“Even this half of me?” He walked toward her. “You prefer the wolf side to the human,” he challenged. “This body makes you afraid. But this is also what I am.”
Her breath quickened, but she held his gaze. “Yes. And that’s why I… trust you. Why I’m accepting Julie’s invitation to supper this afternoon.”
He had almost forgotten. “You were going to leave me behind?”
“I thought about canceling,” she admitted, lifting her chin. “But you’re right, Kieran. You can’t learn without being around other people.” She spoke with calm distance, but there was still fear in her, and not only of him.
“I promise to be a tame wolf,” he said. She smiled. For a moment her eyes lit as they’d done when she and Kieran played in the snow, and then the somber wariness returned. She pulled her sleeve up to look at her watch.
“All right. Julie wanted us there at three. We’ll be walking cross-country to her place on the reservation, so we should get back to the cabin and wash up.”
He nodded, but she had already turned away. He trailed her, watching the steady, strong movements of her body. Remembering how it had felt against his own.
She trusted him. It was a small concession, so little compared to what he had wanted to win from her.
Even now his maleness reacted to the memory of Alexandra’s response, her brief but sweet surrender. Images tumbled through his mind, tangling past and present. Flesh on flesh, whispers, the erotic scents of what people called making love.
He had made love in that other, forgotten life. He could not remember details. The vague memories were enough to reveal the nature of his need.
Alexandra wanted him to be a wolf, one of the creatures she admired and understood so well. She could accept Shadow as she couldn’t accept Kieran Holt.
All he had was patience. That was one thing wolf and man shared in equal measure.
The patience of a hunter.
* * *
Julie and the children were waiting where Alex’s land met the border of the reservation.
There was nothing different about the countryside here from the land on which her cabin lay. The snowbound woods were identical to the little patch of wilderness Alex claimed as hers. But beyond that invisible border were a people Alex had never taken the time to know.
Four of those people greeted her now. Julie stood to the fore with Deanna just behind her, two indistinguishable dark-eyed little girls clasping the teenager’s hands on either side.
Julie gave a brief salute. “Hi, you two. Good timing. We’re here to escort you to my Mom’s house.”
Alex heard Kieran come up beside her. She knew exactly when Deanna first saw him; her eyes widened and fixed on him with open fascination. The two little girls were less particular in their attentions and considerably less shy. As one they released Deanna’s hands and marched directly up to Alex.
“I’m Tracy and that’s Liz,” one of them announced.
Alex almost laughed. Awkwardly she knelt to the children’s level. “I’m Alex. And this is—”
“Kieran.” With a whisper of footsteps he walked past her. He towered above the girls, who regarded him with none of Deanna’s apparent awe.
“That’s a funny name,” the other twin remarked.
“Liz!” Deanna dropped her gaze from Kieran’s face. “That’s not a nice thing to say.” She stepped forward, pulling the girls back into the circle of her arms.
Alex glanced at Kieran. He was looking at the trio with a strange, almost wistful smile. “It’s all right,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s a funny name at all,” Deanna said, and blushed furiously. Alex felt a sharp stab of sympathy.
“Kids,” Julie said with a shrug. “Guess you pass the test if the twins accept you and you don’t run screaming in the other direction. You ready to go?”
Alex bit the inside of her lip. “Lead on.”
She was grateful an escort had turned up, and not because she couldn’t find her own way. Julie’s map was still tucked in her pocket, and her sense of direction had always been excellent.
But all the way here Alex had been obsessed with crazy, useless thoughts of what had happened that morning. The kiss and its confusing aftermath. Kieran’s dangerous insights, his devastating candor, the piercing questions that seemed so naive on the surface.