by Dena Christy
Rafe stopped where he was and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. He gave a shake of his head. “Well, you can’t go back home until this mess is sorted out. You can stay here for the time being.”
Relief poured through Honor but she wondered why the look on his face told her that letting her stay here was the last thing he wanted.
“Are you sure?” She didn’t want to force herself on anyone.
“You’re Quinn’s kid sister. He told you to come to me for a reason. You can stay here for now but we’ll need to talk to my alpha, Logan.”
Rafe slammed the door of his truck when he got out of it and stood facing Mason’s gym. Most of Cold Bay’s inhabitants were just waking up, but he knew that Mason’s would be open. Most of the wolves in Cold Bay headed here first to start their day. Rafe wasn’t usually one, since he preferred his mornings to start slower, but this morning was so far removed from usual that it felt like he’d entered foreign territory.
He’d left Honor sleeping at his house. He had the energy to burn and so many thoughts churning in his head that he wanted them to be quiet so he could think of what they were going to do next. Her news about Quinn was like a sledgehammer in the gut. He’d kept in touch with his friend sporadically through the years, and his death didn’t seem real. Combine that with the shock of attraction that washed over him when she’d stood on his front porch, and he needed to do something to help him focus.
He got his gym bag out of the back of the truck and strode toward the door to the gym. Punching the heavy bag while he imagined it was Barrett Todd’s face should do the trick. It was pretty clear that slimy prick hadn’t changed at all. When Rafe had been part of the Eden Creek pack there was something about Barrett that raised his hackles. Despite his boy next door looks, Rafe always knew he couldn’t be trusted. And from what Honor had said, his true colors were showing.
Of all the people he expected to be knocking on his door at the crack of dawn this morning, the last one he expected was Honor Mercer. To say that Quinn’s baby sister had grown from a gawky teenager into a beautiful woman was an understatement. The last time he’d seen her she’d been all legs and frankly too young to notice. Now though, that was an entirely different story.
Now, she was a smoke show. Long satiny red hair, a taut athletic body with enough curves to make any man take a second look, and big fawn like brown eyes. He was glad that he’d made the vow to himself that he was going to take a break from chasing women because Honor was just the kind of woman he liked to run after and she was out of bounds. Quinn would roll in his grave if he made a move on his sister. She was the kind of woman a wolf settled down and mated with, and all Rafe could offer her would be a fling.
Rafe walked into the gym and headed straight to the locker room. Once he’d changed into his workout clothes, he came back out to the main part of the gym. Mason raised a hand in greeting from across the room where he was instructing a young wolf in the fine art of boxing. There was a grin on his face, so it was nice to see that there were no hard feelings over Rafe’s interruption of his evening last night. Rafe waved back as he headed toward the heavy bag. He pulled his gloves on and gave it a push. The bag swung back and forth and he worked on his footwork as he dodged around it.
With a snap of his hand, he hit the bag and continued to dance around it. In his mind’s eye, it was Barrett Todd in front of him.
Snap.
The sound of his gloved fist hitting the bag was satisfying but not as much as it would have been if it had been Barrett’s flesh he was hitting. A swell of protectiveness rose up inside him when he remembered the frightened look in Honor’s eyes when she’d told him of the threats Barrett had made against her.
He hit the bag harder than the first few times and it bounced on the chain it was hanging on. He poured his built up aggression into his workout. Over and over he dodged and hit the bag as if it was his imaginary opponent.
He had a feeling that Barrett Todd would eventually need to be dealt with, but not today. Today he needed to talk to his alpha about what was to be done with the woman staying in his house. Pack politics were delicate and the last thing Rafe wanted to do was to embroil his pack into a war.
He knew what he would like to do with her, but that couldn’t happen. Not only was his new vow to take a break from his more amorous activities not even twenty-four hours old, but Honor was also special and deserved a man who would give her everything. He’d been there done that years ago, and he’d never give a woman everything he had ever again. So he was going to keep his nose clean and do his best to keep his libido under control. He had a feeling that he was going to be spending more time in the gym than he usually did.
