Free Savage Satisfaction by Lila Dubois Page B

what the term meant, of course, but not what rights or powers it carried
with it.
    William had been intently watching the bushes, walking in a
slow circle around the tree so he wouldn’t miss any angle. It had been nearly
five minutes since Christoffer changed.
    Had it all been an elaborate ruse? Was the boy gone, never
to be heard from again? The very idea brought bile to William’s throat. He’d
been wrong, painfully so, about the falcon, who’d fooled him with her demure
demeanor and beauty. Had the wolf’s obedience, teasing and conversation been a
ploy to get William to release him?
    The howl that erupted startled William so badly he nearly
fell out of the tree.
    “Bloody fucking hell,” he said, heart racing.
    Christoffer emerged from the undergrowth exactly where
William had been looking. The wolf lifted its nose and made a huffing noise.
Was he laughing?
    “How did you do that?” William demanded. In response the
wolf darted into the forest.
    After a few more heart-attack-inducing surprises, William
learned to spot the clues—a leaf that shook, a chattering squirrel—and caught
Christoffer twice.
    “Bang!” he yelled, childlike in his enthusiasm. The wolf,
head low in shame, crept from the bushes. “Haha!” William yelled. The adrenaline
of their game made him feel light and powerful.
    The wolf lifted his nose. His jaws parted and his tongue
lolled out, nearly doglike. There was human intelligence in his eyes, and
William fancied that Christoffer was enjoying himself too.
    The wolf jerked his head toward the forest. William raised
his brows. Christoffer repeated the action.
    “Well, Lassie?” he asked, exasperated. Christoffer growled.
He jerked his head toward the forest, ran a few steps, then came back and
looked at William expectantly.
    “You want to show me something?”
    The wolf shook his head.
    “You want me to follow you?”
    He nodded.
    William climbed down the tree, dropping the last meter. He
wasn’t afraid, though he wondered whether maybe he should have been.
    Christoffer nudged him forward, then took the lead. They
started off walking. William would have sworn there was no path through this
part of the forest, but the route they took was clear.
    The wolf kept looking back at William, who raised his brows
in question. Christoffer picked up the pace in response—trotting along on
silent paws. William matched his pace, jogging gently behind him.
    The pace quickened, and then again, until they were tearing
through the forest. Christoffer brought them to an open space where they could
run side by side.
    Air whipped past William’s face, filling his head with the
scents of the forest. The sunlight beat down on him. His legs pumped, arms
swung and chest heaved as he pushed himself to run, run.
    The wolf, his wolf was there at his side—partner,
protector. He could imagine he was a wolf too, running arrogantly, happily
through a world that was his for the taking.
    William had never felt so alive.
    A fox dashed across their path but they ignored it. Now was
not the hunt, now was the time to run.
    William threw back his head and let out a great shout of
triumph. This was his forest. Beside him the wolf howled. The forest quaked in
fear.
    They reached the far side of the clearing and had to slow.
William was near the end of his endurance and he paused to catch his breath. He
regretted he did not have the strength to run like that forever.
    The wolf disappeared only to reappear as a naked man.
    There was wildness in Christoffer’s eyes, and William
wondered if that’s what he looked like—raw and natural.
    Christoffer wrapped his arms around William, bringing them
chest to chest, groin to groin, and kissed him.
    * * * * *
    It was glorious to run with his Alpha. The pleasure of being
in the forest, the silliness of their game, had lightened Christoffer’s heavy
heart. There was nothing—not even sex—better than a beautiful forest on a sunny
day. He’d watched William up in that tree and