Terry Spear - Heart of the Wolf

Colorado

AS SOON AS HE STRIPPED NAKED, HED BE HERS.

Unbraiding her hair, Bellas blood heated with desire while she observed the dark-haired boy. He looked about eighteen, two years older than she. He yanked off one boot, then another, at the lakes edge. It wasnt the first time shed watched him peel out of his clothes, but it was the first time shed join him. If he had a taste of her, wouldnt he crave her? Hunger to be like her? Wild and free? She swallowed hard, longing to be Devlyns mate rather than some humansbut it would never be. Lifting her chin, she resolved to make the human hers. She untied her ankle-high boots, then slipped them off her feet.

The human boys pet gray wolf rested at the shoreline, his ears perked up as he watched her. But the boy didnt see herhe was unobservant, as most humans were.

However, a boy who cared for his wolf such as he did would care for her, too, wouldnt he? Hed studied her when she swam here before, naked, splashing lazily across the waters surface, attempting to draw him to her. Though hed tried to conceal himself in the woods, shed seen him. And heard him with her sensitive hearing when he stepped on dried oak leaves and pine needles to draw closer, to see her more clearly. Shed smelled his heady man-scent on the breeze. Hed desired her then, setting her belly afire; hed desire her now.

Tilting her nose up, she breathed in his masculinity. Masculine but not as wild as her own kindlupus garou. A human who treated a woman with kindness, thats what she desired.

She tugged her pale blue dress over her head, struggling to shed her clothes as quickly as she could now. Wanting to get her plan into motion, before she changed her mind, or one of the pack tried to change it for her.

Adopted by the gray pack, she wasnt even a gray wolf. So why should it matter if she left them and chose the human boy for her own? Volan, the gray alpha pack leader, wanted her, thats why. Her stomach clenched with the thought that the man whod nearly raped her would have her if she couldnt find a way out of the nightmare.

The human pulled off his breeches. A boy, still not well muscled, but well on his way. A survivor, living on his own, thats what intrigued her so much about him. A lonerlike a rogue wolfdetermined to endure.

Only in her heart, she desired the gray whod saved her life when they were youngerDevlyn. Even now she had difficulty not comparing his rangy, taller body with this boys. They had the same dark hair and eyes, which maybe explained why the human had attracted her. She wanted Devlyn with all her heart, but craving his attention would only result in Volan killing him. Best to leave the pack and mate with a human, cut her ties with the grays, and start her own pack.

Shed watched the human ride, run, hunt with his rifle, but she admired him most when he swam. Her gaze dropped lower to the patch of dark hair resting above his legs and

She raised her brows. A thrill of expectation of having his manhood buried deep inside her sent a tingling of gooseflesh across her skin. If her drawers hadnt been crotchless, theyd have been wet in anticipation. She smiled at the sight of him. Hed produce fine offspring.

He dove into the water with a splash. With powerful strokes he glided across the placid surface of the small, summer-warmed lake. She slipped out of her last petticoat, then her drawers. Without a stitch of clothes on, she stood on the opposite shore, waiting for him to catch sight of her. Wouldnt he yearn for her like her own kind did?

She had to entice him to make love to her. Then shed change into the wolf and bite him. And transfer the beauty of the wolf to him in the ancient way.

Running her fingers through her cinnamon curls, she fanned them over her shoulders, down to her hips.

Theyd live together in his log cabin, taking jaunts through the woods in their wolf states under the bright moon forever. His mother, father, and little sister had died during the winter, and none of his kind lived within a fifteen-mile radius. Hed want herhe had to. Like her wolf pack, most humankind desired companionship.

She stepped into the water.

Then he caught sight of her.

His dark eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. But he didnt swim toward her as she expected. He didnt come for her, ravish her as she wanted. His eyes inspected every bit of her, but then he turned and swam away from her, back to the shore and his clothes. What was wrong with him?

Her mind warred between anger and confusion. Didnt he find her appealing?

She swam toward him, trying to reach the shore before he dressed and headed back to his cabin. But by the time she reached the lake halfway, hed jerked on his breeches and boots, not even bothering with his shirt or vest, and vanished into the woods with his wolf at his heel.

In disbelief, she stared after him.

Bella! the leader of her pack hollered, his voice forbidding and warlike.

She snapped her head around. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw the gray leader.

Volan stood like a predator waiting for the right time to go after his prey. His ebony hair was bound tight, and his black eyes narrowed. As a wolf, he was heavyset, broad-shouldered and thick-necked, the leader by virtue of his size, powerful jaws, and wicked killer canines. But now he stood as a man, his thoughts darker than night, his face menacing as he considered her swimming naked in the lake.

Did the boy get away in time, before Volan caught sight of him? How could she be so nave as to think that Volan would let her have a human male?

She paddled in place and glared at him. What do you want, Volan? she growled back, unable to hold a civil tongue whenever he stood near.

Come out at once!

He turned his head toward the woods.

Had he smelled the human? Her heart rate quickened. She swam back to her clothes, determined to draw his attention away from the boy.

Then she spied Devlyn, watching, half hidden in the shadows of the forest, as if he and the pack leader were maneuvering in for the kill. A pang of regret sliced through her that Devlyn might have seen her lusting after a human. Three years older than she, he still vied for his place within the pack. A strap of leather tied back his coffee-colored, shoulder-length hair, and she fought the urge to set it free, to soften his harsh look. His equally dark brown eyes glowered at her, while his sturdy jaw clenched.

He stepped closer, not menacingly, but as if he stalked a deer and feared scaring away his prey. She raised a brow. This time, he seemed to have Volans permission to draw close.

She growled. Stay away. Wading out of the water, she distracted Volan from considering the woods or who might have disappeared into them. Devlyn, too, eyed her with far too much interest.

She hurried to slip into her clothes, irritated to have the wrong audience. Still, the way Devlyn closed in on her, only keeping a few feet from her until she was dressed, while Volan remained a hundred yards away, sent a trickle of dread through her.

Volan never allowed males to get close to her when she was naked, and normally she wouldnt have permitted it either. So what were they up to? She left her wet hair loose, then Volan nodded.

As soon as he signaled to Devlyn, her heart skipped a beat, but she didnt react quickly enough. Devlyn surged forward and grabbed her wrist. In the same instant, Volan charged in the direction of the woods where the young man had disappeared.

Volan! she screamed.

He intended to murder the boy. Only she had really killed him, as surely as if shed ripped out his throat herself. Wanting to save him, she struggled to free herself from Devlyn. Let me go!