Wolf Song (2 page)

He examined the rest of her body for signs of frostbite or other injuries. Other than minor abrasions on her dainty bare feet, she appeared in fair condition, but barely breathing. Pressing an ear to her chest, he detected a very faint and irregular heartbeat. He couldn’t help but let his gaze linger a few moments on her beautiful body. Soft looking perfect creamy white skin, slender, with nice curves he could easily imagine pressed against him.

He covered her with a blanket then, built a fire on the dirt floor of his primitive yet private dwelling. He slid beneath the blanket and wrapped her in a warm embrace so his body heat would raise hers slowly and protect her vital organs. With a blazing fire warming the interior of his cave, he lay beside her and kept watch, praying to the Shasta Realm for her to escape death. Whatever had driven her to this point, he longed to make it right. A precious creature such as this deserved to live.

He longed to hear her reasons why she’d been crying, why she’d followed him into the woods, and most importantly, why she tried to end her life. Her selfless act to save him from the trap had impressed him. Even in her distress, she’d cared enough to help another, something he’d rarely seen since his return from war.

Hours later, her long dark lashes began to flutter. She gazed around with heavy eyes, clearly still groggy from whatever she’d taken. “Where am I?” she asked in a sleepy voice. “Who are you? Did I die? I must be in heaven, because you are gorgeous.”

He smiled, flattered by her comment, and surprised that she didn’t show fear. “No, you didn’t die. I am Lorcan and this is where I live. I brought you here so you wouldn’t freeze to death.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered. You shouldn’t have wasted your time.” She closed her eyes again.

“It’s never a waste of time to save a life. Drink this.” He helped her up, then offered a cup of hot broth from a kettle over the fire. “To warm you inside.”

“Where are we?” She stared up with large deep brown eyes while sitting beside him.

“Far away from civilization. You lost your way. When you feel strong enough, I can lead you back to your home.”

“Are we in a cavern?”

He nodded. “I live a solitary life.”

She sipped from the tin cup. “Why?”

“It’s better this way. What about you? Why the suicide mission?”

“Lost hope, I guess.” She shrugged. “Trapped in a life I don’t want.”

“A stunning woman in a lavish home, there is no happiness for you in such a rich life?”

“Prison walls are all the same even if they are made of gold.”

“What is your name?” He began to get a sense of her dilemma.

“Orianna, but most people call me Ori or just Anna.”

Lorcan took the empty cup and refilled it, then handed her more soup. “Well, Orianna…I am not
most
people
.”

“You will be if you take me back.”

“Is there somewhere else you’d rather go? I have traveled the world. If you have another place you’d like to be, I can escort you safely.”

“Nobody would understand.” She sighed. “My friends and family think I have the perfect life. They would not believe me.”

He reached out and touched the bruise on her cheek. “Your injuries are not from an accident?”

“No. The man I married is insane.”

“Why do you stay?”

She shot him a frustrated look. “It’s not that easy going out on my own with no way to support myself. Besides, he’d stalk me, make my life more miserable than it already is. He’d never let me go. His ego could never accept the humiliation.”

“Weak men don’t deserve to live.” His muscles tensed over her situation. How a man could harm a woman made no sense to him. “You have a good heart to help a trapped animal, even in your distress.”

A curious expression flooded her soulful eyes but she didn’t ask what he thought she would. Instead she smiled a little. “I don’t know why I followed that wolf into the snow. I’ve never seen one around here. It kept howling. Something inside me connected to the wolf’s song. I had to find out where it would lead. I had nothing to lose.”

“Your life. You could’ve frozen to death in this snowstorm.”

“At least I would’ve done a good deed beforehand.”

“You have not shown a hint of fear. Very unusual for a woman alone in a cave with a man she’s never met.”

“I guess that does seem odd.” She furrowed her delicate brows. “I’m so glad to be away from him, nothing else matters. I was more curious than afraid while following the wolf. I hope the animal is okay now.”

“He is.” Lorcan smiled.

“How do you know? Were you watching?” Apprehension laced her voice for the first time.

