meat and vegetables over a mound of rice.
Zeke had said he would come by with lunch later, Darcy remembered. Apparently, this was later.
She picked up the bowl and took a few steps out onto the walk, the sun-warmed concrete feeling good on her bare feet. She looked around, but there was no trace of the alpha.
Apparently, when Zeke said he'd wanted her to stay out of his way, he meant it. Guess she'd have to write him a thank you note and leave it outside with the dishes when she was done.
Not funny, the voice chided her.
Darcy knew she needed to be thinking the same way. The less she saw of Zeke, the better. He might have given her a place to hide out, but he was still an alpha—a terrifying seven and-a-half-foot-tall beast who prowled the woods for sport.
Fate had delivered Darcy her very own real-life big, bad wolf.
She lifted the bowl to her face and gave it a sniff. Her stomach nearly cried with anticipation.
She yelled a thank you just in case the alpha was somewhere he could hear her, and ducked back inside the woodshed, bolting the door securely. Settling down cross-legged on the cot, she dug into her lunch.
Damn, it tasted good, and not just because it was the first thing she'd had to eat in ages. The rich stew was redolent with braised onions and cracked pepper, perfectly simmered potatoes, carrots, and turnips. Darcy had to force herself not to shovel it down too quickly, but it was still gone in no time at all.
When she had scraped the last of it from the bowl, she got up to gaze out one of the small windows. She found the sun already dipping down toward the horizon.
She'd slept through most of the day.
It wasn't really surprising.
Darcy had been riding on nothing but fumes when she'd finally finished making the shed into the world's smallest one-bedroom apartment, the contents of her backpack neatly stored under the cot. Adrenaline had been the only thing keeping her going, and the moment she collapsed, her body had seized the rest it needed.
Now she felt a little better, at least in the energy department. Her cuts and bruises—not so much.
She'd been too tired to change into clean clothes earlier, and her cropped sweater and miniskirt were starting to stink. Her hair was matted and wild, and the scrapes on her arms and legs were red and raw.
Even her face felt swollen. She was almost glad there was no mirror to check how it had fared, but judging by the purple bruises dotting the rest of her body, it was bound to be bad.
Now that she'd slept and eaten, Darcy longed for a bath…and maybe a bonfire to burn her clothes.
Unfortunately, an alpha who wouldn't even show his face while dropping off her lunch probably wouldn't be too keen on letting her use his bathroom either.
Darcy didn't want to ask, anyway. He'd done so much for her already. The last thing she wanted was to make herself more a burden.
After all, she needed to stay in his good graces for at least a little while.
Darcy searched her memory of walking through Zeke's land, trying to remember if she’d seen anything like a pool of water or a pond that could substitute for a bathtub. There was the creek just outside his cabin door, but that was too close.
But maybe if she followed it deeper into the woods, she'd find a wide spot remote enough to give her some privacy.
Sure, Zeke had told her to stay put, but obviously he hadn't meant for her to stay inside the woodshed indefinitely—there wasn't even anywhere to pee. What her reclusive savior really wanted her to do was to keep out of his way.
And that was precisely what Darcy meant to do.
Chapter Six
Holy shit.
Darcy forgot to breathe as she gaped at the water flowing down the alpha's bare back. She couldn't turn away from the sight of his burnished golden-brown skin glistening in the afternoon sun, his muscles rippling as he emerged from the water. And when he shook the water out of his hair, she felt her knees go weak.
Darcy angled herself behind a tree, wanting to enjoy the view just a little longer. She'd managed to haul her sore, bone-weary body down the path of the meandering creek until she found this sparkling cool green pond nestled in the saddle of the forested foothills.
But as it turned out, she wasn't the only one who'd