Chapter 10: Treed Like a Coon

CLARA

Silence fell over my little clearing.

I sat down on the branch I occupied, trying to tune into the hum of voices in the back of my head and staring out across the meadow.

I could still hear the sounds of fighting all around me and wondered what was worse: the danger Grant had put me in with his fists, or the danger Elias put me in, dragging me into the woods where he ~knew~ there were wolves fighting and a possible serial killer.

Moral of the story? My taste in men is a zero out of ten.

The howling and whining got farther and farther away until it stopped entirely.

I was just starting to wonder if I should climb down and attempt to find my way out of the woods when I heard more crashing approaching.

I pressed myself against the trunk of the tree in hopes that if the sounds were accompanying a victorious black wolf, it wouldn’t find me up here.

But instead, a limping Elias appeared in the moonlight.

Let me tell you, I was both relieved and impressed to see him stumbling back in like he’d simply been in a disagreement with a feral cat.

“Didja win?” I called down, the relief turning into bravado.

“Well, I’m back, and the were—er, rabid wolf isn’t,” Elias replied, wiping a thick strand of saliva from his shoulder and shaking it into the brush. “So I’d count that as winning.”

His voice was almost bored, and his face betrayed no emotion, but I could sense he was pleased with himself.

“I guess I don’t need to be up here anymore, huh?” I asked.

When he nodded, I breathed a sigh of relief—only for my heart to start racing again at the prospect of doing the scariest part of climbing trees: getting back ~down.~

My limbs felt like overcooked noodles as I lowered myself from branch to branch, attempting not to look at the ground. When I reached the lowest branch, I was still a good seven feet off the ground.

Elias must have seen the concern on my face because he stood directly below me and held out his arms.

I felt a little bit like a cat stuck in a tree, but there was also something seriously sexy about the shirtless, muscled Elias holding up both arms toward me with the unspoken promise that he would catch me if I’d simply jump.

And so…I jumped. Well, more I scooted to the edge of the branch and let my butt slip off, but same difference.

The momentary free fall made my stomach flip, but it only lasted half a second. Elias’s strong hands caught me and slowed my momentum so my feet met the forest floor as softly as a butterfly landing on a flower.

With my feet safely on the ground, I was able to worry about other things.

Like what the hell that thing had been.

And why Elias had changed his sentence mid-word.

I squinted at him suspiciously and looked him over, finding lots of blood, but no real wounds. At least, until I peeked through the new rip in the knee of his jeans.

“You’re injured,” I said, pointing to the tear.

He lifted the pant leg and, to my amazement, what had obviously been a large slash was already pink with new flesh.

“Super speed—and super healing?” I said incredulously, waving my hand vaguely in the direction of his knee.

“It was an old wound,” he insisted, lowering his pant leg. “You couldn’t see it before.”

I squinted even harder, and Elias just stared at me with a deadpan expression.

“But it lines up perfectly with the new rip in your pants,” I argued.

“Just a coincidence.”

“But you’re limping!”

“Twisted my ankle.”

I growled with frustration. I didn’t believe a word he was saying, but I also had no way to prove he was lying.

“Okay, well, I guess you get away with that one. But what was that thing? It was way too big to just be a wolf.”

“The wolves here are big. So don’t come into the forest without me, especially after dark.”

Elias listened to the silence of the forest for a few moments, then nodded.

“Let’s go. The packs are far enough away that we shouldn’t have any issues getting back to my land. But don’t stray too far from me.”

It was the non-answer-est non-answer ever, but what could I do?

“Well, you’re the one who brought me out here in the first place,” I retorted.

I stood as close to him as I dared, without touching his bare chest or back, but he didn’t let me get away with that. He shifted his torso and grabbed my hand. His palm felt extra hot as it enclosed my fingers.

With me firmly in his grip, Elias began weaving through the trees and undergrowth as easily as if we were crossing an open field in midday.

Which we definitely weren’t.

Darkness had completely fallen on us, and I could barely see the next step ahead before taking it. I was grateful that he had insisted on holding my hand, and not for any romantic reason—I one hundred percent would lose him in the dark if I wasn’t literally attached to him.

I honestly have no idea how long it took to get out of the forest, but by the time we did, I was hungry, sweaty, and in desperate need of a shower.