“You are my new best friend,” he said as he looked at the heavy bag and punched it. For the next while, he was going to be pounding the heavy bag instead of pounding himself into female flesh.
“I thought I was your best friend.” Rafe glanced over with a grin as Mason came to stand beside him. “I’m a little surprised to see you here so early this morning.”
“Something’s come up and I needed to clear my head. This seemed the best way to do it.” Sweat was now pouring off Rafe’s body and he felt a sense of clarity overtake him. As long as he didn’t let his attraction to Honor get to him, he would be fine with having her in his house. “Is Logan coming in to the bar today?”
Mason handed him a towel, and he used it to mop the sweat off his face. “I think he’s taking the day off so he can spend it with Faith and Connor. Why?”
“That something that came up, is something that he needs to know about.” Rafe knew how much his alpha cherished his time with his family, and he didn’t want to interrupt that.
“He will be here for a workout in a couple of minutes. If you’re done, go shower and I’ll ask him to wait in my office for you before he gets started. Is this anything I should know about?”
“It wouldn’t hurt for you to be there too.” Rafe hung the towel around his neck as he headed back to the locker room. He played out in his head what he was going to tell Logan. He needed to know what was happening in Eden Creek.
His old pack had never been the most stable, and it had a tendency to devolve into chaos when it was without the influence of a strong alpha. Cold Bay had been that way too until Logan had claimed his place as alpha. He would need to know what was happening on his pack’s borders so he could be prepared if the conflict spilled into Cold Bay.
As the hot water washed away the sweat of his workout, he hoped that Logan wouldn’t demand that he send Honor back on her way home. Logan was a fair man, but he would put what was best for the pack first, and Honor just might bring a war to his doorstep.
He got out of the shower and roughly towel dried his body. As he pulled on his jeans, he pushed the thought from his mind that he might have to send Honor back into Barrett’s clutches. It wouldn’t come to that. Surely there were other, less slimy contenders for the position of Eden Creek’s alpha. He just had to keep Honor safe until they picked one. And hopefully not Barrett Todd.
Rafe pulled on a white T-shirt and threw his leather jacket on. With his gear back in his gym bag, he walked out of the locker room and headed to Mason’s office. He didn’t see Mason in the main part of the gym, so Logan must already be in the office waiting for him. He hurried his footsteps and his alpha was the first person he saw upon entering the office.
Logan was casually chatting with Mason, and he studied them for a moment. Both men had transformed in the past few months. They looked relaxed and happy, and it was obvious that finding their mates agreed with them.
“So Mason tells me that you have something you want to talk to me about? What’s going on?” There was a relaxed grin on Logan’s face and Rafe wondered for a moment how long it was going to take for what he had to tell him to wipe that look away. Not long he was sure.
“Quinn Mercer is dead. His sister told me this morning.” Rafe stepped further into the room and shut the door behind him. He though
t no one in the gym needed to hear what was going on.
The easy smile fell from Logan’s face. “That’s too bad. I didn’t know him well, but he was a stabilizing influence on Eden Creek for the relatively short time he was alpha. How did it happen?”
“Car accident.” Rafe wasn’t sure if he should share his thoughts on if it really was an accident. His gut told him there was more to it than that but without proof that’s all it was, a gut feeling.
“Thanks for letting me know. I’m sure it will take a while for Eden Creek to settle until they get their new alpha. Hopefully, he’ll be a good one. Make sure his sister knows that she has the condolences of the Cold Bay pack.”
Logan stood and Rafe was sure that his alpha assumed that this was the end of the conversation. Unfortunately, things were about to get more complicated for them all.
“She’s staying at my house.” Rafe swallowed for a second when his alpha’s laser-like blue eyes focused on him. He towered over his alpha by a good three inches and outweighed him by at least thirty pounds of muscle. But he was the first to look away.
