Claimed by the Mate, Volume 1 (12 page)

And maybe just a little bit on her.

Chapter 11

Cherry stepped into the lunchroom just as Steph and Christa were leaving with trays of food. “Where are you headed?”

“Brad and Trak made a run into town for supplies, but they left plenty of stuff for lunch and told us to take what we wanted.” Christa glanced at Steph and laughed. “We've both got books we've been wanting to read, so we're going to veg out at my cabin with food, a bottle of wine”—she laughed when Steph held up the bottle—“and the books. They're your sexy romances by the way. I'm reading
Hot Alphas
. Steph's got one called
Alpha's Woman.
Notice a theme, here? It's all about the alpha male. We're thinking of them as educational reading at this point.” She laughed and jabbed Steph with her elbow. “And wondering, of course, which guys here are the true alphas.” She laughed. “I'm voting all of them. Thanks for bringing the books. You're welcome to join us.”

“Thanks, but … where's everyone else? Did the L.A. contingent go somewhere?”

“Just to the pool, but they loaded up on the drinks,” Steph said. “If I drank that much, I'd be asleep by dinnertime.”

“I probably will be, just on principle alone. I can't remember the last time I was this relaxed.”

Steph snorted. “Me, either, but that's because we can't remember the last time we were getting such creative … um, workouts. I had no idea this place offered such fantastic entertainment. Anyway, Cherry, if you don't find something else to do, come join us.”

Steph grabbed Christa and the two of them left. Cherry almost went with them. She really didn't want to spend the afternoon alone in her cabin, but an afternoon reading and eating sounded pretty boring. She made a sandwich, poured some iced tea, and went out on the deck, but she took a seat at one of the small tables—it would feel too lonely, sitting at that long picnic table by herself. Cain showed up a few minutes later. He stepped out of the lodge with a couple of sandwiches for himself.

“Where'd you come from? I didn't see you in the kitchen.”

He took the seat across from her and spread his meal out on two paper plates. “I just had to walk down the stairs. Brad and I share a suite of rooms here in the lodge. It's more convenient, since he does most of the breakfast cooking and I need to be available in case anyone wants a massage.”

“You're roommates?” That explained why they seemed like such good friends, but then she wondered if they were gay. They'd brought her to orgasm but hadn't gotten anything for themselves, but if they had each other maybe she really was just a job for them.

Her lunch lost all its appeal. Had she totally misread their interest?

“I can almost hear the wheels spinning in that busy brain of yours. What are you thinking, Cheraza?”

“Are you and Brad gay?”

He shrugged and shook his head. “I love Brad and he loves me. We've been together a long time. We have great sex together—really great sex—but Cherry, do not doubt that we both really love women.”

There really wasn't much to say to that. She and Cain finished up their lunch at the same time. She gathered up her napkin and the plastic cup she'd filled with iced tea when Cain grabbed her hand. “I'm going to check on the mama wolf and her pups. Come with me?”

She sat back down. “Really? I thought you didn't want to frighten her. Won't I—”

He shook his head. “Not at all. She's used to me, and if you're with me, she'll probably ignore you. She'll be fine.”

“Are my shorts and sandals okay?”

“The trail's pretty level, just one tree that's down. I can help you over it.”

She glanced at her flip-flops and shrugged. If Cain could go in sweats and moccasins, it couldn't be too daunting a hike. “Good. Then yes. I definitely want to go. Give me a minute to dump my plate, and I'll help you put the rest of the food away. I think everyone's eaten.”

*   *   *

That was another thing he really admired about Cheraza, and damn, but he loved the way her real name rolled off his tongue, too, but she had absolutely no problem at all about helping him clean up the leftovers from the meal or even bussing plates a couple of the women had left at the table. They were on vacation and paying a lot of money to be here, but so was she. It didn't seem to matter—she just stepped up and did what needed to be done.

Not a single one of the women who'd been to Feral Passions had been anything like her. He hoped like hell he hadn't scared her off, telling her about his relationship with Brad. They'd begun as friends and the friendship had grown. It wasn't uncommon among the shifters—they lived for a long time, and if they weren't mated it was good to have someone to love.

