Page 17 of Refuge

Leeza brushed down Ari, and he loved every minute of it. After that, as she raked out his enclosure, she noticed him pacing back and forth, stopping only to stare out toward the open land and wooded area that surrounded the sanctuary. Watching him, she leaned against the rake.

She wiped the sweat dribbling down the side of her face and searched the area as an idea formed. Seeing Gemma, she called out to her. Eric followed as they headed toward Ari’s enclosure.

“He doing okay?” Gemma asked, concerned, and Leeza’s respect for the woman went up a notch, if that were at all possible.

“He’s doing well, but…” Leeza glanced at Eric, figuring he already knew what she was going to ask by the thoughtful look on his face. “I think they all need some exercise.” Glancing at Ari, Leeza smiled, wondering if he also knew what she was going to ask. He was staring at her intently as if begging for her to ask. “If I shift, I can take him for a run.”

Gemma didn’t answer right away, her eyes going to Ari and then to Eric. “I don’t know.” Gemma sounded indecisive. “I’ve never tried that before, but I know it would be good for them. What do you think?”

Eric studied the wolf-dog and Leeza knew he was reading him. Damn, she wished she had that gift. Reading non-shifting animals was something to envy.

“I don’t know about all of them, but Ari will be fine.” Eric looked at Leeza. “Yeah, I don’t see why not.”

“If this works out well enough, can we do all of them?” Gemma asked excitedly. “I hate not being able to let them out to run, and I honestly didn’t think I could.”

“Let’s start with Ari first and see how that goes.” Eric smiled down at Gemma. He then let himself into the enclosure, kneeling in front of Ari. Both Leeza and Gemma watched in awe as Ari sat and stared into Eric’s eyes.

After a few minutes, Eric looked at Leeza. “Go shift, and I’ll bring him out.” Eric stood. “The property line is marked. Don’t go outside of the property lines. It will give him plenty of room to run.”

Leeza nodded with a huge smile. She had run the property a few times so knew exactly where to go. Heading out, she stopped in front of Gemma. “I promise nothing will happen to Ari.”

Gemma’s frown smoothed out with Leeza’s words. “I know that.” Gemma laughed with a shake of her head. “I hope this works and all of them can get the exercise outside of the enclosure they need.”

Agreeing, Leeza took off and headed toward her tent. Even though most on the property were shifters, or knew of them, she went inside her tent to shift. Shifting wasn’t pleasant by any means; it actually hurt and yet, once she shifted, she felt free. Her wolf was mellow by most standards, certainly from what she had heard from others whose wolves were restless and ready to be free. She knew for some it was a constant battle. But not her. Of course, she let her wolf free as much as possible, but she never felt the agitation and pure need she’d heard others talk about.

Leeza took the time to undress. She didn’t have many clothes and shifting from human form to her wolf destroyed more of her clothes than she cared to admit. She was usually careful, especially now that she didn’t have a true home.

Taking a few deep breaths, she prepared herself for the pain and let the nature of shifting take over. It didn’t take long, only seconds, and she stood on all fours peering out from her wolf’s eyes. She rarely gave her wolf full control over her. The only time she ever did that was when she’d fought Foster Manning. Her wolf growled at the thought. Not wanting to waste any more daylight, she hurried out of the tent and saw Eric, Gemma, and Ari waiting for her.

“You’re beautiful.” Gemma gasped as Leeza walked slowly toward her. Gemma then reached out and touched her wolf’s head. Leeza was always uncomfortable beingpettedby humans, or anyone for that matter, but her wolf absolutely loved it.

Glancing up at Eric, she saw him grinning, knowing he was reading her thoughts. Narrowing her eyes, she warned him not to tell Gemma her thoughts. His grin grew, but he nodded.

“Remember, stay on the property, and if you aren’t back in an hour, I’m coming to look for you,” Eric said, then stepped away from Ari.

Leeza walked to Ari and let him get familiar with her wolf. Her only worry was that he may turn aggressive toward her in wolf form, but he just sniffed her then nudged her with his big head. He was ready to be free, that was obvious.

With a nudge of her own into his side, she leaped a few steps away, then turned to look at him before taking off at a slow run. With one look at Eric, Ari turned and took off with Leeza, running by her side. She felt his excitement and picked up her pace, wanting to make this experience for him the best ever.

Chapter 9

By the time Cole returned to the sanctuary with Kile, he had thought hard about everything going on and what Kile had said in his special backward way. His brother was right. Leeza was different, and the alpha male attitude wasn’t going to work with her like it had with other women. Not that he had these kinds of feelings for another woman, but he’d had his fair share of ladies who enjoyed his dominance. But maybe with Leeza he was being more controlling, and that bothered him to some degree. He didn’t want to control her life, but when it came to other men, he absolutely lost his shit where she was concerned.

Eric met them on their return and waved them over to where he wanted the wood dropped. Cole jumped into the back of the truck and started to unload. Eric helped, and soon they had the wood stacked.

“I want to start building better shelters for each enclosure. With the heat, Gemma wants all the wolves to have a cool place out of the sun,” Eric said. “We’ll start with the worse constructed first and move our way from there. Grab whoever you need to help, and get started.”

“Sure thing.” Kile picked up a stack of wood, hefting it up on his shoulder. “Samson’s is pretty beaten down. I say we start there.”

Eric looked at his watch, then out toward the field. “Tell you what, put Samson in Ari’s enclosure and get as many guys on that one so you can get it finished as quickly as possible.”

“You think that’s a good idea?” Cole frowned, not sure putting two male wolf-dogs in the same enclosure was a good idea.

“Ari’s not in there.” Eric grabbed some wood and followed Kile. “Leeza took him for a run, but they should be back soon, so we need to work fast.”

“She did what?” Cole had started to grab a stack of wood himself but stopped at hearing the news.

Eric turned to stare at Cole. “She asked if she could take Ari out to run and I told her yes.”