Dragan's Redemption Book One of the Manor at Echo Lake Trilogy (4 page)

“Shadow!”  Both wolf and human turned, startled at
the curt
command.  The woman watched curiously as the animal jumped to his feet, lowering his head
,
taking a
place on the right side of the incredibly large man now standing in front of her.

Scrambling to her
feet,
she smoothed down her skirt while pushing back the hair that had fallen into her face
while
glaring at him.  Hiding a smile, Dragan realized that she was not afraid of him either.

“That’s my dog!”

“Lady, I hate to break it to you but this is most certainly not a dog but a wolf
,
and he is mine.”  Amira ignored the disdain in his voice as she stared at the animal while it stood calmly next to the giant, who obviously did own him.

Gritting her teeth, she
spoke directly to the wolf. “When I get my hands on you again, you are going to get it.”

The wolf grinned back panting.

“What the hell do you think you were doing?  Hasn’t anyone ever told you not to play with stray animals?  You could have gotten yourself killed.”
At
his words
Amira burst out laughing
- t
he
unexpected
sound causing a strange sensation in his stomach.  “I hate to break it to you but ‘your’ wolf is a big baby.  He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Incredulous
,
his face darkened
slightly
.  He was not used to someone speaking to him that way.
He so wanted to tell her that he had personally seen this ‘dog’ take down someone within seconds and without thinking twice.
Instead,
he stared at her, watching as she sized him up.
  Leaves stuck in her
dark
hair
,
and he had an urge to reach out and brush them free.  Turning away from them both, she walked out of the woods back into the field.  Master and wolf followed silently.  Amira’s eyes looked
in the
distance
at the
car parked in the road.  Turning back to him now with a curious look on her face, she said nothing to him, just stared with her hands on her hips, head cocked to one side.  To Dragan
,
she was
the most
amazing
woman he had ever seen
.
He figured s
he had to be incredibly stupid or one of the most fearless women he had ever met.  If his guess was
correct
, she was the latter.  His dark eyes roamed her body, noting with
appreciation
her tall, lean and well-sculp
t
ed figure.  She worked out
, another
plus for her.  Away from the protection of the trees, a gent
le
breeze blew causing her hair to move gently in the wind.  His eyes followed the movement
.
Catching her scent, his body tensed.  She smelled fantastic.  Feeling the pressure in the back of his
eyes,
he had an uncontrollable urge to feed again
, not because he was hungry
,
but because he
desired
her.
  Balling his hands into
fist
s
,
he took a step towards her.  Shadow
,
sensing his
master’s
conflict
,
moved in front of his legs letting out a low growl. 
Dragan i
mmediately clos
ed
his
eyes
reach
ing
down to the wolf,
clutching
the mane of hair with his fingers
as he waited
for the urge to pass.

“Hey!
Are you ok?”

Dragan’s eyes snapped open.  “You need to leave.  This is private property.  Shadow will take you home.”

Looking into his eyes
,
her chin rose slightly.  “I am not afraid of you, you know.”

In the blink of an eye, his face was inches away from hers.
  She had the most amazing green eyes
, he thought
.

“
That is a mistake on your part.  Y
ou should be.”

Without flinching Amira put both hands on either side of his face
while a smile spread across her
s,
never once losing eye contact.

“No!
I think
you
should be afraid of me.”

Yanking from her touch
,
he spoke in an unfamiliar language to Shadow before turning to jog back to his car.  Both
s
he and Shadow watched as he gunned the engine, then with tires squealing
,
sped away.

Shadow looked up at her.  Gazing at the now
empty
road,
she stroked his head before leaning down to whisper in his ear.  “
Your
master is weird - cute, but weird.  Hey!
You wanna snack?”

Turning
,
A
mira slow
ly
walked back
to her new
home.  She felt incredibly tired all of a sudden.  She should never have run for so long or hard
,
but when she woke up feeling good and in seeing the
dog
laying outside on her doorstep
….
Amira looked down at the animal walking beside her – ok
ay
maybe it was a wolf, she couldn’t resist.  He seemed to like to play
,
and he certainly loved to run.   She knew she was never in any danger from him.

“Shadow?”  The wolf looked up at her expectantly
.
“Just checking.  I guess the name is ok
ay
.  I would have
given
you something much nobler ….like….
”
Stumbling over a root
,
S
hadow leaned against her
,
offering his body as support
while
preventing her from falling.

