by Dena Christy
He didn’t expect her to act on what he said, so he was surprised when his jacket was the last thing to come flying out the window before she slammed it shut.
He scooped the worn, black leather up off the driveway and brushed off the dust. At least he wouldn’t freeze now. He put on the jacket and turned away from her house.
The gravel on the driveway crunched under his boots as he trudged down it. Why the hell had he picked a woman from East Brook? At least if this confrontation had taken place in Cold Bay he wouldn’t have had that far to walk home. He’d worn out his welcome with most of the ladies in Cold Bay, at least with the wolf members of the population. The merger with East Brook had expanded his amorous horizons considerably.
It still didn’t solve his current problem. He supposed he could change into his wolf form and run home, but that would mean losing his boots, clothes and probably his cell phone. He could return for them in the morning, but there was no guarantee that Stephanie wouldn’t use that shotgun if she saw him again.
The weight of his cellphone inspired him with an idea and he stopped in the middle of the deserted road. It wasn’t that late. He would call Mason to come and get him.
He scrolled through his contacts until he came to Mason’s name, and put the phone to his ear. It rang several times and Rafe was starting to think he wouldn’t get an answer.
“What is it? What’s happened?” There was a note of alarm in Mason’s voice and Rafe winced. Mason was the pack’s lieutenant and Rafe its enforcer. Rafe hadn’t considered that Mason’s mind would go straight into emergency mode upon seeing his number on his phone in the middle of the night.
“The pack is fine.”
There was a pause on the other end of the phone, and Mason’s voice rumbled on the other end. “There had better be a good reason for you to be calling me in the middle of the night and tearing me away from my mate.”
Perhaps calling Mason hadn’t been such a hot idea. Still, there was no turning back now that he had him on the phone.
“I need you to pick me up. I’m out by Steph’s place.” Rafe didn’t think it would be necessary to go into explanations since Mason knew how he operated.
A momentary stab of shame went through him when he remembered the hurt on Stephanie’s face and he quickly shoved it down. He’d been honest with her, and if she got hurt it was her own fault for not believing him.
“Are you serious?”
“Come on, Mace. It’s cold out and a long walk home.”
There was another long pause on the other end of the phone and Rafe hoped it meant that Mason was going to come through for him. If not, he had a long walk ahead of him.
“Fine.” Mason’s growled response sent relief pouring through Rafe. He knew his buddy wouldn’t let him down. “Where are you exactly?”
“In East Brook, on Railton Road.”
“I’ll be there shortly.” Mason’s voice was a sigh of resignation.
“One more thing. Can you bring me a shirt? I seem to have lost mine.”
A growl was Mason’s response and the call disconnected. Rafe tucked his phone in his pocket and resumed his walk down the road. It was late fall now, and the night air bit against his bare skin exposed by the opening of his jacket. He was certain that it would have felt worse if he’d been human since his werewolf nature made him run hotter.
He didn’t know how long he’d been walking down the road when headlights appeared in front of him. Mason, finally. Thank God. Now he could go home and forget this whole night had happened.
The truck pulled to a halt and Rafe raced over to it and opened the door. “Thanks a lot, man, I really appreciate this.”
He climbed in the cab and settled in beside a frowning Mason. His friend handed him a red flannel button-down shirt and Rafe shrugged out of his jacket to put it on.
“Do I even want to know what happened?”
“Stephanie just clued in that I wasn’t lying when I told her that I don’t do long-term commitment.”
Mason moved the truck forward and made a u-turn in the middle of the road so that the truck was now pointed toward Cold Bay.
“And you couldn’t have this confrontation with her during the day? And why don’t you have your truck?”
“It seemed like a good idea to go to her place in her car. I wasn’t thinking that she was going to kick me out in the middle of the night without a way to get home.”
Mason rolled his eyes. “I don’t think you were thinking at all.”
That was true. Just because he didn’t want to be committed to anyone didn’t mean that he didn’t like women, that he didn’t have an insane sex drive that more often than not got him into trouble.
“Well, I’m taking a break from chasing tail for a while.”
“Yeah, right. I’m sure you’ll be after someone new by this time next week. Unless you’ve slept with all the available women in East Brook now too?”
“Not yet.” Although after this incident with Stephanie it might be wise to lie low for a while and stay out of East Brook. “But as I said, I’m going to take a break from women for a while. Most of the wolves around here only seem to have catching a mate on their mind.”
“It’s not so bad, you know. Having a mate.” Mason glanced away from the road and Rafe gave a shake of his head. Things were different for Mason, he had Grace and was deeply in love. He saw the world a little different.
“I’ll leave the happily ever after to you and Logan. I like my freedom too much to want to give it up.” His smile fell away and he looked out the window.
“Whatever you say. But I’m going to be going home to a warm, willing woman. What are you going home to?”
Rafe didn’t bother to answer. He was going home to an empty house, and that was the way he liked it.
The rest of the drive passed in silence and when they got to Rafe’s driveway the truck slowed down to make the turn.
