Waking Sarah (4 page)

“What?”

“Chris! Yesterday morning. I saw a wolf walk across the lawn outside. I mentioned it to him, and he said several wolves lived in the area.”

Siobhan burst into a fit of giggles. “You probably saw him coming back from his morning run. He’s gone out around six every morning since he got here,” Siobhan confirmed.

Sarah’s eyes widened. “You mean the wolf was Chris?”

Siobhan nodded.

“So the other wolves I saw a few minutes later were...?”

“Probably some of us. I know the Damakis girls went out yesterday morning too. It might have been them.”

“Can you talk when you’re a wolf?” She bit her lip. This was all too strange.

“No.” Siobhan laughed again and shook her head. “You’re still present and aware of everything happening. It’s not like the wolf takes over your being. You just become a wolf.”

“If I do this spell, would I be able to sleep and function like a normal person?”

“It will be a huge adjustment for you both. I won’t lie to you, Sarah.”

“Can I see one of you change or transform? Is that allowed?”

Siobhan’s face brightened. “Of course. I’m just thrilled that you want to.”

“I have nobody, Siobhan. I lost the one man who loved me despite my restless nights, filled with sleepwalking, screaming, and crying. I don’t know how my mother and father have made it so many years. If there is a way to live without fear and terror hanging over my head every time I close my eyes, I want it. Brad would want me to have it, no matter how crazy you all sound.”

CHAPTER THREE

Chris stood when Siobhan and Sarah came down the main stairwell. Siobhan nodded but subtly waved him off. They went through the main doorway and out to the front of the lodge.

Crap! Heath was patroling the north side this morning.

His wolf started laughing.
“That’s going to be awkward. I didn’t hear Siobhan mention anything about lion shifters here at the inn.”

Shut up!

“You’d better get up.”

He growled. His wolf was right. If he didn’t warn Siobhan, they were likely to walk right into the big mountain lion. Sarah might be coming to terms with werewolves, but they didn’t have to lay out the entire supernatural genome on the first day.

Closing the door quietly behind him, he scanned the tree line for the two women. He heard them first. They were headed down a small path to the right...and Heath was in a tree right above where they were headed.

Shit.

“Maybe she won’t look up.”
His wolf snickered.

“Why is he just laying there? Why didn’t he come back inside?” He spoke aloud.

“He’s a cat. They are lazy and sun bathers.”

Chris sniffed. The wind was blowing north. Siobhan wouldn’t smell Heath until they were right on him.

“Heath!” he bellowed, hoping the wind would carry his voice. It worked. The tawny feline stretched and turned toward him. But the movement dropped his tail below the branch he was stretched out on and caught the attention of both women.

Sarah’s shriek was terrifying, but he had to give her props because she didn’t run. The little firecracker stood her ground. He sprinted toward them. Siobhan was trying to calm her down and it wasn’t working. Sarah was speeding down the road toward another full-blown panic attack.

“Heath!” he roared. “Change now.” She needed to see the big cat wasn’t a threat. It was the only way they were going to get her grounded again.

The mountain lion yawned and slipped to the ground, shifting the second his feet touched the dirt. “What the hell is your problem? I was just taking a nap.”

“Some guard you are, kitty cat,” Chris snarled, closing the gap between himself and Sarah in seconds. “Didn’t you hear them coming?”

Heath chuckled and crossed his arms over his bare chest. He rolled his head back and forth then turned to Sarah and Siobhan.

“Didn’t mean to startle you, Sarah. I was under the impression you already knew about all of us.” He scowled at Siobhan. “Surprises happen when you don’t tell the whole truth.”

“Maybe we should’ve let you break the news that an entire magickal world exists within the one she knows, and oh, by the way, we have a little bit of everything here at the inn,” Siobhan quipped back.

“Maybe you should have,” Health said, a teasing smile spreading over his face.

Chris rubbed Sarah’s back, hating the wheezing sound coming from her lungs. It was starting to slow, and now he noticed something different. A scent of arousal. The hair on the back of his neck pricked at the thought of her with
another man. He didn’t need to worry. Heath was happily mated, but he still found himself very possessive of the little redhead.

“Go find some pants.”

“Jealous, wolf-boy?” Heath snorted. He winked at Sarah, shifted back into a mountain lion, and gracefully padded away from them toward the inn.

Chris growled but stopped when he caught Siobhan’s accusitory glare.

“Sarah, I’m sorry,” Siobhan started. Sarah pushed away from Chris and held up her hand.

“What else?” Sarah hissed. “What else have you all lied about? You said there were wolves. Not lions. Are there tigers and bears too!” she yelled, taking a few more steps away from Chris and Siobhan.

He swallowed a growl, not pleased she was pushing him away, again. Something deep inside him said she was vulnerable and mentally not in a strong place. “Sarah,” he cooed, changing his tactics in mid-stride.

“Don’t Sarah me!” she snapped.

So much for that.

“Yes, there are lions and tigers and bears too, Sarah. And many others,” Siobhan answered calmly. “Kate and I thought one history lesson at a time would be enough.”

Sarah’s complexion whitened. He took another step forward, but she backed away.

“Old magick created supernaturals. Ancient gods and goddesses and wizards and sorcerers created beings thousands of years ago to help them fight wars. We are the descendants of that magick. There are many species, and we have coexisted with humans for millenia,” Siobhan finished.

Chris moved quickly and enveloped Sarah’s shivering form within his arms again.

