After a brief search, they found her backpack, and she smiled to see his clothes wadded inside, too. "Looks like you planned on making a permanent residence with me a long time ago."

"Yep, suitcase, backpack, home, even zoo pen, any variation." He gave her a quick smile and she returned it.

When they finally reached the lake, he dropped the camping gear, pulled her back against his chest, wrapped his arms securely around her, and stared at the vista of Mount Hood in the distance. "When I was here last, I had wanted to change into the wolf and run all the way to Mount Hood, just for the fun of it."

"But you didn't."

"I got distracted."

She smiled. "I was searching for the red wolf and then found this naked hunk standing in the lake. Totally distracted me from my mission, too."

"But in a good way. I only wished I'd distracted you enough that you wouldn't have left. Want to swim?"

"In that cold stuff? As a human?" She shook her head.

"Want to fish?"

"I envisioned something a little more... intimate."

"In the woods?" He rubbed her arms. "Or here, by the lake?"

She pulled free, grabbed the sleeping bag, and headed for the woods. "Intimate." She smiled back at Leidolf. "Out here by the lake is more... exhibitionistic."

"It's nature, as natural as being here with only wild animals as our witnesses." He pulled the sleeping bag from her grasp and slid his arm around her shoulders. "You have to experiment a little."

"I've never had sex with a man in a shower open to the whole wide world."

He smiled. "See what a little experimenting can do?" He dropped the sleeping bag on the ground, but when she crouched down to roll it out, he crouched behind her, knees spread, caging her backside with his body, his ramrod-stiff penis pressed against her.

She looked back and smiled up at him. "Did you not want to use the sleeping bag?"

He reached in front of her and began to unbutton her shirt. "Whatever you want, Cassie." She could tell by the tone of his voice, thick with desire, he was ready to take her in the ferns, the sleeping bag be damned.

And she loved him for it, for wanting her with such passion that he couldn't control his needs, for wanting only her and no other. "Hmm, well, I'll just roll the sleeping bag out then."

No sense in having to lie on damp earth. But his fingers were stripping away her shirt, and then they were reaching around to cop a feel of her breasts still confined in the tank top and bra. The way he pressed his package against her ass, showing her just how much he wanted her and now, really got her attention. Well, his fingers stroking her nipples through the cotton fabric of her shirt and lace bra did, too.

She was already wet with need, the ache building between her legs, her knees spread as she tried to maintain her balance while she attempted to unroll the bag. Even dressed, she still felt exposed and sexy and wild.

Somehow, he managed to slip her tank top over her head and then he lifted her bra, not bothering to unfasten it. He just pulled it up, freeing her breasts, and slid the lacy bra farther until he'd pulled it over her head, too, and dropped it on the ferns beside them.

"Hmm," she said, ready to forget the sleeping bag, strip off her shorts, and flop on her back, opening herself up to the sexy sea god.

Leidolf's heavy breathing caressed her neck as his thumbs stroked her nipples, making them peak with his tantalizing touch. She was frozen in time and place, unable to move as she felt him stir against her butt.

"Hmm, Cassie, you would make me give up the world just to have you with me always."

She stiffened a little at his words but then sighed. She wasn't going to change him overnight about this issue. Let him get used to the fact she had to leave him sometimes to do work. Lifting her butt slightly, she rubbed against his crotch.

He groaned out loud. "Hell, woman, I'm trying to go slower this time."

She chuckled darkly, loving how she could manipulate the poor wolf into having to take her faster and not torture her to death with his slow, seductive strokes. And that was all it took.

Quickly, he lifted her and laid her out on the sleeping bag as if preparing for the final assault. And she was ready.

She lay on her back on the comfy, soft sleeping bag, tugged at her hiking-boot laces, and tossed the boots aside. She reached down to unfasten her shorts zipper while one big, bad wolf tore off his own clothes, his lustful gaze latched onto hers. Before she could wriggle out of her shorts, his large hands were skimming them down her legs and tossing them aside.

He pushed her knees open, gave her one of his more roguish grins, and knelt before her. She grabbed his hand and pulled him against her needy body, loved the feel of his hardness, his warmth, as the cool breeze circulated around them.

His mouth was fully on hers, his tongue plunging between her parted lips, his hands on her breasts, fondling and caressing her into submission. She combed her fingers through his hair, teased his tongue with hers, and grinned when he did.

