'Feeling better?' Laurel asked. She leaned back, settling her arms around the edge of the rock lip.
'Yes.' And I did. I'd committed myself to a course of action and I'd follow it through. No matter what.
'I don't know why you'd be embarrassed to be seen in a swimsuit, Marlee,' she went on. 'You're very pretty. Finn's already interested.'
'Finn?' I asked blankly.
'My cousin. The guy with the long black hair. You met him the same night you met me.'
Oh yeah. 'He looked young,' I said neutrally.
She laughed. 'He's forty-two.'
My jaw dropped as I remembered the smooth-skinned, flirty Finn. 'Can't be.'
Laurel gave me a slanted look. 'There are advantages, you know,' she said in a casual tone. 'You know how one year equals seven in a dog's life? Well, we have the reverse of that. And you already know we heal a lot faster than normal people. Plus, when we change, we experience the world in ways no one else can. I don't know how anyone would rather be just a human.'
I gaped at her. Just when I thought things couldn't get any stranger.
'How old are you?' I managed.
She settled back more comfortably. 'Oh, I'm only twenty, but the good news is, I'll look like this for a long time. The age slowing doesn't happen until puberty's over, thank God. Imagine being a teenager for forty years?'
I couldn't. 'And Daniel?'
'I'll let him tell you how old he is,' Laurel replied. She had a little smirk that made me wary.
'What?'
'Nothing.'
Like hell. She was obviously itching to say more. I scooted closer, lowering my voice.
'
Laurel's smirk widened. 'Normally, when someone's exposed to us like you were – which is very rare, by the way – Daniel is the one to bring them in, but he doesn't watch that person the whole time. He's big on privacy. He's never had someone stay at his cabin for four days straight, even a girlfriend. Add his refusal to let Finn visit you and, well…he's acting possessive. Like a wolf with his future mate.'
I was alternating between shocked and triumphant. Daniel, seeing me as a future mate? So it wasn't just me who'd been so affected the past few days!
But that presented a whole new set of problems. It was one thing when I thought Daniel was just doing his job as the pack's enforcer. Knowing he might be feeling the same thing toward me would decimate the slim hold I had on my control, and I still needed to get away. Not complicate things to a fantastic degree.
Or, Laurel could be wrong. Daniel could be keeping me close because he knew I hadn't really accepted this as my new life. Either way, I had to take advantage of my chance, which brought me to why I'd agreed to this outing.
I hunched a little, letting an expression of pain spasm on my face.
'What's wrong?' Laurel asked.
'Cramps,' I said with another grimace. 'I'm getting my period. Could you do me a huge favor? I don't want to embarrass myself by springing a leak while walking back to town. Can you get me some tampons? I'll wait here.'
I climbed out of the hot water and sat on one of the large rocks, wrapping a towel around me. Here's hoping the universal sympathy every woman had for that time of the month would result in Laurel doing something stupid.
She gave me such an odd look that I cursed myself for not coming up with a better reason for her to go away. Well, I didn't have much time to think up a clever ploy. But then she smiled.
'Be right back.'
Laurel got up, fastened a towel around herself, and walked away. I waited, barely breathing, until she rounded a cabin that took her out of sight, then I bounded up, running flat out of the nearest line of trees.
Chapter Seven
I didn't have shoes on so rocks cut into my feet, but I ignored them. It would only take Laurel ten to fifteen minutes to return. That's all the time I had to get away.
I ran like I was on fire, noting with a growing sense of awareness that I was moving faster than I ever had before. Maybe it was the werewolf curse inside me that would help me get away.
The forest was alive with sounds. The cry of birds. The rustling of branches as they rubbed together in the wind. The thuds my feet made on the drying leaves strewn over the uneven ground. That feeling of fright began to lessen, replaced with an inexplicable joy over running as hard and fast as I could. I might be running away from this life, but right now, I felt strong, free, and wild, like the forest itself was spurring my steps. I went faster, forgetting the pain in my feet, until the trees were almost a blur around me. Giddiness bubbled inside me. This felt right. Like I'd been waiting my whole life to run this way.
Something hard collided with me, snatching me up. My heart was already pounding, but it kicked into another gear as I glimpsed who'd grabbed me. Daniel. He whirled me around to face him, those blazing amber eyes pinning me as tightly as his grip did.
'What were you thinking?' he asked, giving me a shake. 'You're in a bathing suit and a towel! I should have waited and gone after you tomorrow. Maybe spending the night freezing out here would have knocked some sense into you.'
My emotions were on overload from the dizzying adrenaline rush of my escape, the frustration of being caught, and the residual exhilaration of the run. I didn't feel like myself. I felt as if something hiding inside me had finally taken over.
I grabbed Daniel's hair and yanked his head down, slanting my mouth across his. There was a split second where he froze — then his mouth opened, his tongue twisting with mine. His hand tangled in my hair, jerking me closer, while the other hand molded our bodies together. The heat coming from him made me gasp, but I
pressed against him, wanting more of it. He growled, kissing me deeper, harder, unleashing a flood of lust even as it shook me from my earlier recklessness.
'No!'
I wrenched away, panting. Daniel let me out of his arms, but his hand tightened on my wrist, not letting me get entirely free.
'What's wrong?'
I gave a bark of laughter. 'You. Me. Everything.'
He pushed his hair out of his face, staring at me with an intensity that made me shiver.
'It's right, even if you don't want to admit it.'
My towel had fallen to the ground, leaving me in just the bathing suit. Daniel's eyes slid over me like a rough caress. A tremor ran through me and gooseflesh rippled, as if my skin were trying to arc toward him with a will of its own.
Daniel's grip on my wrist softened to a light stroke of his fingers. 'You want me,' he said in a low voice. 'Why are you pushing me away?'
That stiffened my spine. 'Because I can. You've stolen all my other choices, but this one's still mine. And I say no.'
He let me go. That warm amber light in his eyes hardened to something darker. He picked up my towel, handed it to me, and turned his back.
