Chapter 274

“R-run?” I must have reached the point of my wild-temptation where I was beginning to hallucinate, because there was no way that Julian had actually just suggested to me that we go for a run, here, now, by the light of the moonlight.

“I’m serious,” he said.

“But… last time…” I didn’t need to remind him that last time I had let free my wolf, I had disappeared for three days. A search party had been sent out to find me. It was Julian himself who had finally caught up with me and convinced me to return to my human form.

Now, the same man was suggesting I do it again?

The temptation was pure and raw. It pulsed in the back of my mind loudly, like someone beating on a bass drum back behind my thoughts. The rhythm was alluring. My wolf had already fallen prey to the call. I was so close, I felt like I was holding on with my fingernails.

“It’s dangerous,” I said. “I could –”

Julian held my upper arms in a tight grip. “You won’t. I won’t let you.” His gaze was steady, clear and confident in a way it hadn’t been since Bridget’s arrival. “I will be with you every step, and I will bring you back to yourself before it’s too late.”

I didn’t want to argue, but, “The call is so strong. What if I don’t listen to you?”

“You will,” Julian said, and his excess of confidence blossomed some within me as well. “Listen to me, Piper. I will be able to call your back. This thing you’ve been doing… Trying to fully ignore the call. It’s not good for you. Or your wolf. Totally ignoring your wolf is not going to help you bond with it.”

I tried to see through my own delirium to assess whether what he was saying made sense or not. It was difficult, but, yes. Yes, that could be true. My wolf and I were bonding slowly, but I almost felt a sense of resentment from it. Too long, I’ve been keeping it locked away inside of me as if in a cage.

One of the things I’d promised I wouldn’t do when I reclaimed it, knowing what it had suffered at the hands of my sister Jane.

“We have wolves,” Julian said. “We have to use them. It’s natural.”

I nodded at once. “Okay.”

Maybe I was surrendering too quickly. Maybe I should have fought more. But I trusted Julian, trusted his judgement, and I was so on-edge, I would have easily agreed to anything at all.

“Okay,” Julian replied. He released me, and together we looked out at the woods beyond the garden. “Ready?”

I shifted in wolf-form as my reply. A heartbeat later, he did the same, and together we rushed into the night, two wolves lost to the call of the wild and the pounding of their own paws against the forest bed.

For a time, I left myself to the mercy of my wolf, letting it guide me. Our natural instinct took over, though when we began to veer too far, Julian was quickly there, nipping and barking to bring us back onto the path he’d decided.

He was an Alpha, so my wolf immediately fell in line.

Julian was true to his word, guiding me along, never letting me disappear too far.

He led us down pathways I didn’t know about, and eventually stopped at the side of a small, secluded lake I had never seen before. Well, me personally. My wolf might have seen it during those three days I lost myself. But I hadn’t been mentally present to remember.

Julian shifts back into his human form. Then he begins taking off his clothes.

“What are you doing?” I asked, realizing suddenly that I had shifted too. When had I done that? I didn’t even know. Perhaps Julian, the Alpha, had told my wolf to bring me back to the forefront. Or perhaps my wolf realized by itself that now was the time.

Either way, I was now here, standing in my human form, watching Julian unbutton his shirt.

Julian glanced backwards and me and waggled his eyebrows. “I thought it would be nice to go for a swim.”

“And you are going to get naked to do that?” I asked.

Last button unbuttoned, he shucked his shirt off down his arms. Then he folded it nicely and placed it over his suit coat. When he reached for his belt, I immediately swiveled. Blushing, I put my back to him.

I had seen enough already to be embarrassed. Julian had a slimmer physique than Nicholas, but he was still toned and handsome. That much bare skin nearly set my face aflame.

“You wouldn’t have me wet my clothes, would you?” Julian said, a laugh in his voice. “I could get sick!”

Even though I have my back to him, I still covered my eyes. “Julian!”

He laughed, loud and strong. “Fine. I’ll leave my boxers on.” Then his voice dropped lower, sultry and dangerous. “Why don’t you join me, Piper? A good moonlight swim always clears the head.”

I shouldn’t. I really shouldn’t.

But the moon was bright, and with all the wild freedom pulsing through my veins, I couldn’t really resist. Especially with the promise we would be keeping on our underwear.

A heard a splash behind me, and turned to look. Julian was already in the water.

“Come on, Piper!” he called. “Live a little! While we’re still alive!”

“Turn around!” I called back to him.

“What? Why?”

“I can’t undress with you watching!”

Even at this distance, and even with the darkness, I could still tell that he rolled his eyes at me. Yet, because he was a gentleman at heart, no matter how much he tried to convince others otherwise, he turned his back to me.

I hastily undressed and threw my clothes into a pile rather than folding him. Truthfully, I knew he was a gentleman at heart, but I didn’t fully trust that playboy to not at least sneak a peek.

I jumped into the water a moment later, making a splash that crashed down over Julian. He turned toward me, just as my head resurfaced above water.

“Holy shit! It’s freezing!” I cried. God, it was like ice water prickling my skin.

“You’re being dramatic,” he said, but this close I could see his teeth chatter.

“You jerk! You tricked me to come in here!”

“All I did was suggest it! A little cold water does a world of good. Good for the heart.”

He was making that up entirely. I glared at him as I waded my way over to the edge of the water. He laughed as he followed me out.

Fortunately the night air was warm, so we were not in much danger of catching colds. Even so, Julian handed me his suit jacket.

“Use it as a towel,” he said. So I did, patting myself gently down, then I handed it back to him so he could do the same. I avoided looking at him as much as I could.

After we dried, we changed back into our clothes. Then he laid down side by side at the bank of the lake and looked up at the starlight.

“It’s a shame,” he said.

I turned my head to the side, to look over at him. “What is?”

He didn’t look back. “If we had met each other first, maybe we would have fallen in love with each other, and none of this heartbreak would have happened.”

I looked away, back up to the stars. It didn’t matter now, I supposed. Maybe he was right. Maybe he wasn’t.

It would only hurt to think about what could have been.

Silence lingered between us. It was comfortable but a bit sad. Bittersweet, maybe.

“How do we move forward from this, Julian?” I asked. “How do I heal my heart?”

Julian said, “If I knew that, Piper, I would have done it long ago.”