my house phone, and dived between the cool, welcoming sheets of my bed.
I slept and I dreamed. Of wolves with human eyes. Of people I knew with the eyes of a wolf - Cadotte, Clyde, Brad, Mandenauer, even Zee.
Someone was chasing me through the forest. I was naked, which explained why I was so afraid. No place to carry my gun.
And whatever was chasing me sounded big, mean, gun-worthy. Branches thrashed; sticks cracked; heavy footsteps pounded in my wake. But more than two feet. Two people? Or perhaps four paws.
My side ached. I'd been breathing through my mouth, fear making me forget all my lessons in endurance. I hated being afraid as much in the dream as I did when I was awake.
I glanced back. Always a mistake. Something big, black, and furry was after me. I knew what it was.
I stumbled over a branch and hit the ground hard. I couldn't breathe. I felt like I was going to die. Then suddenly air returned to my lungs. I gasped greedily.
Something leaped on top of me. I twisted, grabbed fistfuls of fur. My fingers tangled in rawhide and a wolf totem swung in front of my face, hanging around the animal's neck like a collar.
The big black wolf with human eyes went for my throat, but instead of biting me, he licked my collarbone, then moved lower and lower still. 1 shuddered, aroused, and began to come.
I awoke with an audible gasp to find myself on the floor, the sheets tangled around my ankles, the twine tight at my neck. I was slick with sweat and on the verge of an orgasm.
"Hell. Shit. Son of a bitch!" I loosened the twine, shoved sweaty hanks of hair from my forehead.
Thankfully I was alone, so no one heard me curse like a dockworker or saw my hands shaking as I went into the bathroom and turned the shower to a temperature somewhere between ice-cold and lukewarm.
I stepped into the tub and stuck my head under the spray, gasping as chilly water cascaded over my heated skin. My mind cleared instantly, but I couldn't stop trembling, even when I turned the water from cold to hot.
The dream had disturbed me far more than any other I'd ever had.
Chapter 16
I'd slept the day away and only had an hour before Ca-dotte was supposed to show up. The damn twine had rubbed a raw circle around my neck. A cold compress plus a liberal application of vitamin E took away the sting.
To hide the mark, I put on a sleeveless mock turtle-neck instead of a tank top; then I transferred the totem to a gold chain my mother had given me for my sixteenth birthday, which I'd never worn.
I doubted she'd approve of the way I was wearing it now, but the chain was my present and she wasn't here. My rationalization for a lot of the things I did that my mother wouldn't approve of.
I chose shorts instead of jeans. Judging by the heat of my apartment, we'd enjoyed the first true day of summer while I'd been asleep. I threw open a few windows. I couldn't see turning on the air-conditioning when the setting of the sun was only a few hours away.
Besides, I had good legs and, being tall, I had a lot of them. Swimming toned much better than jogging. I preferred round, feminine muscle to stringy sinew and emaciated calves.
I turned my cell phone on long enough to dial a pizza, then shut it off again. If there were messages pending, they were no doubt from Clyde. I'd have to deal with him later, and later was when I would deal with him. Right now I was going to enjoy the evening.
A little pizza, a little Cadotte. If things went well, I might even be in a good mood by the time I went to work. I was hoping sex could erase the memory of that very strange dream. I'd never been into bestiality, so what was the matter with me now?
The stone shifted between my breasts, making me jump. I'd been standing at the floor-length window, staring at the summer sun. I hadn't moved. Why had the totem?
The dream had me spooked, that's all. Dreams were just dreams, despite any woo-woo propaganda to the contrary. They were not truth or predictions, not buried secrets or hidden hopes. They were just images that meant nothing at all. But what images!
Illusions tumbled through my mind of bodies entwined, sweat-slicked skin,