The Wolf Within (Book 1 of Wolf Within Series)

Listen Carefully

** Lia's POV **

As we made our way through the field and into the forest, I couldn't help but be thankful for the small amount of courage I had which made me take her hand in mine. I loved her touch, it filled my body with electricity and covered me in goosebumps and just made me all kinds of happy.

However, I wanted to play it as casual as I possibly could, which was absolutely not casual at all. I don't want to scare her away by being too aggressive. After our first meeting I was completely taken, but after this morning when I finally felt that wolf of hers was alive, I realized it was getting harder and harder for me not to kiss her. Down girl, it'll happen eventually... I told myself and then the sudden memory of what Strega Talli repeated in my head, 'Time is ticking.'

"What did that mean?" I accidentally whispered under my breath as we walked deeper into the forest.

"What did what mean?" Dakota's voice called back, disrupting my spiral of unanswered what-if's.

"Huh?" If I play it cool, maybe she won't feel the need to ask for more details. "Oh, nothing, I was just remembering something Al had told me." I caught a glimpse of a few of the huts we were headed to and slowed my pace to a stop. A perfect distraction, I thought to myself as I maneuvered myself immediately behind Dakota, and placed my hands on her shoulders. I practically rested my head on her right shoulder to get a better glance at the view she had. There was no way she could see the rooftops of the huts.

"Tell me, Dakota, what do you see?" I asked as I watched her take in her surroundings.

"A lot of trees," she replied rather sarcastically. "Wait, is this one of your cult leader tricks? Are you going to teach me how to access my inner-self or drop some kind of Utopia bomb on me?" I couldn't help but laugh as she said this.

"Well, no." I chuckled, "but I can do that if you like. This would actually be a perfect moment for it." I stepped beside her and turned her to face me. "Would you like to try something that uses your wolf?"

"Umm." Dakota looked extremely hesitant as she debated her answer.

"I promise it's nothing crazy. We would just be testing your hearing." I assured her as she brought her gaze to mine. "Like I said, nothing crazy." I smiled.

"Ok, sure." She replied.

"Excellent." I stated as I took a step closer to her and placed my hands back on her shoulders.

**Dakota's POV**

"If it's alright with you, I'll just leave my hands here to help you ground yourself. Ok?" Lia's voice softened almost to a whisper as she gently squeezed my shoulders to emphasize her hand placement.

"Alright." I said. "What do I do?" I asked as I watched her smile turn to thoughtfully pursed lips. After a moment, her eyes came back to mine and her smile returned.

"Close your eyes," she stated.

"Um, ok?" I replied and after a moment of carefully studying her face for any other intentions, I gave in and shut my eyes.

"Geeze!" Lia laughed, "I said close your eyes, not shut them like a vault! Doesn't that hurt?" I couldn't help but return the laugh after her comment. She continued, "Gently close your eyes." She cooed.

"Ok, ok!" I replied and relaxed my eyelids, then playfully opened one to look at her, "is this right?" I inquired playfully.

"Yes," She chuckled again, "but they both need to be closed."

"Oh, right. Right." I said as I gently closed both of my eyes.

"Ok. Now, take a deep breath," Lia began and took in a deep breath with me as if to guide me, "now hold it for four seconds," she said and she counted to four. "Now release as much of that breath as you can in the next eight seconds." She said and did this with me.