But if Cain and Brad mated Cherry, she'd live just as long. That was another thing he hated springing on her—as if turning furry weren't enough.

“C'mon.” He handed her a bottle of water and grabbed one for himself and then slipped a light daypack over his shoulder. He liked to carry treats out for the mama wolf, and he'd packed a few necessities for himself. Just in case. The den wasn't far, but the day had turned warm. The creek near the den had a pool that was deep enough to cool off in, but that would require getting Cherry naked.

Nothing like setting goals, right? He grabbed her hand and led her into the woods.

*   *   *

She wasn't used to holding hands with any man, especially one like Cain. He was so overwhelmingly masculine. She found herself thinking of the books her sister and Steph were reading. Cain had to be an alpha, more so than Brad. Both were powerful, sexual men, but there was something ruthless about Cain—ruthless and earthy. Brad was sexy, but Cain wore his sensuality like a cloak, an almost visible aura that made her fingers itch to touch him.

But something about being held by a man like Cain had changed her. Over the past couple of days she'd quit obsessing about her weight, about how she compared to the other women, how she looked to the men in her life. Was it because she needed the validation of a couple of good-looking guys paying attention to her? She hoped that wasn't the only reason.

She'd like to think it was something more, something inside her that was suddenly, for whatever reason, breaking free, but holding hands with Cain had her wondering what her life would be like when she got back to San Francisco. Would she be taking any of this newfound confidence with her?

He led her down a trail that followed the meandering creek north from the lodge. They hadn't gone very far—and she'd made it over the fallen tree without help—when Cain paused just ahead of her.

“Shhh … See that fallen tree?” He pointed to a large pine that had toppled from a rise where high water had undercut the bank. The roots were sticking out of the ground and the trunk went entirely across the creek. Up at the top of the bank, a large boulder rested against the upthrust roots and Cherry saw what appeared to be a well-traveled trail down the bank and between the boulder and the trunk. She nodded and clutched Cain's hand even tighter.

“I'm going to go first and see how she's doing. I'll whistle if it's safe for you to come. Just follow the trail the same way I do.” He reached into his daypack and pulled out a plastic bag. “I brought some hamburger. Bring it with you and I imagine she'll be a lot less nervous.”

Cain worked his way close to the den and then disappeared beneath the fallen tree. A couple of minutes later, he whistled. Cherry followed the same trail and paused at the opening to the den. It was larger than she'd expected, part of it probably dug out by the wolf using a natural little cave created by the boulder, the roots from the fallen tree, and the rocky bank behind them.

Cherry heard Cain talking softly to the wolf, and then he was talking to Cherry. She followed his instructions and crawled under the tree. It was deeply shadowed but light enough to see Cain sitting with his back against the boulder and his pack on the ground beside him. She smelled a musty odor the deeper she went inside. It wasn't unpleasant and made her think of puppies. The wolf was about six feet back, curled against the rocky bank.

She growled when she saw Cherry.

Cherry shot a quick glance at Cain. “She doesn't look happy to see me.”

“Toss her a little ball of the hamburger. Try and get it close—she's nursing the pups right now, so she's feeling protective.”

Cherry did as Cain instructed and managed to drop the meat within a couple inches of the wolf's snout. She sniffed it and snapped it up. Her ears came up and she studied Cherry with more interest. Before long Cherry had emptied the bag of meat and the wolf had finished every bite. Then she turned to lick her pups, totally ignoring the humans in her den.

They stayed for almost half an hour while the mother wolf slept with her pups curled up in the curve of her body before Cain pointed toward the opening and they finally crawled out with Cherry in the lead. Once they were outside, Cain led her over to the creek where a deep pool of water had formed behind a natural stone dam. They sat on a flat rock in the sunlight, but it wasn't long before Cain pulled his moccasins off, pushed the legs of his sweatpants up, and dangled his feet in the water.

