Page 8 of Billionaire Wolf Needs an Assistant

"There's a ranger station two miles ahead," Reeve shouted over the wind. "We have to move!"

I tried my best to follow him, but after fifteen minutes of trudging through knee-deep snow, my legs were numb, and my teeth chattered uncontrollably. The cold felt like needles in my lungs. Reeve kept looking back at me, his expression growing more worried with each passing minute.

"I can't." My frozen legs refused to work. I stumbled, falling to my knees. Dark spots danced at the edges of my vision. I glanced up at him. He seemed so tall, and with the snow swirling around him, he towered over me like a mythical creature.

Something changed in Reeve's face. His features seemed to shift, becoming somehow wilder. "Katie, don't be afraid."

Before I could ask what he meant, he started changing. His body shifted and transformed before my eyes, clothes tearing away until a massive black wolf stood where my boss had been moments before. He was magnificent, with intelligent golden eyes and fur as dark as night. He stood taller than any normal wolf, his presence both terrifying and mesmerizing.

I should have been terrified. Instead, I felt safe. As if some part of me had always known this about him, had been waiting for this revelation.

The wolf nudged me with his massive head, urging me to climb onto his back. His fur was thick and warm against my frozen hands. Understanding dawned. He was going to carry me to safety. It took all of my remaining strength to crawl onto him. I buried my frozen fingers in his thick coat and held on as he bounded through the snow with supernatural grace and speed.

By the time we reached the ranger station, I was barely conscious. Reeve shifted back to his human form as soon as we were safe inside. He set me on a lumpy couch and went to rummage around the cabin for supplies. I was too delirious from almost dying of hypothermia to appreciate his rippling muscles and smooth golden skin before he pulled on an old pair of sweatpants and a sweater he found in a cabinet.

I closed my eyes and shivered. We were out of the wind, but the old cabin was just as cold inside as it was outside. Soon, Reeve had a roaring fire going in the wood stove. He wrapped a scratchy wool blanket over me and warmed my hands in his.

"You're a wolf," I whispered as feeling returned to my extremities. "An actual wolf."

He crouched beside me, closer than he'd ever been before, except for that night at the New Year's Eve party. The firelight cast dancing shadows across his face, making him look both more human and more otherworldly than ever. "Yes. Are you afraid?"

I looked at him. For the first time since I started working for him, I saw who he really was. His usual cold, indifferent mask was gone, replaced with a vulnerability I had never seen before. "No," I answered truthfully. "I'm not afraid. You saved my life."

Something shifted between us in that moment. The air seemed to crackle with unspoken possibilities.

"You should be afraid," he said softly, but he leaned closer. His scent enveloped me. Pine. Leather. Danger. It was arousing, intoxicating, absolutely addicting.

"Why?" I breathed, caught in his golden gaze. My heart pounded so hard I was sure he could hear it.

"Because you make me feel things I shouldn't. Things I've been fighting since the day you walked into my office." His voice was rough, almost a growl. "You make me want to lose control."

My heart thundered in my chest. The cold that ran through my veins earlier was completely gone. Molten hot desire flooded my blood. "Maybe you should stop fighting."

For a moment, I thought he might kiss me. Instead, he pulled back, though his eyes lingered on my face with an intensity that made me shiver.

"Get some rest, Katie. We're not out of this storm yet."

The cabin groaned with each gust of howling wind outside. Quiet pops and crackles from the fire in the wood stove pierced the silence of the room.

Reeve’s presence loomed large in the small space, his every movement deliberate, his every breath measured. He was a man of contradictions, controlled yet wild, distant yet vulnerable. And now, after what I had just witnessed, he was no longer just my enigmatic boss. He was something far more dangerous. Something that defied reason.

I sat on the lumpy couch, the scratchy blanket wrapped tightly around me, but it did little to ease the chill that had settled deep in my bones. My mind raced, replaying the events of the afternoon. The car spinning out of control, almost dying, and then Reeve's transformation.

It was like a wild dream, the way his body shifted, bones snapping and cracking, muscles rippling and tearing through his clothes, the black fur bursting from his skin. He was a massive wolf. Even now, the memory sent a shiver down my spine, but it wasn't from fear.

Reeve moved around the cabin with an ease that suggested he was familiar with roughing it in the wilderness. He rummaged through the drawers and cabinets and found a can of beans, a box of dried pasta, and an old kettle. After a quick trip outside, he filled the kettle with snow, and settled it on top of the stove to boil. Even under the poor fitting borrowed clothes, it was obvious that his body was filled with power. His broad shoulders stretched the fabric, and with each movement, his muscles bunched and rippled under the clothing.

“You’re staring,” he said without turning around.

I blinked, startled. “Sorry. I just can’t believe this is real.”

He turned then, his golden eyes meeting mine. There was something raw and unfiltered in them that made my breath catch. “Believe it,” he said simply. “Because there's no telling how long we will be here.”

The kettle began to whistle, breaking the tension that had settled between us. Reeve poured the hot water into two chipped mugs and handed one to me. The warmth seeped into my frozen fingers, but it did little to calm the storm raging inside me.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. “All this time, I thought I was imagining things at the office. That night on New Year’s Eve, when we almost--”

Reeve’s jaw tightened, and he looked away, his expression unreadable. “You didn't imagine it,” he admitted after a long pause. “But it couldn’t happen. It still can’t.”

---