Immortal Wolf - By Bonnie Vanak Page 0,37
warmth and yearning.
Her eyes turned violet again.
Touching the glass, she marveled. They had never turned that color before. No one had ever made her feel the way Raphael had.
She longed to touch him.
She could not.
Emily tugged at the dress, fervently wishing she could discard traditional dress for something exciting. Clothing that made her feel pretty for him. Maybe those jeans, as he called them. The denim. Or even trousers made from leather.
Remembering how the leather trousers had molded to his powerful limbs and the firm curves of his muscled bottom, her cheeks flushed further. It was wrong, this attraction she felt. She couldn’t allow herself to experience the natural desire all draicaras felt for their mates. Falling for him would distract her from the important task ahead—saving her life.
He said he wanted to help. But she didn’t dare trust him. She was all alone in this.
He was so different, daring and walked his own path. Not part of a pack.
Emily couldn’t see how their worlds could mesh, even if circumstances were different. Raphael knew nothing of the old traditions, seemed to disdain them. She was too mired in the ancient ways.
Yet, maybe she could at least change her dress. Adorn her slim ankle with a thin gold bracelet.
She swirled around, trying to imagine herself in a pretty dress with tiny sprigs of violets.
Outside, she heard the roar of the beast named Harley. Emily flushed again and ran down the steps, her heart pounding with excitement. Harley was purring as Raphael sat on the wide seat, his long legs encased in leather. Her admiring gaze swept over his muscled thighs.
He swung a leg over the saddle and stood. “Ready?”
Breath caught in her throat. He was so handsome and striking, his eyes as dark as the black night, the wide, mobile mouth set with determination. Black leather gloves covered his hands. Dressed in his black leather pants, black T-shirt and jacket, he looked imposing. Dark. Powerful. A Draicon impervious to all, the most dangerous of all their race.
She grabbed a fistful of skirt, feeling awkward and ugly in comparison. How could she accompany him, in all his dark beauty, into public? They stared—the humans always stared when she went into town. Sometimes they laughed.
“We can take one of the pack’s trucks. They would allow you to borrow it, because you are the Kallan,” she offered.
He turned a key and Harley stopped growling. “My bike will do us fine. It’s safe and you can ride behind me. But that dress has to go. Got any slacks?”
Misery coiled in her stomach. The demarcation between her world of ancient tradition and his was an unbreachable chasm. He easily slipped between the Draicon world and the human world. She stood out like a weed among a field of beautiful flowers.
“I’ve changed my mind. You go. I’ll stay here. I don’t want to go shopping for new clothing,” she mumbled.
She headed for the refuge of her trees. In his deep voice, Raphael called for her to stop.
“I’m tired of you running from me, Em.”
She ignored the warning. He was powerful, but she was fast.
Something snagged her bare ankle, snaked around it, stopping her short. Bemused, she glanced down. Her eyes widened.
One of the vines wrapped around the oak had slithered down the trunk and coiled around her ankle like a playful cat. It held her fast.
She whirled and saw Raphael regarding her in silence. It was him doing this. She quivered in the face of so much power to control things of the earth.
Listen to me, Em. You’re not running anymore. You can’t escape this. Us. What’s happening. Why won’t you let me help you?
She gave her foot a firm tug, but another vine wrapped around her other ankle. Two more snaked out and caught fast her hands. Like gently reeling in a caught fish, they tugged her backward, until she was held fast against the tree trunk, her arms and legs imprisoned.
Inwardly she marveled. What power this Kallan had. Such dark power that she’d never before seen.
He didn’t know she could easily loosen the vines, spring free and dash away. Yet the intense look on his face as he walked toward her kept her captive.
Bracing his arms on either side of her, he leaned forward until his warm breath feathered over her cheeks. His dark gaze was unfathomable.
“Yes, I have more power than you can imagine. I’m not like the other Kallans. I’m darker, but I still can influence things of the earth. So for once