“And what is she doing there instead of in her territory? I would think her place would be with her pack in her time of mourning.” There was a distinct edge in Logan’s voice, and Rafe mentally cursed Barrett Todd for putting both him and Honor in this position. He scrambled to think of what he could say to his alpha that wouldn’t send him into orbit.
“She came to me for protection. Quinn told her that if anything ever happened to him, she was to find me. She thinks that his death may not have been an accident. A rival of Quinn’s came to see her last night and asked her to be his mate. He wasn’t too happy about being turned down.”
Logan closed his eyes and breathed in slowly. “She is single, with the blood of alphas coursing through her veins. They will fight over her.”
“So I’m just supposed to send her back and let those dogs scrap over her like she’s a piece of meat?” Rafe knew his tone was bordering on disrespectful but he couldn’t help it. Logan hadn’t held her in his arms while she cried out her grief over her brother, hadn’t seen the fear in her eyes when she relayed the threat that Barrett had made against her. He had and he couldn’t just blithely send her on her way back home. “He threatened to make her a lone wolf once he was alpha if she didn’t agree.”
“This is a shitty situation for her, I don’t dispute that. Her brother isn’t around to protect her, and she is grieving. I feel for her but I’m not her alpha and she isn’t a part of this pack. I have to put the pack first, that’s my job. And I will not interfere with Eden Creek’s pack, no matter how bad I feel for her.”
Rafe clenched his jaw. Sending Honor back there was the last thing he wanted to do. She was vulnerable in Eden Creek. “Are you ordering me to send her back today?”
Logan sighed. “She can stay until Eden Creek picks a new alpha. If she wants to join Cold Bay after that, I’ll agree to it. But don’t get your hopes up. Whoever the new alpha is probably won’t agree to let her go, not with her bloodlines. She will have to ask for Cold Bay’s protection, but this isn’t a permanent solution. Bring her to the bar tomorrow.”
At least it was something. Maybe Eden Creek’s new alpha wouldn’t be Barrett Todd. “Thank you, alpha.”
“You’ve been a member of this pack for ten years. I hope that if it comes down to it that your loyalty will be with Cold Bay.” And with that Logan walked out the door of Mason’s office.
The message was clear. Logan was prepared to be ruthless in his protection of the pack, even if it meant getting rid of his enforcer if his loyalty wasn’t with Cold Bay one hundred percent.
3
Honor set her phone down on the table and swallowed hard on the prickle of tears that burned in the back of her throat. The medical examiner was ready to release her brother, all they needed was the name of the funeral home that would take possession of the body. Such a cold, clinical way to think about it. Her brother, the person who had been her best friend and protector, had been reduced to being a body.
She told them that Hallaren’s Funeral Home would make the arrangements. They said they would get in touch with the funeral home to let them know that Quinn was ready to be picked up.
A tear leaked out from under her lashes and she swiped at it. She needed to pull herself together. Her grief threatened to swamp her, but she had to push forward. Rafe had told her that his alpha wanted to see her, that she would have to formally ask for his pack’s protection in order to stay here. She didn’t want to stand in front of Cold Bay’s alpha a blubbering mess. The blood of alphas’ coursed through her veins and she would be strong.
She jumped for a second when a large hand settled on her back, running over it in soothing circles.
“How are you holding up?” Rafe’s deep rumble was as soothing as his hand on her back and she thought for a moment that she could get used to it.
“Nothing in my life has prepared me for this. Quinn took care of everything when our parents passed. I don’t know how I’m going to say goodbye to him.” A sob came out of her and she fought to stop the tears from coming, but they rolled down her cheeks in a hot trail.
“I don’t know how I will either, but we’ll find a way together.” His hands were gentle when he pulled her to her feet and tucked her against his chest. “He was a good man and didn’t deserve to have his life cut so short.”
She put her arms around his waist and tried to draw from the strength of his body. She was going to need that strength in the days to come. Not only when she laid her brother to rest, but also when the moment came for Eden Creek to pick a new alpha.
