Chapter 22
Christmas Eve day had Robin at the park, doing a training session with three German shepherds. One woman had had the dogs, who were brothers, since they were puppies. She’d been suckered into taking the last three remaining puppies by a young girl who’d been stuck with the task of selling her female German shepherd puppies. She told Robin she just couldn’t resist the little girl’s blue eyes that beckoned her to keep the boys together forever.
But, being boys, the three were fighting for the top-dog spot and things were getting out of hand. Robin was having a time with the young dogs as they ran around the park. She was trying to tire them out a bit, so they’d stop picking at each other long enough to let her do some real training with them.
Robin had stayed the nights with Shaw but went home every morning so she could tend to her own work. Despite his advice for her to take him up on the offer of the dog training program, Robin still didn’t want to get into a business deal with the shifter unless she was going to become his mate. She knew now, without a shadow of a doubt, she could never be around him if she wasn’t with him. But her fears still hadn’t given way to allow her to accept his proposal.
After a grueling workout, Robin and the three dogs sat down. She fell to the ground right along with them, and they all panted as they tried to catch their breath.
As Robin lay there, she noticed the dogs all roll onto their stomachs, putting their heads between their paws. A shadow moved over her, blocking the sun’s light.
Robin shielded her eyes as even with her dark sunglasses on, the bright rays emanating around the tall figure made it impossible to see who’d joined her, uninvited. “Hello,” she ventured. “Can I do anything to help you?”
The figure moved, and Robin found it was a tall, lithe woman. Her striking red hair looked like silk as it hung in a long braid over her left shoulder. The woman was gorgeous, and her smile was bright as she looked at the dogs, instead of at Robin. “Hi. I just came here to take a little walk and saw you with these gorgeous animals and had to come over. May I pet them?”
Robin looked at the dogs who seemed paralyzed and knew immediately why that happened and what this woman was.
A she-wolf!
“I suppose that would be okay,” Robin said as she sat up, sitting cross-legged.
She was surprised when the woman, who was wearing tight blue jeans and a sweater, sat down next to her the same way. “Thank you. Are these boys yours?”
“No, I’m their trainer. I don’t own any animals. At least not yet. I moved here only a few months ago. Living in an apartment isn’t the best place for a dog. Not the kind I like anyway.” Robin leaned back on her hands and wondered why the she-wolf shifter had come to her. She knew it had to be for more than just the dogs. Then it hit her: she had to be smelling the wolf Robin knew Shaw undoubtedly had left on her. She tried hard not to be afraid of that fact. She didn’t want the female to smell fear on her.
“So you train dogs then?” she asked. “Oh, I’m Enya, by the way. And you are?” She looked at Robin, her eyes going all over her body. Robin knew she was sizing her up, but for what, she wasn’t certain.
“Robin. And yes, I train dogs. That’s what my career is.” Robin watched as Enya reached out, touching one of the dogs. His eyes closed as she moved her hand over his head.
At least they seemed to be okay with her. Not afraid the way the other dogs had been of Shaw. Robin thought to herself that maybe—if she did let Shaw change her—then she and this female could be friends.
“It must be nice to know what you want to do in life. I’m in between careers right now. I’ve been practicing medicine for years now and have grown bored with it. I’m seeking a new adventure in my life. That’s the reason I’m here, in Loveland. I’m seeking to become more domesticated. Tired of living alone and having the single lifestyle.” She sighed and seemed kind of sad.
So Robin asked, “And you know someone here you’d like to start seeing? Is that it?”
“I don’t know him yet. But our fathers know each other, and they’ve been talking. I went back home to live with my family after closing down my practice in Montana. My melancholy was seen by my father as a yearning for my own family.” She looked at Robin. “Do you have your own family, Robin?”
She shook her head. “No. But I’m kind of young yet to be feeling the way you are. Not that you’re old by any means. Maybe I should rephrase that. I’m a bit immature yet to want what you do, I suppose.”
