Chapter 16

The walk to the bar was long and quiet. It was taking every ounce of Rafe’s humanity to not tackle Ruby onto the closest lawn and fuck her brains out. He could not erase the image of her on her bed, hands between her thighs, her cheeks pink from pleasure. Fucking herself because he couldn’t do it. Goddamn it.

“You look like you want to kill someone again.”

Ruby’s teasing tone broke him out of his thoughts. At least she wasn’t pissed at him for watching her like some pervert and then running away. Again. But he also didn’t think she’d appreciate him telling her it was for her own good that he was keeping his distance. So they hadn’t said anything about it at all.

“Uh, no. Not at the moment.”

Ruby huffed a small laugh. The way she took everything in stride unnerved him. She didn’t take things seriously enough. It was dangerous.

He stole a glance at her from the corner of his eye. She was dressed in her usual work wear, black tank top that made her tits look fantastic, short black skirt that made her thighs look edible, and her black boots for kicking the shit out of people that thought about her like that.

Her lips had a fresh coat of red lipstick and her dark hair was tied up in two knots on top of her head, exposing her long pale neck. His cock twitched at the memory of kissing that neck this morning.

“You coming inside tonight?”

Somehow in the midst of Rafe’s lust-filled musings they’d arrived at the pub. Ruby looked up at him expectantly. He needed space. He needed to get away from her before he did something stupid.

He took a step back. “No. I’m going to ask around. See if anyone knows anything.”

Ruby raised her eyebrows but didn’t question him. She’d be safe here. No werewolf would be dumb enough to attack a human in the middle of town. And he’d be back before she had to leave. He turned to go, but Ruby grabbed his hand, tugging him close.

“Be careful,” she said, her lips only inches from his throat.

Rafe swallowed hard. “Don’t worry about me.”

Ruby’s lips twisted into a scowl but she let go of his hand and marched into the bar, her skirt flapping around those thighs. Rafe ran a hand through his hair and headed back toward the woods. His brother was useless but it was possible there were others who knew what the hell was going on.

There were two organized werewolf packs in Northern Maine, with another one right over the border in Canada. Not that wolves cared about arbitrary human borders, but that just happened to be where they were located. There were also quite a few lone wolves out there, like him and Theo.

The modern world had made a lot of things difficult for wolves, except for one, leaving the pack. What used to be a death sentence was now possible thanks to convenience stores and short-term rentals. When Rafe had first considered leaving over a century earlier, he would have been taking a huge risk. But after the last fight with his brothers, he’d stalked off, packed his few meager possessions, and left. Just like that.

Sure he’d had to sleep outside for most of that summer, hunting for whatever food he could find, but eventually he’d found work in town. First painting houses and then doing general handyman work for every old lady that would hire him. It had taken a few years to build a life for himself, but he’d done it. For whatever it was worth, he’d done it.

But lone wolves still made packs nervous. They were unpredictable and loyal only to themselves. Or at least that was the tale the packs sold to keep the hierarchy in line. The truth was, Rafe was just tired of the bullshit and the violence that pack life held for him. If he hadn’t left, he would have been pushed out. Or, if their father had his way, killed. There wasn’t room for more than one Alpha and his brother was more than happy to take the title.

Wolves without packs mostly lived in or near small towns, trying their best to fit into human society. They couldn’t stay in one place for too long. They were drifters, unrooted, and alone. The fact that they aged so slowly made it impossible to stay put or to form bonds with humans. A shudder ran through him at the thought of Scarlet. How could he have watched her grow old while he didn’t change?

But he’d learned from that experience. And now he kept to himself. Thanks to the miraculous human invention of the internet, he could sell his furniture pieces to anyone without ever leaving his home. But somehow, word still traveled around, news of the packs still reached his ears. A wolf would stop by; Theo would mention some news from home; one of the nosy little nymphs that shared these woods would drop some message for him.

Rafe wasn’t nearly as isolated as he tried to be.

So now it was time to track down some of these wolves and see what they knew.

He shifted as soon as he entered the darkness of the trees, leaving his clothes draped over a nearby branch. Werewolves didn’t have to shift on the full moon, but they did need to spend at least some of their time as wolves. It was essential to their health, to their sanity. Rafe knew that from experience too. Too much time spent as a human had nearly driven him mad.

It was why even when they left their packs, wolves stayed near a forested area. They needed space to run, to hunt. If he couldn’t hunt the local fauna, it endangered every human around him. As much as he tried, his instincts couldn’t be denied. The memory of Ruby’s horrified face after his little confession about chasing humans flashed through his mind. She should be horrified. He deserved that look.

