Rafe groaned as his body assumed its human form, the feeling more like intense pleasure than pain. His wolf settled to a translucent aura on his torso to study the world with its own senses. After a shift, it stayed calmer that way. He didn’t have to hide what he was, or his activities in the car park, because building security knew what he was; the guards were either shifters or vampires themselves.
He hurried into his clothing: sweatpants, a t-shirt, and trainers he had worn for his jog in the park earlier. His evening’s exercise hadn’t been as relaxing as he had hoped it would be though. The protesters against civil rights for the two-natured had been gathering at the Hyde Park Corner, preparing to march through the park. It was useless to protest against the shifters, as the two-natureds didn’t have any say in the vote, but feelings had been running high among the demonstrators and they wanted to liberate the park for humans only.
Good luck with that, Rafe thought grimly. Since he didn’t want a confrontation, he had ignored the protesters, but at this point anyone who hadn’t immediately agreed with them was held to be against them, and so got heckled. The racist slurs or comparing shifters to animals by addressing them as ‘it’ in their chants like house pets was just part of their repertoire, none of which had bothered him. It simply went against his nature to pretend to be human in such a situation, but there had been too many of them for him to face alone and he had thought it best to return home.
To his shock, he had almost run into Charlotte there. She had just exited his building with his neighbour’s dog in tow, and it had claimed all of her attention. He had spent the day thinking about her, and it had stunned him to see her so unexpectedly. It felt like he’d conjured her out of thin air, and made him forget every rule of civilised behaviour. Instead of going to her and greeting her, and maybe joining her for her walk, he had retreated into the shadows as she walked past. Then he had slipped into the car park and shifted.
In wolf form, they had followed her to the Hyde Park, glad that they had. The reckless human needed to be protected from herself. Did she think shifters were the worst of what she might encounter in the dark?
A shifter in animal form was just about the greatest predator there was, but they seldom attacked humans. One-natured monsters, however, wouldn’t hesitate violating their own. Not to mention the protesters who were ready to release their mob mentality at the slightest provocation. A dog wouldn’t help her much against them, especially one as friendly as Bob. Bob liked even him, even though dogs were naturally wary around predatory shifters.
They had miscalculated Bob’s friendliness though, and it had spotted them under a bush where they had been checking Charlotte’s path ahead of her. But had the foolhardy woman ran like any sensible human would when her dog indicated danger in a known shifter park? No, she had stayed to investigate.
He shook his head, his anger rising as he walked to the lift and called it down to the car park, entering it impatiently when it arrived. Only when they had growled had she realised she should flee, and even then she had retreated slowly.
They had followed her to make sure she got home safely, and that was when they had gotten careless again. They had thought she would run straight inside, but instead she had paused at the mouth of the alley and had seen them. And she had stayed to look. It made him furious. What if he had been a shifter less in control of his beast? Generally, shifters didn’t attack humans, but there are exceptions to every rule.
The lift cage paused at the lobby, adding to his aggravation. The doors opened, and there she suddenly was again.
Rafe didn’t think. He just reacted with all his anger and worry for her. Reaching out, he pulled her into the cage, dog and all, and pushed her against the wall, pinning her down with his large body. She opened her mouth in protest, and he sealed it with his own.
As their mouths met, his firm press against her soft acceptance, his anger turned to lust so intense he thought he would come then and there. He wrapped his arms around her hips and pulled her against his erection, the contact shooting a shockwave of pleasure to his brain, shutting it down for good.
Fortunately, she didn’t struggle against his kiss. He wasn’t at all sure he had the willpower to stop if she wanted him to, but she was as aroused as he was. Deepening the kiss, she wrapped her arms around his neck and folded her long legs around his waist, bringing him in direct contact with what he wanted, only their clothing blocking his way inside her. He growled and ground harder against her, never breaking the kiss. He devoured the warm moistness of her mouth, her taste so exquisite he could have drank her forever.
A distant ping signalled the cage’s arrival at their floor and the doors opened. A quiet clicking of claws against marble indicated that Bob had exited the lift, pausing when its leash didn’t let it go farther. But Rafe didn’t break the kiss. It wasn’t until someone cleared his throat into the lift’s loudspeaker that he remembered the constant surveillance the building was famous for.
“If you could take your lady indoors, Mr Green…” an amused voice admonished.
Rafe broke the kiss and smiled when Charlotte protested with a small mew, her eyes half closed with lust. He didn’t let go of her but just carried her out of the cage, hailing the camera with a two-fingered salute as he went. He heard the bloke chuckle as the doors closed again behind him.
He couldn’t wait to get Charlotte into his bed where he would keep her for as long as he needed in order to get the human woman out of his system. Then he could concentrate on other things. Like having her again.
But the small delay had been enough to sober her up. She struggled, and even though it pained him to let her go, he set her on her feet. “Don’t ever go into a dark park alone again,” he said sternly, remembering his earlier aggravation. “Do you hear me, woman?” His voice was gravelly for anger and worry, and for lust.
She recoiled as if he had thrown cold water on her. “Excuse me? Are you giving me orders?”
