Borrowed Beauty

Chapter Seven: Busted!

JOSIAH

I’m not following her.

That’s what I told myself. It just so happened that my morning routine included the twelve-mile run around the lake. Not to mention there were dozens of unmarked trails out there. I didn’t want her to wander off and get lost in the woods. This was a totally plausible scenario for a werewolf with an inborn compass and a supernatural sense of smell.

I shifted into my wolf and tracked her at a distance.

I thought she was going for a jog in her human form. After all, she was dressed in leggings and a loose-fitting tank top. But she stopped abruptly when she was a safe distance from the pack house and began to strip. A gentleman would have walked away, or at least averted his eyes. But no one has ever accused me of being a gentleman. From my spot downwind, where the thick undergrowth concealed me, I watched transfixed.

She pulled her tank top over her head and then shimmied out of her bra revealing full, natural breasts. I discovered that her face wasn’t the only part of her that was freckled. Any place the sun had touched was dusted with little dark spots, the length of her arms, shoulders, and even the tops of her breasts. I never knew freckles could be sexy, but on Olivia, they were. Her large dusky n*****s puckered in the cool breeze and I almost whined out loud. What would it be like to cup those heavy globes in my hand? To suck those pearled peaks?

She glanced around again, a small frown upsetting her lips, as though she sensed my presence. I held my breath as she scanned the forest in my direction, but she didn’t see me. I saw her shrug away her own uneasiness as she reached for the waistband of her pants and tugged them down, pulling off both her leggings and her lacy panties in one smooth motion.

My mouth went dry.

She was utter perfection.

Her wide hips tapered into thick, luscious thighs and strong muscular calves. A mound of soft black curls graced the juncture of her legs, and when she bent to take the pants off her feet, I was given a perfect view of her round, heart-shaped ass.

I’ve seen plenty of naked women, but no female body had ever knocked the wind out of me as Olivia’s did. I wanted her so badly, on such a primitive level, that I almost started to shift back to my human form, unintentionally.

After stashing her clothes beside a boulder, she crouched down and shifted herself, and I was crushed by another kind of breathtaking beauty. I guess I should have been expecting it; she was an alpha’s daughter, but the sight of her big, almost-black wolf stole my breath away. Her tail swished in the air before she put her nose to the ground and began to trot away, taking obvious pleasure in exploring her new environment.

She wandered on and off the trail, obviously not at all in danger of getting lost. She flushed a partridge out of the bushes, scented out a woodchuck hole, and occasionally broke into a run for the pure joy of stretching her legs and flexing her muscles. And I was just following behind her, totally whipped.

At the spring-fed inlet that fed the lake, she dropped down the slight embankment and waded into the crystal-clear water up to her belly. She lapped up the water to quench her thirst and amused herself snapping at the minnows that darted under the surface. I crept closer to the bank to get a better view and inadvertently stepped on a dry twig in the process.

Her dark head popped up, her ears pricked forward and her hazel eyes plowed straight into mine. I saw the flicker of recognition in their depths.

Uhoh. Busted!

I thought about going down to join her in the water, but at the same time, I was cognizant of the sun climbing towards its zenith and the mountain of work that was piling up on my desk back in my office. The tug to stay was so strong and the call to work so weak that it took all of my will to connect again with my responsibilities. I’d far exceeded the time I normally spent on my morning run and my beta was probably ready to s**t a brick. With a sigh, I retreated from the water’s end and headed back into the woods. This was one of those times when being an alpha sucked.

OLIVIA

I wasn’t sure if I should be flattered, offended, or embarrassed when I looked up and found the big gray wolf staring down at me from the bank. I’d had the feeling I was being followed almost from the moment I’d left the lodge. I thought maybe I was being tailed by a soldier from the pack. I was a little surprised when I met the unmistakable midnight blue eyes of the alpha.

More surprising was the deep disappointment I felt when he just turned around and walked away.

What did you expect, Olivia? I asked myself as I waded out of the water and shook myself dry on the embankment. A man like that would never be interested in a woman like me, and I shouldn’t take it personally. Still, my spirit was a little dampened as I returned to the spot where I had left my clothes. I shifted back and dressed quickly.

“Just a month or two,” I tried to encourage myself as I crossed the yard to the front veranda and let myself inside the pack house, “and I’ll be on a plane.” The idea perked me up considerably. I’d been to Peru, Iceland, Japan, and most recently, Tibet. Soon I would add Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda to my collection of passport stamps. I would climb Mount Kilimanjaro, take a safari, enjoy the beaches in Mombasa, and explore the shores of Lake Victoria. There would be new people, new foods, and new adventures. I wasn’t just going as a tourist for the fun and adventure, though. I would do some good while I was there. I would be teaching in a rural school and volunteering in an orphanage.

I was smiling again by the time I skipped up the stairs and turned right. I knocked lightly on my sister’s door. “Renee?” The door was unlocked, so I turned the knob and poked my head inside. “You alive in there?”

The curtains had been drawn closed over the windows and the room was dark and gloomy. “Go away!” Came the muffled reply from the lump under the blankets.

“Okay, just checking!” I said, knowing full well that my cheerfulness was only rubbing salt in her hangover. However, I didn’t feel bad at all. You over-indulge, you pay the price. I shut the door quietly and left her alone, making my way back to my own room on the alpha’s wing. That old-timey wooden bathtub was calling. Perhaps I might be able to wash away the last whispers of disappointment from this morning’s run.