Ravished by Wolves (6 page)

The way his light blue eyes traveled slowly down her body as though he could see through her dress had her wondering if he intended to answer her or fuck her senseless.
Amber was so disappointed when he started to speak that it took a moment to figure what he was saying. He stood up before her, giving her a wonderful view as she followed the lines of his body to his face.

“— Back something good to eat. It’s morning now, but if we have a small fire and put it out as soon as we’ve finished cooking, it should be fine. You stay here. I’ll go gather some wood.”

“Wait. I’ll come with you.”

He gave her an incredulous look as she stood to follow, raising one coal black brow.

Amber wondered fleetingly how he could make a look like that seem sexy and insulting at the same time but found herself immediately on the defensive.

“I can gather wood! I’m not completely useless you know.”

He laughed, further irking her. “It isn’t that I don’t believe you, but someone has to be here when Fador gets back, right?”

Oh. I could have sworn this was Fador.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes. Trust me.” He lifted a hand and stroked her face softly, stirring a fire inside her before turning and leaving abruptly.

Men!

Amber picked up her panties, which had indeed been under him, and slipped into them. She sat back down with a huff, disappointed. On the one hand, she felt a little better after he told her his reason for wanting her to stay behind, but she had the distinct feeling that that wasn’t all there was to it.

He never did tell me what the plan is.
She was beginning to suspect they didn’t want to tell her the plan because they didn’t think it involved her.
Well it does!
Her life was at stake, the same as theirs and she wasn’t just going to sit on her hands and let them risk their own lives. Not if there were something she could do to help.
But these asses
won’t even let me help them gather wood! So much for equal opportunity.

Then again, who’s to say they actually
have
a plan?
That seemed far more reasonable an assumption. They wouldn’t tell her the plan because they just didn’t want her to know there wasn’t a plan.
Just like a man to do things by the seat of their pants.
That bothered her a lot more than the thought that they might be sexist. If true, it would mean they weren’t the least bit prepared for anything at all that might happen. She hoped that wasn’t the case.

Amber
didn’t have to sit, wait, or worry for very long, though. She turned sharply at the sound of rustling in the bushes, relieved to see it was one of the brothers. He looked only slightly less rugged than the other and was carrying three small rabbits by their ears, so she assumed this one must be Fador
.

What am I gonna do when they both get the chance to shave?
There won’t be any way at all to tell them apart then!

They both walked around as though it were perfectly natural for them to be nude.
Must give the neighbors a thrill.
She started to wonder if they’d been taken off a nudist compound instead of just dragged off and stripped.

“Hey there. I was wondering where you got off to.”

“I thought you might like something to eat.” He smiled broadly.

“I’m not even going to bother asking how in the world you caught all of those.” It was amazing the things this man was capable of doing. A little too amazing, really. She was only too happy, though, to see someone had found food.
Amber’s stomach complained with a long, low growl that set Fador laughing. His eyes crinkled pleasantly at the edges in a way that spoke volumes. They were the eyes of a man who smiled a lot. He walked past where she sat as though he was going to walk right out the other side of the clearing.

“Fador?” He didn’t stop walking, so she jumped to her feet and trailed behind him.

“Mmm?”

“What’s the plan?”

“Well, first I have to skin these and dress them so we can cook them. I thought I’d wash them at a cove I found earlier.”

“No, I mean, how are we going to get off this island?”

“Oh, leave that to Michael and me.”

“But I wanted to help too!”
Amber cursed the slight whine that entered her voice when she said that. He stopped and turned to look at her. Their eyes met and he looked her over thoughtfully several moments.

“It isn’t that we don’t think you can help us
Amber. It’s that we don’t want to risk your life. Michael and I work as a team. I depend on Michael to do his share of the work and he depends on me for the same. If you came along with us, we’d both be too worried about you to do our jobs. The best way you can help us is to stay where it’s safe. Now, come on. We’re moving to the cove.” He turned and started away again and she had no choice but to follow.

“What about Michael?”

“What about him?”

“Well, how is he going to find us if we go off somewhere else?”

“Don’t worry about him. He already knows where we’re going.”

“Then why was I supposed to wait for
you
back there if you two had already decided to move? Why didn’t Michael lead me over?”

“He probably just didn’t want you to get hurt helping him. You’re obviously a city girl and you don’t have any shoes. It’s one thing to walk down a trail like this, it’s something else to wander through the woods looking for wood.”

“Oh.”
Why didn’t I think of that?
She normally walked barefoot in her home, but she definitely wasn’t used to the woods. Which only made her wonder more about where the two of them were from that they didn’t have any problem with it.

“Where are you from?”

“I’ve lived in a lot of different places.”

“Oh.” That didn’t explain anything at all.

“Where were you born?”

Fador was silent for a time. “I was born in a small town in Europe. I doubt you’d have heard of it. Growing up, Michael and I hunted wolves to feed ourselves and our family.”

“You ate wolf?”

He laughed heartily at that. “No, we just hunted them for their fur. We sold that to feed everyone. We were the best hunters in town. Killed a lot of wolves….”

He became somber, as if an unhappy thought had suddenly intruded.

Amber
walked in silence for a while, listening to the strange calls of the birds and scratching a bug bite on her side.
I’m getting the feeling they’re hiding something.
That was not a feeling she wanted to have about these men, but it was starting to look inescapable. She admired the play of muscles under his skin, the way he moved with such grace through the woods.

