Wolf Lake (Werewolf / Shifter Romance) Read Free

whipped my head forward. "Um, nothing. Nothing at all," I replied.
    "You're a terrible liar," he commented. My thumping heart and flushed face agreed. His smile faltered, as did his step. We slowed to a stop and he turned to face me. "Am I bothering you?" he asked me.
    "Um, why would you say that?" I stuttered.
    "Because your face is flushed and your hands are balled into tight fists at your sides," he pointed out. I hid the fists behind my back and whipped up a smile that would have scared small children and puppies.
    "I guess I'm just nervous about this picnic." That wasn't a lie, it was just half the truth. "I'm not really good at interacting with strangers on non-business matters."
    "Then I can do all the talking," he offered.
    I raised an eyebrow. "So that means I'd have to stay by your side the entire time?" I pointed out.
    Will grinned. There was something decidedly feral in his eyes that caught my attention, and my lust. I tampered down the lust, but kept the attention. It wouldn't do to get all hot and sweaty just as we were going into a crowd of dozens for a long evening of fraternizing.
    "I will be glad to be your first line of defense against the inhabitants of the lake," he persisted.
    I snorted. "If any of them are half as 'persuasive' as Olivia then you're walls are going to be battered to pieces," I commented.
    He offered his arm to me again. "I will take that chance," he replied. I glanced wearily between his arm and his face. Both wanted me to trust him, this man who lied to me. But what was a little lie between lovers? Er, friends?
    I snatched up his arm and sighed. "All right, my knight in shining arm, lead on," I instructed him.
    "Gladly," he agreed.
    We strode down the road and were passed by a few cars that held the last stragglers from the other cabins. The late-afternoon had a tinge of heat to it that was dampened by the cool breeze off the deep waters of the lake. The crowd at the park laughed and talked, but we walked without any hurry to get to our destination. The scent of pine trees wafted over us and reminded me of car fresheners. The good kind, not the cheap plastic ones that only lasted a few days.
    I was startled when Will chuckled. "In all our conversations I don't believe I have asked how you like the lake," he mused.
    I shrugged and bumped my arm against his. "It's okay. It's a little crowded, though," I replied.
    "Many of these cabins are not yet ten years old," he commented. His eyes swept over the monstrosities that would have been considered mansions on less wet grounds. "When I was a boy there were only the older cabins, like yours, mine, and Olivia's. You wouldn't know it from hers, though, as she's updating it quite a bit. There were meadows where stands most of these cabins, and the trees stretched down to the lake. People would come in with their trailers for the Wolf Hunt and stay where the park now stands. We had our choice of locations for the hunt. Over the years the parcels were divided and sold to wealthy individuals. The Hunt was pushed aside, but my family offered our property above the road for the hunt. Mr. Trimble and Olivia were kind enough to donate their land for the fun."
    I could hear a touch of sadness in his voice. "I wish I could have seen the lake as it was," I told him.
    "I have pictures if you wish to see it," he offered. "My father was an avid photographer and we spent many summers here."
    "So what made you stop coming here so often?" I wondered.
    "My parents passed away and I was left with a company that didn't need my inexperienced hand to guide it, so I journeyed around the world. It was-it was a learning experience," he explained.
    "And you picked up Vuk on the way?" I teased.
    He smiled. "Yes. You wouldn't believe it now, but I met him in a small village in Hungary. It was right after-well, after a minor adventure in the mountains around the village, and he was the only one willing to tend to my wounds."
    "Wounds? You were hurt?" I guessed.
    He stared