She pulled back and swiped her hands over her cheeks. She gave a little laugh when he handed her a clean tissue. “I seem to be making a habit of this, crying all over your shirt.”
“If anyone has a reason to cry, it’s you.” He took a step back and she looked up at him. “Are you ready to go talk to Logan? I’d tell you that we can postpone it but I want to make sure that you have the pack’s protection. The only way to do that is to talk to Logan.”
“I’m fine. Let’s go talk to your alpha.”
He nodded and together they walked out of the house to his truck. They were on the road in a matter of minutes and the scenery went by the truck’s window without her seeing any of it. A nervous ball formed in her stomach as she thought about meeting with Logan. When members of her pack spoke about him it was in awed whispers and most members were careful to stay out of Cold Bay’s territory unless invited. Logan was the strongest alpha that Cold Bay had in a long time and his reputation for being a hard, but fair man preceded him. What was she going to do if he told her that she couldn’t stay? She couldn’t go home, and she didn’t want to leave the area until she’d at least laid her brother to rest.
As if sensing her turmoil, Rafe reached one hand off the steering wheel to give her hand a squeeze before letting it go. She gave him a grateful smile.
“Thank you. I know that my showing up on your doorstep yesterday has complicated things for you.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’re Quinn’s baby sister, I could hardly turn you away.”
Was that all he saw when he looked at her? Quinn’s baby sister? She wanted to point out that she was all grown up but kept her mouth shut. Once upon a time, when he’d been a part of her pack and she was a shy teenager, she’d had such a crush on Rafe that she dreamed that one day he would see her as a woman. She was old enough now that it was time to put girlish fantasies aside, but a small part of her still longed for him to see her as she really was, not as she used to be.
She sighed and turned her face back to the window. Rafe’s life wasn’t the only one that was complicated by her turning up on his doorstep. Seeing him again, looking bigger and fiercer than she remembered, made those old feelings she thought long buried come rushing back. Perhaps the crush would have died if all he turned out to be was a man with a handsome face and rugged body, but there was more to him than that.
He’d shown her a sensitivity for her feelings that sharply contrasted with his reputation. He was Cold Bay’s enforcer, and Quinn had kept tabs on him throughout his rise through Cold Bay’s ranks. If anyone messed with Cold Bay, they inevitably faced off with Rafe Cooper and he was a wolf that nobody smart wanted to fuck with.
She was not ashamed to admit that the wolf inside her responded to being in the company of a strong wolf like him. It begged the question though. Why wasn’t he mated already? She was sure that the females in Cold Bay could appreciate a man like him.
“You know what’s funny? When I first saw your house I was sure you had a mate and a bunch of kids inside.” She smiled when she looked over at him and he gave her a puzzled look.
“Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know, your house is so big that it seems more like a family home rather than an overgrown bachelor pad. Why haven’t you mated yet?” She didn’t know why she was having this conversation with him. Perhaps it was her not so subtle way of trying to find out if there was a special woman in his life.
“I don’t have a mate because I don’t want one. I like my life the way it is.” He pulled his sunglasses off the dashboard and put them on. She couldn’t read his expression as he stared straight ahead at the road.
“So there is no one special in your life who might object to a woman temporarily living in your house?”
“Nope.”
The parts of his face that she could see closed up and she knew that this conversation was at a very clear dead end. She didn’t know why she wanted to know anyway. It’s not like his status, single or otherwise, had anything to do with her. She needed him to protect her for now, and that was as far as it would go.
He pulled the truck into the parking lot of a bar that bore the sign proclaiming it to be Sawyer’s Place. She blew out a slow breath, trying to calm her churning stomach.
“Logan is a fair man. Just talk to him.” Rafe got out of the truck while Honor fumbled with her seatbelt. She reached for the door handle to find that he was already on the other side of the truck and opened the door for her. He held his hand out to her and helped her out. He gave her hand a squeeze and let it go.