The creatures that lived in these woods liked to talk, to whisper through the branches, and Rafe had gotten wind of the improvements his brother had made over the years since he’d left the pack. He wasn’t quite the asshole their father once was. But the pack still lived on the fringes of society. Most wolves had jobs like he had, jobs that didn’t require any pesky paperwork or tax ID numbers. Whatever Knox’s big plans were, Rafe hadn’t seen much evidence of them so far.

Rafe shook himself out, his fur ruffling along his back. He didn’t want to think about Knox right now. Certainly not in any sort of positive light. He preferred to remember his brother as the asshole who’d tried to tear his throat out. It was easier that way.

Rafe took off toward the closest wolf cabin. It was time to get serious about figuring out who was after Ruby.

* * *

Ruby tried to lose herself in the monotony of her work. Smile, pour drink, smile, take order, keep smiling, pour another drink. But the memory of Rafe’s gaze on her while she touched herself would not leave. If she was being honest, she’d be surprised if it ever left. She’d be a little perverted old lady still daydreaming about the hottest moment of her entire life. Because it definitely had been. And then he’d fled the scene like he’d been caught gawking at a car wreck.

She shook her head, wisps of hair escaping from her updo. Rafe had acted like nothing happened. Other than the murderous glare returning to his face, he seemed completely unaffected by what he’d seen, so Ruby pretended the same. Even though just walking beside him set her skin on fire and melted her insides.

If Rafe wanted to pretend that there was nothing between them, she would just have to play along. She wasn’t that desperate. How many times could she throw herself at the man and maintain any sort of self-respect? She was pretty sure it had already been too many, but she was stopping now. That was it. Rafe could hide all the unwanted erections he wanted, Ruby was not going to fight him on it anymore.

She nodded once to herself as though sealing some sort of deal and set her tray down on the bar to pick up the next drink order. It was a Friday night and the bar was slammed. Ruby glanced at the clock on the wall above the shelves of liquor bottles. It was past midnight. Last call was at one. She was almost done.

The crowd had gotten sloppy, mostly full of frat boys from the college town next to this one. They were young and stupid and overly confident in their ability to hold their liquor. Half of them looked ready to keel over.

Ruby caught Macy’s eye from over the bar. Time to cut them off or they wouldn’t be able to stumble their way back to their shitty off-campus apartments. She put down a couple of waters in front of two particularly tipsy bros and they gave her two sloppy smiles.

“We didn’t order water.” The man looked like the villain in an 80s movie. Blonde hair, perfect teeth, polo shirt, far too much cologne. Ruby nearly gagged.

Instead she smiled sweetly. “Drink up or you’ll feel even worse in the morning.”

“I’d feel better in the morning if you came home with me.” Blaine, she decided his name must be, or maybe Chad, grinned at his friend like he was being clever. His friend nearly tipped out of the booth, but laughed like a deranged donkey anyway.

Ruby wanted to say she doubted he’d be able to get it up in his current condition, but she worked for tips, so she didn’t.

Her face ached from smiling. “Cute,” she said. “But no thanks.”

“Blaine” narrowed his eyes, shifting in the booth closer to her. But Ruby was only half paying attention to him. Something else had shifted. The air in the bar. Awareness prickled along the back of her neck. She would bet her life that Rafe was back and watching her, but she didn’t turn around to check.

“Oh, come on, I think we could have fun together,” Blaine was saying. “You look like you like to have fun.”

Ruby’s eyes hurt so bad from the need to roll them that she had to squeeze them shut. And that’s when that drunk little fucker slid his hand up her skirt and grabbed a handful of her ass.

Ruby didn’t smile. She didn’t think.

She scraped her boot along his shin and stomped so hard on his foot that he yelped like the man-child that he was.

“Shit! That hurt.” He was standing now, yelling in her face but Ruby didn’t back up. She already knew what she would run into if she did. She could feel him like a solid wall behind her, unmoving and radiating pure rage.

Blaine’s friend saw Rafe first and his eyes went wide.

“That’s how you treat customers?” Blaine was yelling. “Acting like a fucking tease, flaunting your tits in my face all night? And then you assault me?”

Ruby almost laughed. Frat boys were so fucking fragile.

He finally paused his tirade long enough to raise his gaze to the shadow looming behind Ruby. Whatever he saw there caused the color to drain from his face. Ruby was vaguely aware of the fact that the rest of the bar had gone eerily quiet.

“You have sixty seconds.” Rafe’s voice had never sounded less human. It was an animal growl, a monster’s rasp. It sent shivers up Ruby’s arms.

“Sixty seconds for what?” Blaine asked, puffing up his chest because frat boys never learned.