“You can drop me off here, I’ll walk the rest of the way. Thanks for helping me out.” Rafe put his hand on the door handle as Mason stopped the truck.
“No problem, just don’t make a habit of it.”
Rafe flashed him a smile. “I told you, I’m taking a break from women. Tell Grace I said hi.”
He got out of the truck and shut the door. He waited until he saw Mason’s tail lights disappear down the road before he turned to make the long walk down his driveway. The home he’d built himself was sitting there waiting for him. A big, silent, empty house.
Giving his head a shake he trudged down the drive.
2
Honor let out a slow breath as she eased her car to a stop in front of Rafe’s home. Dawn was reaching its first tendrils across the sky, and she wondered at the wisdom of showing up on this man’s doorstep with no warning.
Rafe had left the Eden Creek pack ten years ago to join Cold Bay, and she hadn’t seen him since. To say that her visit would be unexpected was an understatement. She had told herself that she had to get out of Eden Creek as soon as possible, but surely it could have waited a couple of hours?
She was here now, and it wasn’t going to get any better by just sitting in her car. She got out and looked up at the house.
It loomed in front of her, and she tried to get a feel for the man that Rafe was now by looking at it. The house was two stories high, with a wrap-around walkway on each level. Huge windows dominated the front of the house and she was sure that the view from the top floor must be spectacular. That it was made of logs and surrounded by trees wasn’t a surprise. Rafe was a werewolf and would need to be as close to nature as possible. The size of it was a surprise. He must have a big family to need a house that looked like a fairytale cabin on steroids.
She shook her head. She was stalling, and she knew it. The best thing to do would be to march up to his door and knock. Hopefully, his mate and family wouldn’t be too disturbed by a dawn visit.
With her determination firmly fixed, she marched up the wooden steps to the porch. Out of the corne
r of her eye, she saw a single Adirondack chair. It looked small and lonely surrounded by the massive expanse of the wrap-around porch. Perhaps someone in the house came out here to escape and be alone.
She raised her fist to the wooden door and held it there suspended for a moment. What if he turned her away? What was she going to do then? Quinn had told her to come to him if she was ever in trouble and she hadn’t thought about what would happen after she left Eden Creek. Ten years was a long time. What if he didn’t want to get involved with the politics of his old pack?
Standing here with her hand in the air would not give her the answer. She bit her lip and knocked on the heavy door. It echoed inside the house and she lowered her hand. Now she would need to wait.
Several minutes passed and nothing. Maybe no one was home? There was a truck sitting in the driveway, so someone had to be there.
With the last of her courage, she knocked on the door again, louder this time.
“Hold on. I’m coming.” A deep masculine voice shouted from inside the house and Honor winced. He didn’t sound too pleased to have a visitor this early in the morning. Not exactly the start she was hoping for.
The door flew open and there stood Rafe. He was shirtless, with only a pair of low-slung jeans clinging to his hips. She stared at the broad expanse of his muscular torso, and her mouth went dry. God, he was so much bigger than she remembered. He towered over her and she had to cast her gaze way up to look at his face.
His dark brown hair stood in spikes all over his head as if he’d just crawled out of bed. His brows were drawn into a heavy scowl over his moss green eyes.
“Whatever you’re selling, I’m not buying, lady.” The deep, gravelly growl that came out of him only piled on the distraction caused by the masculine beauty of his body. Her mouth worked, but she couldn’t seem to get a word out. “This will get boring real fast if all you’re going to do is stare.”
Honor cleared her throat and her stomach danced. He didn’t remember her. But then why would he? She’d been a gawky, awkward teenager the last time he saw her.
“It’s me, Honor. Quinn’s sister.” Jesus, she needed to get a grip on herself. She sounded like a mouse.
To say he was surprised was an understatement. His eyes drifted from the top of her head down to her toes. His scowl eased and the corner of his mouth pulled up in an easy smile when he looked in her eyes.
“Well, this is a blast from the past. Come on in.” He moved away from the door and she stepped inside his house.
She didn’t know how it was possible, but the house seemed even bigger on the inside. It was an expanse of open space, and the sun was flooding in the large windows.
She jumped when he closed the door and as he went by her she got a whiff of his scent. He even smelled good.
“I’ll put on some coffee. We’ll go into the kitchen and you can tell me why you’re on my doorstep at the crack of dawn.”
She followed behind him deeper into the house. As he went by the sofa, he scooped up a red flannel shirt that was draped over the back and shrugged it on. It was a relief because until that moment she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the smooth expanse of his back, which tapered from his wide shoulders down to his trim waist. Now her eyes darted down to his butt. This man sure filled out a pair of jeans.
Her cheeks heated as she brought her eyes back up. He wasn’t looking at her so he couldn’t know she was staring at his ass but she felt guilty all the same. He was probably mated with a passel of kids.
He led her to the kitchen and pulled out one of the bar chairs that were along one side of the counter.
“Have a seat.” He buttoned the shirt as he stepped into the U-shaped kitchen, grabbed the coffee carafe from the coffeemaker and filled it full of water.
