Rafe was lethal.
“I’ll fill him in afterward.” Law dragged the folder that perpetually stayed on his desk toward him and opened it. “I want you to stay behind.”
“You do?” Max asked, his words tinged with irritation as his brows drew down and his arms crossed. “And why would you want me that far away from you at the moment? Linden’s out of town and I don’t trust these damned Elders not to pull some kind of shit.”
“I don’t need you or my Guardian Prime to hover. Besides, Silas Townsend is ready to step in if necessary.” He glanced up from the folder’s contents. “I need you to be my eyes and ears on this one,” he told his Beta with a grimace. “You know we didn’t learn much from Gordon. Only that Llewellyn spent quite a bit of time at a club called…” He looked down at the folder again and flipped through a couple of pages before the words he was looking for jumped out at him. He glanced back up. “The Covenant.”
“Sounds like some kind of religious group.”
“Not quite,” Law said, holding back a laugh. “But it just so happens Rafe served on a SEAL team with one of the owners. An… Ian Sawyer.”
“Lucky that,” Max said, sitting forward. “So, it’s a shifter club?”
“Again. No. Human and exclusive. Although this Ian knows what Rafe is—something to do with an incident while he and their team were out on an operation.” A slow grin spread over his face. “Anyhow, from what I understand, I think you’ll find The Covenant quite interesting.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see.” Law would love to be a fly on the wall when Max found out exactly what kind of club The Covenant was. “I also think while you’re there, maybe you could lend a hand with Rafe’s situation. Fresh eyes and all.”
“You promised him I would. Didn’t you?”
Law shrugged. “I just told him I’d put my best on it.”
“I see why you wanted me then,” Max said with a smirk and then frowned when Law responded with, “Simon’s not available.” He then settled back into his seat, his frown still firmly in place.
Law enjoyed giving his Beta a hard time, but he honestly wouldn’t have directed Max to stay in Florida if he didn’t think the bear wouldn’t use all his abilities to get a lead on the man they were looking for. Maybe while he was there, he'd help his new Alpha Regent with a situation Law couldn’t fathom the pain of.
“You know what? You’re right. I am sending my best.”
A huge smile spread over Max’s face. “Of course you are.”
1
Rafe Navarro wandered around the small second-grade classroom, gazing at the colorful walls plastered with banners and various pieces of artwork, and then paused in his steps at a chart covered in gold stars.
“Hmm… I’ve Been Good This Month.” He scanned down the roster of students until he came to Dex Navarro and frowned. His nephew’s name had a star for each day. “What else would I expect?” he muttered before casting a glance over the rest of the room and the grouping of six kid-sized tables with four chairs on either side.
He lifted his head, took a quick whiff of the air, and then easily followed Dex’s scent to his seat. The little boy’s space wasn’t a surprise, with his crayons neatly placed in a row on one side of his uniformly stacked papers and his pencil on the other, unlike the other children at his table who had left theirs haphazardly scattered.
“Chaparrita?”
Rafe picked up the sheet on top of Dex’s paper stack and admired the clean lines and details of the bay mare running through a meadow with the figure of a gray wolf keeping pace beside it. He grinned. It was actually pretty good, and not something one would expect from a seven-year-old.
The kid had talent.
But his grip tightened on the paper at Dex’s choice of colors—black, midnight blue, and deep green. Even the clouded sky he’d drawn was done in shades of gray, with the only bright areas of color being a few dark red flowers in the grass. All in all, the image projected a sense of foreboding—as did most of Dex’s artwork.
“Damn it.” He grimaced and then took a quick look around as he placed the drawing back down as he’d found it. He needed to remember where he was. He hadn’t sensed anyone—particularly children—close by, but watching his language was a must in the small community elementary school.
“Okay, Ms. Simmons. Where are you?” He checked his watch for the third time since arriving as he paced toward the bank of windows along one side of the room. She was ten minutes late for their meeting. While some people might overlook her tardiness, Rafe wasn’t some people. And patience definitely wasn’t one of his virtues.
Rafe smirked at how many virtues he actually didn’t have as he pressed his hands against the windowsill and stared out the window. A slight grin touched his face at the chaos of activity on the playground but quickly faded. Any other time, it might have offered some kind of distraction from his worries.
But not today.
He leaned his forehead against the cool glass and let out a harsh breath. He wasn’t even sure he was doing the right thing by having this meeting. If Mrs. Ervin hadn’t made such a good case at their last parent-teacher conference for an art therapist to work with his nephew over the summer break, Rafe wouldn’t be here.
And it wasn’t because Dex was a bad kid. If anything, the opposite was true. His nephew was almost too well-behaved and, like Rafe, Mrs. Ervin was concerned about his nephew’s tendency to withdraw from those around him.
Needless to say, a human art therapist had been a hard sell for obvious reasons. But according to Mrs. Ervin, this Aubrey Simmons had made a real difference in the lives of other children living in the aftermath of traumatic events.
Trauma.
It was mild word when compared to what Dex had gone through, leading to close to a year of his nephew living in darkness since being placed in his care. And if it took a human therapist to bring him back into the light, well then so be it.
