Dark Wolf (Spirit Wild) - By Kate Douglas Page 0,53
the steady pace Annie set, head high, ears pricked forward, with her tail waving behind her. The air was fresher here, the scent of cedar and pine, of bay and damp, mushroomy humus, and the drying needles crackling beneath their feet an almost overwhelming cry of home.
She missed this. Missed the freedom to run without fear, to breathe air unpolluted by the stench of so many humans living so close together.
Wolves were not meant to live in cities.
Wolves aren’t meant to live alone, either.
She refused to think of Sebastian. Not tonight. Tonight she was with friends she knew she could trust.
They paused on a hilltop beneath a towering oak. Lily raised her head and sniffed the air. Faint, so fragile a scent she could barely catch it, but she knew Sebastian had run this way. Not recently. No, it could have been as much as a week ago or longer, but he’d been here, on Chanku property.
But why? His father owned thousands of acres. Not as much as Anton Cheval, but more than enough to give him room to run. He didn’t need to come on their land.
Unless this was the oak he’d mentioned, the one he used to shift. Lily had long sensed the spirit that resided here, the strength inherent in the tree that had dominated this promontory for hundreds of years. She knew it was somehow linked to the same huge tree she’d sat beneath on the astral, though how she understood that was a complete mystery to her.
Still, there was a sense of familiarity about the oak. A feeling that she knew the entity that lived within. A dryad, perhaps? A wood nymph? Sebastian drew on the natural energy of the world around him to power his magic. Had he called on the spirit of this particular tree? Would she ever know for sure?
Damn. The man confused the hell out of her. Confused her and at the same time, fascinated her. Somehow, she had to find the answers she sought. But not tonight.
She gazed out over the valley below. Lights from her parents’ house twinkled brightly in the distance, lighting up the meadow and surrounding forest. More homes, some nearby, others scattered farther out from the center glowed with their own light. Others were dark. Her own tiny cottage was lost in shadows, but she hadn’t left any lights on. She’d not expected to be away this late.
Nothing about today had gone as planned.
Annie spun and kicked up loose dirt as she took off again. It was impossible to ignore her high spirits. Just as impossible to ignore the pheromones arcing between Annie and Alex. Lily followed the two of them, almost drowning in the scents and sense of need and want, of desire that raised her arousal right along with theirs.
She tried to concentrate on the night around them, on the almost soundless flitter of bats overhead, the soft hoot of an owl, the scream of a panther off in the distance.
Igmutaka, maybe? She wouldn’t be surprised, as surly as the big cat sounded. The spirit guide had taken to spending most of his time in his puma form since his charge, Star Fuentes, had gone off to Yale without him. None of the pack really knew the details, but apparently Star had grown weary of the Ig’s overenthusiastic guardianship as she’d reached adulthood. He’d watched over her father and all the males of his line going back beyond memory, but Star had been his first female charge.
She’d left for college almost fourteen years ago after leaving Ig with explicit instructions that he wasn’t welcome to come along. Lily wondered if Star was ever coming back. Probably not, as long as Igmutaka insisted on protecting her from everything under the sun—especially any young men she might meet.
Anton Cheval might be an overprotective father, but Igmutaka, spirit guide, was a whole lot worse. Lily really did feel sorry for Star. Having a gorgeous spirit guide getting in the way of every potential relationship had to be beyond frustrating.
Annie’s sharp yip pulled Lily out of her thoughts. The gray wolf veered off the trail. She’d found a narrow path through a patch of wild blackberry vines and raced beneath the tangle with Alex close on her heels. Lily followed, leaving a few tufts of thick fur in the brambles before bursting out into a moonlit meadow. A steaming pool glimmered at one end.
She’d not been here for years—one of the more isolated hot springs on the huge