“Don’t be alarmed…but the wolf you followed and helped…was me.”

Her eyes widened in shock.

Orianna simply stared, unable to say a word. This strikingly handsome man who’d rescued her from death just declared he was a wolf.
Is he serious?
She wondered if she should try to escape, or simply stay and listen. She didn’t sense malevolence in him so she relaxed. Nothing could be worse than what she’d left back home.

“Okay…I’ll bite. Why do you think that you’re a wolf?”

Lorcan shook his head and smiled, flashing a row of straight white teeth. “Have you ever heard of shifters?”

“Only in books.”

“By some strange chain of events I became a shifter. My animal form is that gray wolf you saved. I wasn’t really trapped. I was testing you.”

She stared into the empty cup wondering if he’d slipped her a drug, because at the moment, nothing felt real. “Testing me? Why?”

“I needed to know why you came after me, what kind of person you are. I heard you crying so I followed the sound, then saw you sitting at the window. You looked broken. I didn’t expect you to follow me when I left. I just wanted to see the woman who belonged to the sorrow.”

“Why?”

He stood up to stoke the fire. “Because your pain felt similar to mine.”

She watched his muscles flex as he stabbed at the coals. It finally dawned on her that he seemed immune to the cold, as he wore only pants and boots, no shirt. Her gaze took in his strong features. Long black hair fell in carefree layers over smoldering dark eyes set above high cheekbones, a flawless masculine nose, and incredibly sexy lips. He was very tall with a hard body deliciously poured into tight black trousers. The pills she’d taken must have worn off, because her senses stirred to life while staring at this dangerously handsome man.

“What happened to you? What drove you to live away from society?”

“People. War. Hate. Prejudice. Take your pick.” He threw more logs onto the fire, then came to sit with her. “Civilians want the soldiers to protect their freedom. But they are not willing to accept the consequences.”

“You were a soldier?”

“Four years overseas. I fought for my country, fought to come back home to my loved ones, but they couldn’t handle what the war did to me. The only place I find peace is in my wolf form.”

“I’m still very confused about this wolf thing. I don’t mean to sound rude, but I’ve never heard of anyone truly living as both human and animal.”

Lorcan leaned back on one elbow and stared up at her with eyes that captured her heart. “My unit volunteered to go in and rescue some of our men who’d been taken captive. We got in, found our soldiers, and headed back. But our vehicle got hit by an IED bomb on the way out. I remember lying in the dirt with pieces of my comrades all over me, then I blacked out.”

“I’m so sorry. That sounds horrible.”

“When I came to, I saw nothing but light. Have you ever heard of near death experiences?”

“Yes.”

His expression deepened. “I drifted between realms. While suspended in that space of the most amazing peace I’d ever experienced, I saw my fallen buddies walking by. They were going on without me. I should’ve been going with them, but I was stuck between worlds.” He paused with a distant stare. “A woman came to me. She identified herself as the Goddess Shae from the Shasta Realm. My bravery earned the favor of that realm where the spirits of all creatures converge. In that gap between the mortal and the immortal, chosen ones are given one name that embraces their animal spirit. They are also given the power to shift into their ordained animal.”

“Your name is not actually Lorcan?”

“It is now. I left my human name behind. The Goddess Shae told me that my time to die had not yet come. She gave me a way to endure the suffering headed my way, the gift of shifting. In wolf form, my demons go away.”

“What does your name mean?”

“Fierce.”

She studied him for several long moments while processing his story. He sounded incredibly sincere. Oddly, she found it easy to believe that this strange phenomenon existed. Deep in her soul, she felt a connection, but it felt like a dream she couldn’t quite recall. His mention of the
Goddess Shae
struck a familiar chord in her soul but she didn’t understand why.

Secretly she allowed her gaze to wander over him as he lay stretched out beside her. The cave had become cozy and warm, dimly lit by a glowing fire. His impressive abs rippled with just the slightest shift of his body. Urges she hadn’t felt in years began to surface.
Is it the enchanting ambiance? His increasing allure? Or my desperation to escape that stirred these powerful feelings to life inside?

