Rafe put his hand on her lower back and moved to shield her from Lisa’s vicious gaze. “Let’s go inside.”
Lisa backed away from the porch wearing an evil smirk. “How are you holding up today, sweetie? Full moon and all, I’m surprised you can even walk.”
Rafe stiffened at her comment and Katie knew exactly where his mind had gone. Lisa’s provocations triggered her own protective instincts to come to the front. Without flinching, she met Lisa’s derisive smile with one of her own. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle Rafe.”
“Oh, I’m sure you can. Nasty little bitch.” She lunged forward, laughing when Katie scrambled to raise the revolver and held it with a shaking hand. “We’ll see how you feel the first time your new boyfriend makes you bleed.”
The color drained from Rafe’s face, a clear indication that Lisa’s comment had struck the intended nerve. Katie lowered her free hand to Rafe’s ass and patted him carefully. “Come on.”
Rafe’s throat jumped. He seemed to be genuinely struggling not to leap over the railing and attack Lisa. “Get the fuck off my property. All of you.”
Movement among the pack caught Katie’s attention. The woman who hadn’t yet spoken, a stocky brunette, shocked the hell out of her by pulling off her long-sleeved shirt. She was bare beneath, as though the temperature wasn’t below freezing. Her companion, a tattooed man with dark, tangled hair, unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them down over his hips to reveal his naked, engorged cock.
The tattooed man stared at Katie as he stroked himself. “Has your new mate shown you how wolves fuck yet? Or is he softening his rough edges until you get more comfortable?”
“I don’t think he’s truly broken her in yet,” his now naked partner said as she got onto her hands and knees in the snow. “So let’s show her.”
The tattooed man dropped to his knees behind the brunette and grabbed her hair in his fist, yanking hard. She growled but arched her back to offer him easier access. “Just remember, fighting back will only excite him more.” He slammed into his lover, who reacted by howling and twisting around to claw at his face. He grinned as her nails sliced into his skin, then pounded into her again with a guttural grunt.
“Inside,” Rafe said. “Now.” He dragged her into the house as the half-naked werewolves rutted on the ground like wild animals, panting and moaning and spilling blood onto the snow around them.
Katie didn’t argue. She let Rafe usher her inside, jumping when he slammed the door shut behind them. Sensing his distress, she said, “Rafe, it’s okay.“
He brushed past her after locking the door. It was clear that their taunting had affected him, no doubt undoing some of the progress they’d made over breakfast. Katie sighed as he stormed into the kitchen and laid the shotgun on the table.
“Don’t let them upset you. That’s what they want.” She followed him and put her hand on his tense back. “I know you’re not like them.”
“Do you?” Rafe squirmed away from her touch. “Stop it. For fuck’s sake, Katie.”
Katie backed away. Until that moment, she’d assumed he was simply reacting to Lisa’s unfortunate insinuations. Now she sensed the conflicted arousal behind his discomfort. “Sorry. But…it’s all right to feel this way. Really.”
“Like hell it is.” Rafe banged his fist on the table, making her jump again. “I’m a hypocrite to judge them when I can’t even let you touch me because I might tear your clothes off and take you.”
“Struggling with urges and relishing in the act of indulging them are very different things.” Aware that she might set him off by pointing out that he wasn’t the only one who wanted to connect physically, she murmured, “You’re not wrong to feel this way. We just found each other. There’s a crazy, supernatural connection drawing us together. Believe me, I want you just as much as you want me. If you weren’t so scared to get near me, I’d be all over you right now. And that’s despite the fact that I’m still shaking from talking to that crazy bitch outside.”
Rafe turned around. “I counted ten of them.”
Normally she hated it when boyfriends changed the subject in the midst of conflict, but she knew it was the only way for Rafe to regain his emotional footing. Because she needed him to recover as quickly as possible, she went with the flow. “So did I. Three women, including Lisa, and seven men.”
Rafe inhaled deeply, then offered his hand. His eyes had gone dark and slightly unfocused. His chest heaved. She laced her fingers with his, unsure what he planned to do with her. From the way he drank her in with ravenous eyes, she half-expected him to drag her to bed. She wouldn’t fight him if he did.
