Chapter3

3.

Wolf was surprised to find that they had just walked into a large garden.

"How did you managed to plant an entire garden inside a warehouse?" asked Wolf.

"Well, I've got a fabulous gardener named Missy. She doesn't have much upstairs as far as common sense but she can make practical anything grow no matter what the conditions are." Raven responded "Missy had the floor ripped out in some places and planted the hedges and a lot of the larger plants. Most of the flowerbeds are in sunken pots in the floors. The fountain was the major thing and it came out great." as Raven pointed at the large fountain and pond off to the left side of the warehouse.

" I can't believe the way it looks in here. You would never know from the outside." Wolf said, " It looks fabulous. "

"Thank you. Missy and I worked really hard designing and installing it." Raven said, " Also, I have two large wolfhounds somewhere in here. They haven't come out yet because of your voice. They are waiting for me to call them. I just wanted to warn you before they came out of nowhere. Sometimes they slink up and lick you before you even know they are there."

"If you want to call them that is fine with me, it's your place." Wolf responded, " Where does all the light come from in here?

Raven lightly whistled twice before answering " We installed sky lights in the ceiling that also double as solar power for the backup generator in case of power failure before the generator kicks on. The isle lanterns are all connected together with the skylights, as are the soft lights in some of the trees. There is a switch that opens the tint screen during the day on the skylights to enable enough light to work during the day and help with the sunlight for the plants. It is essentially a green house but with a few technologic tweaks to ensure privacy for me."

" I really like the way it is designed." Wolf said softly, amazed at the way her face looked when she talked about her home. Knowing, somewhere in his mind that he was privilege to see it and that probably few had ever seen it, except maybe this Missy who helped design the garden. Wolf felt a stab of jealously for Missy for being able to share this creation with her. He watched her crouch down to pick some herbs that where next to them and heard her whispering softly to herself or maybe the plants.

" What are you saying?" he whispered in her ear as he crouched next to her, placing his hand on her hip. Raven looked up at him surprised that he had even heard her. She softly smiled at him knowing that she must have looked nuts crouch down whispering to her plants. She wonder again why she felt so opened with this man.

What was he to her? Why did she not feel compelled to lie to him, to protect herself and her home? Why did this man, who she knew did not give a second thought to how anyone felt, make her so unsettled with his questions?

She could feel the uncertainty that he felt about even inquiring these personal things. She somehow knew that he rarely bothered with people's feelings and never reveals much of himself. So she couldn’t understand why he was bothering to ask and why she even answered. It just proved that there was more to them than she had originally thought.

But instead of ignoring him she heard herself softly say " I thank the earth for giving me something from her. I know it sounds strange but I have found that animals and plants respond better to the sound of your voice. And I’m sure Missy has rubbed off on me some as far as that goes. You should hear her, she sings show tunes to them."

Hearing a slight noise from behind her, she reached out to touch Wolf so he wouldn’t jerk when Dakota and Elk, her dogs, came up. Wolf felt the dogs' breath on his neck at the exact moment that Raven touched him. He looked into her eyes and realized what she was telling him. Wolf couldn’t believe he never even heard them walk up, he was so wrapped up in watching her that all of his sense had seemed to take break on him.

He stood quickly, compelled to put some kind of space between them so he could collect himself. He wanted to sit down with Raven and find out what was really going on. The dogs had bothered him, it had been a long time since anything had snuck up on him and he wanted to know why this woman affected him like this.

In his mind, he couldn’t afford to be like this, it was a weakness and it disturbed him greatly, but dispute this he found he couldn’t help smile at the irony that Raven owned a set of Irish Wolf-hounds. He really needed another cigarette and he wasn’t sure where his last one went.

Raven could feel him pulling away from her both emotionally and physically; it felt like a dull pain in her chest. To mask the pain she was feeling she leaned over and hugged Dakota and Elk. Whispering softly to them. They immediately lay down on the ground before her to get their ears scratched. She obliged them and then stood.

"We may as well go have a drink, don’t you think so Wolf? Raven asked as she walked away from him. She walked through the garden, towards a column covered in ivy. Only when they reached the column did Wolf realize that it was actually a set of iron circular stairs, the ivy has completely masked its purpose in the dusky atmosphere of her gardens.

He could hear Dakota and Elk padding behind him and he shook his head in disbelief at the fact that he hadn't heard them the first time. The dogs stalked him up the stairs, he could hear and feel them adjusting to the smell of him. He suddenly realized that they probably are never exposed to strangers. The only person that Raven had even mentioned was her gardener. He could hear the fountain gurgle below him and felt the tension flow out of him as he ascended her stairs into the loft above the garden.

As Wolf stepped into Raven’s loft he senses were assaulted. The smells, colors even the textures were in deep contrast to what he thought he would find up here. He thought that everything would be so dark compared to what he had seen. There where windows all along one wall, sky lights in the living room, kitchen and probably the bedroom but he couldn’t see in there.

He felt rooted to the threshold. It looked like there were hard wood floors and tile through out, but there where thick, vibrant, plush throw rugs littering the floors. Deep cranberry in the living room, a startling sapphire blue in the kitchen that he didn’t even realize you get that color. The walls were a soft cream color throughout. He took a ragged breath and realized that she had stopped a few feet from him and was watching. She was just standing there patiently, with a smile on her face.

Raven seemed to radiate energy the moment she stepped in her home. It seemed to recharge her. The dogs brushed by him to sit by her side; while he finished his inspection of the loft he had just stepped into. Raven just laughed, knowing what he was feeling. Her home can be a little surprising if you aren't anticipating it.

She motioned towards the couch and said softly " Wolf. Go ahead and have a seat. What would you like to drink?" Wolf looked at the couch and then back to her, feeling a little slow on the uptake and then replied " Oh, a vodka and tonic if you got it."

As Raven walked into the kitchen she thought about the fact that this man has the same mannerism as herself, drinks the same drink and god knows what else. She felt so alive as she pulled out her crystal goblets and the vodka. She peeked into the living room from the kitchen, to find him lounging on her coach, looking as if he had sat there a hundred times.

She could see his eyes slowly go over the things in her flat, taking stock, stopping occasionally when there was a piece he didn’t expect. She was shocked to notice that his subtle movements matched the animal he was named after. She wondered if is real name would match as well.