17. Juniper
JUNIPER
“How’s that feel?” Levi whispered.
I let out a sigh as his thumbs kneaded my shoulders. I’d come over after dinner for another lesson on foreplay and seduction. To keep from getting the inquisitive looks from the other members of the pack, I’d gone to eat as early as possible before hurrying to Levi’s cabin.
Even with my insecurities from the night before, I was excited and eager to do more. After a glass of wine, he’d sat me down in front of the fireplace and started massaging my shoulders. I enjoyed the feel of his hands and tried to memorize all the movements and pressure points he was using.
“It feels wonderful,” I said.
“Sometimes, you can turn someone on without touching any of the more intimate areas,” Levi said, his voice low and husky as his fingers glided down my shoulders to my biceps.
Pleasant chills crept up my back, and I took his words to heart, but I really, really wanted his fingers on my intimate areas. I wanted him to pinch my nipple, wanted his tongue between my legs. I desperately wanted a replay of the night before, but I was too nervous to ask outright.
“Do you want another drink?” Levi asked.
“Uh, sure,” I said, stifling a groan of disappointment as his hands left my body.
He stood and went to the kitchen. The cabin was nice and toasty, and I was wearing the tank top I’d had on the day I ventured out, grateful I’d take the time to use the village laundry.
The cabins were too small to hold a washer and dryer, so a makeshift laundromat with three washer and dryers had been set up.
Those who didn’t want to wait washed everything the old-fashioned way, with a washboard and drying lines.
Thankfully, I’d managed to slip in early that morning to wash all my clothes before breakfast, including the new items Linnea had given me.
While Levi poured more wine, I stood and looked around his cabin, really taking it in for the first time.
It was fairly austere, and what I’d expect from a bachelor, who spent more time as a wolf than a man, but there were still a few things that piqued my interest. There were several framed sketches and paintings on the wall, all of them breathtaking in detail.
“Did you draw all these?” I asked, turning a curious and surprised glance at Levi.
“I did,” he said. “It’s one of the few things I truly enjoy. A hundred years of practice makes things a little easier to master.”
“Can I look a little closer at them? Is that okay?”
“Sure,” he said with a shrug.
I moved down the small hall that separated his living area and kitchen from his bedroom and bathroom. Pictures lined the hall; a landscape of a nearby mountain range, a still life of a dinner table, and at the very end of the hallway, a larger painting, a woman.
She was beautiful. Dark hair spilled down her back, and her bright blue eyes were filled with energy and understanding as if she were truly alive rather than a painting. Something about her drew me in. I’d never seen this woman before, but something about her tugged at me.
“Who is this?” I called.
There was a pause followed by Levi’s hurried footsteps, coming down the hallway. He shook his head and took the painting off the wall.
“Nothing,” he said. “Just a little experiment I was doing. Working on my shadowing and dimension. That’s all.”
He carried the painting into his bedroom and tucked it into the closet.
He was handling it so delicately, it had to be more than a simple experimental work.
The woman in the painting was clearly someone who meant a lot to him.
I wanted to ask more, but something told me not to.
If Levi had wanted to talk about it, he would have.
“How about I draw you?” he said once he closed the closet door.
“Excuse me?” I said, surprised and somewhat flattered. He was an exquisite artist, and the thought of someone of his talent drawing me was a little nerve-racking. It also helped pull my attention from the painting I’d seen.
Smiling, he led me to the couch. “Sit here. Let me get my supplies.”
I sat as he went to the kitchen and took a large sketch pad and charcoal pencils out of a drawer.
He took a seat in the armchair across from me.
I chewed at my lower lip, an idea forming in my head.
I was here to learn the art of seduction.
Shouldn’t I give it a shot and see if I’ve learned anything yet?
“How do you want me?” I asked.
“Whatever is comfortable for you,” he said, crossing one leg over the other and resting the pad on his thigh.
Swallowing hard, I grabbed the bottom of my tank top and pulled it over my head. “Uh, how’s this?”