Rafe leaned forward, his solid body pressing into Ruby’s back. “A sixty-second head start before I chase you down and tear you limb from fucking limb.”

Blaine’s eyes widened, a bead of sweat ran down his temple. “Ha. Yeah, okay, man. We were leaving anyway.”

“Clock’s ticking,” Rafe growled, his breath brushing against Ruby’s neck.

Blaine’s friend tossed some bills on the table.

“Better be a good tip,” Rafe added and the friend tossed on a couple more. Ruby bit down on her bottom lip. She would not laugh until they were gone.

The men scrambled out of the booth, giving Ruby a wide berth on their way.

“And don’t bother coming back!” Macy yelled from behind the bar.

Ruby let her laugh tumble out as she leaned back against Rafe’s solid chest. His breathing was ragged against her ear. She turned to face him and his eyes were dark and dangerous. Shit.

“You can’t really go after them.”

A muscle in his jaw ticked.

“I’m serious, Rafe. You can’t actually hurt them.” She grabbed his arms and squeezed, trying to bring him back to himself. “It’s not a big deal. Just let it go.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a long unsteady breath. “He put his hands on you.”

“It’s not a big deal. That’s what the boots are for.” She gave him a smile, hoping to break the tension but it didn’t work. He still looked very murder-y. “Here, have a seat. I’ll grab you a drink.”

He looked like he might protest, or rip the bar down around them, but he slid into the booth.

“Don’t go anywhere,” she said before hurrying off to pour him a beer and ask their cook, Dominick, to throw one last burger on the grill.

She came back to find Rafe hunched over, elbows on the table and his head in his hands. She slid the food and drink on the table and sat across from him. He flicked his gaze up to hers and she felt it down to her toes.

“He touched you.”

“Just another drunk asshole.” She tried to brush it off again but the rage was still simmering in Rafe’s eyes. “If you kill every drunk asshole, I’ll be out of a job.”

He huffed at that and leaned back in the booth, still watching her. She crossed her arms over her chest as though she could protect herself from his stare.

“You should have let me kill this one, as a message to the others.”

She was pretty sure there was a joking tone there. She hoped he was joking.

“I can’t have you murdering people for me. There are enough rumors about me as it is.” Again she tried for humor but his mouth tightened like he now wanted to murder anyone who’d ever spoken ill about her.

“Just eat,” she said. She always felt less like killing people after she ate, so maybe he would too. She watched him devour his burger in less than six bites and down the beer in several large gulps. He was a beast. She swallowed hard.

“Did you find out anything?”

Rafe shook his head. “Nothing. Nobody seems to know anything.”

“Hmm. Are they lying?”

“Could be, but wolves are terrible liars. We can smell it on each other.”

Ruby shivered. What could he smell on her?

He smirked a little as though reading her mind. “You smell delicious,” he rumbled. Ruby nearly slid out of the booth into a horny little Ruby puddle on the floor. She gripped the edge of the worn plastic seat with both hands.

She cleared her throat. “Uh, good. I guess?”

He leaned forward again and suddenly the booth was way too small. “About earlier…”

“Oh, God. Yeah. We don’t have to talk about that. Like ever.” Ruby squirmed in her seat as warmth crept up her neck.

Rafe reached out and wrapped his huge hand around hers. “You’re sexy as hell, Ruby.”

Shit. Why did his voice sound like that? Like dark promises and aching need.

“But it’s not a good idea.” He let go of her hand and she ran her palm over the smooth wood of the table, the table he’d made.

“Why not?” Let it go, Ruby.

Rafe’s gaze raked over her, lingering on her lips before meeting her eye. “It’s just not safe.”

Fuck that.

Ruby slapped both hands on the table and rose from her seat. She didn’t miss Rafe’s gaze flicking to her tits before landing on her face. His eyes were dark, pupils blown wide.

“It’s not safe for who? Are you afraid of me, Rafe? Because I’m not afraid of you.”

He leaned across the table, so close now that his ragged breath fanned across her chest as she looked down at him. “Goddamn it, Ruby. You should be afraid. You could have been killed. I couldn’t even protect you from some asshole sticking his hand up your skirt. The least I can do is protect you from myself. From the things that happen to people who hang around me for too long.”

Ruby shook her head. “I’m a big girl. Big enough to make my own decisions.” He opened his mouth to protest, but she kept going. “You’re the coward. Not me.”

“Ruby—”

She ignored him and hurried out of the booth. “I’m clocking out,” she said over her shoulder. “You can escort me home after that.”

She turned and left him hunched over his empty plate, his chest rising and falling in angry breaths. So much for pretending she wasn’t affected by him.