“
Thank you. 
I am
good
, just a bit tired.  I will tell you someday what is going on with me when we get to know each other better.  Secrets can only be left with those that are trustworthy you know. 
If we are going to be best friends, you can
not
leave me for any dark and handsome man that comes our way.
”  Amira sighed.  “He was pretty delicious looking in a goliath kind of way wasn’t he?”

Rounding the bend
,
the little cottage came into view.  She smiled.  It looked like it had popped out of one of her fairy tale books she used
to read as a little girl – or
maybe a Kincaid painting.  The rounded roof,
intersected
with pitched sections
giving
it a whimsical flair.  Every window held a flower box that was overflowing with wavy
petunias
in a mirage of colors and vines winding to the earth.  The cobblestone path meandered gently
leading
to the front of the house.  Flowers amassed on either side of the pathway.  The blooms were vibrant and random.  They looked like they had been there forever and had just popped up.  However, she knew that the
gardener
had planted them to get the effect she now viewed
.  He was very gifted.  A gift she envied.  Her favorite part of the
whi
t
e
house was the front door. 
You c
ould
open the top half and leave the bottom half shut
, which she did to get a constant view of
Echo
Lake
and the rolling mountains.  This was a true
fairy tale cottage.

Amira
still
could not believe that she was lucky enough to rent it before someone else snatched it up.  She had seen the pictures in the book of available rentals at the realtor’s office
in
Boston
. 
Knowing
immediately
the house was exactly what she was looking for
,
she was surprised when t
he realtor seemed to go out of his way to
convince
her otherwise stating that it had been on the market for quite some time and was very remote.  Little did he know
that remote
was exactly what she was looking
for.
Now it was all hers.
Sight unseen except through pictures, she paid a years rent in advance.  Stepping over the threshold, she turned when Shadow did not follow.  “Guess you have to go back home to Goliath before he gets mad at you, huh?
”
  Shadow blinked then whined.  Laughing she walked back to
him
to rub his head.  “Ok
ay
.  Goliath isn’t frightening you enough for you to give up your
Scooby
Snack though
,
is he?”  Amira wagged a finger at him.  “You better come visit me again tomorrow.”  Turning to the counter
,
she reached into the cookie jar pulling out a large cookie.  Tossing it through the door, Shadow caught it in midair.  Without looking back, she watched as he ran down the path the way they came
,
h
eading
in the direction of
the large m
anor on another part of the lake.  This
,
she assumed
,
was home for both man and wolf.  Q
uietly
she
closed the door.

Throwing his keys onto the silver tray
that had been placed for that exact purpose on
the mahogany table in the front foyer
,
Dragan turned and walked briskly to the living room of the old house
.  He could still feel
the imprint of her
fingers on his face
.  Stepping down into the giant room, he walked
across the carpet
to the bar at the farthest end and poured himself a
shot
of
whisky
before walking to the large
leather
sofa
dominating the center of the room
.  Taking a deep sip before leaning his head back to rest on the cushions
,
he let out a
deep
sigh.
It felt good to be home.

From the
kitchen,
the normal every day sounds of his chef hard at work preparing the m
eals
for the day
,
the hiss of a mat
ch being struck
then rush of gas from a burner
,
resounded
loudly
in his ears
as if it was right next to him. 
Listening again, he then heard the snap of a sheet shaken over a bed.  His heart constricted when he realized that he was trying to listen for
nails clicking on the marble floor hurriedly.  Dragan
wistfully remembered
how excited
t
he dogs
became when they
realized he was home.  Within moments
of sitting on the couch
,
a golden retriever
would
inevitably
bound
into the room.  Right behind her was
always
the bulldog
,
waddling
,
trying
valiantly to keep up.

Dragan
would hold
his drink high as the gold
en
pounced up on the couch trying to get to him with h
er
wiggling body and wet tongue.  Dragan
used to
laugh
aloud at seeing them
.  He
had known that
he indulged in them too much, but after centuries of owning animals, he
also
knew they would be gone in a blink of an eye.
   Taking a gulp from his
drink,
he wondered if it was time to get another dog.

From another part of the house, he heard a door close quiet
ly and then footsteps approaching
the
room
.  Dragan
finished his drink
quickly before the butler walked in.

“Good morning
,
sir.”