Levi’s eyebrows shot up, and even from a distance, I watched his irises dilate. My cheeks burned. Was I being too forward? Had it been a mistake? Had I misread the situation? Had last night been nothing more than a fluke?
But then Levi smiled, and I could breathe again.
“I think you’ve given me something very interesting to draw.” He winked at me as he touched the tip of his pencil to the paper. “You’re a quick learner.”
As I spread butter on my toast the next morning, I stared off into space. After Levi had sketched me, I’d gone back to my room to sleep, but that painting of the woman had plagued my mind all night long.
“June?”
“Huh?” I muttered, barely hearing Linnea as I thought of the soft lines of that face in the picture. She really was so beautiful.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“What?” I tore my gaze from the window and looked at her. “Sure. I’m fine. Why?”
Linnea rolled her eyes, then nodded at my hand. I looked down. Crap, I’d been buttering the side of my hand instead of my toast.
“Oh shit,” I hissed, grabbing a napkin and wiping the butter off.
“You’ve been spaced out all morning. What the heck is up?” Linnea asked.
Maybe Linnea knew something about the painting. Would that be a weird question to ask? Probably. But screw it.
“Do you know anything about the painting Levi has in his cabin?” I asked.
“Which one?” Linnea said as she sprinkled salt on her eggs. “He’s a fantastic artist. I’ve only briefly seen the inside of his cabin, but the place has all kinds of drawings and paintings.”
“It’s a picture of a woman. It was in the hallway right outside his bedroom. She has black hair and blue eyes. She was beautiful. Really striking. Any idea who she might be?”
“I wouldn’t concern myself with that if I were you,” Eugenia said.
She had a knack for popping up whenever I spoke about Levi.
“Levi draws all his ladies. He probably has stacks of sketches in his closet of all the women he’s been with.
Probably some chick he bedded back in the sixties or something. ”
I thought back to the night before, and the way Levi had devoured me with his eyes as he sketched me.
Was Eugenia right? Could it be as simple as that?
But it didn’t explain why I felt such a pull toward that face.
I wanted nothing more than to see that painting again, to look into her eyes. It was like I knew her.
“Eugenia, please stop talking shit,” Linnea said. “There’s no need.”
Eugenia smirked. “Sorry, Lin, but the new girl needs to know where she stands. I think it’s cute she’s having a little fun with our alpha, but that’s all it is. He’ll grow tired of her soon and realize who he really needs to take as a mate.”
Linnea snorted and turned away, ignoring her. I had already tuned out the discussion, that face flashing through my mind again.
“I’m done,” I said, standing abruptly. “I need to go do something.”
“Okay,” Linnea said. “I’ll see you later for the pickling?”
“Sure.” Keeping my head down, I hurried out the door.
I walked toward Levi’s place after making sure no one was out and about. His cabin was quiet and dark. He could still be asleep, but he typically shifted and headed off into the forest early.
As surreptitiously as I could, I strolled to the back side of his cabin and peeked in his bedroom window.
His bed was empty and freshly made. The closet door was ajar, and I could make out the bottom of the picture frame.
As reckless and dangerous as it was, I needed to see it again.
I had to. I couldn’t even explain it to myself, but it was a soul-deep desire to look at that face again.
Moving before I could talk sense into myself, I hurried to the front door and turned the knob. Unlocked. Of course it was. Who would be dumb enough to try and break into Leviathan Cross’s cabin? Me. I was dumb enough.
I closed the door behind me, then peered out the window to see if anyone was around who might have seen me go in. When I saw the coast was clear, I exhaled. If I did this fast, then no one would ever know. I needed to see that woman’s face again.
I made my way to Levi’s room. At the back of my mind, an imaginary clock ticked away as I tugged the painting out of the closet. Sinking to my knees, I turned it and stared at the woman’s face.