Cherry slipped off her sandals and did the same thing. “That feels so good. It's warmer than I expected.”

“It stays dammed up behind the rocks long enough for the sun to warm the water. This is one of my favorite swimming holes. It's off-limits to guests because of the den. We don't want to spook the mother, but she's fine with me and a few of the other guys. She thinks Evan is her pack mate, because he's the one who raised her when she was brought to us. They bonded.”

“Lucky Evan.” She turned and looked at Cain. “How come you're the one checking on her? Shouldn't he be doing that?”

Cain shook his head. “No, because she was growing too familiar with him. Even though this is a preserve, we want them to retain their wild nature.”

She snorted. “Yeah, like feeding her hamburger is enforcing that, right?”

He bumped shoulders with her. “Well, yeah. That sort of breaks the rules, but I wanted her to accept you. Let's just keep that our secret, okay?”

“I can do that. I really appreciate your bringing me here to see them.”

“I'm glad. I get in there and lose track of time. It's so cool to watch her with her babies.”

“I still can't believe I got that close to her.”

“She's lived most of her life here on the preserve. Her mother and one of her siblings were killed—hit by a car when the pups were about eight to ten weeks old. The guy who hit them felt terrible, but he was able to catch the surviving pup and she was brought to us. Evan hand raised her until she was ready to hunt on her own. Hence, the bonding.”

Cherry studied his profile for a moment. Strong with a tough edge and yet so tender with creatures who needed him. She found the two sides of Cain fascinating. “Your lives are so different here from what I'm used to. Different, but beautiful, too.” Cherry stared at the water flowing around her feet. Awareness of the man beside her pulsed like a living thing, along with the sense that she was being shown a life totally foreign to the only one she knew. It wasn't at all frightening—she saw this as an amazing adventure, an exciting addendum to her otherwise mundane existence.

It was also wildly arousing. Sitting here dangling her feet in the creek after such an amazing experience, close beside a man she fully intended to have sex with before the week ended had her nipples tightly pressed against her bra and the sensitive tissues between her legs suddenly feeling swollen and wet. She turned and caught Cain staring at her. His jaw clenched, his nostrils flared. She frowned. What was—

“I need to cool off. I'm going in.” Cain stood, ripped his T-shirt over his head, and shoved his pants down. Why she'd imagined him wearing underwear, much less, a swimsuit, was beyond her, but he was gloriously naked under his sweats and absolutely beautiful.

He was also quite obviously aroused. Had he somehow picked up her scent? She'd been almost certain the wolves could scent her, but Cain?

Trying to be flip, knowing she was blushing ten shades of red, Cherry gestured at his huge erection, almost at eye level. “Is that for me?”

“Could be, sweet Cherry. You only have to say the word.”

Good lord, but the man's smile was deadly. Even so, her eyes had to be as big as saucers.

It took Cherry a minute to find her voice. “You look awfully hot.” She winked. “I think you need to cool off a bit, Cain.” She stuck her hand in the creek and splashed him.

His eyes narrowed, he retaliated, and the battle was on. At some point she lost her shirt and then her bra. Before long, her clothes were drying on the flat rock and she was naked in the pool, in water deep enough to cover her breasts but so crystal clear it hid absolutely nothing. Cain stared at her with enough heat in his eyes to warm the entire creek—either that or the heat coming off her body was having the same effect.

They both stopped at the same moment. Cherry had never, not once in her life, been so aware of a man—the awareness had been there since she'd first met him, but something about the current circumstances had ramped up the arousal quotient way beyond anything she'd ever experienced.

Probably the fact that he was beautifully built, stark naked, and had a raging hard-on aimed directly at her helped, but along with the heat was the power, the physically intimidating strength of the man—strength she didn't fear in the least. He wanted her. She knew without any doubt he would never, ever hurt her.

She'd heard the phrase “smoldering gaze.” Cain's had her slowly but surely going up in flames. She'd fantasized in vivid dreams, wondered what it would be like, to be the focus of that kind of arousal, to be desired by a man with such intensity. This was her chance, wasn't it?