Page 39 of Kin of the Wolf

“I wasn’t sure what to do. Your medallion glowed toward the cave wall, and those paw paintings kind of glowed back with light that surrounded you. I lifted you off the ground, figuring I could carry you back to your mother’s cabin, but the magic intensifiedand sizzled all over my skin. Enough to be painful. It seemed like a warning and resisted when I tried to take you outside, so I left you in there. After making sure you were breathing, I ran to the cabin and let your mother know what was happening. She only nodded, like she’d expected it, and said you would be fine. I… got a little pushy with her and might have forcefully demanded that she call the wise wolf to come check on you.”

“Did it work?”

“I don’t know. She’s not an easily intimidated woman.”

“No. She was—is—a somewhat difficult mother too.”

“I expect so. I was worried about leaving you alone for long, especially after seeing all those animals with the red eyes, so I hurried back.”

I thought about pointing out thathe’dbriefly had glowing red eyes after lapping at the pool, but he continued on before I could.

“By the time I returned, the paws had stopped glowing, and so had your medallion. You were alone in the dark in there. I’m glad nothing happened. That fox was outside the cave and looking in when I got there. I scared it off and carried you out here. I was still thinking of taking you to your mother’s cabin, but you seemed to be waking up a bit. You kind of moaned and wrapped your arms around me.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“No? There was even nuzzling.”

“Are you pulling my leg?”

“Nope.”

“I don’t remember that either. I guess I’m glad it was you and not a random Sasquatch that came out of the forest and scooped me up.”

“As far as I’ve seen in my various travels around the world, there’s no such thing as Sasquatches.”

“I’ve heard people say there’s no such thing as werewolves.”

“A valid point. We most certainly exist.” Duncan rested hisforehead against mine. “Anyway, because you were stirring, I settled here to wait for you to wake up. Since you seemed to feel amorous, I thought you’d be more inclined to want to get frisky if we were in a romantic forest gully rather than your mom’s living room.”

A raccoon with glowing red eyes ambled past on the other side of the stream.

“Romantic, huh?” I asked.

“It’s a little eerie, but werewolves don’t mind things like that.”

“You don’t think so, huh?”

“No, they find such environments stimulating.” Duncan brushed his fingers down the side of my face.

Pleasure swept through me. “I probably hugged on you because of the lingering vestiges of my… I guess you’d say I had a vision.”

“One that encouraged you to mate with me? I hope you weren’t dreaming of a Sasquatch.”

“Youwerefeatured in the vision.” I couldn’t quite keep the puzzlement out of my tone as I went on to relay everything to him. It wasn’t until I was almost done that it occurred to me to wonder if I should have been so open with him. Somewhere along the way, he’d become a confidant, one who was easy to trust. Maybe that was a mistake, both because of how we’d initially met and because his Lord Abrams—hiscreator—might use his control to learn everything Duncan knew.

“So, my role in your dream was to unearth the wolf case.” His tone was dry. “I’m not sure how that led to nuzzling.”

“It’s possible I was unconsciously pleased with you for lifting me off the cave floor.”

“Your footwasdangling in the pool.”

“I’m lucky it’s not glowing red. I should have given you a—” I stopped myself from saying the first thing that came to mind,feeling it would be a little crude at this point in our relationship. Instead, I finished with, “—kiss.”

“I’d be amenable to that,” he murmured, brushing his lips to my forehead. “Pretty excited by it actually.”

My cheeks warmed with the certainty that he knew what I’d almost said. “I figured. You are a guy, after all.”

“A guy who’s into you.”

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