“Bloody well I am. Don’t you know how vulnerable human women are? From now on, when you’re walking Bob this late, you take me or someone from security with you.” Then a very worrying thought occurred to him. “And what are you doing with Bob anyway?” If she was Jack’s girlfriend he would have to kill him. Or something.
Her eyes flashed and she lifted her chin, facing him squarely. Rafe forgot his anger as he admired how wonderful she looked when this animated, her face flushed and her breathing hard. “Who the hell do you think you are, accosting me and giving me orders? You are not the boss of me and I am not your woman.” She spat the last word as if it was a foul one.
Rafe was surprised by her vehemence. Thinking of her as human, he had forgotten how much of an alpha she was. She wouldn’t respond to orders very well, especially since she constantly refused to recognise that he was the more dominant of them. She was unlikely to recognise the power structures the shifters took for granted as well.
He had gone about this all wrong, assuming she would simply obey. A woman like her had to be won over in a fair challenge. He had to prove himself to her. His blood heated again as he thought of how he would win her, his cock twitching as more blood pulsed into it.
Forget the fair challenge. He would have her, whatever it took.
Chapter Seven
Charly stared at Rafe, angry and disappointed. She didn’t know why she had thought he would be different, that he would be a man who didn’t need to dictate to women all the time, someone self-confident and assertive. Did he think a kiss gave him a right to start issuing orders to her?
Although … what a kiss. A wave of heat surged through her when she remembered it, only to turn into an embarrassed flush when she thought of how she had behaved. She had answered his kiss with a ferocity she hadn’t known she had in her, grinding against his hardness like a cat in heat, completely out of control of her body.
What was wrong with her? Just because it had felt as if one of her fantasies had come to life when he’d pulled her into the lift cage and
started kissing her like he’d been starving, it didn’t mean she had to behave like a hussy. And in front of witnesses even. Her blush deepened when she imagined what the security guards must think of her. She could only hope they wouldn’t tell her brother. She did value his good opinion of her, if nothing else. That Rafe had managed to compromise her standing again angered her and she stepped away from him, retreating towards Jack’s door.
Only then did it occur to her to wonder why he was there. She took the first good look at him – she had barely had time to recognise his scent down at the lobby when he was already on her – and saw that he was dressed in jogging gear. The slightly damp t-shirt clinging to his body revealed abs even better than she had imagined. His wide shoulders stretched the shirt to its limits; his bare arms were strong with sinewy muscles and thick veins, and they were covered with fair hair, sun-bleached, too. Would his chest be hairy as well?
Imagining his bare chest made her arousal return and she inhaled sharply. A definite mistake, for it brought his wonderful scent to her, as irresistible as earlier. She couldn’t help glancing down and noticing the erection that still stretched his sweatpants. Blushing, she lifted her gaze hastily. She wasn’t used to men who were so unashamed of their sexuality.
The look in his eyes was amused and self-satisfied. It had strength too, making it very difficult for her to keep her eyes fixed on his, but she gritted her teeth. She would not let him get the better of her twice.
His smile deepened. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Charly blinked. “What was that?”
“Why are you walking Bob?”
She looked down, remembering the dog only then. Bob was lying on the floor with its big head resting on its front paws, looking bored. “I, ah, am looking after it for my brother this week while he’s in New York.”
“Jack Thornton is your brother?” He looked relieved, as if he had thought she was Jack’s wife or something. She didn’t question how Rafe knew Jack. Important businessmen all knew each other.
“And why are you here?” Since he didn’t look disappointed at hearing Jack wasn’t home, he couldn’t be here for him. Not that he would visit in sweaty jogging gear anyway, she was sure.
“I live there,” he said, indicating the flat next door, startling her. It hadn’t even occurred to her that he might live here; his firm was based in Epsom. He sneered at her surprise. “What, you didn’t think a construction worker could afford a place like this?”
She hadn’t thought anything like. He might look like he spent most of his time outdoors like a construction worker would, but the air of authority surrounding him made him exactly what he was, the owner. This was an expensive and exclusive building for the extremely rich, and if he could afford the services of Latimer & Holby, he could afford to live here too.
“I just haven’t seen you here before.”
He smiled, mollified. “Well, it’s a company flat we only use when we need to stay in town. We built this place, you know.”
That truly surprised her. “But that was almost a hundred years ago.”
“It’s an old company.” And obviously one with a much higher profile than she had thought. Then he got serious. “Do you usually walk Bob this late? Because I meant what I said. It’s not safe.”
An image of the wolf-shifter flashed in her mind and she nodded instead of getting angry again. “I know. I just stayed later than I thought I would at work.”
“Because of me?” His look was hopeful now, an oddly endearing expression on such a strong face.
Absolutely. And not because of his case either. Some of her fantasies returned, but they seemed to pale in comparison with reality. “I got immersed in the papers,” she said, refusing to blush again.
He nodded, accepting her words. “I have a solution. Why don’t you take my case home with you and work it here? You could come home earlier that way and still bill the hours. And I can keep you company.” He lifted his hands, mollifying, when she was about to argue. “I won’t be a guard, I promise. But then I wouldn’t have to worry about you when you go walking Bob.”
