Blue moon - By Lori Handeland Page 0,88

You're going to have to trust me."

"I don't think that I can."

Hurt flickered over his face and for a minute I felt bad. Then my gaze lowered to the totem, and I remembered one of Zee's favorite sayings that didn't involve a curse word.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

"Shame on me," I muttered.

He shook his head. "Sarcastic to the end. That's my girl."

"I am not your girl."

His lips tightened; his eyes narrowed. I'd managed to annoy him, and that wasn't easy.

"I don't have time to argue. Are you going to behave, or do I have to tie and gag you?"

There was no way I was going to let him tie and gag me, not even for fun. "I'll behave."

He grunted and took a wide berth around me, then headed for a cairn of rocks at the far side of the clearing. Since he had my guns, there wasn't a whole helluva lot I could do about it - yet.

Besides, according to Clyde he needed my blood to do the deed. When he came to get it, I'd be ready.

I sat on the porch steps. Cadotte lit a fire in the center of the rocks. Sprinkled what appeared to be dirt on top, except the flame turned green, then purple, then blood-red. No dirt I'd ever seen could do that.

I couldn't take my eyes from the fire, from him. The colors of the flames played over his skin. His muscles flexed and released - across his stomach, down his thighs, up his arms. He was so beautiful he made me yearn.

He began to chant in Ojibwe. The words ebbed and flowed, a beautiful song in a language I could not understand. As the fire burned higher, hotter, he danced around the stone circle.

The oddity of a naked man dancing in the forest snapped me out of my trance. I began to get nervous. I glanced at the eastern horizon, but the sky was still pink. Not a sliver of silver to be found.

A sound in the brush to my right caught my attention. When I followed the rustle, I saw the wolf. "Will!"

He froze, followed my gaze, cursed. More wolves appeared, sliding from the underbrush all around us.

At least fifty of them ringed the clearing.

Suddenly Will was at my side, shoving me toward the door. Good idea, since the wolves had begun to advance. Legs stiff, hackles raised, they snarled.

"What do they want?"

"What do you think?" He tapped the totem, which still hung around his neck.

We stumbled over each other and into the cabin. He slammed the door just as a heavy body thumped against it. My eyes went to the glass window just as Will slammed a wood shutter into place and flipped the lock.

"Help me!" he shouted, running from window to window.

He didn't have to tell me twice. What little light was left in the sky was blotted out as we boarded up all the glass.

I'd puzzled over the dual shutters. Now I thanked God for them. If Cadotte's cabin had only been equipped with outdoor storm protection we'd be dead or foaming at the mouth.

The windows shattered as the wolves tried to get in. The shutters shimmied, but they held.

"Hell," Cadotte muttered.

I glanced at him and found myself distracted again by all that smooth, perfect skin and those supple muscles. I turned my back. "Can you put on some clothes?"

"What? Oh, yeah."

He went into his room and returned, pulling a bright yellow T-shirt over his head. The top button of his jeans hung open, and I swallowed the urge to put my mouth against the strip of skin.

This wasn't the time. There might never be a time again. That upset me more than it should. Cadotte had used me, lied to me, and I wanted him still. I loved him.

The shutter behind my head rattled. I flinched. "Can I have my gun back?"

"Are you going to shoot me?"

"Are you going to bite me?"

He wiggled his brows. "Maybe later."

I made an impatient sound and he sighed. "I thought you loved me."

"That's what you wanted all along, wasn't it?"

He appeared confused. "Of course I want you to love me."

"Because you need the blood of the one who loves you to become the wolf god."

"I do?"

"Don't tell me you didn't know that!" I shouted. "Don't lie to me anymore, Will!"

"You think I've been lying to you? That I told you I loved you... why?"

"You made me love you."

His lips narrowed. "No one has