In less than a day his bad mood spiralled down to such depth that his clan-mates, Jamie included, thought it best to give him a wide berth. His mood lightened briefly when Kieran and some soldiers caught the man who had shot at him and Charly, and he felt even better when it turned out that his smart Charly had been right – the villagers objecting to the building project feared shifters would be moving in there. To counter this, the Greenwood clan was planning to launch a goodwill campaign in the area to assuage those fears. In hindsight, they should have been more open with their project in order to avoid this kind of nonsense.
But what truly satisfied his foul mood was when they hunted down and caught the wolves who had attacked him, the violence of the showdown exactly what he needed. They tracked the wolves to Luton, northwest of London, to a small, shifty clan on the verge of breakdown from an inner power struggle. Without the consent of the clan’s old alpha, some younger members had begun to fund the clan by hiring themselves out as thugs and assassins. They weren’t that well organised, however, so when the Greenwood clan soldiers, along with some token additions from London clans moved in on them, they weren’t able to mount a good resistance. They had fought hard enough, however, to give Rafe a chance to vent his anger on the bastards who had dared threaten his woman.
His violent behaviour didn’t go unnoticed. “We need to talk,” Jamie said when they were back at the manor that evening. Rafe had been about to go to his room to shower and clean some of his wounds, but even he had to obey when his alpha took that tone, and he followed Jamie to his study.
Jamie pointed at a chair in front of the fire, but he had blood and mud on his clothes, and although the chairs had been through a lot, Rafe opted to stand, only leaning his hip against the backrest. Jamie did the same after noticing the condition of his own attire. He hadn’t exactly held back in the fight either. Then he sighed. “This has got to stop. You need to bring your mate home.”
Rafe squeezed his hands into fists, fighting the anger that being reminded of her absence brought. “I promised her she could work this out on her own.”
“Are you out of your mind, leaving her to deal with something this momentous alone? I thought you were having a lovers’ spat; otherwise I would have spoken earlier.” Jamie was getting angry too. “She doesn’t know how to handle the wolf. What if something goes wrong?”
It hadn’t even occurred to Rafe. Charly was so strong that he had assumed she would manage perfectly. But now Jamie’s words made his body go cold in fear. “You’re right. I’ll go fetch her home immediately.”
He turned to leave, but Jamie halted him. “Not right now. Definitely not in that state of mind.”
Rafe turned back to snarl at his brother. “I won’t leave her to deal with this alone for one moment longer!”
Jamie only sneered. “So you’ll do what, order her to follow you?” That was exactly what Rafe planned to do. He had been remiss with his responsibilities to his mate and he would make amends immediately. But Jamie had other ideas. “She’s a dominant with an alpha streak. She won’t just obey you.”
Rafe felt fairly certain he could make her wolf obey, but the stubborn woman was another matter. “Then what should I do?”
“You’ll have to win her over.”
Jamie’s matter of fact comment hit the mark. Rafe had once again forgotten that he had to prove himself worthy of his woman. He hadn’t done anything to that end yet and had, in fact, abandoned her when she needed him most. He itched to go to her instantly, but he knew Jamie wasn’t done talking.
“And you can start that by politely inviting her over. No ordering about. We’ll be signing the land deal with Foley tomorrow. We should celebrate. That’ll give her a good reason to come here. If you like, I’ll even fetch her myself, or ask Eliot to bring her with him.”
“A bloody vampire will not go near my woman,” Rafe growled. Since he didn’t trust anyone around his Charly, he said he would go and fetch her himself tomorrow. Annoyed with the delay, he rubbed his face, causing flakes of dried blood to rain down. He ignored the signs of his recent injury and instead fixed a frustrated gaze at his brother. “How the hell do you deal with it, the loss of your mate?” He had been separated from Charly for less than a week and already he felt like falling apart; Jamie had endured this for almost three decades. His admiration for his brother multiplied for understanding some of the torment Jamie must have gone through – still was going through.