So Rafe had put aside any misgivings and decided to at least talk to the woman. It would have also been something he’d have done regardless of whether the Alpha Prime had sanctioned it or not. Thankfully, Law had, just stressing for Rafe to monitor their interactions closely.
He checked his watch again and frowned. Even a human therapist who was now almost fifteen minutes late.
But late or not, if she managed to break through Dex’s walls he’d consider her a miracle worker. He’d just have to figure out a way to explain the symbolism of Dex’s father being a panther to said human therapist if it came up.
Which might not ever be an issue if she didn’t make an appearance soon.
He glanced over his shoulder at the closed classroom door and then back again toward the window. This would’ve been a hell of a lot easier if she’d had an actual office. Maybe he wouldn’t have had to wait. But she didn’t. So he was stuck here at the school until she showed up.
A slight chuckle left him as his eyes were drawn to the antics of one of the boys hanging upside down on the monkey bars. Rafe straightened away from the window. Up until the murder of his parents, his brother’s child had been like that—a happy, gregarious, outgoing little boy filled with mischief and laughter. And one who certainly would have had some stars missing on a behavior chart.
Now?
He searched through the sea of running, playing children and grimaced. Where was he? He let out a sigh when he finally spotted him sitting on the sidelines of all the activity under a shade tree with his dark head bent. As usual, he had his sketchpad in his lap and an artist’s chalk in his hand. A blonde-haired little girl who looked about the same age sat beside him, casting him shy glances.
“Come on, Dex,” he murmured. “She’s cute.”
Rafe’s heart sank when after several attempts to engage him, and one shrugged-off touch, she got up and moved on to a group of girls gathered by the swings. Dex wasn’t much for talking anymore. Hell, the kid barely spoke to him.
But Rafe had caught him whispering to Ch
aparrita. Of all the horses at La Pradera, she was the most sweet and gentle, and the one Dex gravitated toward. And right now Rafe would give all he owned to know the secrets that horse held.
But Dex was a smart kid and had spoken in tones so low even Rafe’s sensitive shifter hearing hadn’t been able to make out what he’d told her. However, an occasional sob had reached him, and each time, the sound had broken him.
He clenched his jaw at the helplessness he felt at each of those sobs, even more at what the shifter child psychologist had called night terrors. Dex’s tormented screams waking Rafe in the middle of the night never ceased to bring home his own sense failure.
If only Rafe had answered his phone that night instead of ignoring those three consecutive calls. But he’d been lost in the body of the woman he had been seeing at the time, even chuckling when she’d grabbed his hand and pulled it back to her breast when he’d reached for his phone that first time. “Let it go to voicemail,” she’d whispered in his ear.
He pressed his fingers into the wooden sill. And so he had.
Almost four hours later he’d regretted the decision as he’d played Catherine’s first frantic message and then raced to his car as his voicemail took him to one more panic-filled message and then the next. He’d cursed the distance to his brother’s home as he’d repeatedly dialed each of their numbers—refusing to let himself acknowledge why no one was answering.
He swallowed hard at the memory of the horrific, blood-soaked scene that had greeted him as he’d walked through the broken front door of his brother’s home. But he hadn’t taken the time to dwell on what had been done to Javier as he’d searched the house for Catherine and Dex—the task made more difficult as his senses had filled with the stench of death. When he’d come upon her ravaged body in the upstairs hallway outside the master suite…
He closed his eyes at the pricking of his fingers and willed his claws to retract, and then he let his eyes stray back to Dex’s solemn figure on the playground. It had taken him longer to locate the little boy, but he’d finally found him in the back of his parents’ walk-in closet—safe, but terrified—huddled in the farthest corner under a rack of clothes, covered by one of his father’s coats, and sitting in a puddle of his own urine.
His jaw hardened. The men who had decimated his family had masked their scents well…
Except for one.
What he’d left behind on his sister-in-law’s body couldn’t be hidden by the rank aroma of stale cigarette smoke that had still hovered over her. And now the man’s unique scent was forever imprinted on his senses.
But it wasn’t a scent he had come across again during the last eleven months, and none of Javier’s papers or emails had led him any closer to finding who the man might be. He’d even considered the culprit might be among some of their human friends and acquaintances, but he’d never caught that elusive scent again.
Once he found the man—and he would find him—he would wring the names of the rest of his cohorts out of him. And then retribution would be his—first for Catherine’s violation, then for the atrocities inflicted on Javier, and then finally for the fleeting glimpses of fear and horror he would still occasionally glimpse in Dex’s eyes.
His fingers raked over claw marks on the sill as he pushed away from the window, and then he winced and grabbed his side. The alpha challenge two days prior hadn’t lasted long, but it had been bloody—mostly for Gordon. But how had that damned cougar managed to take a small chunk out of him?
An unexpected shiver raced down his spine as he ran a hand over the wound hidden by his pullover shirt. At least it would be healed in a couple of more days. But until then, the damned thing would probably keep stinging like a son of a bitch when he moved wrong. And this was only the first of many wounds he could expect as Alpha Regent…
“Alpha Regent.”