But he didn’t. Instead, he walked them to the couch in the den right next to where she’d found his radio. He gestured for her to sit, so she placed the revolver on the coffee table and settled at one end of the sofa. She wasn’t surprised when he chose to keep his distance by sitting as far away from her as he could. Fisting his hands in his lap, he said, “I’m not worried about your shooting skills. You’ll be great.”
“The shotgun definitely makes me feel better.” Suddenly very aware of her bulky outerwear, Katie bent to unlace her boots. “Unless more show up later, I should have enough ammo to take them all out.”
“Hopefully you won’t have to. My goal is for you to ride out tonight in peace with Shilah. I figure we’ll board up the windows from the inside. That way if anyone does get past me, they won’t have as easy a time getting in. You’ll have some warning, at least.” Rafe’s voice faltered as Katie kicked off her last boot and shrugged out of the bulky coat. “After I go outside to transform, I don’t want you to open the door until tomorrow morning—wait until at least eight o’clock. If all goes well, I should be back before then. If I’m not, take my truck and drive into town as soon as the weather lifts.”
“Don’t be silly. You’ll be fine.” She clung to the simple truth that Rafe had to be fine. He was her lifeline. Literally. Stomach sinking, Katie assessed the situation with a clear head. It was going to be ten against one. Protective instincts or not, Rafe wasn’t nearly as brutal as the werewolves she’d just met. It was hard to picture him fighting off so many angry wolves, what with their unholy bloodlust and thirst for vengeance. She scooted closer to Rafe but didn’t touch him. It was enough to feel the heat emanating from his body. “Tell me you’ll be okay. Please.”
Rafe surprised her by taking her hand between his. “I’ll be okay.” His expression grew deadly serious. “Now promise me that on the off chance something does happen to me, you won’t stop fighting. You’ll never give up.”
That was an easy promise to make. “I don’t want them to take me. I’ll never give up.”
Rafe cleared his throat. Gruffly, he said, “Neither will I.”
Yearning swelled in her chest, an ache that felt just as good as it hurt. It was torture to know her affection wouldn’t be welcome, because she wanted to kiss and touch Rafe so badly she could hardly breathe. Connecting like that would be a way to reaffirm that they were still alive, and it would be a memory to hang onto if the unthinkable happened.
But she couldn’t do that to Rafe. Not when he was barely in control. Not when they only had hours left together before nightfall, and she didn’t want to risk spending them apart in any way. Katie forced a brave smile and stretched out her legs so she could relax against the couch cushions. “Thank you for protecting me.”
His willpower melted away before her eyes. Before she could register what was happening, Rafe’s mouth covered hers, more intensely pleasurable than ever, and she was lost.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
After all Rafe’s talk about taking her, she expected to find herself on her back and full of werewolf cock as soon as his lips touched hers. What she got instead was a show of incredible restraint: Rafe pulled her into his arms, cupped her breast tenderly in his hand, and explored her mouth with deliberate passion while she clutched at his T-shirt and fought not to pull him down on top of her. The kiss lasted only a few sweet moments before
he released her and backed away.
He averted his gaze and licked his lips. “I like protecting you.”
Katie touched her mouth with her fingers, already missing him. “That was really nice.”
“It was difficult to stop.” Apparently determined not to tempt fate, Rafe not only closed his eyes but turned away as well. “Very difficult.”
“You didn’t have to stop.” She braced herself for the potential consequence of her words. She was desperate for Rafe, even knowing that any coupling they might engage in now would be influenced by the powerful sway of the full moon. She knew it could be rough. Maybe even a little violent. But if it felt half as good as their wake-up sex, she was ready. “Maybe you just need to give yourself permission to do what comes naturally. And trust that if I can’t handle it, you’ll know. You’ll know and you’ll respect that.”
Rafe shuddered. “I think right now we’d better stick to kissing—at least until I get better control over what you do to me.”
