In the Shadow of the Wolf Read online

  "Um . . . I'm heading for the slopes for a skiing lesson. Thanks anyway, though, perhaps I'll see you around."

  She turned and heaved her skis on her shoulder, trying to be more aware of them this time, and began again her trek to the bunny slopes, which, based on the signs on the path, were only a few more feet away. She felt like knocking herself in the head after a few minutes, though, when she'd had time to think about what had happened. Less than an hour here and she'd met up with a wonderful specimen and like a fool she hadn't even asked his name or anything. It really shouldn't have come as a surprise to her, though, attracting men was not her forte. The skill hadn't come to her naturally like it had her mother, and, unlike everything else that she was originally bad at, she hadn't taken the time to get better at it. Of course, it was because she'd thought about it and had decided she didn't need to get better at it. She wished now that she'd thought about the advantages it would have brought her a little bit more.

  She supposed, at any rate, she was thankful that she'd been able to walk away like a normal human being because she hadn't been sure she would be able to walk very far after having stood in the presence of a man so magnificent, his ferocious gaze making her legs feel weak and her heartbeat erratic. The thought that he might actually be watching her walk away suddenly sprang to mind and made her steps falter.

  He probably wasn't interested in giving her a sexually once over, though. If he was looking at all it was to give her a burning hateful stare in the back for nearly injuring him. She mentally shrugged. She supposed she could live with that if that was the case, it wasn't as if she could do some come hither sway in the snow, at any rate, and after what had just happened he'd probably think she was a maniac that had nearly decapitated him purpose if she had. Again, it was just as well because the way her figure appeared in the layers she'd put on to keep warm didn't bear thinking about. And the mountain was crawling with fit men in tight snow suits. If she'd ruined her chances with him, there were other potentials. Of course, she knew there was absolutely no way they could compare to him. Men like that weren't made every day.

  Having spotted a bench right in front of the bunny slopes, Sayuri sat down and started putting on her skis. Once she had everything locked in place, she set off at a snail's pace and very carefully made her way to where she heard an instructor speaking.

  It was at that time that she noticed that the only other guests lined up in front of the instructor were decidedly short. As she inched closer and made her way to the end of the line, making herself even with the shoulders of the other 'students' that were turned slightly toward the instructor, she discovered that not only were they short, they were extremely young. The oldest couldn't have been more than six.

  The instructor noticed her and quit talking. All of the children turned to look at her as she struggled to remain upright beside them, realizing she sounded like an old windbag because as soon as the talking stopped her hard breathing from the effort to walk in skis sounded painfully loud.

  "Do you want to join this skiing lesson?" the female instructor asked.

  "Yes, um, I do, but are there any beginner lessons that . . . ," she paused, trying to be tactful as she tried not to look down at the children between the woman and herself, "are for older students?"

  "We have a class first thing in the morning that has some ten year olds," the helpful instructor replied with a smile.

  Sayuri felt her face redden despite the cold wind and snow whipping at it. Figuring she was going to make a fool out of herself anyway, she consoled herself with the fact that at least there wouldn't be anybody around that she would see at dinner later.

  "That's okay. This is good. I'm good."

  The 'class' stood, listening to the instructor intently for the next few minutes while she displayed moves and gave pointers and talked a little bit about safety.

  Sayuri couldn't help but feel like she was the only person out on the slopes that was skiing for the first time.

  After all of the instructions, she discovered that she must assuredly be the only virgin to skiing or else kids were more adept at new things than she was because she was the only one that didn't take off like a shot. She took off at a speed so slow a turtle could have passed her, but she didn't want to rush herself. If she went faster, she could injure something or someone. Well, she wouldn't be injuring anyone else since they'd all left her in their dust, but if she got seriously hurt, the whole purpose for taking a vacation probably wouldn't get resolved.

  After a little bit, she noticed that she wasn't headed in quite the same direction that the others had taken. Trying to adjust her course, she failed miserably, but succeeded in picking up some speed. The harder she tried, the more she seemed to pick up speed, or it could have been that the slope she was now headed down was steeper than the bunny slopes she'd begun on.

  Sayuri tried to stay calm. Everything was fine. She was still technically practicing, even though she wasn't with the group. Just as she was starting to feel better about how well she was skiing and taking the situation, after all she was still in an upright position, she looked up to see where she was headed and saw imminent disaster ahead.

  Not far down the slope was a copse of trees. If she didn't change direction or stop, she would run right into one. And now that she had picked up some speed, she would most definitely hurt herself. She looked around but didn't see anyone nearby that could help her. It was official, she was totally fucked. She silently wished she'd brought the whistle she normally carried around her neck in the city. She'd used it for protection, to get necessary attention many times. She hadn't brought it to the mountains because she had worried that such a sound might cause an avalanche. She wasn't snow savvy and didn't want to take any chances. However, now that she was in desperate need, it would've been nice. It was probably just as well that she didn't have it with her, her mouth was dry with fear and she didn't think she could have used it anyway.

