"Lia...!"

How was it possible for him to dream about her even having her by his side, after making love to her so intensely? It was an incredible thing to sleep with Lia. He couldn't remember all the women he had shared his bed with, but that girl was the first one he had allowed himself to sleep with.

He inhaled deeply, searching for the special scent she left on the sheets, on the pillow, and reached out to caress her.

Her absence made him jerk up. Next to him, the sheets were cool enough to know that She had been up for some time.

—Lia! —She wasn't beside him, and the damned wolves hadn't warned him!—.  Lia!

He pulled on a pair of shorts and scoured the upper floor with an anxiety of which he would never have believed himself capable. But he did not find her on the terrace or in any of the rooms. Neither her nor the wolves.

—Lia! —he called out to her again almost desperately as he descended the stairs.<