Like a Cat in Heat by Lilith T. Bell Page A

again. Close this time. Very close.
    And it didn't come from a wolf's throat.
    I picked my head up to look toward the window beside the door. The
snow had started to drift down slowly in big, fat flakes, but the
storm hadn't picked up much steam yet. On my back on the floor, I
couldn't see much more than the tree line and sky, so got up into a
crouch, then rose to my feet. As soon as I was standing, my eyes
locked with those of the man outside. He was walking up the narrow
drive to the cabin and currently alongside my car.
    His hair was golden brown and cut fairly short, but not quite short
enough to tame it entirely. It stuck up in damp spikes as though he'd
dragged his fingers through it to push away the snow. Worn jeans
hugged muscular thighs, but his upper body was difficult to judge. I
could see he was wearing a dark green t-shirt with an open flannel
shirt over it and then a brown leather bomber jacket over that. Slung
over one shoulder, he was carrying what looked like a duffel bag.
Despite the fact that he was dressed like someone who lived almost
entirely outdoors, his skin was unweathered. His face boyishly
handsome—in a dangerous sort of way—though I'd guess he
was around thirty. His lips looked full and soft, his nose finely
chiseled. His square jaw added age and power to his face, tapering to
a sculpted chin with an almost imperceptible dimple in it. From this
distance, only a cat's eyes could make out such a small detail. It
was his eyes that really caught me, though. They were large and
soulful, fringed by thick lashes a shade darker than his hair, with a
hunger in them that made me ache to satisfy it.
    They were also amber. An alpha wolf's eyes.
    I dropped down to a crouch again to break eye contact, my heart
thundering in my ears. Shit. That hadn't been a real wolf calling out
to his pack. It was a shifter warning me that I'd stumbled into his
territory.
    There was a knock at the door. Restrained. Polite. The feline in me
wanted to dash out a window and escape, but then I'd be outside
during the storm and naked when I finally shifted back. There would
be nothing stopping him from hunting me down either.
    So I forced myself to get to my feet and pull open the door. The wolf
stood there with a cocky grin that begged to be slapped off his face.
The casual arrogance that surrounded him like an aura was far more
offensive than bared teeth and snarls. All I had to do was look at
him and see he didn't consider me a real threat.
    The scent of him was muted because of the cold, but that didn't mask
it entirely. The stench of dog should have disgusted me, but at the
moment all that mattered was the male musk that made me weak in the
knees. One of my hands curled around the edge of the door to give me
something to grip. My nails bit into the wood as I leaned into it.
    “ I'm not hunting on your
territory. I just needed somewhere to stay.” My words were said
low and fast, gritted out through clenched teeth.
    “ I don't think that's all you
need, sweetheart.” His voice was deep and there was a faint
drawl to it that seemed out of place in Oregon. If the wolves were
only just coming back to the area, though, who knew where they might
be coming from? The look he was giving me made it clear that his nose
had picked up my “need.”
    “ Fuck off.”
    I didn't care if it was his territory any longer. I flung the door to
slam it shut. Instead of hearing the satisfying crack of wood
striking wood, there was only a muffled thump. He'd stuck his hand in
to catch the door and pushed it back open again before stepping
inside, as casually as if he lived there. I took a step back from
him, hissing a warning.
    “ Easy, kitten. I picked up
your scent back at the grocery store.”
    He shut the door behind him and set down the duffel bag before he
continued walking toward me. For every step forward he took, I was
taking another one backwards. He had shown no inclination toward
violence, so I wasn't worried about that. What did