Chapter 10

Scarlet’s hand was small and warm in his. She smiled shyly up at him as they walked down the dusty road. The summer sun was setting behind the tops of the tall pines and the sky burned with oranges and reds.

“Thanks for walking me home,” she said, her voice as sweet as the heavily perfumed air. Wildflowers lined the roadside and bobbed in the evening breeze. Everything was pinks and yellows, bright and cheery. It was all so different from Rafe’s days in the shadows of the trees, none of it felt real.

Scarlet gave his fingers a light squeeze. Real. She was real. And she was speaking to him and letting him hold her hand.

“You’re welcome,” he said, struggling to remember how to speak to a human. His interactions were usually limited to short visits into town for supplies and wolves weren’t big on manners. His trips to the general store for his father’s smokes and whatever else the pack needed never mattered to him before. Not until Scarlet took over for her aging father. Not until she smiled at him, slow and shy, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks.

No one had ever looked at him like that before. Like he was something other than the second son of the Alpha, or like the giant stranger that came into town every so often. Humans tended to keep their distance like they sensed something was off about him. They weren’t wrong.

It wasn’t all that long ago that he used to chase the local settlers just for fun. For the thrill of it, to calm the beast inside him. Although the humans never seemed to find it fun.

Theo would have laughed at that. His younger brother found morbid shit like that funny, but Rafe knew he wouldn’t repeat it to him later. Things had changed between him and his brothers lately. Not that they had ever been close. They’d butted heads their whole lives, all three of them too different to see eye to eye. Their father made sure to drive the wedge between them deeper over the years, turning everything into a fight. A competition. The past few months had been worse than they’d ever been.

“This is my house,” she said, coming to a stop beside a stone-lined path. The walkway led to an old farmhouse with a wide front porch. Two rocking chairs sat side by side. Cozy, welcoming. Rafe had never lived in a house with four solid walls, but the thought was suddenly appealing, like maybe he might enjoy that. Like he might also enjoy rocking beside Scarlet in those cozy-looking chairs.

Wouldn’t that image make his father choke.

“Will I see you again?” he blurted out, not wanting his time with her to end. “At the store, I mean.”

Scarlet’s smile grew. “I’m there every day, helping out my dad.”

Rafe nodded, already trying to figure out the next time he could slip away into town.

“So, you’ll be back in again soon?” she asked, lifting her chin to look at him. The setting sun lined her in gold.

“Soon as I can.”

She put her hands on his chest, her blush deepening. His heart raced beneath her fingers. Could she feel it? She lifted up on her toes and brushed her lips across his, so soft, so gentle. It brought back the only other gentle memories he had, his stepmother, Nell, caressing his forehead as he fell asleep.

But then he wrapped an arm around Scarlet’s waist and pulled her closer and a breathy sigh escaped her lips. He wasn’t thinking about his stepmother then. No, he was thinking about Scarlet’s hands wrapped in the front of his shirt, and her mouth pressed against his, and her heart beating frantically against his chest.

Stop, he needed to stop. She was so delicate, so fragile, a butterfly he was trying to catch with his big, monstrous hands. He let her go and she smiled up at him, dazed from their kiss.

“I like you, Rafe,” she said, stunning him even further into silence. “See you soon.” She turned and walked away from him, her words repeating on a loop in his head. She liked him?

He must be doing a damn good job pretending for that little slip of a woman to like him. He just didn’t know how long he could keep it up.