Ash Ch. 07

The intruder leapt to his feet, took Ash's bag from his hand and stood waiting for instruction.

"You must be pretty damn pleased with yourself."

"Ash I..."

"Save it." He growled. "I've done enough listening to you."

"Love you." Linda whispered to the empty room.

Hunter and Sheila had let her stay on in the cabin. A lone female was no threat to their mini pack and Linda couldn't bear to go back to the city where she might have to bump shoulders with Ash's disdain now that he ruled there. He would be good at it, she knew that, and despite all his terseness he actually preferred company to solitude. It would be good for him to have an entire pack to mingle with.

She tried not to cry over his parting. It was her own damn fault anyway. She had known long before he had walked out exactly where it would all end. Here. Alone. A whole extended lifetime of emptiness seeming even longer in her self imposed solitary confinement. It made her laugh bitterly; she'd been solitary since her parents died when she was eighteen but this was the first time she had ever truly felt lonely. Maybe you had to feel a part something to know what you were missing, she mused miserably.

So she took some time for herself. Unable to face the city and her role there Linda threw herself into the minimalism of her new existence while trying to decide what to do with the rest of her life. She took walks, foraged for food both as a human and a wolf, she even made jam out of the berries she found.

The full moon usually brought with it the excitement of the change; unlike Ash she enjoyed her wolfdom. Maybe being female it made her feel stronger, faster, gave her an edge so that she didn't need to feel so afraid anymore. Linda walked back to the cabin naked and dirty. For all the heartache she felt better, calmer now that her change had passed, her stomach was full from the summer gorged rabbits she had found and a month of activity trekking the forest had toned her city slack body.

"About time."

Linda stopped in her tracks, the sun was rising behind the cabin and whoever sat on the steps was haloed in silver light like they were a visiting angel. She held her hand up to her brow and squinted into the light. Ash. For the first time since he'd left she felt truly aware of her nakedness, of her twig strewn unbrushed hair and dirt-streaked skin. He wore jeans with a shirt and boots; the summer had lightened his sand coloured hair and deepened his tan. She didn't appreciate him looking his best when she was most probably at her worst.

Realism tamped down the rush of excitement that quickened her pulse and made her stomach trip in circles at his appearance. She wanted to ask why he was here but fear held her tongue. Did he want revenge for her keeping him from his place amidst his new pack? Had he come to warn her not to return to the city?

"Forget something?" She said eventually once her mind had finished trawling through the many reasons he might be sat on her doorstep.

Ash waited until Linda was within reach. She looked beautiful, so much so that his tongue-tied itself in knots trying to work out how to tell her without the words sounding stupid. The sun spotlighted her dark red hair, making it look the colour of cherries in the shaft of piercing morning light. Her full breasts swayed as she walked, the cool air puckering her nipples to show them off to perfection. He frowned as his gaze drifted lower, she'd lost weight, he appreciated the long lean lines of her muscles as she moved but he could see her too much definition around her ribs making her look more ethereal than the woman he remembered. The woman who visited his dreams, tormented him with her laughter and teasing smile, was robust, unbreakable, the Linda before him looked somehow diminished. He had to swallow the lump in his throat and his spit seemed to scratch all the way down. He'd done that to her.

"You." He said more firmly than he felt.

She didn't say anything. After an age he raised his eyes to hers, fear was a solid mass in his stomach. Had he left it too late? He'd been angry when he walked out, thinking that the week in the cabin had been a charade, a play acted out to cruelly taunt him with what he couldn't have. It had taken two solid weeks of cursing and snarling to accept the possibility that he'd been wrong. He'd seen her role play personas and she wasn't that great an actress. Was she? He couldn't breathe when he watched her shoulders sagged in resignation.

"Gotta keep up appearances now you're a big shot huh?" She spoke without bitterness.

As she drew level with him she tipped her head to one side, exposing her jugular. In wolf terms it was an act of submission to offer access to such a weak spot, though her tone was absent of defiance she made the gesture appear as a challenge. Solemnly he got to his feet and pressed his face to that spot, their week of lust and discovery flickered in grainy images through his head at the scent of her body filled his nose. He ran his tongue along that tender column of flesh.

Linda jerked back from him in surprise. "I thought you were here to kill me." Her eyes gazed at him blank and unfocused.

"Two weeks ago I might have." He smiled at having caught her out.

"And now?"

He took a step towards her, leaning in close to her neck once more. "Do you have any idea how good you smell?"

"Must be the rabbit." She breathed.

For all her bravado she was scared, seemingly more so now than when she thought he was going to kill her. It added a layer of confidence to Ash's swagger; he set his hands onto her hips, his fingers digging into the rounded swell possessively. He frowned once more at how much weight she'd lost.

"I've come to take you back with me."

"As your whore?"

It was Ash's turn to step back in surprise. He studied her hard-faced wariness and could have kicked himself for not returning sooner.

"As my mate." He said sharply. "My equal, my partner... my wife."

"Your what?"

Ash winced at the shriek she gave, it was sharp toned and laced with threat. He had to think quickly as to what he had said to swing her from suspicious to furious faster than a sports car through a speed camera.

"Wife?" He asked cautiously.

Linda jabbed him in the stomach with a deadly sharp fingernail. He jumped back, unsure and confused by her reaction.

"You walk out on me, leave me thinking you weren't coming back and then you turn up to propose to me when I look like this!"

She was still bearing down on him, five foot two of blind fury. Ash backed up another two steps. His ankle hit the bottom step of the cabin stairs and he overbalanced, landing heavily on his backside.

"You look great, a bit skinny but otherwise gorgeous." He assured, talking so fast his mouth nearly tripped over his words.

"Great! I look like a fucking cavewoman." She screeched. "The happiest day of my life and I look like I've been living with pigs."

"Hap..." Ash looked up at her, she was wiping away two fat tears from her eyes, smearing them amongst the dirt on her cheeks. "Was that a yes?"

She sniffed wetly and nodded miserably.

"Okay, then we'll take a shower and I'll ask you all over again." He tugged her down to his lap in such a way that she straddled his hips.

"I'm all smelly." She mumbled sulkily.

Ash grinned; his life was about to get real interesting, real fast. Unable to resist he took one full breast into his mouth, as he suckled, stretching her nipple to its fullest length, he tasted soil and sweat and... blood?

"Honey, you taste fantastic." He grinned around her flesh.

Linda rocked against the growing bulge in his jeans. "I'll wear Eau de Bugs Bunny just for you from here on."

Ash slipped two fingers inside her pussy; it was as wet and welcoming as it had always been. Grinning he took his slick fingers and dabbed them behind each of her ears.

"Now that's even better."