Jamie sighed and for once confessed how he was feeling. “The love obviously died ages ago. It’s only the shifter nature keeping things alive, and even that gets easier to handle – or if not exactly easier, at least you go numb and stop sensing how Might tries to pull you towards your mate.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.” And since there was nothing more to add to that, Rafe left Jamie to brood by the fire and headed to his room to finally clean himself up. He had his mate to bring home.
Rafe knew he should stay at the manor, but the pull of town, where Charly was, proved irresistible. Fresh from his shower and fortified by some grub, he borrowed Jamie’s sleek new BMW and drove to their Mayfair flat. Jack had returned home so Charly had no reason to stay over at his place, and since Rafe didn’t know where she actually lived, he figured he’d be able to keep away from her until he had calmed down.
But even as he thought that, he knew it would be a restless night, he’d be unable to settle down without her. He considered heading to the park to shift. The anti-shifter demonstrations had died down due to lack of interest from the media and the greater public, so he wouldn’t have to be careful. Plus, the shift would help heal some of his wounds faster too, now that the full moon wasn’t amplifying his healing ability with the onslaught of Might.
He drove his car into the car park underneath the building where Jamie’s black sedan blended better with the expensive vehicles there than his own beaten-up Land Rover. He hurried to the lift, eager to change his clothes to something he wouldn’t mind leaving behind if needed. Once in the lift cage, he greeted whoever was keeping watch with a small salute at the camera and was answered with welcoming words through the loudspeaker. Smiling, he stepped out of the cage at his floor, only to come face to face with Charly.
His whole world paused and focused on her. She had just exited Jack’s flat and was heading towards the lift, but she froze when she spotted him. He drank her in, the precise clothing and beautiful face drawn with fatigue. He felt a pang in his heart knowing he had caused her tiredness.
For a few moments he was unable to speak, his heartbeat too erratic. She didn’t say a word either but just kept staring at him calmly with her beautiful dark eyes. Only, her calmness was faked, he could tell. Her heart was beating frantically and her wolf was acting up on her chest, trying to reach him.
“Hi,” he said eloquently, the poet that he was. Then, because it felt natural, he opened his arms for her and, with a small cry, she came to him. Wrapping her arms tightly around his waist, her head resting on his shoulder, he put his arms around her, holding her fast, his head leaning on hers. For the first time that week, he felt calm and complete.
Then he was kissing her, his passion igniting them both. With the last vestiges of his reason, he fumbled for his keys and managed to open the door to his flat, practically carrying her in by her waist, never breaking the kiss. As the door closed behind them, she was already naked.
Chapter Twenty-five
Charly’s arousal was so blinding she didn’t even notice how Rafe had managed to open the long zipper at the back of her dress to peel the garment off of her. Her bra instantly followed. Too impatient to pull down her panties, he simply tore the seams open and let them drop on the floor on their own. She was too busy pulling off his clothes to care what happened to hers.
Then she had no time to care anymore. The moment she opened his zipper and freed his erection, he rammed her against the wall opposite the door, not bothering to remove his trousers. Supported by his strong arm
s, she barely had time to lift her legs up and wrap them around his waist before he entered her with one deep thrust.
Their joining was fast and frantic, but she needed it with all the frustration their separation had caused. His face buried in her neck, he kept driving her against the wall, every thrust causing a large mirror next to her rattle in its fastening. In only a few moments, she felt her orgasm building; and when Rafe sensed it he increased his pace, bringing them both to completion at the same time.
But he didn’t let her go. Taking a better hold of her, he carried her to his bedroom where he lowered her down onto his bed, following her there. Then he began all over again.
Hours later, they were lying on the bed, naked, sweaty and out of breath, but very much sated. “Hi,” she said, almost the first words they had spoken outside of sweet nothings or screams of pleasure. She felt calm and complete. For the first time in days, her wolf wasn’t demanding anything from her. It had disappeared inside her the moment Rafe had kissed her, as if giving them privacy, but she knew it was aware of everything that was happening.