“Fair enough.” She bit her lip, hesitant to say more. But like Rafe only minutes ago, she caved almost instantly. “You know, we’ll have to figure out how to be intimate during the full moon if we’re going to be together.” She held up her hand to forestall Rafe’s protest. “If we’re going to be together.”
“I know.” Rafe cleared his throat. “That’s why I kissed you. To try and figure it out.”
“Good. Don’t hesitate to try again if the mood strikes.”
He chuckled and rubbed his hands on his knees. “I won’t.”
Katie leaned away from Rafe and snuck a glance toward the front door. The knowledge that Lisa and her pack mates had congregated outside like a bunch of college kids waiting for a concert to begin was unsettling, even if she was pretty sure that they wouldn’t attempt to engage them until after the sun set. If the other pack had planned to disobey their alpha, they would have ambushed them from the start.
“I want you to carry the revolver with you today.” He touched her knee, but quickly withdrew. “Take it everywhere you go.”
“I will.” She tucked her legs beneath her on the couch, getting comfortable. “So other than boarding up the windows, what do we have planned for the rest of the afternoon? Looks like more target practice is out.” She gave Rafe a playful wink. “I’m assuming sex is as well.”
Rafe clearly struggled not to rise to her baiting. He clenched his fists in his lap, nostrils flaring, and took deep breaths before answering. The agony on his face shamed her for toying with his self-control. Flirting even mildly with him was flat-out cruel—she could see it in his every movement. She had to stop doing it, if she cared for him at all.
Before she could apologize, Rafe gathered his composure and spoke gruffly. “We could talk about tonight some more.”
“Is it okay if we talk about something else for a little while?” She worried he would chide her for being silly. Because what was more important than preparing to defend their lives, right?
But he simply nodded. “What do you want to talk about?”
She hadn’t thought that far ahead. All she knew was that she didn’t want to think about being brutalized for just a little while. As she studied the strong lines of Rafe’s face, she realized that there was only one thing she wanted to know about. “You.”
“Me?” She couldn’t tell whether he was pleased or embarrassed by the suggested topic.
“Of course. I want to know everything about you.” She considered where to start. The fact that his upbringing obviously didn’t resemble hers in any way piqued her curiosity. “What were you like as a kid?”
Rafe’s expression turned to stone. “Angry.”
That surprised her. “Just angry? All the time?”
“Most of the time.” He hesitated, choosing his words deliberately. “My mother died when I was three years old. At the time she and my father lived right outside of town. One full moon, a human shot and killed my mother. The man swore he thought she was a wolf attacking his sheep. The dead sheep bolstered his story. When the police started to investigate, my father felt that he had no choice but to take me and disappear. That’s when we joined the pack. My dad blamed himself because he’d insisted on living among humans, because he loved human culture and technology. He didn’t want to live in the woods like an animal just because he spent part of his life as one.”
“I’m so sorry, Rafe.” Her heart ached for the little boy Rafe had been, who’d been forced to grow up without his mother. She despaired that he couldn’t currently tolerate physical contact, because she burned to hold him. “So that’s why your father became a separatist?”
“Yeah.” He stretched his legs out across the cushions. She mirrored his action so that they rested side-by-side, their lower bodies touching from opposite ends of the sofa. Rafe tangled his fingers with hers, holding her hand loosely as he spoke. “He didn’t hate humans, he just realized how dangerous they could be. I remember he always used to tell me that humans weren’t bad, just different. And that they didn’t understand us…and we didn’t want them to.”
“Was it a difficult transition for him to make, living out here?” She gestured around at the rustic cabin. “I mean, this is a pretty rough lifestyle for a guy used to living with the modern conveniences.”
“Yeah, it was hard on him.”
Deep pain lurked beneath his words, hinting at greater adversity than simply losing his mother. She sensed that whatever had caused it was also the source of his childhood anger. “Did something happen?”
