Sleeping With the Wolf (6 page)

Carla almost blurted out that she
was
happy he had won. Taye was a million times better than Pete would have been as a husband. She hadn’t felt grateful that Taye had claimed her for his mate until now. But knowing what sort of man she could have spent last night with made her realize how lucky she had been. So she put her arm around his back and walked with him back to the table at the head of the dining room, trying to look like she wasn’t supporting so much of his weight. She didn’t protest when Taye asked her to bring him some food. She picked the biggest and bloodiest piece of meat on the platter sitting in a covered warming pan on the counter, scooped some oatmeal into a pair of bowls, added a couple apples and went back to the table. Other men were also crowded around tables, some talking quietly, but all watching them avidly.

Taye had propped his chin on his fist and was watching her with a lazy smile. He indicated the space next to him. “Bring your chair over here, mate, so I can flirt with you.”

Carla stopped, ready to protest, but then she saw how much of his weight was supported by his elbow on the table, and remembered that he had said he couldn’t appear weak. She set the heavy tray on the table and pulled the chair around beside his. When she sat down he immediately wrapped his arm around her shoulders and leaned against her to sniff her neck. She wondered uneasily if that was werewolf foreplay? When his tongue touched the skin under her ear she was sure of it. But with dozens of men watching she couldn’t slap him.

“Here, darling,” she said stiffly. “Let me cut your meat for you.”

His eyes laughed at her. “I’m wounded, not senile.”

She smiled back and batted her lashes like a rock star’s groupie. “Are you sure?”

He let her go to reach for the fork and knife and managed to control his expression when the muscles of his lower belly seized with pain. “Well, if it would give you pleasure, sweet mate, how can I refuse?”

Carla cut his meat. The blood oozed out of it like his blood was oozing out of him.

“Darling,” she said pointedly. “Hurry and eat. You need … I want to, um, go back to bed.”

The men—wolves?—around them seemed to prick up their ears, and they weren’t shy about watching the Alpha couple. Their tongues were practically hanging out of their mouths while they listened. Taye leaned against her again to nibble her jaw. “Your wish is my command.”

Carla stabbed a chunk of meat with more violence than was necessary. “How sweet,”

she cooed between clenched teeth. “Here, eat some meat.”

He accepted it and kissed her fingertips on the knife. “Your fingers are cold. I’ll warm you up,” he promised, his chin resting on her shoulder. “Then I’ll dress you in furs like a Russian princess.”

Carla could feel the weak little tremors that passed through him and took more of his weight. “Won’t that be nice.”

Taye turned breakfast into a mock seduction, but Carla was distressed by how effective it was. Maybe Taye wasn’t pretending to seduce her. With every lick and nibble he gave her fingers she felt herself grow warmer and lose a few more of her inhibitions.

Maybe he was serious. Good grief, if this was how he made love when he was wounded she had better stay away from him when he was whole. She tried to look natural when they walked out of the dining room with their arms around each other, but the only acting experience she’d had was when she had made a couple of music videos for her debut CD, and she hadn’t been very good at that either.

It was a relief when she closed the door to their room and Taye let her go to drag himself to the bathroom. But he looked so weak she went after him and helped him wipe the blood away from his wounds. The one on the back of his shoulder was still bleeding, but the one in his lower belly looked worse, the gouge in his flesh going pretty deep and the edges not meeting. Carla felt like crying.

“Tell me the truth, Taye, how bad is it?”

He was sitting naked on the closed toilet seat with a hand towel barely covering his nakedness. “Well,” he said in a voice held tight against the pain. “It’s bad, but not so bad that I don’t notice the brush of your hair on my … Never mind. Wolves heal fast. I think three days and I’ll be 100 percent. Thanks for playing along in the dining room. It’s our nature to take advantage of weakness. I don’t really want to fight another challenge. If you don’t mind, we’ll keep it up a few days so I can rest up and heal. The boys will think we’re having our honeymoon.”

“But…” Carla hesitated. “Pete. How did Pete know we hadn’t…”

“He could smell it,” Taye replied matter-of-factly. “Wolves can smell that.”