He smiled, making her heart swell at the tender look on his face. “Hi.” He kissed her nose, her jawline, her neck, grazing the pulse there with his teeth, and she leaned her head back, bringing her throat closer to his mouth. He gave a low, throaty laugh. “Gods, it makes me want to sink my teeth into your throat, seeing you do that. Such a surrendering gesture from a woman so in control is both humbling and empowering.”
She knew it, her wolf making her understand body language in a whole different level, but she didn’t care how submissive she appeared. Outside the bedroom, she would fight to be equal with anybody, but inside it, he could be in charge. “Do it.”
Rafe inhaled sharply and she felt him grow hard again against her thigh. He hesitated briefly, kissing the most vulnerable part of her throat softly. Then she felt his teeth sink in. It wasn’t a deep bite; he only meant to mark her; some pain, but mostly just incredible pleasure, her wolf howling in joy inside her for being one with their mate.
Then she was screaming too as she came again in an ultimate surrender.
“I’ll drive you to work.” After a night of endless passion, they had woken up late, and Rafe was watching Charly hurry through her morning routine, a happy grin on his face. “Or better yet, since it’s Friday and the deal will be signed today, why don’t you call your boss and tell him you’re spending the day with your client.”
Charly turned to smile at him. “Doing what?” she asked saucily. “I can hardly tell my boss I’m staying home to spend the day in bed with you.”
“Please.”
It wasn’t in his nature to plead and she understood it, because she abandoned her frantic gathering of her clothing – minus the ruined underwear – and paused to study him. Then she nodded. “Fine, but there will be no more sex until I’ve recovered from last night.” He nodded, but something in his face revealed he wasn’t going to keep that promise.
She gave him a stern look. “I mean it. And we’d better head to your home so I can claim with a clear conscience that I’ve been working the whole day.”
That amused him. “Haven’t you ever skived off?”
He wasn’t surprised when she said she hadn’t. And it didn’t surprise him either when a half an hour later he found himself in Jamie’s car with her, driving towards Epsom without so much as a kiss. She had disappeared over to Jack’s place after calling her boss to change into something more suitable for the countryside, and she hadn’t allowed him to follow her there. “We’ll never get out of the house if I let you have your way with me.”
Rafe didn’t mind that the sex had been postponed – there would be much more – even though her nearness threatened to drive him as mad as her absence had before, albeit for different reasons. For the moment, he wanted to divert his thoughts from how she had ridden him the night before in wild abandon, and he asked, “So, how have you been this week?”
“Miserable.”
“Thank gods,” he sighed with feeling.
She bristled. “Why would you want me to be miserable?”
He ignored her upset and just wrapped his left arm over her shoulder to pull her as close to him as her seatbelt would allow. “Because I’ve missed you tremendously, and I would hate to think it was only one-sided.”
“Then why didn’t you even call me?” she asked, peeved.
“I couldn’t do that. Otherwise I would have rushed to you no matter what I had promised.”
Her shoulders sagged under his arm and he stroked it a few times, making her relax. “I didn’t think it would be so difficult to be apart from you,” she confessed.
Emotion swept over Rafe and he had to concentrate on traffic so he wouldn’t crash the car. She did feel the wolf’s call, even if she didn’t know what it was. Thank gods. “When wolves make their choice, they want to be together constantly,” he said finally, his voice gruff.
She leaned into his arm. “It’s a lot for me to learn.”
He could understand that. “But you don’t have to learn it by yourself,” he reminded her.
She sighed. ”I know that, and I actually wanted you to be around. But at the same time I needed to be on my own with this too, to see how I would cope alone. I definitely needed to make up my mind without your influence.”
“And have you made up your mind?” He asked it casually, but his whole life depended on her answer and he held his breath.
“I’m fairly sure I have. It’s just that turning my life upside down scares me and I find the thought of actually shifting really frightening.”
It wasn’t a definite yes, but he would take what he could. He smiled warmly at her. “I’ll help you. You really don’t have to go through this alone.”
