Page 128 of Dominion
She gave the property another thorough inspection, admiring the beautiful craftsmanship. There wasn’t one thing she would change if she bought the place. Not one request she would have made differently had the house been built for her.
She sighed. Soon, hopefully a CJ Steele house would come on the market and Ben would help her buy it.
An hour passed and Cody hadn’t returned. She went through a pair of French doors outside to the porch. The back of the cabin faced an expanse of woods. To the right, the mountain climbed upward, lichen-covered boulders dotting the wooded slope. A path led around the base of the incline, beckoning to her. No other building or property appeared in any direction from the cabin.
She drew in a deep breath of the crisp mountain air, rich with the scent of pine. The forest looked so welcoming. If Rabago and his cronies hadn’t found her at Cody’s place in Colorado Springs, they sure as hell wouldn’t find her here. Pulling on her jacket, she jogged down the porch steps. She wanted to know where the path led.
She followed it a half mile until it stopped at what appeared to be a natural spring bubbling up from the earth. Someone had fashioned a pebble-bottomed pool and fit a copper pipe at the mouth. A tin cup lay nearby. She picked it up and filled it with water, then drank. Cold as ice and incredibly refreshing. She closed her eyes, savoring the treat.
A low growl startled her. Two huge tan wolves closed in on her, fangs bared. The cup clattered to the rocks and she swallowed a shriek.
“Uh… easy…” She took a step back and the two wolves crept forward, teeth gleaming in the afternoon light.
Were they shifters? They must be; they were gigantic. Female shifters.
“I’m with Cody?” It sounded more like a question. She wasn’t sure how much shifters understood when in wolf form. “Easy, girls. I-I’m not infringing on your territory or anything.” Too late, she remembered to drop her eyes and not challenge them.
A movement to her left drew her eyes and she saw three more giant wolves, two black and one tan, watching. They were males. Was this some kind of mating thing?
She held her open palms out. “I’m not a threat, guys.”
One of the female wolves snarled and leapt forward, jaws snapping an inch from where her hand had been before she jerked it back. She stumbled into the spring, back against the rock. Her sneakers soaked through with the freezing cold spring water.
Another snarl came from behind her and silver fur flashed over her head. She screamed as a wolf flew from the rock above her and knocked down the snapping female. The silver wolf took the tan one to the ground and rolled with it, throat between its jaws.
Cody? Yes, his huge, magnificent wolf form was unmistakable.
A horrible, pitiful yelp echoed off the rocks and the female rolled to her back, showing her belly. For one horrible moment, Melissa thought the silver wolf had killed the tan one, but when he pulled back, there was no blood at her throat. He nipped her hindquarters and she lay still, whining.
The other tan wolf had dropped to her belly and now crept forward, also whining. He growled and nipped her as well, then turned and trotted away, in the direction of the cabin. All the wolves fell in behind him, tails tucked as they followed.
Melissa stood frozen for several long moments, willing her heart rate to return to normal. The discomfort of the ice-cold water soaking her shoes finally forced her out of her stupor. She walked on shaky legs back to the cabin. When she pushed open the front door, she found young people had filled the large living area, and more were coming out of the bedrooms in various states of dress.
Two young women stood talking as one pulled on her socks and shoes. The other, a wiry woman with a pierced lip pulled her sandy blond hair into a ponytail. When she saw Melissa, her conversation died on her lips.
Cody stalked from the master bedroom wearing nothing but his faded jeans. His feet were bare, as was his torso and her mouth went dry at the sight of his washboard abs and muscled chest. He wasn’t paying any attention to her, though. The pissed-off wolf stalked over to the blonde. “You don’t ever attack a female under my protection, whether she’s wolf or human,” Cody snarled.
Melissa’s heart took off at a gallop again. Of course this had been the female who had attacked her.
“We didn’t know she was with you,” the woman said with fake innocence.
“Bullshit. My scent is all over her and you know it.” He put his barrel chest in front of the girl and stared her down, the muscle in his jaw flexing.
“Sorry, Alpha.” The she-wolf dropped her eyes but her tone didn’t sound sincere.
The rest of the young people had gathered and stood watching the scene. Cody whirled on them. “What about the rest of you—standing around watching out there? What in the hell is wrong with you?”
The young men lowered their eyes and muttered things like, “Sorry, man,” or “Sorry, Alpha.”
“Well, why did you bring a human here?” the blonde challenged. “Is this your…girlfriendor something?” She saidgirlfriendlike the idea disgusted her.
Finally, Cody glanced Melissa’s way. “This is Melissa. She’s Ben Stone’s sister-in-law. Ben requested pack protection for her and I gave it.”
Of course she hadn’t expected him to claim her as his girlfriend, but his words sliced through her nonetheless. Right, she was an obligation he had to Ben. The glow of satisfaction she’d had at his defense of her died a quick death.
“So she’s allowed to just run out on our mountain during full moon?”
The low growl from Cody was pure animal.