Laurie’s Wolves(11)
“Give it a minute,” he said. He pointed at the love seat next to the cabin’s only window. “Sit. I’ll help you get your boots off, and then those wet ski pants.
She flopped down quickly, her feet feeling so much heavier than they had earlier. She sighed as Zach popped the latches and tugged the boots from her feet.
When he finished, he pulled her to standing again and eased her outer pants off her body. “Damn. You’re still wet under your winter gear.”
“Please tell me that hot water facet runs on electricity.”
“It does. Let me go turn it on. Give it a chance to start. Then you should shower and shift. You’ll be warmer in wolf form.”
She nodded. He was right. Plus, they needed to get ahold of someone to let them know they were okay. They could do that in wolf form if worse came to worse. “Do you have a cell phone? Shouldn’t we call your parents?”
“Yes.” He pulled it out of an inner pocket against his chest. “But I doubt I’ll have reception in these conditions.” He held it up and shook his head as he set it on the kitchen table behind him. “All the more reason to shift. One of us will surely be able to catch a sibling or a parent who is shifted eventually, especially when they realize we’re missing.”
“True.” She heaved her body off the small couch and headed toward the bathroom. “I’ll get the shower started.”
Zach grabbed her arm on the way by and hauled her against his chest. He cupped her face with one hand, his other still gripping her wrist. “I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault. You don’t control the weather.”
“Yeah, but I never should have brought you up this high in the first place. I was getting cocky about your abilities.”
“And my abilities were fine. You weren’t wrong.”
“You got spooked and went off the trail, baby. That’s on me.”
She stiffened. She’d forgotten about the weird black cloud. “Actually, that had nothing to do with you or me for that matter. Something happened up there.”
“What?”
She shrugged and chewed on her lower lip for a second. Would he think she was crazy? “I saw something. It seemed so real. It scared the life out of me. An apparition or something.” If she could avoid the details, she would feel less stupid.
“You saw something?” He pulled her closer. “Like what? Was it black and smoky?”
Her eyes shot wide, and her mouth fell open. “How did you know? You weren’t looking. Did you see it too?”
“No. But you need to speak to your sister about it. According to Melinda, there have been a lot of sightings of strange black smoky figures in the area. They’re part of your Native American history. Lore. Though apparently not so mythical. My oldest brother, Griffen, saw one in the woods when he was hiking with his mate for the first time. In fact, it scared the hell out of him, and he fell and got injured. Trace and his mates also were confronted by the black figures, sometimes in and around their homes.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Get a shower. We need to shift.”
She nodded and trudged to the small bathroom, shaking harder, not from the cold but from the weird conversation.
Chapter Five
Laurie was relieved when the water got hot. She stripped off her clothes, quickly washed under the steaming stream, and then dried off just as fast. She exited the small bathroom with the towel wrapped around her and an armful of wet clothes to drape over the kitchen chairs.
Zach stood in the kitchen at the microwave, pushing some buttons. He had removed all his outer clothes, and she found herself staring at his sexy body encased in tight thermals. Her heart beat faster in an instant, and her hands returned to shaking as she dropped her clothes on a chair.
Zach turned around and stopped in his tracks. His gaze climbed up and down her body several times, leaving her shaking in nothing more than a towel. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard as she watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down.
His tousled hair made her long to run her fingers through it.
“It’s going to be a long night,” he muttered as he stepped toward her slowly, his eyes opening to small slits. “God, you’re sexy.”
She didn’t move.
She couldn’t. She wanted him to touch her with every inch of her being.
Her nipples puckered under the towel, and she gripped it closed in a tight fist in front of her.
She squeezed her legs together, aware of the throbbing need at her core.
“How are we…?” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.
“I don’t know.” He touched her cheek, and she leaned her face to the side into his fingers, breathing heavily. “Shit. Your pheromones…” He released her and stepped back. “I’ll shower,” he said without removing his gaze from hers. “You should shift. See if you can reach your sister.”