  Faolan watched as the woman who'd nearly knocked him in the head with her skis not twenty minutes before slowly left the bunny slopes and headed toward danger without any signs of stopping. He wondered briefly if she didn't see the trees yet because she appeared so calm or if she had such big balls that she thought she could maneuver around the trees. He shook his head and sighed to himself. This one was going to be trouble. He could feel it, in more ways than one.

  He set off down the slopes, racing to get to her. He saw that she was clearly headed for the dense thicket of trees, her pacing hadn't slowed and still she didn't act as if she realized she was in danger. If he didn't reach her in time, she could get seriously injured. He crouched down, picking up speed.

  Just when it looked like Sayuri was about to make contact with a tree, she saw a black blur out of her peripheral vision and something hard nearly knocked the breath out of her, taking her to the ground and effectively ending her first skiing lesson.

  Not sure of what had happened, the adrenaline still coursing heavily through her veins, she started flailing, trying to get whatever had hit her off because it was heavy and making it hard to breath, panic quickly setting in.

  "Hold on, woman," Faolan growled, grabbing Sayuri by the wrists and wrestling her back to the ground. "Hold on. Calm down," he said, breathing heavy from his exertion and the force of the impact of their bodies. The sudden urge to yell at the little fool for nearly killing herself was overwhelming, but as he looked down at her, he felt an entirely different growl fight to break free.

  When he had pushed her back down to the ground, her helmet had fallen back off of her face and she lay beneath him now, looking up at him with her doe brown eyes and her lips forming the sweetest 'o', looking like the most innocent woman he'd ever seen in the world. It didn't help matters that she wet her lips like the most subtle of invitations. Trying to shake off the beast that was riding him, he put up his defenses, turning to anger.

  "Woman, you are going to get yourself killed.

  Chapter Two

  For a moment
, it had almost felt like they were going to have some kind of romantic interlude as he'd bored into her soul with his piercing green eyes as he breathed heavily over her, his hot breath fanning her wind swept cheeks, infusing the air around them with his masculine scent. It was a heady aroma, and she couldn't help but to breathe deeply of it and close her eyes for a moment, basking in it. He smelled of wood and leather, the great outdoors, a very masculine scent, the likes of which she had never encountered before. She hadn't known men could be that sexy without having done anything at all, that they could smell so good without wearing some name brand cologne. Of course, she had to admit that rescuing her and wrestling slash lying on top of her was pretty hot, those things might have had a little something to do with adding to his sex appeal.

  He glared at her when she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. His glare intensifying when, as he watched, she smiled faintly. What the hell was she doing? She'd almost been killed and now she was smiling? "Why didn't you scream for help?" he chastised, shaking her a little more roughly than he'd intended.

  Her eyes popped open when he shook her, became round with worry at the tone of voice he used. She saw that he was glaring at her again. She was beginning to think that his scowl was a permanent feature of his countenance.

  Disappointment flitted across her face. He'd just had to go and spoil the moment. The tone of voice he took with her was a complete turn off. And worse, she could feel her temper rise as she began to analyze his chastising her like a child, but she tamped it with monumental effort. It wouldn't do her any good to get angry. She should just be thankful to him that he had rescued her before she'd gotten herself hurt. She should be thankful that she'd gotten the chance to see him again and that she'd even gotten the chance to get close to him, although this wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind. It was what she had wanted, sort of. She'd definitely wanted to see him again, but under different circumstances, ones that didn't put her in such bad lighting. She liked to think that she was a strong independent woman, a very capable individual, but to him she probably looked like a complete moron who couldn't do anything for herself, one of those people who always had to have someone with them so they didn't do anything foolish and kill themselves, one of those future winners of the Darwin award.

  "You should have stayed with the group," he said, gritting his teeth when he realized he'd spoken with more severity than he'd intended to. He couldn't help it though. For some reason he couldn't define, even though he'd only just met her, he realized when he'd seen her headed for disaster that he'd been worried about her. He hadn't wanted her to get hurt. Yes, it was his job to make sure that none of the tourists got injured, but, somehow, this one was different. His heart had leapt into his throat when he'd thought she was going to ski straight into a tree, which was strange since he didn't even know her name. But there was something about her that had been driving him crazy since he'd laid eyes on her.

  Sayuri could hear the irritation in his voice. Again she had to suppress the urge to verbally retaliate. Wasn't it obvious she didn't know what she was doing? She hadn't strayed on purpose. She wasn't an idiot. And yes, she had thought about screaming, she'd just spent too much time analyzing the situation to react properly. Hadn't he ever heard of people being frozen with fear? In the next instant, he surprised her by his actions, effectively redirecting her thoughts.

  Faolan grabbed the infuriating woman by the ankles and made quick work of taking off her skis, making sure she wouldn't be endangering her life or his with them again.

  Sayuri couldn't help but compare his angry movements to those of a parent taking away some unsafe toy from a child. Why was he so irritated? What did it matter to him if she got hurt? But, as she thought about it for a second, she had a feeling she knew why. It was his job to take care of visitors to the lodge, and he probably didn't want anyone to get hurt because not only would it make him look bad but most injuries nowadays usually ended in lawsuits.

