Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
“How do you do that?”
He had to remember to hide his strength from her. He was getting too sloppy.
“Years of chopping wood.”
He carried her back to the house. Before he went to bed, he’d put out the fire and make sure it wasn’t smoldering. Tonight, he’d also check on those trespassers. He’d heard their UTV miles away earlier, so they’d gotten it working. Nobody came out this far, and having those murderers so close to home didn’t sit well with him.
“I want to know more about you growing up in the wilderness,” she said. “I have so many questions.”
“Later, Poppy.”
She made cute sounds of protest, but he ignored them.
Once back in the house, he set her down to her feet. She draped the blanket back on the sofa and undid her sweater.
“Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“Today.”
He sat down on the sofa. “You had a good day?”
“It was perfect. Well, except for the bear and coyotes.” She straddled his lap and he held her waist. She ran her fingertips over his stubble.
“They didn’t hurt you.”
“Still. It was scary. One day I might not be so lucky.”
He groaned as she wiggled her hips over his cock slightly.
“You don’t need luck.”
“No?”
“Not while you’re with me.”
She searched his face. “How can you say that like it’s a fact?”
He hesitated for too long, always working to keep his secret. It was getting harder each day.
“I know these woods, and the animals. If anyone can keep you safe out here, it’s me.”
He didn’t tell her he was king of this ancient shifter forest. Predators cowered in fear when his bear was nearby. The forest animals knew the difference between a hunter and a killer. There was a system of respect and hierarchy that had been in place since he could remember. Poppy didn’t realize that the safest place in the forest was by his side. He could protect her from any threat.
Except his parents weren’t a match for the human weapons.
His hate for man bubbled up, but it faded away again when he looked in her eyes.
She was nothing like them. And he’d stop at nothing to protect his little human mate.
Chapter Ten
Everything was perfect.
Poppy couldn’t have asked for a better experience. She felt absolutely blissful. Wilder was amazing, and there were times she could even forget why they’d been brought together. It was like the poachers who were intent to kill her were part of a whole other life. A life she didn’t need to think about or acknowledge.
She didn’t want to remember her lonely old apartment where she was always alone. The constant hustle and bustle of the city. The need to make money. Working. She loved living off the land, being with Wilder, filling her days with everything he’d made of his life. It was perfection.
She felt at peace. For a long time, she didn’t think she was ever going to feel at peace, and yet here she did. If only that little nagging suspicion would leave well enough alone. She didn’t want to think about what it meant. She didn’t want to think why the animals listened to Wilder, nor the fact he seemed to hear things that were not there.
Over the last few days, she’d noticed little oddities about his behavior. Moments certain wildlife would come close to him, and he’d twitch his head toward the sound, but then he’d give a shake and pretend it was some kind of bug that whizzed past his ear. Even when wasps got close, he didn’t flinch, and in fact, wasps stayed away from him as well. She couldn’t forget the bees either.
Each time he brought back more honey, there was not a single sting on him. There were times he left and told her to wait inside, and she would listen. The last thing she wanted to do was annoy him or to run the risk of getting hurt.
Wilder protected her.
Yet, there was still that niggling doubt, and then the other night with the damn coyotes. They were dangerous and it wasn’t like anyone told a story of coyotes being friendly. They hunted as a damn pack. They didn’t leave humans alone just to share their heat. It was a kill-or-be-killed world, yet they didn’t attack Wilder. They did look at her as if she could be the potential next meal, but then they took the warmth of the fire and in the next breath were gone. She tried not to think about what that meant, but it sucked.
There was something about Wilder she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Like that giant bear, the one that had gotten her into all this trouble in the first place, as she was determined to capture a single image of it. Wilder being so confident it wasn’t going to hurt her, but he wasn’t even there to see it. He wouldn’t tell her where he had wandered off to.