He didn’t speak as he went about the business of making coffee and a frown pulled her eyebrows together. The house was so quiet, as if they were the only two people here. A glance around the open concept living space gave no clues that there was anyone else other than him living here.
Once he got the coffee maker set up he came over to where she was sitting and put his hands flat on the countertop that stood between them. Honor licked her lips, wondering where she should begin.
“How’s Quinn? I heard he’s alpha now.”
Obviously, the news of Quinn’s death hadn’t spread as far as Cold Bay yet. There was no way to soften what she had to tell him, and she wished she didn’t have to say it out loud. By keeping it inside she could pretend that Quinn was still with her. But she needed this man’s help and he needed to know why.
“Quinn’s dead. He was killed in a car accident last night.” Honor pressed her lips together as she squeezed her hands into a knot. She hadn’t cried yet. She wanted to be strong but something about being here with this man, who had been her brother’s best friend once upon a time, opened the floodgates to her grief.
“Oh man.” The sadness in his voice sent the first tear spilling down her cheek, leaving a hot trail in its wake. Others soon followed and she could only sit there as she heard him moving around the counter toward her.
Strong masculine hands pulled her off the stool and into his arms. A sob burst out of her as she trembled against him. He held her tight and even if he did nothing else to help her, she would always be grateful to him for the compassion he was showing her now.
She didn’t know how long she stood there crying in his arms. He seemed to be in no rush to let her go, and the soothing circles his hands were making on her back felt so good that she didn’t want to step away from him. But she needed to. There was more she had to tell him, more that she needed to ask of him and she had to pull herself together.
She looked down at the floor as she took a step back, and swiped her hands over her sopping cheeks. Something slid down the counter toward her, and she looked up to see Rafe had put a box of tissue in front of her. She pulled several tissues out of the box and used them to mop her face before finally blowing her nose.
“I’m sorry if this is all so sudden. I had your number from Quinn’s address book but I thought it better if I came here in person.”
She sagged back down in the seat she’d recently vacated and twisted the tissues in her hand. There was still a lot more that she needed to tell him, but she had no idea where she was going to begin. So far he had asked no questions, but she supposed that learning her brother was dead was a shock for him too.
He moved away, still saying nothing and went to the coffeemaker, which had finished its cycle. He took two mugs out of the cupboard as he looked at her.
“How do you take it?”
“Just cream. Listen, Rafe—”
He held up his hand and gave his head a shake. “I need coffee before I can deal with anything else. And from the sounds of it so do you. I can’t imagine you’ve gotten much sleep.”
His words reminded her that she’d had no sleep at all. She’d been running on fear and adrenaline all night, and it would soon catch up with her. Perhaps the coffee would give her enough of a jolt to get through what she needed to say to ask him for help.
He finished making the coffee and brought both mugs over. “Let’s go sit in the living room where it’s more comfortable and then we’ll talk.”
She got up off the stool and followed him into the living room.
“I hope that my being here won’t cause any problems for you with your mate.”
He gave her a funny look. “It’s only me here, darlin’.”
So he wasn’t mated? Didn’t he find it lonely in this big house all by himself? With a mental shake of her head, she told herself that it didn’t matter. There was a more pressing issue to deal with than the status of Rafe’s personal life.
She brought the coffee cup to her lips and took a sip. The hot liquid slid down her throat and settled in her stomach. Some of the tension coiling inside her eased. She had to believe that things would be better than they had been so far.
“You didn’t come all this way
just to tell me that Quinn was dead, did you? I haven’t been in Eden Creek for ten years and while I was once Quinn’s best friend, that was a long time ago. So what sent you running to me at the crack of dawn?”
Quinn had always said that Rafe hid his keen, perceptive nature under a devil may care exterior. She could see evidence of his intelligence in his eyes as he looked at her.
“Quinn always told me that if something ever happened to him that I needed to find you. I’m not sure that my brother’s accident was an accident. He has had a feeling for the past few months that something was going to happen to him, that his time as alpha would be cut short.”
Rafe took a sip of his coffee and looked at her. “That could have just been paranoia on your brother’s part. He had been groomed to be alpha from the cradle. Once it happened to him, he was bound to feel like it could be taken from him.”
“I thought that too, and if that is all that happened, maybe I would be home right now believing that an accident took my brother from me. I received a visit from Barrett Todd last night after I heard about Quinn’s crash.” Rafe’s mouth twisted. “You remember him?”
“I remember him. What did he want?” Was it her imagination or did Rafe’s voice just get deeper? His eyes were razor sharp as they focused on her.
“He asked me to be his mate.”
A look of surprise crossed Rafe’s face. “That’s it?”
“No. He tried to intimidate me by inferring that he had powerful friends on the council. And he told me that once he was alpha, he could declare me a lone wolf if I didn’t do what he wanted.”
A sound rumbled in Rafe’s chest as he got up off the sofa. He paced for several moments, his hands clenching and unclenching.
“It was him. He was responsible for Quinn’s accident.”
“I think so too, but unless I can prove it he will have power over me if he becomes alpha.”
