Because there was no commitment. But there would be. He sifted his fingers through her silky hair and kissed her cheek. He thought she'd say something more about searching for the she-wolf, but she didn't say anything else. Instead, she gave a broken sigh and closed her eyes.
"Ahh, Cassie, you are a wonder." He rolled off her and pulled her gently into his arms, still concerned about her shoulder. Another couple of hours of rest would do her a world of good. And him, too. Until the matter of two red female wolves running loose in the wilderness could be settled.
When they woke, Leidolf tightened his hold on Cassie. The fire was still blazing in the fireplace and the cabin still toasty warm. He kissed her forehead and she sighed, a sexy, well-satisfied sigh. He let out his own breath, not liking the options that faced them.
"I'd search for the pair of wolves on my own, but I don't want to leave you here alone."
She didn't say anything, just toyed with his nipple, stirring his compulsion to want her again. It was midday, not the best time for him to be out in his wolf coat searching for the other wolves anyway. And if she wanted to play again...
She slipped her hands behind his head and looked into his eyes. This wasn't about sex, he figured. Something deeper. Another secret?
He ran his hands down her back in a gentle motion, hoping she'd tell him what was on her mind. Then she laid her head back down on his chest, and he feared she'd decided not to talk about whatever was bothering her. With his pack members, he often let them speak to him when they were ready. But with Cassie, he worried that whatever was eating at her would come between them and she would never divulge her secret.
"Cassie?"
Cassie knew she shouldn't reveal the truth to Leidolf, but she had no choice. If she was to leave this place to search for the wolf and her pups, she had to be honest, since her previous plan of trying to locate them after Leidolf left her alone didn't seem to be in the works. She was afraid he'd want her even more than he did now. She lifted her head again and gazed into his worried eyes.
"I can change into a wolf despite there being a new moon out."
He stared at her for a minute as if he was trying to determine whether she was being honest with him this time. "You're not newly turned." He didn't ask a question, but he sounded incredulous.
She shrugged. "I figured you already had guessed that."
He smiled broadly and ran his hands through her hair again and nuzzled his face against the strands. "Hell, you're a royal. That's another thing I like about you. You're almost as devious as I am when it suits me."
"You left me no choice."
"Good. I would have discovered the truth before long, make no mistake about it. So we change and run together as long as you can manage all right with that shoulder of yours."
Sooo arrogant. "With two of us as a target? Wouldn't it be better if we split forces?" Part of her thought it was the best idea, although she really wanted him with her this time. And that scared her. Was she already relying too much on him to be her champion?
"No. I'm not letting you out of my sight. Remember what happened the last time you were out here on your own? It won't be dark for a couple of hours. I'll catch us some fish, and we can cook it over the fire. When it gets dark, we'll search for the wolves."
Which should have been a good thing. The one wolf, yes, with her pups and all. But already, Cassie didn't like that he wanted to find the other wolf so bad. And here she'd never been jealous in her life.
"What about your men? Won't they come looking for us?" she asked, licking his nipple. She swore he groaned a little in response.
"Not anytime soon."
She frowned at him. "You wanted me alone."
"You're the one who ran off. Couldn't have had the royals in my pack shifting, then swimming across the river, and running through the woods after you."
She smiled coyly. "You wanted me alone."
He smiled back and cupped her ass with his large, capable hands. "Any reason would do. Stay here while I catch some fish."
"I need to wash up."
He touched the skin below her wound. "You need to rest a little more before you shift again. You'll be overexerting yourself as is. So after you wash up, I want you to come straight back here and rest further."
Then he kissed her long and deep and hard, his hands on her waist, his body pressed lightly against hers, touching, questing for release. "Let's go." Yet, it took him longer than necessary to release her, as if he was trying to think of a way of convincing her to give in to him now. To become his mate. Then he cast her a devious smile, kissed her forehead, and rose from their bed of pine needles to help her to stand.
But something had changed in their relationship, despite her thinking it wouldn't with a hot morning of sex, strictly a one-night-stand kind of affair. He looked at her more tenderly now as he pulled a couple of pine needles from her hair. As if she'd become his mate even though they hadn't mated. As if the pressure was off.
"Afraid the water will be too cold?" He motioned to an old metal bucket. "I could fill it with water and warm it over the stove and you could wash up that way."
"Or I could shift."
Before he could say another word, she shape-shifted. His mouth dropped a little in surprise. No way was she going to bathe in the melting snow run-off in her human form.
He shook his head and opened the door. "No fortitude at all."
She had fortitude but brains, too. She dashed for the swiftly flowing creek and bounded in, splashing water all about her and snapping at the droplets with her powerful jaws, unable to control that part of her that came so naturally to wolves--the urge to play when no threat of danger existed.
Leidolf laughed from the shoreline, and she turned to see him watching her, his arms folded across his naked chest, his eyes sparkling with delight.
In that instant, she wondered again if somehow they could compromise. She could become his mate and experience the best sex she'd ever had as long as he'd let her go to conduct her research unimpeded afterward.
Right. Once he mated her, he wouldn't allow her to leave him ever, just like he wouldn't let her out of his sight now, and they weren't even mated!
Leidolf watched the emotions play across Cassie's face as she stood as a wolf in the creek and wondered what they meant. She had an intense way of looking when she was thinking deeply, and he knew it had to be about the two of them. Was it his laughing at her while she played like she was a wolf pup on her first adventure that caught her attention?
He strode forth, the chilly breeze whipping across his heated skin. The woman would be the death of him if he couldn't mate her soon. He'd finally found his royal match, and yet that wasn't all that appealed to him. She could have been newly turned for all he cared.
All he knew was he wanted her like he'd wanted no other woman. His twin sister had been right. Lelandi had said someday he'd find the woman of his dreams and no other woman would do. Despite believing what she had said was utter nonsense, he could see now that Darien, the gray wolf she'd chosen for her mate, could have been her one and only choice.
He took a deep breath of the cold air.
Cassie was every bit of that to him. He wondered what Lelandi would say about it. His mother would be here in a heartbeat, welcoming Cassie to the family before the little red wolf even agreed to be his mate. His wheelchair-bound father would undoubtedly give him a stern look and command that he behave himself where Cassie was concerned or he'd lose her.
Leidolf shook his head. He didn't believe Cassie would want him to be any other way. The problem was more her past, how she'd been living as a loner for so long, certainly not anything to do with him not appealing to her.
He stalked into the creek headed straight for Cassie. For the moment, he planned to forget the fish. Her gaze remained locked on his, trying to figure him out, to determine what he was up to. He was ready to play with his little red wolf. That's what he was up to.