"Sure. What?"
"How many cars do you have?"
Damon chuckled. "I love cars. You know that."
"I do know, but just how much do you love them?"
Damon's grin widened. "I have two in New York and then eight at the ranch."
"And none worth less than a hundred grand either, right?" she teased. Despite her teasing, she was in awe. She couldn't even afford to get her little clunker fixed. To think Damon had enough money to buy so many lavish cars.... Wow. Her head was still spinning from it all.
"None."
"That's insane Damon."
Damon gave her a wink. "I prefer eccentric."
Katrina laughed. She watched as his hand shifted the gears, working the gears and clutch like a pro as they raced down the highway. She sat back and enjoyed the ride, the hum of the powerful engine, combined with the whoosh of his deeply threaded tires were surprisingly relaxing. Perhaps it was partly due to the beautiful man beside her - a man she never imagined she'd see again let alone be spending the next week with.
Watch yourself Katrina, don't go falling back in love with him, the voice in the back of her mind cautioned her. I'm not even sure I fell out of love with him to begin with, she argued. The voice fell silent.
He pulled off of the highway and onto a two lane road, trees lining both sides of the road. They travelled for roughly ten minutes before his ranch came into view. Katrina gasped, her eyes widening as they surveyed the massive two story property coming into view, beyond a twelve foot high iron gate.
Damon slowed the car to the swipe and keypad situated several feet before the gate. Reaching into his inner jacket pocket he produced a car key and lowered the window. He swiped the card into the pad and then proceeded to punch in a code. The keypad beeped three times and then the gate creaked as it slowly began to part.
"My God Damon. This house is...." She had no words. To the left of the house was a massive stable, with several horses fenced in and lounging in the pastures.
The car proceeded into the property and moments after it cleared the gate, the gate slowly closed behind them. The drive to the house took another minute or two.
"Holy shit! Is that a..." Katrina undid her seat belt and sat up straighter in her seat, eyeing the massive, powerfully build grey and white dog coming towards them. But it wasn't a dog.
"It's a grey wolf." Damon offered.
"Is it your pet?" The wolf came rushing up the car, but kept a solid three feet away from the car, running on her side, eyeing her with both interest and suspicion.
"His name is Gabe. And yes, he's my pet. I've had him since he was a pup."
Katrina shifted excitedly in the seat, anxious to jump out and touch the massive beast. "I can touch him, right?" She took her eyes from the wolf to look over at Damon.
"You can, but there are some rules I need to go over with you first."
"Okay..."
"I get out first and once he's interested in me I want you to get out and slowly, but without fear, approach us. Once you're within six feet, crouch down and don't make eye contact. Let him come to you. Once he finishing his examination of you and his body relaxes, then you can face him, pet him, hug him, whatever... No sudden movements and if he nips don't bat at him or jerk away, he'll interpret the movement as you wanting to play and sometimes he plays rough. He doesn't mean to, but he's a big boy and..." Damon shrugged. "He doesn't realize his own strength. He treats humans as he would another wolf in his pack. You'll learn."
Damon placed the car into park and promptly got out. The wolf rushed around the front of the car to greet him. Katrina waited impatiently for Damon's signal for her to get out. She was itching to stroke his long, soft fur. When Damon motioned for her to exit she had to force herself to remain calm and not rush over towards the animal. Doing as told as she rounded the car, she crouched down, keeping her eyes averted. She heard the wolf approach with suspicion. Its nose nudged her under the chin, causing her to giggle. Her giggle seemed to rile him up and he nudged her a little more roughly, nipping at her shoulder. Keeping Damon's advice in mind she didn't react even though his teeth pinched, however, she doubted it broke the skin.
"It's okay you can look at him now."
She lifted her eyes and turned, becoming eye to eye with him. Her blue eyes gazed into his stunning yellow, green ones. She slowly lifted her hands and began to stroke his fur. Seemly pleased with being petted he opened his mouth and licked her face, smack dab on the lips.
"Oh-my-god, that's so gross," Katrina squealed wiping her lips, but didn't pull away, instead she leaned into him, giving him affection in the way she would any other dog. Enjoying the attention Gabe began to get a little rowdy, nudging her and nipping lightly, followed by several licks.
"Gabe. Enough." Damon's voice boomed and made Gabe freeze and slowly back away from her, head bowed.
"He's amazing Damon," Katrina said, awe in her voice.
Damon extended his hand to her, helping her to her feet. "Well, if you liked him, then you're going to love what else is on the property."
Childlike excitement rushed through her. "What else do you have? Show me!"
Laughing Damon shook his head. "Don't you want to see the inside of the house? Your room perhaps?"
"Nope. Show me the animals. You know animals are my weakness."
Damon kept her hand in his and they began to walk along the outside of the house, Gabe trailing along behind them. "Boy do I ever remember. You got me in a lot of shit over those two dogs in the shed."
"Oh my God, I totally forgot about them. Shaggy and Scooby."
"Yeah, Shaggy and Scooby had me tossed out on my ear and put into a different foster home."
Katrina laughed. While it hadn't been funny at the time, in retrospect it was. "The Johnsons were pretty pissed weren't they?"
Damon nodded, but laughed along with her. "Oh yeah. But in their defence the dogs did chew up the seat of their new Harley. And they urinated and shit on pretty much everything stored in the shed."
"They had no place to go. We had to save them," she protested, laughing harder.
"Uh-huh."
As they rounded the corner of the building a loud roar caused Katrina to freeze in her steps. Damon tugged on her hand and she continued to follow. "Is that a..." She didn't get the words out of her mouth, because they rounded the corner and she spotted the source of the noise. A massive tiger paced behind a fenced in area.
"Holy shit!" Hearing her voice a second one emerged from the woods.