Chapter 6

Rafe glanced toward the kitchen, not sure how much of his story Ruby would want her sister to hear. He wasn’t sure how much he wanted to tell her either.

“My sister went out to grab some breakfast.”

Rafe ran a hand through his hair, replaying the attack in his head. “I don’t know why he attacked you. It’s not done anymore. We have a strict policy…” Rafe trailed off, noticing the sick expression on Ruby’s face.

“Anymore?”

Rafe swallowed hard. This was when she learned the truth about him. This was when she’d run. “We used to hunt humans. For sport.”

“You what?” Ruby pulled the closest pillow onto her lap as though she could use it as a shield.

“We didn’t kill them. Usually.” Rafe ran a hand up the back of his neck, no longer able to meet Ruby’s eye. “Just scare them.”

“You did that? You terrorized humans?” She squeezed the pillow tighter.

“Yes.” He could barely get the word past his lips. He deserved every ounce of disgust that dripped from her words.

“Why?”

He could try to explain the way he was raised. The pressure from his father to train and hunt and fight to be the best Alpha, the one that would take his place some day. He could blame the horrible things he’d done on his need to please that old bastard. But he wouldn’t do that. He’d done those things. He’d chased terrified humans through the trees, listened as they begged for their lives, tackled them to the ground and growled as they pissed themselves, letting them go only when he was through toying with them. He was a fucking monster and he wouldn’t lead Ruby to believe anything different.

He shrugged. “It’s just what we did back then.” It was only one item on his list of sins.

Ruby narrowed her eyes. “Back then? How old are you?”

Rafe shifted in his seat, wishing these damn clothes weren’t so tight. He couldn’t breathe with Ruby’s eyes on him and this extra small T-shirt wasn’t helping matters.

“Pretty old.” He shrugged, his shoulder aching in protest.

Ruby sighed like she was getting tired of his terse answers.

“We haven’t hunted humans in at least two hundred years,” he added. “It got more dangerous for us than for them. We lost a lot of wolves. So I don’t know what the hell that wolf was up to.” Just the thought of that wolf lunging toward Ruby had his stomach twisted in angry knots. The need to go after him, track him down, and rip his throat out burned hot beneath his skin. Humans were off limits but animals, even other wolves, were fair game.

“So you’re immortal?” Ruby asked instead of digging deeper into why she’d been attacked. Some of her earlier disgust was already being replaced with curiosity. Her death grip on the pillow loosened.

“No. Werewolves are perfectly capable of dying. It just takes us longer.” There had been days, in fact, when he’d wished it wouldn’t take quite so long, days when he wished for the end.

Ruby took another sip of her coffee and uncurled her legs. She stretched them out in front of her and wiggled her pink toes. He was mesmerized by the action.

“Were you born like this?”

“Yes.” His gaze ran from her feet, over her calves and up her lush thighs. When he reached the edge of her short skirt he lifted his head and met her eyes. Her pale skin was flushed a delicious pink.

“Can someone turn into a werewolf, though? Like if you … bite them?” She hesitated on the word “bite”, her voice catching on something. Fear? Disgust? Desire?

Damn these tight pants. Rafe pressed what he hoped was a discreet hand over his lap, but the way Ruby’s eyes flicked down, her blush deepening, told him that it wasn’t as discreet as he hoped. But it was impossible to deny that the idea of biting Ruby’s soft flesh made him hard as hell.

“No. Werewolves are born, not made.” His lust quickly cooled with the unwanted memory of the last time he’d confessed to what he really was. It had been over a century ago, but the scars were still there, though they were worn smooth by the years. He’d been foolish enough at the time to think that Scarlet would see past the monster. The memory of the look on her face when he’d told her the truth of what he was… It had been an expression of pure horror. He had been wrong. She only saw the beast.

And now here he was confessing it all again. He shook the memories from his head, the memories of his confession and every horrific thing that had happened after.

This time would be different. And he had completely different reasons for telling Ruby the truth. First of all, he didn’t have much of a choice. Ruby had caught him in the act, so to speak. And secondly, if any of this knowledge kept her safe then he would freely give it.

