Hunger of the Wolf (12 page)

Chapter Twelve

There had been days, Shilo reflected, when she wondered if there was really any point in getting out of bed. This was one of them.

As tired as she'd been, she'd slept poorly, dreamed more than she should've, and now she felt as worn out as she had been when she'd climbed into bed to start with. The good news was that she'd gotten over her embarrassment—mostly. The bad news was she was harboring a lot of regrets.

Most of those had to do with trotting off to the city at all. Sure, she'd been lonesome, but she was most of the time anyway. It was something a person could get used to like just about everything else. She'd also been reasonably content, though, and now she wasn't.

If it wasn't just her luck to run into a pack of heart-stoppingly sexy men that she couldn't have! It would've been better, she thought wryly, not to have had such a feast for the senses dangled before her at all. Now she was
really
hungry! Before, she'd just been vaguely restless.

Sighing, she threw the covers back and got up. She'd get used to it again. It just took working at it and she was always depressed when she came back from one of her little excursions anyway.

She was just a little more down than usual.

It
had
been unnerving to find herself in the middle of a pack of lycans. It had been even more unsettling whenever she'd caught any of those big, dangerous males looking at her hungrily. It had been kind of nice, too, though. She hadn't had a lot of opportunities to enjoy that part of being a woman—being desired, even if it was male lycans instead of human males—even if she knew it was more because they were just plain horny because of that ‘scent’ quirk than because she was all that desirable to them.

It was unfortunate that she was off-limits as far as they were concerned, because the truth was
she
was just plain horny. She would've been willing to close her mind to her qualms about it and go for it if any of them had been willing to—especially Dante.

"What a man, what a man!” She sighed. She could count on one finger the number of men that had ever had that effect on her.

Uttering another deep sigh, she went into the bathroom and performed her ‘start of the day’ routine. Feeling slightly more refreshed and alert, she dressed in a pair of worn jeans and a knit top and went into the kitchen to make coffee. The cats were mewing at the back door. Opening the sink cabinet, she grabbed a scoop of cat food and filled their dishes and then filled another bowl with water. They charged through the door the moment she cracked it open and sailed for the food dishes.

Shaking her head in amusement as they growled at each other and swapped bowls—as if each of them was convinced that whatever was in the other bowls was better than what they had—she closed the door and fixed herself a cup of coffee. Monster was steadily chewing and growling warningly. Ching was eating her food and swatting Buddy every time he looked up—just in case he had any ideas regarding her dish. “I should get another kitten,” she murmured thoughtfully as she watched them. “You guys aren't any fun anymore."

Ching lifted her head, stared at her for a long moment with her bright blue eyes and uttered one of her ungodly yowls. “I should've named you loudmouth,” Shilo said with amusement. She hadn't realized at the time she'd purchased the cat, though, that the Siamese were so loud.

When she'd finished her coffee, she got up and moved around the house opening the windows. The place was stuffy from having been closed up for almost a week. The morning air should freshen the place up, she thought. Still barefoot, she left the cabin and wandered outside to check on the progress of her garden. Her fowls set up a demand for attention the minute she stepped out the door. Chuckling at the racket they were making with their squabbling, she redirected her steps to the pen and crouched down to study the assortment of chickens, quail, and ducks. The babies were getting feathers. Disappointment filled her. They grew up so fast! She'd hardly gotten the chance to cuddle the little babies, damn it!

Straightening, she moved to the shed where she kept the feed and tossed a few scoops into the pen. While the birds were diverted to that end of the pen, she moved back to the gate, opened it, and went in. Picking her way carefully across the compound to avoid bird droppings, she finally crouched down, waited until one of the young birds darted around her and scooped one up. It was a baby duck, and it was not happy about being captured. Ignoring its complaints, she stroked the soft down with a finger, smiling as she examined the tiny bird, cuddled it carefully in the palms of her hands for a few moments, and finally put it down.

Rising, she left the pen and headed toward the garden again. The sheep, goat, cow, and horse trotted to the edge of their pen near her, baaing, bleating, mooing, and neighing as they followed her down the length of the railing. She ignored their demands for attention. “Later girls. I want to see the garden,” she said with a chuckle. It was starting to look like Noah's Ark around her place, she thought wryly, except she only had one of each.

When she reached her garden a big smile curled her lips and she dragged in a deep breath of satisfaction. Everything had sprouted! Delighted, she wandered down the neat little rows, bending now and then to examine a plant and pulling a few weeds. She didn't really like pulling weeds so early. It was hard to tell the weeds from the vegetable plants when they were so young, for her anyway.

After puttering around in her vegetable patch for a while, she headed back toward the house to look at her flowers. Stopping by the corral, she petted the sheep, goat, cow, and horse for a few minutes and then continued on her way. The flower food she'd put out had really boosted plant growth, she saw with delight. The annuals and perennials were blooming up a storm. Deciding to clip some of the older blossoms to keep the plants in full bloom, she went to the barn for a pair of clippers and returned to the flower beds. She'd gathered a mound of clippings when she heard the distant sound of an engine.

Freezing, she lifted her head to listen intently and finally relaxed when she recognized the rattling growl of Mr. Clements’ old truck. Gathering the cut flowers up, she filled the bucket near the spigot up and put the flowers in the water to keep them fresh until she could take them inside. Mr. Clements pulled up in the yard as she was finishing.

"Howdy neighbor!” he called out cheerfully as he climbed out of his truck stiffly and started toward her.

Shilo straightened and smiled at him. “Hey, Mr. Clements. How are you doing?"

"Can't complain. When did you get back?"

"Last night."

He scanned her with his rheumy old eyes. “Good trip?"