“Thank you.”
Rafe cleared his throat. “Would it help you make your decision if I told you I don’t care whether you choose the wolf or not? I just want to be with you, no matter what form you come in.”
He smelled her tears and took his eyes off the road long enough to glance at her. She looked incredibly happy, even though tears were running down her cheeks. He couldn’t kiss her while driving, but he tightened his hold of her shoulder. “Yes, it means a great deal to me,” she finally said, wiping her face. “More than you know.”
Rafe could only hope that didn’t mean she would choose to remain human. But he would stand behind his words. He would have her and keep her in whatever shape she chose, for as long as he could.
Chapter Twenty-six
That afternoon, wolves and vampires gathered at the future building site in Betchworth to sign the land deal there. Charly wondered about the outdoors venue and was told that despite the friendly relations between the Greenwood clan and the Crimson Circle, they were both naturally suspicious of each other and wanted neutral ground for the signing where neither would have home-turf advantage. The composition of the two groups present seemed to confirm this attitude.
Jamie and Rafe showed up with Harry, Matt, and Kieran, everyone with their auras out. Foley arrived with Gabriel and three other huge men who looked so much alike that they had to be his sons, although one of them was as fair as the rest were dark. The vampire warriors were wearing what Charly surmised was their battle uniform, black leather jeans, combat boots, and double-breasted leather jerkins over long-sleeved black t-shirts, their incredible size making the outfit look very impressive. Christian, in fighting-leathers too, and Charly, as lawyers handling the deal, were considered neutral, but otherwise it was two groups of soldiers and warriors facing each other on the meadow near the creek that was being sold. Everyone was tense and they kept looking around for possible threats, or perhaps it was in their natures never to relax in an open space.
For all the drama and build-up, the actual signing of papers went uneventfully and perfectly civilly, as if they had been in an office somewhere. Charly and Christian had tweaked every last detail to Foley’s and Jamie’s satisfaction so that only their signatures we
re needed. Those, they put down after a brief exchange of hellos while their backups watched over the proceedings.
Once every paper was signed or marked with initials, everybody relaxed, except Rafe who didn’t trust any of the unmated males around Charly. The handsome vampire warriors, especially, seemed to be getting on his nerves, as if Charly would suddenly switch her affections to one of them. Unlike his clansmen, the vampire warriors didn’t shy from teasing him about his new status as a pledged man. Charly thought they were getting a bit ahead of themselves, but still she found their bantering entertaining, a sign of relations friendlier than she had been given to understand.
Only Foley was brave enough to get close to her, however, confirming that the warriors weren’t stupid. “So, Miss Thornton,” he said with a small smile on his beautiful face, eyeing her aura she still wasn’t able to hide if it didn’t want to hide, “I see you’re getting along with your wolf. Have you made up your mind about letting me unblock it properly?”
Everyone paused, even the vampires, waiting for her answer. She felt self-conscious being forced to reveal her decision in front of everyone before she had had a chance to tell it to Rafe, but her wonderful wolf was looking at her with such heartbreaking anticipation on his handsome face that she didn’t want to postpone the news. The words were spoken to Foley, but she was looking at Rafe. “Yes. I’ve decided to let my wolf free.”
Rafe’s knees sagged a little hearing this, and he let out a breath he had been holding in a long burst, but he collected himself immediately. He swept her up as everyone cheered and twirled wildly around, holding her tightly at her waist so that her legs were off the ground, his eyes glistening although he was smiling broadly. Charly laughed from happiness, the tension she had felt for days swept away.
But when people came to them to congratulate her, Rafe threw her over his shoulder like a sack of grain and took off towards the woods, ignoring her patting him on the buttocks, shrieking that he let her down immediately. She could see from the smiling faces of those left behind that they knew as well as she did what Rafe had in mind. She could only hope that everybody would head home and leave the two of them to it.
The Wolf's Call (Two-Natured London) Page 14
