“Never again,” Iwhispered, sinking lower in the tub, letting the lemon-scentedbubbles cover me. “Never…never again…”
I don’t know how long I stayed inthe tub, dozing and sipping the soothing chamomile tea. Hours,probably—I just kept adding hot water. Anyway, it was long enoughto finish my tea. I wondered idly where Victor had gotten it. Hedidn’t seem the type to drink any kind of tea—let alone the fussyherbal stuff. Maybe it was a present from his mom? An oldgirlfriend? Imagining him with another girl made me uncomfortablefor some reason. I closed my eyes and let my mind drift to other,more pleasant subjects.
“Want me toscrub your back?” he’d say,coming in to the bathroom while I was taking a bath.
“Sure.”I would sit up, gathering the bubblesaround my breasts demurely, and presenting him with my bareback.
“Mmmm…”His voice would be a deep growl ofapproval as he sat on the edge of the tub and slid one big, warmhand over my naked, shivering back. He would soap me for awhile andthen his hand would slide lower, slipping down under the waters tofind my pussy and cup me there. I would feel those long fingersparting me, letting the hot water rush in to stroke my silky foldsuntil I moaned…
This time I didn’t try to fightthe fantasy. I didn’t know why I kept having these visions—it wasbizarre to say the least, since I didn’t even really know the bigwere—but I was tired of trying not to imagine him. He might be bigand scary and rough around the edges but he was much nicer to thinkabout than the horrible things I’d gone through while I was at themercy of Celeste.
The feelings grew inside me untilI couldn’t help myself anymore. Slowly, my hand dipped beneath thebubbles. I gave a little moan when I cupped myself—I couldn’t helpit. I had thought this part of me was dead and yet, here tonight,it seemed very much alive. I slipped my fingers into my pussy andcaressed the hot little bud of my clit. My own touch felt wonderfulbut I could feel my body aching for more, begging for the rough yetgentle touch of someone else…
I touched myself slowly at firstand then more rapidly, giving in to the pleasure that overwhelmedme again and again. And yet, I still wasn’t satisfied. Why—?
A long, desolate howl suddenly cutthrough my pleasurable contemplation. My heart pounding, I sat upin the tub with a jerk that sent a wave of lukewarm water over theside. Looking up at the window located in the shower stall, I wasshocked to see the first gray-pink tendrils of dawn creepingin.
I felt a stab of shame. What waswrong with me? How long had I been lying here, touching myself andindulging in fantasies I had no business imagining? What would I doif Victor came back home right this minute? After all it wasdawn—weres everywhere would be shaking off the call of the moon andgoing back to their human forms. A were or shape shifter can’t taketheir animal form during daylight hours—at least, none that I hadever heard of. So no matter where he was, Victor was probablyhuman. And if he came home early and found me lounging in his tub,touching myself…
The thought wasenough to send me up and out of the tub in record time. I pulledthe plug, grabbed a towel (did the man own any linens thatwere not navy blue?) and dried myself offhurriedly.
I went to grabmy clothes off the floor, only to find they had been soaked by therush of tepid water I had sent over the side of the tub.Great—now what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t hang aroundVictor’s house naked or wrapped in a towel.
The howl soundedagain, much closer than before. It made me jump and not justbecause of its proximity. There was something in the long, mournfulsound—a note of pain I had heard often enough before in my old lifeworking at the animal hospital. Pain. It’s in pain.
Immediately thevet part of me, the part that had loved animals from the first timeI had brought my mother a tiny baby squirrel that had fallen out ofa nest to nurse and raise, woke up. I have to help it. I have to.
Leaving my wet clothes in a soddenmass on the floor, I went back to the walk-in closet and grabbed awhite t-shirt out of the laundry basket. I could smell Victor’sscent on it and when I pulled it on, the hem fell almost to myknees. The soft, worn cotton felt comforting against my bareskin.
The howl sounded again—this timecloser to the house. I ran to the kitchen and heard a thumpingsound coming from the other side of the door.
I peered out the half circle ofglass located high in the kitchen door, standing on my tiptoes todo it. Just outside was the biggest wolf I had ever seen. It waswhining and pushing its furry head against the door, causing it torattle in its frame and making the thumping sound.
I stood back,gnawing my lower lip in indecision. Was it Victor? Should I let itin? But how could it be him? Dawn was definitely here. I could seethe grayish-pink light growing slowly more golden and Icould feel the sun, like a weight in the sky above me. Soonthat weight would press me into the ground, wearing me out, forcingme to give in to sleep whether I wanted to or not. I still had alittle while before I was literally knocked unconscious by theunseen ball of fire in the sky, but I needed to make a decisionsoon.
I looked out the high window atthe top of the door again and saw that the wolf had backed up alittle. It was looking up at the door with a mournful expression inits big golden eyes.
But it wasn’t the wolf’s eyes
