Page 23 of A Wolf in the Garden

He’s deadly serious. This is a side to Van I haven’t seen before; the animal, the wolf.I shouldn’t like this, part of me thinks, but my body sags in relief, believing every word of his. Still…

“I don’t want to put you in danger… I just didn’t know where else to go.”

His face softens, lips parting as he shakes his head and reaches for me. He picks me up off the seat and cradles me in his arms, his grip firm against the flesh of my thigh. I sigh into the warmth of him, my nose pressing against the collar of his business shirt, the scent of him alone making me feel safe.I’m too cold to care that I’m wetting his clothes. “I don’t even want to think about what might have happened had you not come here,” he tells me as he kicks the door to my car closed. “Promise methat if you ever think you’re in danger, you will come to me. I swear to you, I willneverlet anybody hurt you.” He carries me through his front door, and I only get a brief impression of his house: vaulted ceilings and white walls, rich brown leather sofas and oiled wood, before he takes me into the kitchen. I make a distressed sound as he goes to deposit me on the countertop, clinging to him.

“Tikanga!No butts on tables!”

“Right.”

Perhaps it’s a weird thing to worry about in the middle of a shitstorm like this, but I just can’t switch off the rules that are so ingrained into me. You justdon’tsit your ass anywhere where people eat or prepare food.

Van sets me down gently on the floor next to the refrigerator, pulling the door open and retrieving something from the freezer. I spy the worddumplingsbefore it’s wrapped in a tea towel and handed to me. “Press that against the burn, hopefully it will help.”

I nod and do as instructed, my teeth chattering from the cold. Van’s hands brush down my arms, and he growls again. “You’re too cold.”

I step forward, closing the gap between us, until my face is pressed against his chest. “No shit, Sherlock.” I don’t care about how weird this might be at this point, every boundary between us dissolving — I’m fucking freezing while he runs like a furnace, and there’s nothing that could stop me from trying to absorb that warmth. His arms wrap around me, holding me tight, and I melt into him.

“I have a lot of questions,” he says quietly, his deep voice a rumble against my ear, “but that can wait until we get you sorted. The way I see it, there’s only a few options and you’re probably not going to like any of them; they all involve me stripping you naked, but I promise I won’t make it weird, I just want to get you warm.”

“Shower,” I murmur into the fabric of his shirt. “If it’s an option, I choose that one. Don’t bother with the rest.”

“Hmm, alright,” he rumbles, lifting me into his arms again. “That was my first choice, too.”

Six

VAN

There’s a lot that I’m holding in right now. My shifter wolf, for starters. The urge to run on four paws and hunt down the fae that threatened Ellie, thatmarkedher, is almost overwhelming, and I have no doubt that if they were in front of me right now my teeth would be around their neck in a heartbeat, tearing the life from them. I’ve never killed anything more than animals for food before, but I know I’d do far worse, far more monstrous things, to keep her safe.

Ellie’s skin is so cold; icy enough for me to be truly worried. It’s a warm day, but the shock of what’s happened to her — if it is anything like I read in that article — has obviously pushed her body to the limit. She must have been swimming when the fae appeared, and for all that I don’t follow the religions of my wolf ancestors, I send a brief thanks to the moon goddess Lykaia for bringing Ellie back to me.

I could have lost her.

The panic at that thought sits just under the surface of my skin, waiting to bubble forth, and I hold her tighter against me as I carry her through my bedroom and into the adjoining bathroom. Her teeth continue to clack together as I set her down on the tiles, making sure she’s steady on her feet before I let go. “I th-think maybe I’m in shock,” she says, shaking uncontrollably. “I just can’t st-stop shaking.”

“We’ll get you warm, and then reassess from there, if it hasn’t stopped, okay? Can you undress yourself?”

She shakes her head. “Not with this ice pack. And…” her mouth remains open, though she shakes her head, looking truly vulnerable as her eyes fill with unshed tears. She closes them for a moment, swallowing hard. “Are we even safe here? Am I putting you in danger?”

I put my hands back on her shoulders, and she opens her eyes once more, the look of anguish on her face tearing at my chest. “We’re safe, I promise. There’s a protection spell, an elvish ward, in place over this entire vineyard here. I can explain more about how that works later, but all you need to know is that no one can come through the perimeter if their intentions toanyonehere are bad. Now let me take care of you; you don’t need to worry, alright baby?” I see her take in a shaky breath at my use of her old pet name, and I swallow back the lump in my throat. “You’re safe, and I’ll take care of the rest.” She nods, shoulders sagging.

“I don’t like being w-weak, but —”

I cut her off with a growl. I can’t help it; I feel half-feral, my wolves clawing for freedom. “You are not weak. You are so fucking strong, Ellie. Alright? But I can help you right now; I can take care of you. I want to. Not because I think you’re weak, but because you deserve to be treated like a fucking queen.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll keep my clothes on,” I offer.

She looks at the shower, her eyes lifting to focus on the two large ceiling-mounted rainfall shower heads. “Don’t be silly,” she says quietly, “you’ll get c-completely soaked. Besides, if I have to be n-naked, you should be too. That should be the rule.” She flashes me a wan smile, but I don’t miss the fatigue in her eyes. She’s exhausted.

“Okay.” I’m not about to argue with her; when the woman of your dreams tells you to strip naked, you strip. I unbutton my shirt quickly, tossing it in the corner, then remove my belt, pants, and underwear. I can feel the weight of Ellie’s gaze, watching as the smooth downwards drag of her eyes suddenly snags as she reaches my cock, making it twitch involuntarily at the knowledge that she’s seeing me like this — in my real body — for the first time.

I clear my throat and step around her, brushing her long wet hair over her shoulder so that I can untie her bikini top. She says nothing, but I hear the way she sighs at my touch. I allow my fingers to linger against her neck longer than they need to, before running my hands down her spine to reach her bikini bottoms, dragging them down her legs in one smooth movement. She kicks them away, and I take a moment to admire the sight of her gloriously curvy ass. “Come on, in you go,” I say softly, ushering her into the large doorless shower.

I use the small retractable shower head to gauge the temperature of the water, making sure Ellie’s burnt hand is out of the range of the overhead showers before switching them on. Ellie gasps as the hot water hits her, closing her eyes and tipping her head back, groaning in relief. She keeps her hand with the ice pack against the tiled wall, held in such a way that the water doesn’t run down her arm to burn her further.

With her eyes sealed shut, I take the opportunity to properly look at her. Perhaps I shouldn’t be taking advantage of the situation this way, but I can’t help it. Seeing her stark naked, wearing only thepounamuI gave her, makes my heart ache and my cock grow hard, while the long column of her neck, exposed in that way, has saliva pooling in my mouth with the instinct tobite. I watch the water running in rivulets down the valley between her breasts, over the curve of her hips and that fucking biteable round ass of hers, and the knot at the base of my shaft begins to swell. I’m not getting soft again any time soon, that’s for sure.

---