  When he was done he stood, hoisting her rented skis under one arm with ease. With minimal effort, and as little physical contact as he could manage, he helped her to get back on her feet.

  It seemed as if he would be headed on his way, but, instead of leaving her there in the snow, which she half-expected since they hadn't really hit it off, he proceeded to grab her by her upper arm behind the elbow. He then proceeded to escort her uphill to the lodge in a manner very reminiscent of juveniles under their parent's restraint. Although things weren't panning out the way she might have liked, she decided she shouldn't let the opportunity go to waste completely.

  Again, she worried over the fact that she'd never really had the time or the desire to want to attract the opposite sex. So she wondered now, since she wasn't trying to opt for a permanent relationship, should she be herself or not? She decided that playing the dumb bimbo slut even for a minute was just too much for her. She would have to get a baby on her own terms. After all, hadn't the media bombarded women with the fact that men thought about sex all of the time and most of them, if given the opportunity, would jump at the chance at sex without strings.

  "I didn't get the chance to thank youuuuu . . . ," she said, being sure to leave the rest of the sentence hanging, drawing the word 'you' out so that maybe he would take that as a hint and tell her his name.

  Faolan responded with a sound that was more grunt than acknowledgement. He heard the woman, but he was so busy trying not to look at her, trying not to breathe in her intoxicating scent, that he was having trouble concentrating on the task at hand, and he thought he might pass out from trying to haul her up the slope and hold his breath at the same time. He had to get her to a place where he could leave her, and quickly, because she was driving him crazy, her scent had put all his primal senses on alert. The worst part was that she had no idea what she was doing to him or what he could do to her. Perhaps that was for the best, if she knew she might have made the situation worse.

  Frustrated at his response and his apparent lack of understanding that she had been subtly trying to get him to introduce himself, Sayuri's thin dark brow furrowed in irritation. She was nothing if not determined, though, so she tried again. This time she decided the direct approach would probably work better. Men, they were so thick sometimes. If she could stop and find a big enough stick, perhaps she would just hit him over the head and carry him home cavewoman style, that would probably be more on his level.

  "What's your name?"

  Faolan stopped mid-stride and stared at the woman he had been hurriedly leading to safety. For a moment, he found himself lost in the limpid depths of her rich brown eyes again. He had to work very hard to shake off the very strong affect those eyes were having on him. Turning away from her, he hoped that she could not see the evidence of his arousal.

  "My name is Faolan," he said, his voice terse, his words clipped. The struggle to restrain himself from snatching her up and throwing her down right there in the snow, far away from the site of others, was great and growing much stronger the longer he was in her presence. But as he looked ahead of them, he was relieved to see light at the end of the tunnel. A few more feet would bring them off of the slopes and to safe ground where she could make her own way unassisted. He picked up his pace, practically dragging her along behind him.

  Despite his seemingly more urgent pace, Sayuri smiled with triumph. So the ill-tempered, unsocial, gorgeous lug had a name.

  "My name . . . is Sayuri. I'm here . . . on vacation . . . for three weeks," she said, her speech a little broken because she was a little out of breath from the pace he was trying to make her much shorter legs keep up with in the thick snow.

  A few seconds later, Faolan dropped his hold on her arm and unceremoniously thrust her skis that he'd been holding at her. He barely waited for her to get a good grip on them before he turned and left.

  Sayuri stared at Faolan's backside slack-jawed. What did she say? Was it the way she looked in her suit? Was it that obvious she was looking to get laid? Had that actually offended him?
He had seemed to be trying to get uphill faster than necessary, but she hadn't really paid it any attention because she was so focused on prying a name out of him. She supposed he must have been horrified that she'd even tried to flirt with him.

  Disappointed, but determined not to let it get the best of her, she turned toward the building where she'd rented her skis.

  Making his way to the safety of the trees, Faolan found Ulrich, one of his pack mates, watching him.

  Ulrich gave him a nod, indicating the woman he'd escorted uphill.

  "What's the story on that one?"

  Suddenly feeling oddly possessive, Faolan didn't really want to discuss the woman.

  "Tourist."

  Ulrich grunted in agreement. It was all that needed to be said. It really epitomized most of their troubles on the job throughout the years. However, Ulrich had noticed that Faolan was tense, he could hear his heart beating unusually fast. Something had gotten to him. He looked back at the woman again. Could she have gotten to him, he wondered? He mentally shook his head. Impossible.

  They turned in unison, making their way through the familiar woods in companiable silence. Normally, it would have eased much of the tension in Faolan to be with one of his pack mates, after a long hard day saving humans from themselves, but today was different. Somehow, the woman had gotten to him. The imminent mating season came to mind, and he suddenly wished he could have a woman like Sayuri choose to accept him for coupling, but her kind never would. Even had she done so, she was human, an 'outsider', and the rules of their kind said that she wouldn't do, but that hadn't stopped her from arousing his beast. He'd never had that happen with a human before. Perhaps, though, it wasn't really her, maybe the main reason he felt such a drive was because the mating season was so close and he'd never been mated before. He needed to put her out of his mind. He needed to keep his distance, but now that he had her scent, that was going to be increasingly difficult.