Heart : Animal Senses Series Book 1

Chapter 23

Surprisingly, she had calmed down from seeing Devin. She wasn't sure why she had started to go to him. Hadn't I just decided to avoid him? Even though her heart had been dancing inside her chest when she'd spotted him, she noticed he wasn't too quick to come in her direction or wave or—anything. That was a good thing, right? It removed the possible complications of her staying on his property for the time being.

As the pictures uploaded to the laptop, she closed her eyes and lifted her face towards the sun. Rayne was in no hurry to leave. So, she wasn't a professional camper, and the night still scared her half out of her skin, but she loved the peacefulness the surrounded her. Leaning down, she picked up the container of nuts beside the chair. Tomorrow she would try cooking on that camp stove, for now though, she could live on nibbling and snacking all through the day. She popped an almond into her mouth and looked to the path that led to the lake.

Every muscle in her body stiffened. She swallowed the almond almost whole, grimacing as it scratched her throat on the way down. A wolf, a very large wolf was standing in the path looking right at her. She didn't want to look away and was afraid to move. It was no more than ten feet away and she knew there was no way she could make it to the little cabin that was more than ten feet away. Now what? Her heart was sitting at the bottom of her throat, and she was fairly certain the almond was stuck there too, as she attempted to swallow it again.

Rayne took short shallow breaths trying not to move any part of her body. Were all wolves that large and if so, how big would a bear possibly be? The furry raccoon that had invaded her clothes didn't seem so bad right now. It looked—worried? Not even sure where the thought came from as she moved one hand slowly towards the armrest of the chair. The animals' ears moved forward. Was that a bad thing? Why didn't you buy some animal books? She'd only bought plant ones, clearly that had been an error in judgement as the plants weren't likely to eat her.

Devin stood there looking at her. In this form, he could do that as much or as little as he pleased. Much pleased him. He could sense her fear and smell the sweat it was causing her. Why had I come here again? Did I want to scare her away? As he pulled his lip up to growl at her, he met her eyes again and stopped. There was something about those eyes that affected him, he didn't know what, but he knew he didn't want to frighten her into trying to bolt and possibly hurting herself. With slow movements, he sat down and continued to watch her.

Her eyes widened as she pulled her hand back into her lap. She swallowed and he couldn't help but to let his eyes watch her pale throat move.

"I suppose I'm in your space too," she whispered in an unsteady voice.

She was going to sit there and talk to a wild animal? This might be entertaining to draw out a bit. He lowered down to lie there watching her.

"You may not know it but you're in Devin's space and he's not entirely a friendly sort." She spoke softly to him now. Her voice was soothing.

Not entirely a friendly sort? Okay, she was right. He could still smell her fear, but she seemed determined not to do anything to give it away to him.

"If I share my snack, do you promise to not be rude and bite me?"

He tilted his head and looked at her.

"I'm afraid I don't have any meat, I'm a vegetarian you see, but I have some nuts—if you eat that sort of thing." She moved slowly and took a nut out of the container on her lap and held it between two fingers. "If I toss this to you are you going to feel threatened?"

She bit her bottom lip and looked at him with those alluring eyes of hers. Afraid she might stop talking to him, he lowered his head, resting his chin on his paws. It doesn't get any more submissive than this, lady. She took a shallow breath and leaned forward a bit and tossed the nut so it landed a few inches in front of his nose. He stretched slowly and sniffed it, but had no intentions of eating it.

"Not to your taste, is it?" She bit her lip again and sat there looking at him.

He could sense she was forcing herself to stay calm.

"You're very large, aren't you?" She pursed her lips together and studied him for a moment more. "I'm hoping you're a him, because honestly I don't think my heart would survive if you were a tiny female and I ran into a full-grown male."

Devin had to wonder for a moment if he looked feminine in any way and then she smirked at him.

"Definitely male, you have that very alpha aura to you."

She straightened a bit in her chair and he thought she was going to try to run to the cabin, but she cleared her throat and continued to talk.

"I'm Rayne, by the way. Rayne Andrews..." she smirked again, "I guess I'll have to pick a name for you because I doubt you're going to introduce yourself."

He lifted his head, but remained lying down so he didn't frighten her.

"I'm going to call you..."

She bit that lip again and he had to curb the sudden inkling to go over and lick that lip she held trapped beneath her teeth.

Rayne huffed out a breath. "I can't think of a name that would do you any justice, you really are beautiful."

Beautiful?

She reached over and picked up her camera from the small table. "Will you let me take a picture I wonder?" Slowly she raised the camera up towards her face.

Devin debated on leaving, but decided he wouldn't mind seeing what he looked like in this form, so he stayed still. After she took three pictures, he stood up slowly and took a few steps closer to her. She tensed up again, watching him warily with her large eyes. The idea of upsetting her bothered him more than he could handle, so he turned and ran off in the opposite direction.