up more lavawort and plastered a new gum leaf to my injured hand and arm since I’d completely forgotten about them during my bath. The wounds were still raw and sore, but a great deal better after already having a few hours worth of lavawort on them. I stood, wringing out my hair as best I could with one hand, tilting my face toward the sun with my eyes closed. Spring hadn’t yet turned to summer here, so the breeze was slightly chilly when it swept across the water. When I opened my eyes I was only half surprised to see Wolf crouched at the edge of the trees, watching me. A few lavawort leaves danced on the end of their stem as Wolf chewed lightly on the other end.
At any other time, I would have felt vulnerable, standing there naked with a man staring at me like that. But now, after being through so much, I didn’t. Instead, standing naked in a forest with a half-wolf looking at me somehow seemed natural. He wasn’t staring at me in a hungry way; meal or sexual-wise. In fact, he looked completely normal. More normal than even a regular man would have looked when faced with a naked female. I wanted to know what it was he wanted, but there was something going on in his head that I didn’t want to interrupt.
After a few more moments he stood, keeping his eyes lowered, and walked toward me. He took the lavawort stem from his mouth and tossed it to the pebbled ground. The moment he reached me I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could he dropped to his knees before me. I gazed down, surprised into silence. Then it hit me. He was being submissive. But why?
“Forgive me,” he said.
“For what?”
“For hurting you. For forgetting you. I shouldn’t have. I should have been stronger for you.”
Was he talking about the barn incident? He was still berating himself for that?
“Oh Wolf,” I said quietly. “Stand up.”
He obeyed and reluctantly looked into my eyes. I smoothed his hair, giving him a soft smile.
“I forgave you that same day.”
He stared at me a few minutes more before his arms went around me and crushed me to him. I could almost feel the relief flooding his body.
“You jumped on that pyre for me. You were going to die trying to save me,” he murmured at my ear.
“I had to try. You’ve already saved me more times than I care to count. And I didn’t do a very good job anyway,” I said, hugging him back, indulging in his warmth and strength.
He released me from the hug, settling one hand on the side of my face and pressing his cheek to mine. He breathed in deep, then sighed, contented. Then I felt his other hand grazing over my shoulder. Over the place where he’d bitten me. The wounds were still covered in now-soggy gauze and duct tape. He gently peeled it away and ran his fingers over the ugly red scabs that had formed.
“It’s okay,” I whispered, running my fingers through his hair.
He tilted his head and placed a soft kiss along my throat. Then another. And another. Then he pulled his face back enough to stare into my eyes. I loved the beautiful hazel color of his, the mix of earth and sky.
“I was wrong,” he said.
“About what?” I asked, confused.
“When I said you would spoil your scent with water.” He smiled. “You smell even better when you’re clean.”
I laughed and kissed him. It began lighthearted, but quickly grew deeper, slower. He tasted like fresh lavawort, warm and delicious. He held my face in his hands, his mouth slowly working at mine. This was a different kind of kiss. Something special. An indescribable feeling knotted in my chest. I wanted to be closer to him. Always. Forever. I wrapped my arms around his neck. Finally he pulled away, both of us breathless, Wolf resting his forehead against mine.
“I love you,” he whispered, and for the briefest of moments, it sounded like he was losing something when he said it.
I brushed my lips against his, my heart pounding. “I love you.”
We kissed again, and this time when he broke away, he shrugged off his jacket and laid it on the pebbled lakeshore behind me.
I briefly reached out, searching for magic, and found only the tiniest bit from Wolf’s ankle collar, the ring of salt, and the protective power of the morning glories. I refocused