It warmed her heart that he actually worried for her instead of just wanting to boss her around. It was the only explanation for what came out of her mouth. “I saw a wolf-shifter today.”
Chapter Eight
Raphael froze. Why would she bring the wolf up when she had practically bitten his head off earlier for showing concern for her safety? Her scent didn’t indicate fear, only the remains of her arousal, making his body tighten in response. Was she appalled or excited about what she had witnessed?
“Did you now?” he drawled, deciding to play it safe. With the demonstrations going on, there was no need to tell her what he was just yet. “Then you admit I’m right and it’s dangerous out there.”
But she wouldn’t cede to his superiority in anything, as he had known she wouldn’t. “Everyone knows the park is full of shifters. Nothing has ever happened before.”
“I’m not actually worried about the shifters,” he said. It didn’t surprise him, though, that she thought they would pose the greatest risk. “Only wolf clans use Hyde Park and they’re pack creatures like natural wolves, only with the human ability to reason to make them more predictable even in wolf form. They have a standing order to steer clear of humans when in animal form, and that will hold.” Hopefully, anyway. If the demonstrators aggravated the clan leaders with their march, no one knew what would happen. “It’s the humans I’m worried about.”
It was her turn to sneer, slightly amused. “What, a few bigots armed with banners?”
He gave her a stern look and, to his satisfaction, he hadn’t completely lost his touch, because she finally averted her eyes first. “There are more than a thousand of them and they’re pretty worked up. Unless you’re willing to declare for human supremacy, they’ll take their anger out on you. Are you?”
He held his breath, hoping for a negative answer. He could take up the challenge of her without disclosing what he was, but he wanted her to want him, all of him, otherwise it wouldn’t be a real victory. She was taken aback by the strength of his question and she gave him a scrutinising look. The game might be up already.
“No, I don’t think I’m with them,” she finally said, and he released the breath he had been holding. Too early. “But that doesn’t mean I’m with you either. It’s not dangerous in the park.”
“You just said you saw a wolf-shifter there.” To his surprise, he was getting a bit angry again. He wasn’t very temperamental, but her obtuseness was starting to aggravate him. “What if it had been someone riled by the demonstrators who wanted to take it out on a lone female like you?”
“Didn’t you just say the wolf-shifters aren’t allowed to attack humans?”
He growled; he simply couldn’t help it. “There are exceptions to every rule. Besides, the full moon is on us and that makes all shifters more unpredictable.” He was a strong shifter, but even he felt the strain, as Might, the energy that made all the two-natured more than human, poured into him in full force.
Charlotte straightened, excited by their argument, giving him a notion of what she would look like in a courtroom. Magnificent. “So those people are right, shifters aren’t capable of integrating to human society?”
It was a deliberate provocation, but after being forced to flee the demonstrators earlier, he couldn’t ignore it. “The two-natured people have been around for as long as humans have. It’s not solely a human society and never has been. Humans have just been allowed to think that way.”
In Rafe’s opinion, being the weakest race around, humans shouldn’t be in charge even this much, but they were more numerous, and the two-natured had always been more interested in their own affairs. Since humans unaffected by Might only recognised the human face of the two-natured, it had always been easier for everyone to pretend that it was a human society.
Charly’s mouth quivered in a small triumph. “So the wolf was you?”
H
e should have expected her to make that conclusion, but faced with such a blatant attack, he did what he had thought he would never do. He denied everything.
***
The October weather had been colder than usual for the time of year, even though the sun had shone almost every day. Shifters could shrug off the sharp bite of wind, but the old manor the Greenwood clan called their home demonstrated the turn of the season by getting excessively damp, forcing its occupants to build fires in every room to ward it off. They were used to it though, and they looked forward to the long hours spent in front of fireplaces every fall.
Rafe was sitting in his brother’s study on the ground floor of the manor, enjoying the heat radiating from the grate a few feet from his wingback chair, his long legs stretched towards the warmth. Despite the cold wind, he had decided to take his bike for a spin from London to Epsom, a whim he was now regretting. The distance wasn’t great, but it had been long enough a ride to freeze him to his bones.
Jamie, Rafe’s older brother and the leader of their clan, sat in a similar chair on the other side of the fireplace. They were old chairs, their leather worn from use, but the brothers preferred them to pretty much all the other seats in the entire manor. Rafe remembered their father sitting in this office in these same chairs, and Jamie, who was almost a century older than him, could recall when the chairs had been new. There was something very comforting about having things older than you around to rely on.
“So, what’s the solicitor like?” Jamie asked after Rafe had given him an update on the case. The brothers looked greatly alike. Jamie had a few more lines around his eyes, which made him look about forty in human years to Rafe’s thirty-five. His colours were lighter too, flaxen blond instead of dark gold, and his eyes were the colour of good whisky, like his wolf’s. “Will she get the job done?”
An image of Charlotte flashed in Rafe’s mind. “Absolutely.”
The Wolf's Call (Two-Natured London) Page 4