The depth of her gaze pulled me in, pushing everything else from my mind. That sense of connection built the longer I looked at her. A melodic hum played in my ears, as if I was being hypnotized by her.
“Who are you?” I whispered.
All sense of time vanished as I looked at her, and I had a ridiculous feeling that she was staring right back at me.
Something faint and familiar tickled my mind, like a half-remembered dream.
No, it was even more difficult to describe.
More like the memory of a description of a dream someone else had.
It made no logical sense why this single painting had bewitched me in such a—
“What the fuck are you doing?”
I flinched, ripping my eyes from the painting.
Levi stood in the doorway of his bedroom, fists clenched and shaking at his sides, glaring at me with more anger than I’d ever seen on anyone in my life.
My brain felt fuzzy and confused. The light coming through the window was brighter than it should be.
How long had I been looking at the painting?
“Levi, I’m—”
“You’re what?” he growled, taking a step forward and tearing the painting from my hands. “Who said you could sneak into my cabin?”
The vitriol in his voice made me flinch. It was actually worse than if he’d struck me. The words slammed into me, sending waves of shame and fear through me.
“I’m sorry.” I scooted back, trying to get out from under his hateful glare.
“This is private,” he hissed, cradling the painting to his chest. “You had no right to come in here and look at my private things without permission.”
The veins in his neck bulged, and his face was a dangerous shade of red, making him look like some sort of raging demon rather than the quiet and calm man I’d come to know.
Fear pushed me to my feet. I shoved past him, sprinting to the door, terrified of being in the cabin another second.
Even as I grabbed the doorknob and flung myself out into the cold, I cursed myself for doing something that stupid.
As I ran toward the forest, I heard Levi calling my name.
I couldn’t tell if it was in anger or apology, and at that moment I didn’t care.
I had to get away. I couldn’t get the look of his face out of my mind as I plunged deep into the woods.
All that anger, that rage, directed at me.
Small tree branches swatted at my cheeks, stinging and bringing tears that turned to sobs as I went.
I’d truly fucked up. How could I have been this dumb?
What the fuck had happened to me? From the light in the sky, it had to be nearly noon.
Had I really been sitting there staring at that goddamn painting for over an hour? Where had the time gone?
My shoe caught on a stone, and I plunged down an embankment with a yelp of surprise.
My shoulder slammed into the ground, and I rolled, crashing into rocks and tree roots on the way down.
The only thing keeping me from breaking anything was the padding of the remaining snow and the soft moss beneath.
My breath exploded out of me as I crashed to rest at the bottom of the hill.
“Fuck,” I moaned, trying to get onto my hands and knees.
That was when I heard the growling. The guttural sound came from my right. Turning, I spotted five massive male wolves emerging from the trees. Their lips were pulled back, quivering above saliva dripping ivory teeth.
“Hello?” I said, hoping to communicate. All shifters understood human words in their wolf forms, and these were most definitely shifters. “It’s okay. I’m, uh, from Hidden Grove.”
If those words meant anything to them, they didn’t show it. The lead wolf took a threatening step forward, and his eyes narrowed, the hair on his back standing on end.
Sudden, instinctual fear struck me then. These were not members of Levi’s pack. They were strangers, and they gazed at me with hungry eyes like I was a meal. One of the rear wolves shifted into a man with broad shoulders, and lanky red hair that hung down to his shoulders.
“Looks like we got us one of them Hidden Grove ladies, boys. I wonder what she tastes like?” he said, licking his lips obscenely as he leered at my chest. “What do you say, pretty lady? You got enough energy for all of us?”
I jumped up and ran. They were blocking the way back to Hidden Grove, so I raced in the opposite direction, away from them.
The man called after me as I went. “I like a good chase. Makes it that much better when we run you down.”
The thundering sounds of running wolf paws echoed behind me, drawing nearer with every step. Despite what had happened, Levi was the only person I could think of. I wanted to scream for his help, but he’d never hear me.
I was all alone, and the wolves were gaining on me.