That he could overpower her at any time was obvious, that
he had not yet tried to do so of little comfort. She wondered if
perhaps the presence of the wolf alone protected her. And the hardest
thing was that she did respect him. All his actions seemed to indicate
a courageous and unselfish character. But his morals? She suspected
(correctly) that he had none.
But in truth she need not have worried. The idea of rape was so foreign
and unnatural to his existence that the thought never occurred to him.
As was the way of his people, he intended first to feed and protect her,
to establish his claim and earn her trust, and only then to take her,
willingly, as his mate. And in his own mind at least, he had begun the
process already. His desire and timid affection for her bound him to
her more closely than she knew. At last he broke away from the entrance
and came inside. The wolf stirred.
'It will be hard if he refuses us. Very hard.' He sat opposite
her against a nook in the wall and once more destroyed all
preconception. His face was worried and drawn, full of very human
emotion. Again she felt the presentiment of inescapable reality: that
here before her was true Man, stripped of all pretense, reduced to his
simplest terms.
At length he looked up at her, and seemed anxious to communicate.
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