He let out a short laugh at the title he was still getting used to. Not that he’d had anyone other than Law and Max personally address him by it yet. But within the next week, he had meetings scheduled with state Elders and pack and den leaders to begin implementing the changes he and Law had discussed. The title would be bandied about—and probably not in a good way.
“Yeah, I’m sure I can expect all of those to go well,” he groused. Law had warned him to prepare for resistance and more challenges, since not only the Alpha Prime, but each of the nine other Alpha Regents Law had already put in place throughout the Southeastern Alliance, had faced their fair share of opposition.
But he was ready.
He checked his watch again and frowned at the time as he pulled out Dex’s seat facing the window and then scowled even deeper as a strange twinge of expectation hit him when he sat in the micro-chair. He wasn’t necessarily excited about the prospect of what his new title held, but the sense that something was coming had the hair rising up on the back of his neck.
He shrugged away the odd sensation. Whatever it was would happen when it happened and there was no sense in dwelling on it. Right now he had decisions to make, with the first and most pertinent ones being to select his Beta and Guardian. He had two worthy shifters in mind. If Javier were still alive—
“So, so, so sorry I’m late.”
Rafe tensed at the woman’s hurried words accompanying the classroom door banging open before her rushed steps sounded on the linoleum-tiled floor. He slowly rose to his feet as heat surged through his body and a buzzing set up in his ears.
It can’t be.
He stood stock still and kept his gaze fixed on the normal activities going on outside while his heart raced and the world inside this little room turned him on his head as she moved around behind him.
“Traffic was horrible and I ended up behind a wreck.” A loud thunk accompanied her words with just the slightest of drawls as the scent of lilacs and honeysuckle filled him on his next breath. “But you know how it can be on I-Four. And I swear, if they don’t do something about…” She let out a slight whoosh, and then a deep chuckle he felt all the way to his soul. “I’m rambling.”
Yes, she was, but that was okay. Hopefully she hadn’t found it strange he hadn’t turned and acknowledged her yet. But that wasn’t an option at the moment while fur and whiskers prickled under his skin and his face ached with the change. He touched his tongue to the tip of one of his sharpening incisors.
No. Having her come face to face with the panther and his alpha form he was presently wrangling control over would more than likely send her screaming from the room. And now wasn’t the time to make her scream—and she would be screaming. But that would come much later, and he could guarantee it wouldn’t be in terror.
Rafe’s cock swelled in anticipation as he called on his panther’s laser focus to track the woman’s reflection in the window. Her back remained to him while she quickly pulled folders from a large canvas bag and set them out at one of the children’s tables.
Tall. A little broad through the hips with an ass that…
Did I just purr?
She paused and glanced over her shoulder. “Was that a cat?”
He groaned as she looked under the table and her jeans pulled tightly across her magnificent ass. He held in another purr.
“Strange.” She straightened and grinned while glancing around the room and then brushed her straight, chin-length blonde hair away from her face. “Umm…” She stared at the back of his head and bit her plump bottom lip before asking, “This is Mrs. Ervin’s room. Right?” She stepped away from the table and moved toward him.
Rafe’s pulse raced in expectation of the touch of her hand as she reached out to him and then mentally shook off the letdown as she dropped it back down to her side. “Mr. Navarro?”
He cleared his throat. “Yes.” At least he’d found his voice, even though it had still come out on a slight purr.
Damned cat nature.
“I’m Rafael Navarro,” he said as he turned toward her. He held her widening deep blue gaze as he reached out a steady hand. “And you must be A
ubrey Simmons.”
My Destined Mate.
Her quizzical gaze remained on his as she hesitantly took his hand and a flush crept into her cheeks. “Have we met somewhere before?”
Only in your dreams.
He managed to keep his grip loose as she gave him a firm handshake. It wasn’t enough, but he and his other forms relished the touch of their mate all the same.
“I don’t believe so,” he said while inwardly congratulating himself on the fact he was able to release her hand, when all he wanted to do was haul her up against his chest and savor having every inch of her curvy form against his as he kissed her breathless.
“I could’ve sworn when you turned around…” She shook her head and smiled. “Never mind,” she said before going back to the table and rummaging around inside her bag again. “I really appreciate you meeting me here. And since I’m so late, I don’t want to keep you any longer than necessary. So let’s get to it,” she said while pulling a few more folders from inside and placing them on the table. “I’ve looked over Mrs. Ervin’s report and Dex’s drawings you gave her permission to send me.” She straightened away from the table and faced him. “And…” She gave him another questioning look. “Is something wrong?”
She’d caught him staring.
“No.” He needed to get a handle on himself. “No, just very interested in what you have to say.”
“Umm…” She pursed her full, kissable lips as she glanced down at the small table and chairs. “Sorry we’re stuck sitting at one of the children’s tables.” And though it wasn’t sexual in the least, he couldn’t help but feel the caress of her eyes as they traveled the length of his body. “I hope that’s okay?”
But then again, her slight flush and the faint scent of arousal told him perhaps she felt an attraction too. Although his draw toward her was so much more than simple attraction.
Rafe's Mate Page 2