If Rafe was surprised by the direct question, he didn’t show it. “The pack was different back then. Our alpha was a guy named Cain. If you thought the Alpha you met last night was a hard-ass, then Cain would have scared the hell out of you. He was a huge guy, hairy, incredibly strong. He hated humans. He didn’t go out and hunt them like Jack Devereaux’s boys do, but he clearly felt that humans occupied a lower rung on the food chain. To him, separatism wasn’t just a philosophy. It was an immutable law.”
“So you’re saying I should be glad I missed out on his reign.”
“You would be dead if he was still our Alpha.” Rafe spoke quietly, staring at her as though nothing else existed in the world except the two of them. “I would be too, for helping you.”
The more she learned about Rafe and his culture, the better she appreciated what he’d risked when he’d decided to save her life. “That seems like a pretty extreme punishment for being humane.”
“It was.”
His word choice and somber tone didn’t pass unnoticed. Nor did the slight flaring of his nostrils, or the tightening of his jaw. She knew without asking that they were touching on a painful memory. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
Rafe’s mouth quirked into a rueful half-smile. “If you want to know about me, we probably should.”
“Okay.” She sat patiently and waited for him to reveal whatever it was that shaped him as a person. He clearly had some sympathy for human life and had exhibited a willingness to risk his own safety to protect it, despite being raised in an environment where such a thing would have been discouraged, even punished. Why?
“When I was seven years old, my father found a pair of hikers who’d gotten lost in the woods a few miles from here. They were college kids, unprepared for the elements, and they managed to get turned around and couldn’t find their car for a week. By then they were out of food and struggling to find water. If Dad hadn’t found them and brought them home, they would have died within the next couple of days.” Rafe’s gaze took on a faraway quality, the memory tugging at his lips. “I remember one of the hikers had this wristwatch. Star Wars…there was some kind of robot on the face. I thought it was cool so the kid gave it to me, to show my father his gratitude for saving their lives.”
“Your father sounds like a good man.”
“He was the most decent guy I’ve ever known.” Rafe rubbed his thumb over her knuckles, once again in the present. “Anyway, Cain happene
d to stop by our place the morning after my father found those hikers. He came in and they were eating at our kitchen table and he just…” He shuddered. “He exploded. He killed one of the boys—the one who’d given me his watch—before I could even move. There was blood everywhere…all over me, all over breakfast.”
Recalling Rafe’s tender age, Katie sucked in a breath. “Oh, no.”
“I froze in shock, but my father…well, I’d never seen him that upset. He dove in front of the other boy and shielded him with his body. He told Cain that he couldn’t stand back and let him murder two innocent kids, and begged him to think about what he was doing.” Rafe took a steadying breath. “So then Cain grabbed me.”
Katie’s stomach turned over. “Rafe…”
“He put his arm across my throat, cutting off my air. I thought he was going to kill me. So did my father. I could see it in his eyes.” A raucous cheer arose from outside, setting Rafe on instant alert. He glanced warily over his shoulder at the front door. “Cain wasn’t a killer because he got off on it, like them.” He swallowed and refocused on her. “He told my father that by bringing those boys into our home, he’d put my life in danger. Dad insisted that they had no idea what we were and so there was no danger in saving their lives. He had planned to send them on their way that morning, none the wiser. But Cain wouldn’t hear it. He said that any time we interacted with humans, we put ourselves at risk. And that he was trying to help my father understand how serious the pack was about our no-contact rule.”
“You must have been terrified.” Her heart broke for the little boy who’d been used as a pawn in such a deadly game. “What did your father do?”
“Cain told him he had a choice: kill the boy, or Cain would kill me. He wanted my father to truly accept that it was the human’s life or mine, so that he would never be tempted to assist a human again.” Rafe’s emotion rose and tears actually welled in his eyes. “My father wasn’t a killer. He didn’t even like to hunt. If we hadn’t needed to in order to eat, he wouldn’t have. But when Cain gave him that ultimatum, I watched my father’s face change. All of a sudden that boy didn’t matter anymore. I did.” He cleared his throat, straightening. “The boy saw it, too. The whole time he’d been sobbing and cowering behind my father, but as soon as Cain said that, he took off running for the door. My father tore his throat out before he’d made it five feet away.”
Soul Bonded Page 13
