Dutiful Wolf’s Mail Order Mate (Dusk Valley Wolves #2)

1. Rafe

CHAPTER ONE

RAFE

“ Y ou can’t!”

The screen door slammed hard enough to bounce back and swing shut again, but that wasn’t enough. Not for Elise. She had to push and fight every step of the way.

I didn’t turn as her steps hurried after me. “It’s done. No use complaining.”

Her footsteps stomped across the yard, each heavy footfall another jab at my competence. I didn’t need to turn to picture the fury etched across Elise’s features. The deep anger she carried acted like sonar pinging and seeking where to launch her next attack.

Nine times out of ten, she found me.

All hail the king.

“A mail-order bride, Rafe? You fucking bought a bride like a fleshlight off the internet?” she snapped, closing the distance between us.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Orion and Tara lingering near the corner of the house. Fucking wonderful. Elise’s voice carried with it the kind of indignant heat that tended to attract an audience, even in our dwindling pack.

Ignoring the cowards and snoops, I spun and faced Elise head-on. My wolf snarled for control and fought to put her in her place. She was a danger, he seemed to growl. A threat to the stability of the pack.

A challenge to face and destroy.

I kept my voice steady, a calm surface hiding the roiling unease churning in my gut. “I’m doing what was asked of me when I took alpha.”

Her eyes narrowed, jaw tensing. She opened her mouth to go another round, but I pressed on before the first syllable left her lips.

“Look around you.” I swept my arm out, gesturing to the expanse of the ramshackle pack house and overgrown yard, the empty homes peeking between the trees. “This place is circling the drain. We’re down to the four of us since?—”

I cut myself off before I threw the words at her feet. Of the entire, minuscule pack left, she didn’t need the reminder of tearing out her father’s throat.

A necessity. That bastard would have watched us slaughtered and happily rolled in the blood if it meant he took out as many Crescent Hollow wolves as died with him.

By rights, alpha should have passed to Elise. She dealt the killing blow. She had the lineage and support. Instead, she turned to an upstart enforcer who only found promotion to second-in-command through an untimely death.

Another of her father’s victims we were all too fucking blind to see.

We were barely keeping our heads above water in the aftermath. That Declan and the Hollow wolves didn’t murder the survivors in our sleep was a miracle. The olive branch of an alliance stood strong, but I had to rely more and more on their second, Corbin. Who knew how long until that branch completely snapped.

The one bright spot in the shit-colored fingerpainting was our lack of numbers. Fewer wolves to call my own meant fewer deaths to guilt me in whatever hell would serve as my afterlife.

After Marcus’s death, after I took control of the pack, my wolves came to me in a trickle, then a flood. Cousins never before mentioned had open spots in their packs. Dying relatives needed caregiving. Once-in-a-lifetime opportunities sprang up weekly.

A vicious, cruel alpha wouldn’t have let them leave. He would have looked at the strength of Crescent Hollow, at the bears building a clan on our border, and kept the best fighters sniffing for a potential fight.

I released them without argument.

Rafe Rutherford, the alpha to none.

Elise had opened her mouth again, but I silenced her with a raised hand. “It’s done,” I repeated. “She’s coming. She’s due any moment, so pray the potholes got them if you need a few extra minutes to collect yourself.”

Everything had slowly fallen apart in the span of two years. The weight of responsibility breathed down my neck every second of every day. My duty was to our fractured pack, but I was grasping at straws to secure our future.

They needed something to rally behind and hold them together.

Something like an alpha’s mate and an heir to protect.

My wolf prowled restlessly under my skin in a demand for that stability.

Elise’s mouth twisted into a hard line as her nostrils flared. Fury burned in her hazel eyes, threatening to consume her in the flames of her anger. “Collect myself?”

The words hissed out through gritted teeth. I could practically see the venom dripping from her lips. She jabbed a finger toward me, accusation etched in the sharp gesture.

“Or what?” Elise’s voice rose in pitch, crackling with outrage. “You’ll sign me up for this garbage and ship me out to the highest bidder? Should I be packing my bags, alpha?”

Orion shifted where he stood. Tara’s gaze dropped, finding sudden interest in studying the grass at her feet.

“I expect you to do your duty to this pack and welcome her. Kindly,” I ground out through clenched teeth.

“Oh, yes, we should all strive to be as dutiful as your little mate and simply lose all the thoughts in our heads.” Elise’s lips curled in a sneer. “You hear that, everyone? Follow your orders, shut your mouths, and let Rafe dictate our every move.”

“Come on, Elise…” Orion’s gruff voice cut through the tension, drawing Elise’s glare. “Maybe we should grab a drink. Somewhere else.”

“No, I want to meet the purchase Rafe is saddling us with.” Her eyes flicked dismissively over me. “Since you can’t find a willing woman on your own merits, you’ll just lock one down and force her to spread her legs. How romantic.”

Fury licked at my insides. My wolf howled and snarled to be released. How dare—how very fucking dare—she reduce me down to some brutish asshole without a care in the world.

I ground my teeth to keep the growl caged behind them. Patience , I urged my wolf and myself. Elise needed patience and understanding. She lashed out when she felt control slipping away. She’d watched me oversee the ruin of a pack that should have been hers—of course she had nasty words locked and loaded.

