Savage Desires (1st in Savage Series)

Chapter Two

Two days later Hawke was sitting on the rocks looking down into the clear water of the lake. He cursed when an image of the woman from the stagecoach appeared on the waters still surface. He picked up a stone and threw it at the water sending the image away on one hundred tiny ripples.

For some reason her image had haunted him for two days and nights. He was not sure why. She was a beautiful woman with her soft body, thick dark hair, big brown eyes and full pink lips but Hawke had never been one to become obsessed with a woman's beauty. No, there was something else about her that had him thinking of her constantly.

Holding her in his arms had just felt… right. And the scared look in her eyes when her husband had grabbed her arm haunted him. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with the woman and he couldn't explain it but he wanted to protect her.

Hawke had always been a loner and had lived a very solitary life. He never worried about things that were not his business and that made him even more confused that his thoughts were occupied with the dark haired beauty with the scared eyes.

A rustling in the bushes to his left drew his attention and he laid a hand on one of the large knives on his leg. He listened closely and then smiled when he heard the panting behind him.

"You are getting louder, Wolf." he said. "You are not very good at sneaking." Hawke turned his head and the big gray wolf walked over and sat down beside him on the rock and he could have sworn that the canine grinned. Hawke looked back out over the water as the two sat side by side, each of them as still as a stone statue.

Hawke had found wolf as a puppy. Wolf had been injured from what had looked like a mountain lion and Hawke had nursed him back to health and in doing so had made a life long friend. Wolf never went too far from the cabin and on more than one occasion had even followed Hawke into town which always caused quite a stir.

Suddenly wolf growled low in his throat and his head whipped around in the direction of the cabin. Hawke understood the sign that he had a visitor. He rose in one fluid motion and started down the trail.

"Anybody here?" he heard a male voice call out as he drew closer and when he stepped into the clearing his cabin sat in he saw the man from the stage coach sitting on a brown mare and looking around.

"What do you want?" Hawke asked. Nathan's head whipped around and his eyes widened when he saw Hawke standing there with a large gray wolf at his side. He wasn't sure which of the two looked more wild or whose eyes had more intensity in them as they glared at him.

"I hope it's okay that I stopped by since we are neighbors now." Hawke's eyes narrowed as he looked up at the man.

"Neighbors?" he asked. Nathan nodded.

"I bought some land that touches up against yours. Marshall Yale in town told me that you were an okay man and I felt I should stop by and apologize for the way I acted in town the other day at the stagecoach. With us being neighbors and all, I figure it's best to be on good terms." Nathan cast another nervous glance down at the wolf as it stood beside Hawke and stared at him.

"Is that thing safe?" Nathan asked, his nervousness plain to hear in his voice. Hawke shrugged.

"Safe for me." he replied simply. Nathan nodded. Clearly his new neighbor wasn't much of a talker and he clearly thought he was better than Nathan which made Nathan's temper flare but he worked hard to hold it back. Between the deadly looking savage and that wolf beside him they could easily make short work of him if they took the notion.

"I was hoping that since we're neighbors now I might be able to hire you to help me out a little."

"Help you what?" Hawke asked as he laid his hand on Wolf's head to make the canine stand down. Hawke was surprised by just how agitated Wolf was by this mans presence. Wolf's reaction was all Hawke needed to see in order to be certain that Nathan was not a good man.