"My sister said she knew when I allowed Elgin to drive me to Mount Hood National Forest that it had to have been over a woman. Not over any woman, but the one who had captured my heart." He ran his fingers through her hair and looked at her with such longing that she knew he loved her without even saying so.

"She knew I had to be in a bad way, injured, medicated, to allow Elgin to drive and still be insistent about returning to the forest in my condition." He kissed Cassie's lips gently now, not so rushed, his package pressed against her mound, stirring with need. "I always wanted what other men had found in a woman, admired them for winning their heart's desire, and now..." He sighed deeply. "Cassie, you're it. The one who makes me whole."

She didn't. Not really. Not if he still felt he had to fight two wolves tonight. That's when it really hit her. He said he was doing it for himself, but he wasn't. He was doing it to avenge her family. To settle a score with Alfred and his henchmen. To make things right with Cassie. He was doing it for everyone else. Always taking care of the pack, of her. Maybe deep down he had to settle his own need to be top wolf, but she figured his other needs always would take priority over his own.

She tugged on his hair and smiled. "You really are a big, bad wolf. And all mine."

He grinned again, and she wasn't sure if he liked being her sea god or her big, bad wolf more. She seemed to have lit his fire again, and driven, he reached between them and began stroking her already primed nub, until all she could concentrate on was the way her heart beat hard and his did, too, the way they barely breathed as she stroked his skin, slipping her hands lower, until she could feel his tensed buttocks, the way he eagerly licked her nipples, the breeze caressing the wet tips... oh, sweet eroticism.

"Here, let me," she said, wanting to do the same to him, her tongue tickling his nipples, wetting them, the cool air sweeping across them, a wicked grin stretching across his face.

And then his fingers stroked her nub faster, as if the poor man could take no more, and she arched under his ministrations, forgetting all but the pleasure of his touch. The slip of a moon was in reach, so close, so very, very close that she felt she could touch it with her fingertips, when the tidal wave hit her, propelled by the moon and the wolf, filling her with luscious tremors of climax. But before she could sink into exhaustion, he filled her with his thick shaft, thrusting deeply.

Their kisses renewed, she probed his mouth and then sucked on his tongue, making him moan low. So now who was the big, bad wolf?

And then he came, her actions making him capitulate so much faster. She loved making him lose control. Showing him who really was in charge when it mattered.

The warm seed filled her inside, carried by the wave of climax still trembling through her. He sank against her, spent, satiated, totally satisfied. He rolled onto his back into the ferns and dragged her with him. She cuddled against his body, pulling the sleeping bag over to cover them. On the spring day drifting toward night, they slept, a man and a woman, two wolves mated for life, enjoying the beauty of nature.

Except that the threat of the fight later that night still loomed.

* * *

When Leidolf managed to open his eyes much later, he yawned and stroked Cassie's silky back. He imagined she'd want to swim as a wolf to clean up, and that was the best way for them to fish. Getting in some wolf play at the same time appealed.

What he didn't want to think about right now was returning to the ranch and dealing with Irving and Tynan. But the time was coming, and if he wanted to spend more time with Cassie, he needed to get the ball rolling.

"Cassie?"

"Hmm," she said, and swept her fingers down his waist.

"Hungry?"

"Hmm-hmm. Go fetch us some fish."

He chuckled. "You catch bigger ones than I do."

She groaned and pushed the hair out of her face. "You're only saying that because you want me to work also."

"As wolves, right?"

"You're not getting me in that water unless I'm in my fur coat." She slid off him and smiled.

God, she was beautiful. He rose to his feet and kissed her lips. "I thought we could play a bit as wolves, but if you'd rather do something else..."

She chuckled. "I'd never get fed at that rate." She pulled away and stretched her arms over her head, and before he could blink twice, she was a wolf, racing off to the lake.

He soon followed, figuring to skip dinner. He was ready to play first. They splashed through the water, nipping at the spray, chasing each other back and forth until Cassie suddenly stopped and stared at the woods.

Her hackles instantly raised. Leidolf jerked around to see what concerned her, expecting the bear with cubs or another cougar. He never expected to see the wolves, one red and one black, loping toward them, their eyes hard, their ears slightly flattened.

Irving and Tynan. How in the hell had they gotten loose? That meant someone was either dead or injured back at the ranch.

Chapter 28

Irving was the leader where Tynan was concerned, so Leidolf leapt at him out of the lake, no running, no hesitation, no warning. With two of them to face, he couldn't allow either of them to get the best of him and kill Cassie.