She was still studying him with a look of fascination on her face. Her eyes were such a dark brown they appeared black and they were rimmed in dark lashes that contrasted sharply with her pale skin. And those lips. Fuck him, those lips were enough to drive a man out of his mind.

“O-kaaay…” she said finally, drawing out the second syllable. “So, you’re a reformed werewolf who lives in the neighborhood.” She smirked a little. “But why have you been following me?”

She moved closer, leaning on the arm of the sofa, her pillow carelessly tossed aside. What he wouldn’t give to drag her onto his lap and…

He ran a hand through his hair, tugging harder than necessary, trying to regain his composure. It didn’t work. Now he was thinking about Ruby’s fingers in his hair, his head between her legs. What was wrong with him? He was acting like a fucking animal. Something he had avoided for years.

“I told you, I was trying to protect you.”

“And I told you to cut it out.”

He leaned toward her, bracing his forearms on his knees. Mere inches separated them now. “And what if I had listened?” His voice was a low growl and Ruby’s dark eyes widened. “Not all werewolves are reformed.”

A slight tremor went through Ruby’s body, but she didn’t take her eyes from his face. She shivered with fear, but her face was eager, bright. Like she liked it. Like she liked him despite what he’d done last night or centuries ago. He could get addicted to that look, but he knew how that story ended. He pulled back, struggling against the gravity of Ruby’s gaze.

“How did you know I was in danger? Are all werewolves psychic?”

He shook his head. “No. But with you, everything is different.”

* * *

“Different” was an understatement. In the past twenty-four hours, Ruby had witnessed a brawl between wolves, woken up to a naked stranger in her house, discovered werewolves were real, and was having a very confusing physical reaction to the one sitting in her living room.

But despite everything Rafe had just told her, Ruby still found herself wanting to curl up in his lap like a damn cat. All the old black and white werewolf movies she used to watch with her aunt had not done the real thing justice. Rafe, a reformed werewolf, in living color in the middle of her living room, was overwhelming her senses.

Rafe stared at her like he was waiting for her to run, but she didn’t have time to ask more questions before her phone rang. She jumped, startled by the obnoxious music. No one called her unless it was bad news. No one called anyone unless it was bad news. Wasn’t that some kind of rule?

“Shit.” She patted the cushions next to her but had no idea where her phone had ended up last night. She was exhausted after hauling the wolf, uh … Rafe, into the house and she’d collapsed onto the couch where she’d apparently dozed off until Lena woke her up this morning with a strangled gasp.

Ruby stood up, frantically yanking pillows off the couch. It must have slipped between the cushions. Rafe jumped up too, sliding his hands in between the cracks in the couch. Ruby winced, just imagining the years of dust and crumbs he must be brushing up against right now. But he yanked the phone up, a triumphant smile on his face. That smile. Ugh. Damn it. She did not need to see that right now, so instead she grabbed the phone and answered it with a breathy hello.

“Ruby, hey. It’s Nathan.”

“Uh, hi?” Nathan Greene. She’d known him since kindergarten but why the hell was he calling her?

“I ran into your sister at the café and uh … she wasn’t feeling well, so I’m going to bring her home.”

Shit, shit, shit. “Thank you, Nathan. Seriously, I’m so glad you were there.”

“No need to thank me. We’ll be there in less than five.”

Ruby blew out a long slow breath and hit end. She never should have let Lena go out alone but she was too damn distracted by…

She looked up and found Rafe staring at her. Like a predator watches its prey. He cocked his head just slightly, asking her without words what was wrong. Okay, so not like a predator, more like a guard dog. She would have smiled at her own joke if she wasn’t so keyed up about Lena.

“You have to go.” The words left her mouth before she really considered them, but she needed him out of here. It was bad enough that Nathan and whoever was at the coffee shop had witnessed Lena’s latest episode, she didn’t need Rafe seeing it too.

