Her animal was loving all of this attention.
“I’ve missed you,” Brice said softly.
Keena’s wolf stepped closer to her, almost knocking her over onto the ground. She rested her large head against Brice’s shoulder and Brice wrapped both arms around Keena’s neck. Keena’s heart skipped a beat. Her animal needed this. She needed to feel something. They had been alone too long.
“I wish I could take away some of your pain,” Brice whispered against her neck.
Had Keena been in her human form, she would have instantly teared up, but her wolf whined and relaxed against Brice even more.
Finally, her wolf took a step backwards.
“Can I talk to Keena now? Please?”
Keena’s wolf turned and took a few steps toward the cabin. She paused and looked back to Brice who still knelt on the ground.
“You want me to follow you?” Brice said. She pushed up off the ground and stood. She brushed the snow from her knees and came over to the stairs.
Let me have control,Keena said. Her wolf hesitated at first, but soon relented. The shift began and once again, it didn’t take long. Her body reshaped itself as the fur receded leaving Keena kneeling naked on her front porch.
Brice’s eyes were wide as she stared at Keena.
“Oh! You’re naked!” she exclaimed.
“Um, yeah. Our clothes don’t shift with us,” Keena murmured. Her lips tugged up at the corners at Brice’s innocent comment.
“Aren’t you cold? Get inside before you catch your death!” Brice rushed up the stairs and pushedher toward the door. Keena rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“I’ll be fine. Never in my forty years have I caught my death from being naked outside,” she muttered. Keena opened the door and held it open for Brice. They went inside where warm air wrapped around them almost immediately. Keena shut the door behind them. The soft click sounded much louder than it should have in the stillness of the cabin.
Her wolf felt settled for the first time in a long time.
Brice was here.
In their home.
Keena crossed to the fireplace and crouched down in front of the hearth. The fire she’d left earlier had burned down to glowing embers. She added another log, then another before she struck a match.
The flame caught immediately. Within seconds, warm light and heat spread throughout the room.
“Show off,” Brice said playfully.
“It’s really not that hard to start a fire,” Keena mumbled. She stood and rubbed the back of her neck. Brice’s eyes dropped down to her naked breasts then slid down further. Her breath caught inher throat at the way Brice’s eyes darkened. “I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be here.”
There was something about those words that nearly undid her. She turned and went into her bedroom to find some clean dry clothes to throw on. She didn’t want to grab the ones she’d left by the back door. She’d worked in those.
She closed the door to her bedroom and found some leggings. She threw those on and pulled a charcoal sweater over her head. She stood in front of the dresser longer than necessary, but she couldn’t get her feet to move. She braced her hands against the wood and stared at herself in the mirror.
“You’ve made a mess of this.” Her reflection offered no argument. She’d walked away from Brice because she was terrified of what could happen if she stayed. “I can’t keep running.”
Her wolf nudged her gently.
She inhaled softly and felt the strength her animal lent to her.
She returned to the living room and found Brice standing in front of the bookshelf tucked beside the fireplace. She ran her fingers along the spines of the few books she owned. Some were the books her father had collected. She had refused to partwith them when he died. It gave her a little piece of him.
“You’ve alphabetized them,” Brice murmured.