Orion held up his hands in a placating gesture as he stepped into the fray. “They both agreed to this. She knew what she was signing up for, and they have two weeks to back out if either side changes their mind.”

Elise’s eyes went wide, her lips parting in wordless outrage for a beat before she found her voice again. “You knew about this insane plan?”

“How much different is this from online dating, really?” Orion shrugged a shoulder. “A profile and a few dates aren’t like plucking her off the rack. Hell, you don’t even need those when you know she’s your mate. Like when Brielle?—”

Elise threw her hands in the air and turned her back on the enforcer. Like most newly-mated couples Orion and Brielle were disgustingly in love, and loved bringing it up. With every damned breath.

Not a worry with my arrangement, and I couldn’t welcome it more. Love was a trap and a weakness. Love served a person well until it was snatched out from under them. I’d watched pure love between my parents turn into a single mom withering away after my dad vanished.

Marcus, probably.

A muscle ticked in Elise’s jaw as she met my eyes with pure challenge. “And if this woman changes her mind once she’s here? What then?”

I held her gaze, willing her to see the truth in my next words.

“Then she’ll go free, with our thanks for giving us a chance. No cages. No coercion. Her choice to make.”

A low, distant growl cut through our argument. I cocked my head and caught the rumble of an engine growing louder, signaling an approaching vehicle.

Elise whipped around to face the source of the noise, her lips parting to unleash another barrage of accusations. I held up a hand, my voice low and firm. “Enough. The pack is mine, Elise. Not yours. You made that choice.”

Her jaw clenched, a muscle ticking in her cheek. For a moment, I thought she might challenge me, right here in front of everyone. But then she stepped back, crossing her arms over her chest.

I turned towards the dirt driveway, shoulders squaring as I braced for the arrival of my future mate. A knot of apprehension twisted in my gut, a strange mix of duty and dread churning within me.

The dark green SUV rolled to a stop in a spray of dust, the engine cutting off with a final rumble. I tensed, coiled like a spring as the passenger’s side door creaked open.

And then she emerged.

Her scent hit me first, night blooming flowers and sea spray carried on the breeze. My wolf rumbled deep in my chest, a low, possessive growl as every nerve ending in my body suddenly awakened.

She was tall and slender, with reddish-brown hair that fell in waves just past her shoulders. Even from a distance, I could see the sharpness in her green eyes as they swept over the pack house, taking in every detail.

Mate .

The word echoed through my mind, a primal recognition that I couldn’t ignore. She was ours. The one we’d been waiting for.

I clenched my jaw, pushing down the instinct to claim her right then and there.

Not my mate. She couldn’t be my mate.

Well, yes, my mate. But not like that. Not real.

Never real. Never loss and weakness and dereliction of duty to the most vulnerable among the pack.

I blinked rapidly, struggling to reassert my human side as the wolf prowled and strained to prove me wrong.

The driver’s door opened, and a man emerged. He was older than the woman, with the same brown hair and sharp green eyes. Siblings, I guessed.

They approached slowly, their steps measured and cautious. I could practically smell the uncertainty rolling off them in waves.

I stepped forward, giving a stiff nod. “Welcome to Dusk Valley. I’m Rafe, the pack alpha.” I swept an arm out to indicate the others. “This is Elise, my second. Orion, an enforcer. And Tara, our healer.”

She swept her eyes over each of us in turn, revealing nothing. When her gaze met mine again, she lifted her chin in a subtle challenge. “Madison Dunn. This is my brother, Kai.”

The soft lilt of her voice, slightly husky, sent a shiver down my spine. I nodded, my look lingering on her for a moment too long. She was even more stunning up close, with high cheekbones and full lips that made my wolf howl with desire.

Madison glanced around, her brow furrowing. “Where should I put my things?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but Kai beat me to it.

“ Our things,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument. “I’m staying, too. At least until Maddy makes her choice.”

Madison’s eyes widened, the only sign of her surprise. I could feel the tension radiating off her, the barely-contained fury simmering just beneath the surface.

I cocked my head and bounced a look between them. This wasn’t part of the plan. I’d agreed to take a mate, not her brother.

But the undercurrents between them ran as deep as the ones in my pack. The Dunns had secrets.

Secrets my wolf wanted to tease out, one exposed inch at a time.

“Great to hear,” I forced out, my voice tight with barely-controlled frustration. I shot a pointed look at Orion. “Get the garage prepped for Kai.”

The loft in the old barn wasn’t ideal housing. The bed would be musty and the plumbing took ages to drain, but it’d do in a pinch. And maybe our less welcome guests found the amenities encouragement to move on.

Something told me Kai would need that encouragement.

Madison’s eyes flared, a stubborn set to her jaw. “Why can’t Kai stay with me?”

“We’re a small pack, Madison.” Her name on my tongue was a delight I hadn’t expected. “The pack house has limited space, and you’re set to claim the only guest room. Tara will get you settled in the meanwhile.”

Tara nodded, gesturing for Madison and Kai to follow her. As they walked away, I caught a glimpse of Madison’s face. She looked wary, her eyes darting between us all like she was trying to figure out what kind of mess she’d just walked into.

I couldn’t blame her. I was still trying to figure that out myself.