“Oh.” Carla’s voice was very small. “Then won’t the others know too? That we haven’t, um.”

Taye shook his head tiredly. “We’ll figure it out. Can you help me to the bed?”

Carla obligingly propped her shoulder under his and politely didn’t look as the towel slipped off his hips. She let him ease onto the bed and covered him with the blankets, and stood uncertainly by the bed, squeezing her fingers over and over. She couldn’t look at Taye. “I wonder … maybe … I mean, you know. Maybe we should—” She waved her hand nervously. “—you know.”

Taye’s dark eyes blinked sleepily up at her. “Hm?”

Carla took a breath and blurted it out. “Um. We should have sex. So nobody else will challenge you.”

She finally peeked at him to find him frowning up at her. “Carla, do you want to have sex with me? Really?”

Her hands waved nervously again. “Well…”

He cut her off with a weary shake of his head. “That’s a no. Even if I wasn’t as weak as mauled five-day-old kitten I wouldn’t take you up on that. Not until you’re absolutely sure that you want me. We’ll talk about it again when I’m stronger.”

“Oh. Okay.” Why didn’t she feel more relieved by his refusal? Disappointment was not the right emotion to be feeling right now.

“Your clothes are all bloody,” he murmured, on the edge of sleep. “Go wash up and put on one of my shirts from the drawer there. Then come lie down with me.”

She was glad he was going to be okay. She was
really
glad Pete hadn’t killed him.

And she was glad he had refused her half-hearted offer of sex. Of course she was. Very glad. She stripped off her bloodstained shirt and jeans and washed before putting on a thick white T-shirt that came down to her thighs. It looked like the fabric was a very fine hand-knit. Did they have the machinery to make knit fabric these days? Someone had spent hours knitting this shirt. Careful not to jar him or even touch him, she lay close to the edge of the bed. But he tugged on her braid until she scooted closer to him. Half an hour later Carla drifted into sleep, warm for the first time since she’d gotten out of bed that morning.

Chapter Five

Carla woke feeling almost too warm. Taye was like a human space heater. She looked over her shoulder at him and saw that he was still deeply asleep. Good. He probably needed all the sleep he could get. Maybe she should lie back down too. But the sun was coming thru a little gap in the curtains, and she had a snatch of a melody running through her mind, with a few words. She had learned a long time ago that when an idea for a song poked at her it was best to pay attention. The title for the song was already set in her mind: “Sleeping With The Wolf.” She carefully eased out from under Taye’s arm and tucked the covers back around him.

It was warmer than it had been this morning, but still chilly for wearing only a T-shirt. The blanket Taye had wrapped around her before they went to breakfast was draped over one of the chairs at the table. A really thick robe and big fuzzy slippers would be nice. She picked up the blanket and put it around her shoulders before getting her purse and digging inside for her notebook and pen. It took a while to find what she wanted, since she had just about everything in her bag including her knitting. She paused to wonder where she could get more yarn. Wool socks would be nice to have this winter.

She got her notebook and settled down in the chair where the sun was streaming and began to play with the song in her head.

*

Taye woke a while later, feeling the pain of his wounds and the loss of Carla’s warmth. He saw her right away, though, sitting in a beam of sunlight. The room seemed warm to him, but she had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and tucked under her crossed legs. Her hair was loose down her back, soaking up the sun. She was humming softly and writing in a book. She would hum the same thing over and over, then pause to write in her book, then sing a little under her breath.

One bright morning got on a plane,

That’s the day the world ended.

Feels like I’ve gone insane,

My world can’t be mended.

*

The wolf chose me,

But I’m not sleeping with the wolf.

The wolf won me,

But I’m not sleeping with the wolf.

The wolf saved me,

Should I be sleeping with the wolf?

If he loves me,

Then I’ll love him,

And I’ll be sleeping with the wolf.

*

The plane went down in a field,

Of grass and death and dying.

My walk for help my fate sealed,

I was fooled by farmers lying.

