Page 9 of The Alpha's Arrangement
Carter holds out his hand to me. “I got this.” He moves over, pulls the butter out of the fridge, and puts a dollop in the pot. The bubbles recede.
“Is there a wolf issue out here?”
He turns sharply to me. “Why do you ask that?”
I move to the cabinet and pull out the plates, setting them on the counter. “Last night, a huge wolf came to my back door.” I look him in the eye. “It howled then growled at me. Luckily, he didn’t come through the glass door, but Carter, it could’ve in a heartbeat.”
“Did it scare you?”
“Well, yeah, at first when I saw its size. I mean, I’m not kidding, Carter, it was as tall as I am.” He listens as I speak. “But the animal must have felt my fear because it laid down and even gave me a little whimper. Then, when I told him I was going to bed, he growled again, but it wasn’t mean; it was more of … This sounds crazy.”
“No, keep going. More of …”
“Like he didn’t want me to go upstairs to bed. When I got to my room, I looked down and he laid down on the deck, whining. Isn’t that weird?”
“There have been lots of wolf sightings. Some calm and nice like the one you saw, and others you need to be more cautious of. A big thing to look for is if they fall down onto their bellies and give you no threat.” He reaches for my arm. “Not saying you need to be free with the wolves because some aren’t supposed to be in these woods, but that’s far and few between.”
His touch is electric, short circuiting my brain.
“You know a lot about wolves.”
“You have no idea.” Carter gives me a squeeze then moves off. “Need to make a call,” he calls out as I watch his tight ass move.
After dinner and light talk, we’re sitting on the couch, watching a reality show on singers trying to win money, when a tap comes to the door. I look over the couch and give out a small screech. A large, light brown wolf sits on the other side of the sliding glass door. He’s on his belly, his paw coming up to tap on the glass.
“What the hell?” comes from my lips as I scramble to my knees. “Another one. This can’t be normal.”
“Come on,” Carter says, holding out his hand for me to take.
“Where?”
“Trust me.”
Trust him. Trust him. Oh, hell. I know I need to start considering we’re living under the same roof for the time being, but this …
I tentatively lift my hand into his, and Carter pulls me up. We move to the door, his gaze trained on the large wolf.
“Carter, this is close enough.” I tug my hand back, but he doesn’t release me.
He turns, looking directly into my eyes, determination and something else lingering behind them. “I swear to you, I’ll never let anything happen to you. Ever.”
My breath catches and my heart palpitates because I believe him. I truly do, yet have no reason to.
“Okay.”
“Okay.” He turns us back toward the animal, who’s still lying on the deck, his eyes practically glowing.
Carter reaches for the door handle.
“You’re not opening it!”
“Trust me,” he says, while my blood pressure skyrockets.
Carter is opening the door to a wolf. A huge, wild animal.
Holy shit.
He slides the door open, and my assumptions of the wolf jumping at us are totally wrong. Instead, the animal tips his head and looks up at us, not moving another muscle. It’s like he’s waiting patiently. A wolf can wait patiently? Who knew?