Shilo felt a twinge of sadness. She'd been determinedly ignoring the discontent that kept trying to worm its way out of her subconscious into the forefront of her mind, though, and she gave it another shove toward the background. Trying to divert her friendly neighbor, she turned and began walking back toward the garden. If she invited him in, it might be noon before she managed to uproot him and send him home again. “Yep. The place looks great! Thanks so much for taking care of everything for me while I was away."

He fell into step beside her. “Aw. Wasn't nothin'. Like I told you, I usually pass by here on my way to town at least once a week."

"Even so. I know it's a chore tending to so many animals."

He chuckled. “Naw! You ain't got that much here that needs tending to. Didn't take more'n a few minutes to walk the place and put out the feed—run a little water from time to time. I think they missed you, though."

They'd reached the back side of the cabin by that time. Buddy, Ching, and Monster erupted out of the back door, raced around the side of the cabin, and shot toward the barn, every hair standing on end. Shilo gaped at them for a moment and finally chuckled. “I wonder what's gotten in to them?"

Mr. Clements grinned. “Feeling kittenish. Even old animals get the urge to kick up their heels once in awhile."

Shilo grimaced wryly, feeling her face heat with embarrassment at the reminder that she'd been feeling a little too ‘kittenish’ herself or she wouldn't have made a complete jackass out of herself by throwing herself at a man way too young to have any real interest in her. “I suppose so,” she muttered. “I told them last night I was thinking about getting a kitten. Maybe they're feeling threatened?"

Mr. Clements laughed, but shook his head. “Speaking of which,” he said as they reached the corral at last and stopped to look at the animals, “I got that young vet out here like you asked to seed your cow."

Shilo turned to look at him and blinked as that slowly sank in. “You did?"

He nodded. “He's pretty sure it took."

A slow smile curled Shilo's lips. “Really?"

"Yep."

"Woohoo! Yes!” Shilo shouted abruptly, bouncing up and down in excitement before it dawned on her that she was a little old to be acting so silly. Blushing, she tamped her enthusiasm. “Did you hear that, Betsy? You're going to be a mommy!"

Mr. Clements laughed, but shook his head. “Now don't go gettin’ too excited yet. He said he thought it took. Won't be sure for a while."

Shilo, who was stroking the cow's face refused to allow room for doubt. “A baby cow! Won't that be exciting!"

"Calf,” Mr. Clements corrected.

"Whatever! Don't look so glum, Daisy,” she said to the mare. “You're next."

The mare let out a snort.

"Don't give me any attitude, lady!"

"How's your mama doing?"

Shilo's smile slipped a notch as she turned to look at her neighbor. She kept it in place with an effort, struggling to remember the details of the story she'd fabricated for the old man. “Good, really good. It turned out not to be serious after all. She's getting along a lot better now. Thank you so much for asking."

He nodded. “I know that's a relief to you."

"Oh! Yeah! It was
such
a relief!"

"Your sisters?"

Shilo forced a chuckle and turned to focus on petting the cow and the horse, who'd hung their heads over the top rail, demanding attention. “My sister, Chloe, is expecting. I'm going to be an aunt again. I can't wait! I hope it's a boy this time, because she's determined to keep trying till she has one. She's expecting around Christmas."

Mr. Clements said nothing for several moments and Shilo began to wonder a little uneasily if she'd laid it on too thick. What did she know about families, she thought wryly? It had sounded good to her. “Me and Chloe and Whitney went out clubbing the last night I was in town."

"I don't suppose you met any nice young fellas while you were there?"

The best she could manage that time was a curl of her lips. “Nope. Wasn't looking."

He frowned. “A pretty little thing like you—it's a crying shame you being by yourself all the time. You ought to consider it."

"Oh, I did. It didn't work out, though."

"It's none of my business, I know, but you ought not to give up just because you wound up with one rotten apple. Me and Emma's going to be celebrating our sixtieth this year and I love her just as much today as I did sixty years ago."

Shilo reddened, feeling a stab of envy and guilt because she did. “Oh! That is so sweet! Congratulations!"

He eyed her speculatively for several moments. “We got a good looking grandson that's promised to come for our anniversary shindig. I don't suppose I could talk you in to coming over?"

Shilo laughed in spite of her annoyance. “Brazen match making!"

He grinned. “Well, I ain't subtle and you ain't stupid. I figured I might as well be blunt. He's a good man, works hard, not too hard on the eyes. Think about it."

She refused to be pin downed on it, though it was an intriguing possibility. When she'd walked him back to his truck, she finally broke down and yielded to her curiosity. “How old is he?"

Mr. Clements grinned triumphantly. “Thirty."

Shilo scrunched her lips up. “That's a little young for me. He'll think I'm an old woman."

Mr. Clements shook his head. “Well, if he's that big a damned fool, you don't need to give him the time of day anyway. It ain't about age, young lady. It's about whether or not you're good together. My Emma's ten years young than me. If she was ten years older, she'd still be Emma, and I'd still be a fool about her."

"Lucky, lucky lady!"

He snorted. “I'm the lucky one. Don't know why she puts up with me, but I'm shore glad she does."

She stood watching the truck as he backed around and headed out again, feeling more depressed than she had when she'd woken up. She shook it off when his truck disappeared from view. “Maybe I ought to give that grandson some thought,” she muttered. Mr. Clements wasn't a bad looking man even as old as he was. If the grandson was anything like him....

She shook that thought off. He probably lived in the city. There was no point in thinking about it. She couldn't consider it. Even if she and the unknown grandson clicked together like two peas, she'd still have to be worried about the Feds catching up with her and hauling her off. And if she
had
children, which was doubtful now, she'd have to worry about them, too.

Dismissing it with an effort, she turned to go back into the house.