Savage Desires (1st in Savage Series)

Chapter Eight

Nathan rode up to Hawke's cabin and looked around for any sign of the man.

"Hello the house!" he called and waited for several moments but no one answered. Nathan got down off his horse and walked over to the barn. Trigger was unsaddled and in his stall so where was the damn savage at?

Nathan walked out of the barn and over to the cabin. He looked around the clearing again but still saw no sign of Hawke and so he opened the cabin door.

"Hawke, you in here?" he called. Nathan was about to walk into the cabin and look around at how a savage lived but a low growling behind him stopped him in his tracks. He turned quickly and found Hawke's huge gray wolf standing ten feet away and glaring at him with his head lowered.

"Hawke! Dammit your wolf is going to kill me! Call him off!" Nathan yelled nervously. He realized that maybe he needed to start carrying a gun and he already knew the first thing he was going to shoot when he got one. The wolf took a step toward him and Nathan was about to jump into the cabin and slam the door when a movement to the right at the edge of the woods caught his eye.

Hawke came out of the woods with a dead deer thrown over his shoulders. Nathan's eyes widened at the sight of the large man carrying a deer that had to weigh nearly two hundred pounds like it was nothing.

"Hawke, do something about your wolf." Nathan said nervously. Hawke did not say anything at first. He walked over to the barn and tied the deer's back legs to a rope hanging from the roof. Then he turned back to Nathan and Wolf.

"Wolf, come." he said sternly and wolf growled one last time low in his throat and then walked obediently over to Hawke and sat down beside of him, never taking his eyes off of Nathan. Nathan breathed a sigh of relief.

"I thought you said he was safe." he demanded. Hawke grunted.

"Safe for me." he stated. "Why were you in my home?" Hawke asked crossing his arms over his chest. Nathan quickly shut the cabin door and walked closer to Hawke so they could talk without Nathan feeling like he had to yell.

"I was looking for you. I need a favor." he replied. Hawke felt a muscle tense in his jaw as he looked at Nathan. The man seemed to think that he lived to serve him.

"How did you kill that deer. You don't have a gun." Nathan said looking from Hawke to the doe. Hawke pulled a long hunting knife from the sheath hooked to his leg and held it up in the air as the sun glinted off the blade. Nathan raised his brow.

"You got close enough to stab it?" he asked, finding this hard to believe. Hawke shook his head and then without a word he threw the knife through the air and it sunk deeply into a knot on the wooden door of the smokehouse. Nathan's eyes widened and then he laughed and slapped Hawke on the back.

"You'll have to teach me how to do that, Hawke. That could come in handy." Hawke grunted and pulled his second knife from his other leg. He turned to the deer and in one swift motion he stuck it in the does belly and sliced open the skin. Nathan smiled as he watched Hawke gutting the animal. Nathan loved the sight and smell of blood.

"What did you want?" Hawke asked as he tossed the doe's liver to Wolf who grabbed it happily and walked toward the edge of the woods to eat his treat. Nathan snapped out of the daze that the blood and gore had him in and looked back at Hawke.

"I actually have to go on a trip. I have some unfinished business back east that I have to take care of." Hawke clenched his jaw as began skinning the deer. He would kill Nathan before he let him take Lily anywhere.

"When will you and your wife be back?" he asked without looking away from the deer.

"That's the thing I need your help with. Lily isn't feeling quite up to the trip right now and so I have to leave her at home. I was hoping you might be able to keep an eye on her while I'm gone." Hawke nodded.