“Ever live in a nudist colony?

“What?” He looked at her over his shoulder. “A nudist…? Oh.” He stopped and faced her before continuing. “If you’re talking about this,” he gestured down his body and up again, leading Amber’s eyes along his length in a way that instantly made a blush rise to her cheeks, “we were having a wild night when they took us, that’s all.”

He did that on purpose!
It was hard to think otherwise when she found herself looking up into his grinning face. She was so busy trying to will the red away from her cheeks that it took a moment for what he’d said to fully sink in.

Sounds like one hell of a wild night if they were both naked! Wait a minute….

“There weren’t— I mean, you weren’t having sex at the time—”

Fador laughed again, turning and walking away, forcing her to follow or be left behind.

“No, nothing like that. It was stupid really. Anyway, there really isn’t a reason to worry about any of it. We’ll be escaping tonight.”

Amber
was too relieved to hear there weren’t other women involved to pay much attention to the rest.
Am I relieved they aren’t involved with anyone, or just relieved their women weren’t killed in front of them?
It struck her that none of what he had just said actually meant they didn’t have someone waiting for them at home.
Maybe it was just one of those ‘what if’ scenarios to them. What would you do if you were on a deserted island and no one would ever know what you’d done?
She wondered why it mattered so much to her, but there was no getting around the fact that it did.

“What will happen then?”

“Hu?”
“When we get off the island. Any plans?”

The tree line opened up ahead of them and she finally had a view of the cove. The pale sand of the beach was littered with rocks, some quite large, and off to their left was a large formation of boulders. That was apparently their destination, because Fador made a beeline for it. When they approached, she saw there was actually a small cave formed by the rocks and inside sat Michael. He had already fashioned a spit and was working two sticks to make a fire.

“Plans? Well… we haven’t really had a chance to discuss that yet.”

“We as in you and Michael or we as in you and your woman?”

Fador stopped short, whirling around with a look Amber couldn’t quite place on his face.
Somewhere between outrage and hurt.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Do you honestly think I’d have slept with you if there were someone else? No, don’t answer that.”

Fador wordlessly continued on to the surf, but Amber sat down on a rock beside Michael, frustration and regret churning in her stomach.
I didn’t mean to insinuate….
But she could see now how he could take what she said the wrong way. She gave herself a few mental kicks in the ass, wishing she could take the last several minutes back
. On the one hand, I guess that means he is single after all. Not that it matters now.
She sat staring as Michael continued to work, and felt utterly miserable.

Michael, methodically rubbing the sticks together, finally produced not only smoke but a tiny flame as well. He put straw over it and blew gently, finally coaxing it into a fair sized fire.

Impressive.
There was no way she would have been able to do it, and even after watching
him
do it she didn’t think for a second she would be able to do it herself.

Damn it
Amber. Why’d you have to go and insult Fador like that?
She was so caught up in her own thoughts she was startled when Michael intruded.

“He should be finished with that in a minute and we can start cooking it. You’ll like rabbit. Tastes just like… rabbit!” He gave her a playful grin, but it fell when he took in the look on her face.

By now, her stomach had churned and clenched until she wasn’t sure she could eat even if they really were as good as he claimed. They sat in silence a few moments, with Amber the first the break it.

“He told me about your escape plan.”

Michael turned a surprised look her way.

“Oh? What exactly did he tell you?”

Strange. What are they trying to hide? Why can’t they just spit it out already?

“Oh, he explained all of it to me. I thought it sounded brilliant. Especially your part.”

Michael’s smile and sudden laugh told her she had messed up her bluff somehow. He fixed his stare on the fire.
Damn. So much for getting a little information.

“Clever girl. You don’t have to worry about the escape plan honey. You have no business risking your life in your condition. We’ll take care of everything. You’ll stay here where it’s safe. That’s it.”

Her curiosity was piqued by his reference to her condition, but she recognized the note of finality in his voice.
Why the hell won’t they tell me anything at all? And…what in the world does he mean, my condition?
She knew she wasn’t going to get anything else out of Michael and it would be useless to try. The brothers may look a lot alike, but she was definitely starting to recognize some subtle differences in the two. Fador was more easygoing than his brother. Neither seemed inclined to talk, but Michael was a lot harder to engage in any sort of conversation. Examining his face, she saw the lines around his eyes weren’t nearly as deep as his Fador’s.
He’s the serious one.

Michael stood as his brother approached carrying the rabbits and several palm tree leaves.

“About damned time.” He walked up to his brother and something seemed to pass between the two of them. They turned as one toward her. Amber felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end at the look in those pale eyes. Moments later, they turned away again and Fador nodded once. Michael walked away and Fador, smiling, came and sat beside her on a rock.

“I hope you’re hungry. I can’t promise these will taste great, but if you’re anything like me you’re probably hungry enough now not to care as long as it’s food, right?”

“Where’s Michael off to?”

“Oh, he’s just going to go scout. Make sure it’s safe here. That’s all. Don’t worry about him. Michael can take care of himself.”

Amber had the feeling more was going on than the two of them were sharing, but she was at a loss as to how to convince them to trust her with the truth.
At least he doesn’t seem angry any more.