“Why?” His voice was rough every time he spoke, and his words were curt and brief like he wasn’t used to speaking to people. Something sharp brushed against Ruby’s heart at that thought. Sharp and sad. What was his life like?

She shook her head. No time to feel sorry for the wolf-man. She had Lena to worry about and that was plenty.

“My sister’s not feeling well. You need to leave.” She glanced down at his feet. Could she kick out a man with no shoes? Didn’t matter, she was going to anyway. She put her hands on his chest and pushed to move him along, to jolt him out of his frozen stare.

Oh, big mistake.

He was solid and warm and real. It was as though even after this whole insane conversation she still hadn’t thought of him as a real thing until she laid her hands on him. And now that she had, she wasn’t sure she could take them off. It was like she was being electrocuted and the only way to break the current would be for someone to come by and kick her away from him.

His muscles twitched beneath her palms like he was holding himself still but it was becoming harder and harder to do. His breath hitched, pupils blown wide, turning his silver gaze black.

Ruby believed in a lot of things: ghosts, astrology, bad luck, the way the right shade of toenail polish could improve one’s mood. But she had never believed in having an instant connection to someone until right now.

Rafe backed away and cleared his throat. “I can’t leave. It’s not safe.”

Hold on just a minute…

Ruby didn’t have time to argue with her wolfy protector before Nathan and Lena were coming in the back door. She gave Rafe her best glare, hoping she communicated just how she felt about his last statement before hurrying out to the kitchen.

“Are you all right?” She went right to Lena’s side, ignoring a nervous-looking Nathan in the doorway and a scowling Rafe at her back.

“I’m fine. Really.” Lena waved her concerns away with a hand. Ruby scanned her for damage but other than looking a bit paler than usual, she seemed all right.

“Thanks, Nathan. For bringing her home.”

“Sure thing.” He glanced over Ruby’s shoulder at the glowering shadow behind her, but Ruby did not feel up to introductions at the moment. “Well, I’m sure you have a busy day ahead of you at the golf course. It’s going to be another hot one.”

Ruby moved toward the door, hoping Nathan would take the hint and get the hell out.

“Yeah, definitely.” He dropped his voice so only Ruby could hear. “It’s just that your sister was saying some strange things. Kinda freaked me out.” His concerned gaze flicked back to Lena. The poor bastard was probably one of the many that had a crush on Lena since high school, but Nathan’s feelings were not Ruby’s main concern at the moment.

Ruby let out a stiff laugh. “Yes, well. You know us Bellerose girls. Big giant weirdos. Anyway, thanks again—”

Nathan put a hand on her shoulder to stop her rambling. Ruby could have sworn she heard a low growl from Rafe’s corner of the kitchen. She ignored it.

“She said, ‘They are coming.’ What does that mean?”

“Uh … gee. I’m not sure. Isn’t that some kind of Game of Thrones reference?” Ruby wiggled free of Nathan’s grasp and opened the back door for him.

“Anyway, thanks again!” She nearly shoved him out the door and then shut it with a sigh of relief.

“Who was that?” Rafe growled.

Ruby put her hand on her hip. “An old friend. Not that it’s any of your business.”

Lena raised her eyebrows, her gaze jumping back and forth between them.

“Lena, why don’t you go upstairs and rest.”

Her sister looked like she might protest, her stare lingering longer on Rafe, but her episodes exhausted her. She didn’t argue but, as she walked past Ruby on her way out of the kitchen, she whispered, “What about him?”

“I told you, he’s a friend. He … uh … got into a bit of a fight at the bar last night. So I let him crash here.” There. That was a perfectly reasonable explanation. Ruby was about to congratulate herself on a lie well done when Lena asked,

“And what happened to his clothes?”

Ruby coughed. “He … uh … lost them in a particularly ruthless game of strip poker. Now off you go.”

Lena looked at her like she didn’t believe a damn word she said. She smiled like she had developed an entirely different theory about why there was a naked man in their house, but mercifully she left without asking any more questions.

Leaving Ruby alone with the wolf.