sticking around the day Orion couldn’t explain why they wanted her to be safe. If they’d just said that they cared about her safety because they cared about her , it might have changed everything. She’d spent the earlier part of her life being ignored. Then six years of torturous hell. And now, she was free, the world apparently for her taking, and all she could think about was staying with Orion and his brothers.
Shaking the thoughts from her head, she grabbed a quick breakfast before they were up, and went for a walk in the woods alone. She knew one of them would stay behind while the others went to work, and she’d been told that the gym was closing early and everyone would be there for the full moon. Hyenas were not compelled to shift on the full moon they way that wolves were, but they’d grown accustomed to shifting on the full moon because of Alyssa. Even though she was pregnant and no longer shifting, the hyenas all shifted and hunted after gathering at the large fire pit in the woods and wishing each other a good hunt.
She’d walked through the woods so frequently that she knew exactly where the boundaries were that separated the baro ’s one hundred acres from the other properties around them. She walked leisurely, picking up a twig and twirling it, as the morning sun warmed the world around her. Trying to keep her mind off of the hyenas and on the upcoming hunt, where she would have a chance to actually be free in her wolf form and run where she pleased, turned out to be difficult.
She reached the western edge of the property and stopped, leaning her back against a smooth-barked tree. Her eyes drifted shut and she opened her senses to the world around her. Birds chirped on the branches above her head. Something small scurried between rustling bushes. The sunlight didn’t filter completely through the thick canopy of trees, but she could still feel its presence on her skin.
A breeze kicked up, rustling the leaves overhead, and a scent tickled her nose. She went still and willed her heart not to pound as she inhaled silently, slowly, and filtered out the natural scents around her. The tickle in her nose was from something familiar, a cologne that her former mate liked to douse himself in.
It was a faint scent, almost invisible, and she opened her eyes and straightened, inhaling deeply. The scent was gone. There one moment and then…not. She shook her head, moving forward slightly into the breeze, but not catching any more of the scent. Which made her wonder if she’d imagined it.
She explored a little further, scenting along the way, but she couldn’t pick up the scent again and decided that maybe her overactive imagination had come up with that scent because she was feeling a bit low. That the males in the house hadn’t shown an interest in being anything but friends with her was starting to sting what little bit of self esteem she’d gathered since she was set free.
She cracked her knuckles because her hands were aching from the need to shift, and turned to walk back towards the house. She had never been a girl that needed love to survive. Hell, her whole entire life was built on lack-of-love, thank you very much, and she was here now, set free of the chains of her past, and she didn’t need anyone, or three anyones, to make her feel good about herself. She hadn’t shared much about her past with them, just the basics, but she knew that they had inferred a great deal about what her life had been like. The bruises on her body that first night were a screaming billboard that said she’d not been treated well.
But in spite of how she yearned to be that independent woman that didn’t need anyone, she couldn’t help but wish that they saw her as someone worthy of noticing. Someone worthy of being more than a friend and an obligation.
She found the fire pit, which had been laid with wood at some point, and sat down in front of it, picturing
Shaking the thoughts from her head, she grabbed a quick breakfast before they were up, and went for a walk in the woods alone. She knew one of them would stay behind while the others went to work, and she’d been told that the gym was closing early and everyone would be there for the full moon. Hyenas were not compelled to shift on the full moon they way that wolves were, but they’d grown accustomed to shifting on the full moon because of Alyssa. Even though she was pregnant and no longer shifting, the hyenas all shifted and hunted after gathering at the large fire pit in the woods and wishing each other a good hunt.
She’d walked through the woods so frequently that she knew exactly where the boundaries were that separated the baro ’s one hundred acres from the other properties around them. She walked leisurely, picking up a twig and twirling it, as the morning sun warmed the world around her. Trying to keep her mind off of the hyenas and on the upcoming hunt, where she would have a chance to actually be free in her wolf form and run where she pleased, turned out to be difficult.
She reached the western edge of the property and stopped, leaning her back against a smooth-barked tree. Her eyes drifted shut and she opened her senses to the world around her. Birds chirped on the branches above her head. Something small scurried between rustling bushes. The sunlight didn’t filter completely through the thick canopy of trees, but she could still feel its presence on her skin.
A breeze kicked up, rustling the leaves overhead, and a scent tickled her nose. She went still and willed her heart not to pound as she inhaled silently, slowly, and filtered out the natural scents around her. The tickle in her nose was from something familiar, a cologne that her former mate liked to douse himself in.
It was a faint scent, almost invisible, and she opened her eyes and straightened, inhaling deeply. The scent was gone. There one moment and then…not. She shook her head, moving forward slightly into the breeze, but not catching any more of the scent. Which made her wonder if she’d imagined it.
She explored a little further, scenting along the way, but she couldn’t pick up the scent again and decided that maybe her overactive imagination had come up with that scent because she was feeling a bit low. That the males in the house hadn’t shown an interest in being anything but friends with her was starting to sting what little bit of self esteem she’d gathered since she was set free.
She cracked her knuckles because her hands were aching from the need to shift, and turned to walk back towards the house. She had never been a girl that needed love to survive. Hell, her whole entire life was built on lack-of-love, thank you very much, and she was here now, set free of the chains of her past, and she didn’t need anyone, or three anyones, to make her feel good about herself. She hadn’t shared much about her past with them, just the basics, but she knew that they had inferred a great deal about what her life had been like. The bruises on her body that first night were a screaming billboard that said she’d not been treated well.
But in spite of how she yearned to be that independent woman that didn’t need anyone, she couldn’t help but wish that they saw her as someone worthy of noticing. Someone worthy of being more than a friend and an obligation.
She found the fire pit, which had been laid with wood at some point, and sat down in front of it, picturing
Similar Books