She began to imagine what it would be like to kiss him, to feel his muscled body on tops of hers, loving her, touching her. Desire she’d long pushed aside began to emerge in his presence. “Do you live here alone?”
Surely a man such as him has a woman.

“Yes.”

“No woman in your life?” She felt compelled to ask.

“None.”

Their eyes met. She inwardly gasped, taken back by his heated gaze.
Is he feeling the same way? Did he notice me checking him out?
Heat crept onto her cheeks. She looked away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

“I don’t mind. Actually I like your natural curiosity. People I used to know, family, friends, were too afraid to ask questions. They don’t want to know the ugly side of war.”

“Your family turned away from you?”

“Everyone but my mother, God rest her soul.”

“I’m sorry.” She felt sad for his loss. “No girlfriends or wives waiting at home?”

“I had a wife until I came home and found her sleeping with the neighbor. I packed my shit and left town.”

“Wow…I can’t imagine why a woman would not wait for someone like you.” She gave him a scrutinizing look. “Unless you were mean to her.”

“Hell, no. I’d never hurt a woman.” His gaze locked on hers. “But I understand why you’d ask. I can kill him, if you like.”

She didn’t need to ask whom. The intense look in his dark eyes stared straight through her. “I don’t want to bring trouble into your peaceful life. You’ve had enough war.”

“I am war. It never goes away. I was trained to kill or be killed. The man who inflicted your wounds is an enemy of mankind.”

“I am powerless against him.” Tears filled her eyes. “And that fact alone makes me feel even weaker.”

“We all have our demons. Mine are from the past. Yours live in the present.”

“If only we all could have a Goddess Shae to help us escape,” she said with a sincere smile. “Life would be much easier.”

“You believe me?”

“Nothing else makes sense at this point. I can’t find a logical explanation for any of this.”

“Logic is overrated. One doesn’t survive by relying on logic, but by leaning on raw instinct.” He reached out and touched her hair. “What does your gut feeling tell you about me?”

She stared into the shadowy depths of his eyes for a few breathtaking moments. “That you are fiercely protective with a gentle spirit. For reasons I cannot explain, I am not afraid of you.”

“You’re the first. My friends and family wanted to lock me away when I tried to tell them what happened. I could never talk to anyone about the war or the Shasta Realm without someone reaching for their phone.”

Orianna offered him a warm smile. “I left my phone behind. You can talk to me.”

His eyes searched hers, laying bare her soul. Then he relaxed a bit and began to talk. He told her about the hell of battle, the harsh living conditions, living with death every minute of every day and not knowing if he’d be next. Watching his comrades die, witnessing acts of violence that passed the point of human comprehension and finally the guilt.

“I didn’t want to come home without my unit. We made a pact that we’d all make it out alive. I was supposed to die with my men.”

He then told her about his friends and the sacrifices they made to protect and serve. How they watched each other’s back. That loyalty and trust were everything. The sleepless nights, the sharing of rationed meals when in the field and more.

She watched his face as he spoke. Saw the host of mixed emotions from rage to the deepest sorrow she could fathom sweep across those rugged lines. She listened as he told her about the rejection he faced from civilians when the demons in his head surfaced. He told her things that people on the outside were never to know—acts of war that soldiers were forbidden to discuss. At times his story terrified her, yet she remained quiet until he finished.

“I still see them, my friends who died,” he said. “The doctors tried all their advanced drugs to make the delusions go away, but nothing worked. I tried drinking them away. That made it even worse. After my mother passed, I packed my gear, put my money in a different bank, and headed out to the wilderness. I only go into town for supplies. I didn’t want to kill innocent animals to survive. I saw too much innocent bloodshed in the war. So I keep the cooler stocked with food that feeds both the animal and the man.”

“Is that when you decided to use your wolf gift?” She was impressed with his integrity and his method of survival.

He nodded. “That is when the hallucinations stay away. I am a haunted man, Orianna. Does this scare you?”

“No, you don’t scare me. I have my own battles. Living with a man who beat me up for ten years left deep scars. I’m not sure if I could ever love again even if I did get free.”