Free Lone Wolf by Tessa Clarke

time. Which meant that she’d decided that there would be a next time.
    So much for getting him out of her system.
     
     
    “Are we on for next Saturday, then?” Leif said, as he dropped her and Buddy off outside her apartment.
    She nodded and let him kiss her. She couldn’t believe that she wasn’t demanding that he take her home to bed. But it was better this way. She still needed to know a little more about Leif Pierce before she could give him her heart.
    The following Saturday they went riding and then hiked to the top of Raven Ridge to watch the sun set. Scores of ravens flew over them as they hiked, blotting out the pink sky, heading for their roost in the cliffs. Leif brought binoculars and after scanning the cliff for several minutes, managed to pick out the white raven much to Delany’s delight.
    “Can you imagine being the sole white bird in that sea of black?” Leif said.
    Delany shook her head. She wondered if the white raven even knew he or she was different.
    She hadn’t been sure how they were going to get back down in the dark, but Leif surprised her by having the chopper and an elaborate picnic dinner already up on the ridge when they arrived.
    That night as she lay in his arms on the blanket under a slate sky in a state of arousal after he’d left her breathless with his touch and kisses, she asked him what it was like to be a shifter. He told her how it felt to operate with heightened senses, what it was like to be part wild, to run through the woods and rangelands with his brothers, or alone, to know the scent of a single blade of grass.
    He also told her about his instincts and desires, and how deeply shifters loved. It seemed to Delany as though a bleakness passed over him when he spoke of love, but she couldn’t be sure.
    At her request, he stripped and shifted for her, becoming a stunning silvery wolf that sniffed the air and loped around her, his coat glowing in the moonlight. He approached almost warily and she buried her hands in his fur and smelled his wildness. Then suddenly he was a man again, a perfectly cut, naked man, who made her knees weak and her body tremble with desire. But true to his word, although he drove her mad with what he did with her body, he didn’t take it that one last step. Perhaps it was all part of his plan. He was going to make her want him so much that she’d beg to be his no questions asked.
    And it was working. She was falling for him… hard.
     
     
    On the way home from their third date, a day at the Marias River Rodeo, she asked about the women and the drinking, Leif said brusquely that there was nothing to tell. Although they’d enjoyed their time at the rodeo, Leif had seemed moodier, and more distant than he had on their previous dates. It was part of the reason she’d decided it was time to talk about his past. But now she realized that maybe it wasn’t the best timing.
    She turned to make a joke of it, to try to relieve the tension that had suddenly filled the cockpit of the helicopter, but Leif’s eyes were harder than she’d ever seen them, and a muscle pulsed in his cheek.
    “I just need to know. You say that isn’t who you are. And I believe you. But I need to understand why you did it,” she said. “It’s important, for us, if there’s going to be an us.”
    Leif was deathly quiet. “I can’t talk about it, Delany. Not now. Maybe not ever. Please don’t ask again,” he replied, his voice terse. Then he went silent for the remainder of the short flight while Delany sucked back tears.
    He dropped her at her car without ceremony, although he did place an absent kiss on her forehead. But then, instead of taking off in the helicopter as she drove away, she saw him shed his clothes, shift, and run off into the black night.
     
     
    On Wednesday, a beautiful bouquet of roses arrived at the veterinary clinic addressed to Delany.
    “Ooh, someone has an admirer,” Celeste cooed.
    Delany flushed and her heart fluttered as she opened the