Wolf Tracks - Bianca D'Arc Page 0,38

bit ragged.

“I’m going to freshen up,” Helen told Jim, taking her bag and heading into one of the bedrooms.

She was in a bit of a daze from all the excitement, but she’d never felt quite so alive before. Her life on the farm, with her family, was predictable. It had evolved that way over time as her gift became stronger and required her to separate herself from most of the human world and only venture into it in small doses so she didn’t end up burning out, or worse. She had known she was living like a hermit, but she hadn’t known what to do about it. It seemed the only safe way.

Then, her mother had insisted she be the one to drive to West Virginia to help her sister, Kiki. That had been a surprise. Everyone in the family knew, though, to heed their mother’s suggestions.

It was likely her mother had sensed that going to help Kiki would bring about all sorts of opportunities for Helen. First, she’d been on hand when Kiki and her new mate had found that poor, captive bear shifter child. Helen had been able to heal the little girl and return her in good health to her frantic parents.

Helen had suspected that had been the reason her mother had insisted that she go to West Virginia in the first place, but maybe there was more to it than that. Helen had also met Jim there, and even though they’d parted ways, her mother had sent her back to him, to save his life and help him on this quest. Helen had the startling realization that maybe Jim’s life wasn’t the only one to be saved.

This whole adventure had shown Helen some of what she’d been missing in her humdrum life on the farm. The farm was safe. Being out here, among people, wasn’t. Being among shifters, though, was something Helen had never expected. They didn’t drain her like other folk. They were all so rudely healthy and full of vitality. It was actually…refreshing.

She was beginning to realize that she could have a life outside the safe confines of the family farm…if she dared. If she could find a group of shifters—like those in this town—or the ones she’d heard about in that bear town in Washington State. Grizzly Cove. That’s what it was called. A town built by bear shifters looking for mates.

Kiki was going to Grizzly Cove, and Helen wondered if she could wrangle an invitation to go there, as well. She already knew Kiki’s new in-laws, and they were great. Helen knew she could at least visit them, from time to time, and maybe not have to be so isolated on the farm anymore. It was a little ray of hope for a better life. Something she hadn’t expected in a million years to come of her mission to West Virginia. Helen had the feeling that her mother had known, though. Mom always knew.

Helen smiled at that thought as she pulled the shower curtain closed and got under the spray of warm water. Boy, that felt good. Helen spent a good few minutes just letting the warm water work out the kinks in her muscles from all the traveling she’d done.

All the while, she was very aware that Jim was just a short distance away, in the other room. He might even be in his bedroom, with just a thin door between the steamy bathroom where she was standing naked and needy, and his hard body. Damn. Thoughts of the sexy werewolf she’d been traveling with were making her hot. Helen dialed the shower temperature down a bit, hoping to cool off.

A soft knock sounded on the door that led to Jim’s bedroom. “Helen? You okay in there?”

“Fine,” she called back. “I’ll be out in five minutes.”

Had she moaned? Damn. She bet she had, thinking about Jim of the Hard Body. Shifters had superior senses. She had to remember that and be more aware of her responses. How embarrassing.

Jim heard Helen moan, and his body immediately reacted, growing hard and ready.

Down, boy.

Her muscles were probably just stiff and painful from all they’d been through, and here he was having sexual fantasies over a barely-heard sound that could have been the result of pain as well as pleasure. His caveman brain was stuck on the pleasure side of the equation, and he began wondering what kind of sounds she’d make when he was inside her.

He got even harder and had to curse under