Meadow

The storm colored mare watched the stallion with equally dark eyes. He was so very different from the other stallions she had met and she could not place what she thought of him. He did not have the fully relaxed presence Rille had, but nor did he seem plagued by demons as the others she had met. Solomon completely bewildered her and she really did not know what to make of it. Her normally flighty nature was both ignited and chilled. Shaking her head, she tried to convince herself not to overthink it.

His question took her by surprise. Her gut reaction was to open her mouth in protest. No, of course she was not running from Ruger. He had brought her back, taken her to the Prairie, and had shown her his family. But she stopped. He had been a wolf, claimed he was a monster, and his father had raped her. Zimri’s voice caught in her throat and she found herself speechless to answer him. She knew if she saw him again she would love him all over, even though his heart now belonged to another. She did not believe she was running away from Ruger, but continuing to step towards something new.

No, I am not running from him. I don’t think he would hurt me. His promise to protect her intrigued her. Hadn’t those promises been uttered to her before? His nose slowly reached out to her again and she breathed him in. This time, she could sense the cold of his home on his breath, still the mystery and the unknowing of what a world he offered. There was the strange feeling of being flirted with, a feeling she had not known. She did not know anything about this man, and the fear still gripped her. Breathing out the insecurity, she exhaled her breath into him again. Her eyes closed and her mind raced as she tried to think of what she would do next, what this would mean. What would happen if she simply said yes, and what would happen if she just said no.

Dark eyes opened again and she gazed into his face. Take me there. She said with a conviction that startled her.