“Oh, Mordecai. Always so brash with no patience.”
He stiffened. “You were always critical of me. I often wondered why you didn’t destroy me.”
Horror crossed her face. “Destroy you. Never.” The vehemence of her reply hit him hard. “I was never critical of you, my warrior. I see you as you are and know you have such potential for greatness inside you, but you lacked the self-assurance the others had, always feeling the need to have to prove yourself.”
She made him sound like a puny human child seeking his parent’s approval. “I don’t need to prove myself to anyone.”
She nodded her agreement. “No, you don’t.”
“You know why Hades sent me to you?”
“I do.”
“You know what I must do?”
She gifted him with a soft smile. “I know.” She walked toward him, totally fearless and held out her arms to him in total surrender.
Chapter Six
Sabrina forced her eyes open, fighting the darkness that threatened to claim her. Ignoring the throbbing in the back of her skull, she turned her head toward the wolf. He was spinning madly, head tipped back as he howled his displeasure.
What was happening?
The wolf was carved from wood. It wasn’t real. But there was no denying the growl that grew louder with each passing second.
It was making her dizzy to watch him so she closed her eyes and tried to figure out what she should do. Call animal control? They’d think she was out of her mind. Call her friends? She had no idea how dangerous the creature was.
She opened her eyes and made herself look again. What she was thinking was insane. An inanimate object didn’t come to life. That was impossible.
Yet the wolf was still in the corner, moving faster and faster. Suddenly, the creature sank down on his back haunches. Muscles straining, he launched himself into the air straight at her.
She thought she might have screamed, but she couldn’t be sure. There was no time. She thrust her arms out in front of her, but there was no stopping the wolf’s momentum as he flew through the air.
At the last possible second, the wolf twisted in midair, arching his spine as he hit the sofa a few feet away from her.
“Holy shit.”
The wolf scrambled to his feet, faced the now empty corner of the room and displayed his razor sharp fangs. She couldn’t blame him for being upset. She never wanted to go through anything like that ever again.
Her head was still whirling, making her stomach slightly unsettled, but the pounding in the back of her head was down to a dull roar. She didn’t think she had a concussion. At least she hoped she didn’t.
Now that the world had stopped spinning, she was faced with the reality of a massive wolf hunkered down a few feet away from her, watching her intently through eyes as black as midnight. He was much larger than any wolf species she’d ever heard of, and she’d studied them plenty during her teenage obsession with them. He resembled a gigantic timber wolf.
“Nice wolf.” She kept her voice pitched low, not wanting to startle him in any way. His paws were huge and the claws at the end of them were nothing to fool around with. He could kill her with one swipe.
The wolf moved slowly, as though he was trying not to spook her. Muscles flexed and rippled beneath his shiny coat of fur. Sabrina held her breath, hoping, praying he wouldn’t attack.
He climbed down off the sofa and began to explore his surroundings. Maybe he was hungry. Not that she had much to feed him. She didn’t think he’d particularly enjoy vanilla yogurt or peanut butter and crackers, which were her staples. The only meat she had on hand was some two-day-old sweet and sour chicken.
His toenails clicked on the hardwood planks as he wandered into the dining area. She sucked in a breath and slowly moved her hand toward her phone. She’d call Tilly. That woman knew everyone and could call in some men to help her contain the wolf until he could be released back into the wild.
Sensing her movement, the wolf spun around and growled. Her hand fell back to her side.
And common sense came to the fore. What exactly would she tell Mathilda? Oh, the wood carousel animal I bought from Jules came to life and is standing in my living room. Her friend wouldn’t contact animal control. She’d contact the psychiatric ward of the hospital and Sabrina wouldn’t blame her a bit.
She was beginning to wonder if she was losing her mind.
The wolf really was spectacular. Fierce and wild, he made her heart ache just looking at him.
His fur was a combination of black and gray, his eyes dark and fathomless. It was as though he could see into her very soul. She lost herself in those eyes for a few seconds before reluctantly shaking herself out from under his spell. And muscular, that was an understatement. The wolf had muscles on his muscles.
He padded toward her, his big paws making no sound. She held out her hand as fear skated through her. He hadn’t hurt her so far, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t.
Surprisingly, the creature stopped a few feet away from her. He kept his gaze locked on her and his body began to shimmer in front of her. Sabrina sat up straighter. What was happening?
Digging her fingers into one of the throw pillows on the sofa, she watched in awe and fear as the wolf began to change before her. Fur was absorbed into his body to reveal smooth, tanned flesh. Claws retracted and paws became hands and feet. The wolf stood upright, his snout shortening, his jaw retracting.
Sabrina shook her head in disbelief, ignoring the slight twinge of pain at the back of her skull. A man stood before her, naked and perfectly formed—washboard abs, well-defined pecs, thighs like tree trunks. A thatch of dark hair covered his chest and arrowed downward to his groin.
Her breathing was fast and shallow and she made herself take slower breaths. Last thing she wanted to do was hyperventilate. But it wasn’t easy. Sweat popped out on her back and forehead and her heart raced along at a speed much too fast for comfort. She rubbed her chest and tried to calm herself.
She swallowed past the lump in her throat as her gaze slid over his erection. The guy was hard and thick everywhere. His cock twitched under her perusal.
He gave a low growl and she jerked her eyes up to his face, ignoring the heat creeping up her cheeks. She couldn’t believe she was ogling the guy instead of offering him the soft cotton throw lying across the back of her sofa.
His face stopped her breath. She knew that face, the hard line of his powerful jaw, his thin lips, his straight nose and broad forehead. Crap, this was the guy from her daydream.
Maybe she’d hit her head harder than she’d thought. After all, a wolf had just shifted into a man in front of her. Maybe she’d connected the man and the wolf in her subconscious because of her daydream.
Or maybe she was still deep in a meditative state and had only dreamed the wolf was real and that she’d been thrown from his back. Maybe this was nothing more than a vision, one she was supposed to learn something from. That made perfect sense and allowed her to feel as though she wasn’t totally losing it.
“Okay, I can deal with this.” She really didn’t have much choice. Last night’s debacle with whatever evil was trying to invade her life had shown her that much. Hiding her head in the sand wouldn’t help. First thing she had to do was figure out what was real and what was nothing more than imagination or a vision.
“Who are you?”
He rubbed a hand over his chest and she bit her bottom lip to keep from groaning aloud. Really, it wasn’t fair of him to bring attention to all that prime male real estate he was showing off.
Sabrina ignored the heaviness invading her breasts, the way her nipples puckered and rubbed against the cups of her bra. And she really was trying not to notice how damp her panties were growing with each passing second.