“You have to stop doing this,” she whispered into his chest.

“It helps.” He pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head then rubbed his cheek gently against her silky red hair. “You smell like flowers.”

“You smell like grass.”

He chuckled and loosened his grip. Her breathing and heartrate had returned to normal. “Walk with me?”

Sarah nodded.

Siobhan waved and turned back to the inn.

He took Sarah’s hand in his and led her down the path deeper into the forest. Birds chirped, and the wind rustled the leaves and needles of the pines above their heads. He loved this mountain. It was easy to see why Margaret didn’t miss Vegas. The fresh crisp air was invigorating to his wolf.

They walked out of the trees into a small clearing. A squirrel dashed away from them, sputtering noisily. He grinned. The little varmint knew he was a wolf and was announcing to the world how dangerous he was. Still, the constant chatter was mildly annoying.

“Watch this.” He released Sarah’s hand, allowed his magick to flow over his vocal chords, and growled at the squirrel. The sound that carried across the meadow was distinctly animal, and the squirrel dropped the pine cone he’d been examining and made a mad dash away from them.

He looked back at Sarah. Her head was cocked to the side, and her heart rate was elevated again, but she was in control.
Good.
Progress was being made. He smiled, but her lips only twitched in response, never revealing the beautiful white teeth behind her luscious pink lips.

“How did you do that?”

“We can direct our magick to transform a certain part of our body, instead of completely changing us.”

She swallowed and walked over a few feet to a fallen log and sat down.

“I always thought I was sick,” she started. A tear rolled down her cheek.

Chris knelt on the ground in front of her, grabbing both of her hands. “You’re not sick. You are special.”

“That’s not what’s it’s felt like for the past twenty-something years. I’ve had doctor after doctor try to diagnose me with scheizophrenia or some other disorder. But my mom refused to let me ever take anything more than a sleeping pill. She insisted there was nothing to be done, but to hide from it.”

Her sobs wrenched at his heart.
Gods, how horrible it must have been to have a voice in your head that you couldn’t communicate with.

“Her wolf might be in pain from so many years of isolation. You will need to watch her closely while she adjusts.”

Are you saying she will be in danger?

“Yes,”
his wolf answered.

“I’m so sorry you’ve suffered with this, Sarah. I promise it will get better. We can make you whole.”

“I just want you to take the voice away,” she cried, squeezing his fingers. “Can’t you just take it out?”

He shook his head. “She’s part of you. You’re two halves of a whole.”

“Why can’t Siobhan or Kate or whoever just make another spell to cast her out instead of waking her up. I don’t want to hear her all day long. I’ve nearly gone mad hiding from her at night. I just want it to be over. All of it.”

Warning bells resonated in his mind. His wolf was right. She was in danger, but mostly from herself. It wasn’t her wolf that was ready to give up.

“Sarah.” Her name slid easily from his lips. “I’m going to shift. I want you to watch. This isn’t something to be afraid of. Being a werewolf is a wondrous thing.”

She was trembling, and her heart was racing, but she nodded. He stood and stepped back a couple of feet, shucking his T-shirt and then his pants. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t speak. The scent of arousal rose from her body, and he noted her pupils dialate.

***

He was stripping right in front of her. His pants and shirt lay tossed to the side, and now he was staring at her as though she was the one undressing. She licked her lips and let her gaze caress his beautiful golden body. Rippling muscles outlined his chest like a beautifully carved marble statue, and his legs were strong and hard. If only he’d turn and give her a glimpse of his fine ass.

The panic that’d been choking her over living with the dreaded voice twenty-four-seven morphed into arousal. She shifted on the tree trunk, acutely aware of the wetness pooling between her legs. It wasn’t right. She shouldn’t be attracted to him. It was too soon. She was a mess. She didn’t need this.

The last bit of clothing was chucked to the side, and Chris stood before her in all his naked glory. His cock was erect and pointed directly at her, and she found herself wanting nothing more than to touch him and run her hands across his beautiful body.

Wrong. Wrong. Stop thinking about him like that.

A blur of something passed over his body, and a second later, a gray wolf stood in Chris’s place. His golden eyes glowed with awareness.

The wolf’s mouth opened, allowing a long pink tongue to loll out to the side.

She giggled. He was a wolf.

He’d really stripped down to his birthday suit and changed into a wolf right in front of her. Just like Heath had morphed from a lion to man and then back into a lion.

It was crazy.

But it had happened. She’d watched it.

The wolf stepped closer, and she reached out, rubbing her hand along his head and back behind his ears. His white and gray coat was so soft.

“Do you like your ears scratched?”

He woofed softly and licked her arm.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

She moved both hands to each side of his face and dug her fingers deep into his fur. His tongue stretched out and licked the tip of her nose. She laughed, letting him loose and wiping her nose with the back of her arm. When she looked up again, Chris’s brown eyes peered back at her, darkened and swirling with heat. He’d shifted back.

His light brown hair curled against his forehead, and she ran a hand through it without thinking. He leaned forward on his knees and pressed his lips against hers, wrapping an arm around her waist. He tugged her gently forward until she was pressed to his chest. His lips were soft and coaxed her tight ones with little caresses from his tongue. She gave in, opening her mouth to his explorations. He plunged his tongue into her mouth, touching every part. She moaned a little into his mouth and heard a familiar rumble in his chest. This time it didn’t scare her. This time it just felt right.