All I wanted to do was find something to eat and get home. No idea what I’d find that wouldn’t take too much of the twenty dollars I had earmarked for food until payday, but I’d figure it out.

Elias had other plans, apparently. He didn’t let go of my hand until I was back inside his cabin.

“Sit down,” he demanded. “I’ll make tea.”

His tone left no room for argument. It almost felt as if he had some sort of magical authority over me.

I sat in my now-familiar chair, and as the adrenaline faded away, I started to realize exactly how cold I was.

The arrival of a cup of hot tea carried by a hot man was most welcome.

“Thanks,” I murmured.

As I held the teacup in both hands, the heat soaked into my fingers and caused my chest to shudder. This time he’d served chai, strong and spicy with cream and sugar.

One sip and I was in love. I could feel the hot liquid traveling all the way down my throat and into my stomach, spreading a gentle warmth through my entire body.

“Cinnamon, ginger, and clove boost your immune system,” Elias called from the kitchen, where he was rummaging around in the fridge. “Drink all of it.”

“Yessir,” I replied without thinking.

Not that I needed any orders to finish it—but I drank it as fast as possible so I could get home. The howling wolves echoed in my brain like a ghost telling me to “get out.”

Halfway through my drink, I started smelling garlic and hearing a sizzle in the other room. The sound of the microwave and boiling water soon joined the symphony.

My stomach growled loudly, and I couldn’t help but think how rude it was that Elias was cooking his dinner before he’d even sent me on my way.

He could at least have waited until I was in the car!

I had just finished the last sip of tea and stood to put my shoes back on when Elias stepped out of the kitchen carrying two plates.

“You’re not leaving yet. I made dinner.”

He gestured with the plates and joined me at the table.

My eyes grew wide, and my stomach went wild when I saw the fat, juicy steak, baked potato with sour cream, cheese, and bacon, and steamed broccoli.

“I didn’t realize you were cooking for both of us,” I admitted, attempting not to drool all over the plate he set in front of me with a flourish.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a home-cooked meal, much less one as fancy as this!

“I was planning to get out of the woods before dark. You didn’t have to make me dinner, you know.”

Elias shrugged and began cutting into his steak. “You were hungry. I provided food. That’s my job.”

That was a weird thing to say, and I knew it. But I couldn’t have cared less, because watching the juices drip from his steak as he lifted the first bite from the plate nearly did me in.

“Well, thank you,” I said, picking up the knife he’d balanced on the edge of the plate.

One pass of the knife and I knew this wasn’t just steak. This was ~expensive~ steak. The kind people pay eighty dollars a plate for at those steakhouses that were far too rich for my blood.

It was charred on the outside and warm, pink, and juicy on the inside. And it was so tender I probably could have cut it with a spoon if I had tried.

Let me tell you, the things that happened when that first bite passed my lips I will never admit. I was ready to jump on the table and propose marriage to this man if he was willing to keep feeding me like this.

Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration. But it really did take all my willpower not to snarf that steak down like a starving, feral dog.

And the whole time I could feel Elias’s eyes on me, warm and strangely soft.

“Your ex-husband didn’t feed you like this, did he?” he asked, breaking our silence and startling me out of my food-induced orgasmic experience.

I nearly choked on a bite of steak but managed to swallow instead while wondering what had made him ask such a thing.

“No. He didn’t,” I replied, not entirely sure why. It was none of his business, but somehow I wasn’t offended. “How did you know?”

He finished his last bite, looking a little subdued. “It was just a feeling.”

I was well aware it wasn’t just a feeling, for the record. But I didn’t call him out.

Call it trauma bonding or whatever you want, but I was starting to trust Elias. Perhaps even starting to upgrade from crush to super crush.

Yes, he’d dragged me out with the wolves, but I doubted he had intended for us to be out after dark. And the way he’d stood between me and that rabid monster of a wolf? Well, consider me soaked.

When my plate stood empty and my stomach felt pleasantly full, I glanced at my watch and groaned. So much for getting out of here before the wolves came out…

Dread pooled low in my stomach. I didn’t want to go through another attack like the last one…or the one before that.

Even if Elias had said the black wolf wouldn’t be back, I could see the blood dripping from its muzzle, the weight of it slamming against my shitbox car, and the impossible strength behind every blow.

Just the thought of another encounter like that made my blood run cold. But I didn’t have a choice.

I had to get back out there.