Hmmm hmmm…

Taye let her low voice seep through him. It soothed him almost as much as her scent lingering on the pillow beside him. “If he loves me, then I’ll love him…” Would she love him? He loved her. She was his mate. She was the most valuable person in his world. Her sadness and her fear tore him up inside worse than anything Pete’s teeth and claws had done to his body. Alpha wolves were generally domineering even with their mates. Most would have demanded sex last night, or at least coaxed for it. But he simply hadn’t been able to do that to her. He had fallen in love with her at first sight. Had he told her he loved her, would she have believed him? Probably not. His mate was prickly. He had to show her he loved her. Right now she didn’t look sad or frightened. She was focused on something he wasn’t part of. She put down her pen and book and held her hands strangely, still humming, like she was … playing a guitar. Sure, she was making music.

He could get her a guitar. Dane Overdahl collected all kinds of stuff from the Times Before. So did Mr. Gray down at the library. Maybe they could make a trade.

A knock sounded on the door. Carla jumped, but Taye knew it was Des. “Let him in,” he said.

Carla’s looked at him questioningly.

“It’s Des.” Taye pulled himself up carefully to sit with his back against the headboard fastened to the wall. The wound on the back of his shoulder protested slightly.

“Let him in.”

Carla arranged the blanket so it covered more of her and went to the door. Humans had a positive fetish about covering their bodies. It would be a shock to Carla when she realized that the Pack mostly went naked inside the den. His mother had commanded that they all wear at least some clothing in the den. Would Carla also command that?

Des stepped in, giving Carla a polite head dip before grabbing a chair and putting it by the bed and slouching in it. “Hey, Chief.” He sniffed the air. “You okay? Not up to mating yet?”

Taye watched his mate’s cheeks flush with color. “Doing pretty good, Des, but some things shouldn’t be rushed.”

“Ah.” Des nodded wisely. “Take your word for it. You slept right through lunch. I came by a couple hours ago, and the two of you were dead to the world. Supper’ll be ready in a half hour. You want me to bring you something?”

Taye remembered Carla’s revulsion over the rare meat last night. “Why don’t you walk Carla down to the kitchen? She likes her steak a little more dead than we do. She can fix hers herself and bring supper back for both of us.”

Carla grabbed her clothes and went into the bathroom to get changed. Taye spoke softly. “Des, my mate gets real cold. Get that wood stove fixed up in here for her, huh?

The one we had for my mother. I think we put it out in the shed. And send a couple boys out to find her a guitar. We got enough hides to trade. Dane Overdahl or Mr. Gray might have something like that. Any signs of trouble in the Pack over the challenge?”

“Nope. Pete’s not much of a loss. Some of the boys don’t understand why you would wait to take your mate. I guess I don’t either. None of my business,” Des hastened to add.

“Just seems like being so close to her all the time and not mating her would be hard.”

Taye closed his eyes to inhale Carla’s scent from the bed. “Someday when you find your mate you’ll understand. A woman as precious as your mate deserves special care. A man has to put his mate first. And, Des—” He opened his eyes to fix them on his lieutenant. “—Stick close to her while she’s getting supper ready and walk her back here.

I don’t want any of the boys to get the wrong idea about her.”

“Will do.” Des got up from the chair as Carla came out of the bathroom and put the folded blanket on the couch. “Ready, Lupa?”

Taye shook his head. “Wait outside a minute, Des. Carla, come over here, okay?”

Carla waited until the door closed behind Des before moving close to the bed. She looked wary. “What?”

“When you go out there everyone will know we haven’t mated. But I want them to smell me on you.”

Carla’s eyes got big and she backed a step away. “You’re hurt. You said—”

Taye laughed, although her reluctance hurt. “We won’t make love right now, sweetheart. Just a kiss. So they’ll know you’re mine.”

She came back, looking uncertain, but smelling … curious? He wasn’t sure exactly what her scent said, but it wasn’t fear. “Just a kiss?”

“Yeah.” He rearranged the covers over his hips to hide his body’s eagerness. By the way her pulse jumped his efforts weren’t entirely successful.

“Looks like you’re feeling a lot better,” she said pointedly.

Taye wondered if that was an accusation. “Not well enough to do what I’d really like to,” he said honestly, with his best smile. “Sit down so I can kiss you. We shouldn’t keep Des waiting.”