But Robin did kind of want that. She wanted to be with Shaw. She wanted to be his mate and have his babies. But was just too afraid to do that yet. Eternity is one very big commitment after all.
“I may not look old, but I’m no spring chicken. Not that I ever worry about my age, but I do worry about finding the right man to live my life with. The right man to raise children with. You know?” She moved her hand to pet the next dog, who also closed his eyes when she touched him.
It made Robin wonder if she was sending them some telepathic message, talking to them by using her mind. And it made her wonder if she did turn into a creature like Enya if she could do the same.
Robin knew she couldn’t ask the she-wolf about any of her internal questions. From what Shaw had told her, no mortal was to know about shifters. Just saying that you knew they existed could get you killed.
“If you don’t know the man your father has set you up with, how do you know he’ll be the right man for you?” Robin asked.
Enya shook her head. “I don’t know that he will be the man for me. But I know he’s a good man, a powerful man. And I have to meet him to give us the chance to see if we have that spark.”
“And if you don’t?” Robin found herself asking. “Will you just move on then?”
“Well, you see the man I’m here to meet and I are of the same race. A rare race from Europe. Sometimes people from our race can make a connection form even if there are no initial attractions.” Enya grinned. “That can be quite fun actually.”
Robin had to know what she was talking about, as she was certain the rare race Enya spoke about was the wolf-shifter race. “How can you force a connection when there are no initial attractions?”
“Sex, of course.” Enya laughed. “Lots and lots of it.”
“Oh,” Robin said as her cheeks heated with a blush. “Yeah, I guess that could do it.” Her embarrassment waned as her curiosity took over. “But the sexual attraction aside, how do you know you’ll get along? You know, like the same things? Have similar interests?”
“That kind of stuff isn’t that important to most members of my race, nor me. We come together to copulate more so than anything else. You know, make babies. And the male has his role in their lives and the female has her role in their lives too.” Enya moved on to petting the third dog, and Robin saw him close his eyes the same way the others had.
She thought about how much easier it would be to train guard dogs if she could communicate with them the way it seemed Enya was doing. Another pro on her lists of pros and cons of becoming a shifter.
The list was getting a little more one-sided with the addition of telepathy with animals. When you added in all the pros that came along with Shaw himself, Robin had to admit, she’d miss out on far too much if she didn’t take Shaw’s offer.
“That kind of a relationship sounds as if it could get stale to me,” Robin said as she tried to continue their conversation. “If you ask me—if you and this guy don’t have a connection—then you’d both be selling yourselves short by trying to build a marriage and a family. I can tell you from experience, as limited as mine is, that I’d never settle for anything less than pure, unadulterated, one-hundred-and-ten-percent, pure love.”
“And have you found that yet, Robin?” Enya asked with raised brows.
Robin nodded. “Yes. But I have some issues with fear that have us in limbo right now. He’d love nothing more than to move forward, but it’s me who keeps holding back.”
“And what is this fear you have?” Enya asked, as she looked perplexed by the notion of fear stopping one from anything, especially love.
“It’s not a thing I like to talk about, Enya. Too personal, you know?” Robin asked, knowing she couldn’t disclose what her fear was to the woman she was certain was a shifter.
With a nod, Enya went on, “I don’t have any worries about the man I’m going to see. If I grow bored of his personality, his face and body will always entertain me. The man is more like a god than a mere human.”
“Wow,” Robin said. “And he lives here, in Loveland. What would this Adonis be named?”
“Shaw Lykan, the owner of Luna Enterprises. Have you ever seen him around?”
And with that, Robin nearly fainted but managed to shake her head. “Nope, can’t say I have.”
Enya smiled and got up. “It was nice to meet you. I should be on my way to find the man my father says I should make mine, and quickly before another female does. Wish me luck?”
All Robin could do was nod and wave. “Bye.”
The air had gone out of her as the gorgeous she-wolf sauntered away to go meet the man she loved.