor sat down and grasped a handful of the grass. She gave a light tug. When nothing happened, she pulled harder, uprooting the plant. Small, oval-shaped bulbs sprung free from the earth, and she caught the unmistakable scent of onions.

“Cool!” she exclaimed, pulling up another cluster and then another. The entire field was one big onion patch.

Hale crouched down beside her and picked up one of the onions, holding it with a distasteful look on his face. “I can’t believe you eat these.”

“They’re really good. I can cook them for you with meat. You may like them.”

Hale made a face. “I’ll pass.”

Taylor smiled, partly at Hale’s reaction and partly because she’d just remembered her promise to cook for Alder. She wondered if quail eggs would make good omelets.

Once she had a good-sized pile, Taylor began brushing the dirt from her hands. “Hey, how are we going to carry these back?”

She’d forgotten to bring a basket and she couldn’t carry them in her hands while riding on Hale’s back. Even when walking at a slow pace, he often made sharp turns and jumps that necessitated using both hands to hold onto the back of his neck.

“Carry them in your dress.”

She looked down at her dress and then back up at him. “How? I don’t have pockets.”

Looking utterly guileless, he said, “Take it off. I can tie it into a sack for you.”

“I’m not doing that.”

“It won’t ruin the dress. It might get some dirt on it, but nothing that can’t be washed out.”

Her lips pursed. “I mean, I’m not getting naked.”

Hale leaned back on his hands, looking amused. “Who’s going to see you? We can go straight back to the cabin.”

“You’ll see me,” she said impatiently. “And it’s obvious that you just want to get me naked.”

At that, Hale scoffed. “Your nudity has no effect on me. I’ve been around naked females my entire life.”

Now, it was Taylor feeling amused. She kept her eyes on Hale and reached down to the hem of her dress, pulling it up and over her head. When she handed him the dress, he looked annoyed.

“Why are you wearing those?” he asked, referring to her bra and underwear.

Suppressing a grin, she cupped her hands under her cotton-clad breasts. “My breasts are pretty big.” She rubbed them for emphasis. “They get uncomfortable without some support.”

Taylor was only trying to be silly, as Hale didn’t seem the type to fall for such an overt sexual ploy. But to her surprise, his eyes focused intently on her breasts, his mouth hanging open. The exaggerated expression of desire made her laugh.

She nodded at the dress, which hung limp in his hand. “Are you going to tie that up, or what?”

Regaining his focus, he let out a grunt of acknowledgement and began working. Taylor noticed that he now had a full erection between his thighs. The sight of him, thick and swollen, stirred a familiar feeling in the pit of her belly, and she did her best to ignore it.

Hale must have spotted her staring, because he said, “Nudity does not normally affect me. Your body is different.”

“How so?” she asked, feeling a little self-conscious.

His gaze flicked to her in a quick appraisal.

“I like your size,” he said. “For an herbivore, you have a lot of meat on your bones.”