Chapter 6 Rafe
Rafe blinked awake, achingly hard and momentarily disoriented as he tried to remember where he was. Confusion quickly gave way to cursing as he realised he’d slept five solid hours and was in danger of missing his afternoon clinic appointments.
When Adri had left the day before, he’d spent almost all night researching what could force a shifter to turn feral.
He’d barely managed an hour’s sleep before he’d been out to visit the dock workers at shift change in the dark, early hours of the morning.
They couldn’t come to his clinic in Lunetti territory without drawing the wrong kind of attention from their vampire bosses, and he had to time his visits to treat them for the few shifts supervised by someone who owed him a favour.
There had been a sharp increase in accidents at the docks recently, and he’d known it was going to be a rough morning when a harrowing scream had shredded the silence of the container he’d been working from.
One of the cranes had failed, trapping a young vampire and crushing their lower body.
Their co-workers, underfed and drawn by the blood, had struggled to get near without succumbing to bloodlust. Rafe had been forced to use his healing power not just to heal the poor thing, but to sedate the biological urges of the other workers to feast on them.
The breakfast sandwiches he’d brought to eat with Adri had been as much to restore his own energy levels as they were to satisfy his wolf’s need to feed his mate.
He should’ve known better than to use the last of his reserves getting Adri’s shoulder to the point where he wouldn’t have any discomfort using it.
His wolf didn’t give a fuck about minor things like conserving power, though.
It just wanted to give their mate every single thing he needed and make sure he never felt any pain again.
Even if his obsession was never reciprocated.
When he finally located his phone behind the sandwich Adri had left on the bedside table for him and saw the message from Marco, a thrill filled him and he sank back against the headboard. Maybe his feelings were reciprocated after all.
Alpha:
Your kitten asked me to sort the clinic for you. Rocco is there with one of the witches from the MC who heals.
Checking his calendar, Rafe made sure none of the patients who’d booked would be uncomfortable with a witch treating them. Luckily, there was no one who’d have a problem with it. He flicked a quick thank you to Marco before ripping into the sandwich he hadn’t had a chance to eat earlier.
With his hunger sated and his responsibilities taken care of, his thoughts turned to his mate.
The tug in his chest that hadn’t left him since he met Adri all those years ago was pulling him down to the gym on the ground floor.
Of course, his mate would still be there even though he’d only just recovered.
Smiling to himself as he remembered the way Adri had tucked him in, he shrugged on his jacket and made his way downstairs.
His gaze zeroed in on his beautiful mate as soon as he reached the threshold of the training space.
Adri was barefoot and shirtless in the sparring ring, his muscles moving with feline fluidity as he prowled around his opponent—a young bear shifter who towered over Adri but lacked the dominant assuredness emanating from his jaguar.
“Again,” Adri commanded, sparking an impressively fast blur of motion from the bear as they attacked.
Bears weren’t known for their speed. Although jaguars weren’t known for facing down opponents head-on like Adri was, either.
They were ambush predators. That didn’t stop Adri from twisting his body in a move that made the muscles of his torso flex as he redirected the attack away from himself and sent the other shifter hurtling to the ground.
Rafe winced in sympathy, but before the bear’s head could bounce off the solid mats, Adri was there, catching him to cushion the worst of the impact.
Rafe couldn’t quite make out what Adri said to the bear who was panting on his back on the ground, but a short time later, his mate was reaching down to pull the other shifter to his feet and into a rough embrace before shoving the bear off toward the showers.
A low growl rumbled in Rafe’s throat despite himself.
It wasn’t that he begrudged Adri the contact with his mentees.
Rafe understood pack and the bonds that touch helped build, although the supposedly loner jaguar shifter probably wouldn’t put it that way.
It was just that Adri was half naked, his throat frustratingly bare of the mark Rafe wanted on it, and as Rafe stalked closer, he could barely smell himself on Adri. It was driving him crazy.
“The door’s that way,” Adri said, not even bothering to turn to him as he gestured in the other direction.
Rafe stalked after him, waiting until they were far enough away from the people still training that they wouldn’t hear his low words.
“Kitten,” Rafe said, letting the warning sound clear.
Adri’s bratty dismissiveness was exactly the kind of rudeness he could make the jaguar love to be punished for.
Adri should know better than to turn his back on a member of the Lunetti Pack.
Rafe might only exist on the periphery of Marco’s operations, but he was still pack.
Appearances were important in their world.
Adri snapped his head around, baring his teeth at him. “Don’t call me that,” he hissed.
Rafe wasn’t going to do any of the things he’d promised the other day without consent, but that didn’t mean he was going to let Adri get away with whatever he was trying to pull by giving him the cold shoulder.
Raising his voice a little so the supernaturals training nearby would hear and know who his mate belonged to, Rafe met and held Adri’s gaze. “Thank you for letting me stay, sweetheart. Sorry I slept so long.”
Adri huffed in annoyance, knowing exactly what he was doing. “Whatever. Don’t overdo it this afternoon,” he growled back.
Rafe’s mouth stretched in a slow smile as he realised the jaguar couldn’t help but look out for him even when he was pissed off at Rafe for invading the gym.
Moving slow enough that Adri could bat him away if he wanted, Rafe reached out a hand and clasped his neck, rubbing his thumb down his throat to refresh his scent.
Adri’s skin was hot and sweaty from his sparring, his jungle scent swirling in the air, and Rafe stepped closer without meaning to, letting his fingers drift down his pecs, petting him.
“Fucking wolves,” Adri growled, rolling his eyes, but he also leaned into the touch, a sound suspiciously like the start of a purr cutting off as he cleared his throat.
He looked like he might say more, but then his eyes flicked to the other fighters and his mouth snapped shut.
“Come to dinner with me,” Rafe whispered, letting his hand drift even lower as he leaned in to nuzzle Adri’s neck.
“Can’t. I’m coaching a fight,” Adri said, his eyes half-closed as the rumbling vibration in his chest grew louder.
Rafe’s tongue slipped out, lapping at his skin. Salt and desire burst across his taste buds.
“Can I watch?” Rafe asked.
“Can I stop you?”
“Do you really need to ask me that? I stayed away for years because you asked.”
“Let him come, Carter!” a voice shouted from the other side of the room.
“Yeah, stop giving the poor doc blue balls!” someone else called.
“Not what I meant, Sera! Get your mind out of the gutter!” the first voice called back.
Adri groaned and thumped his head on Rafe’s collarbone. “Ignore them. I do.”
Rafe pressed a finger to Adri’s chin, tipping it up so the jaguar was looking at him. “Invite me to the damn fight, kitten.”
“Fine. You can come.”
Rafe raised an eyebrow, smirking.
“Not you, too. You’re too old for that shit.”
“And you’re too young to be so jaded. I’ll bring dinner at six. We can eat before we go. I’ll bring one of the pack’s SUVs,” Rafe said.
“I’m perfectly capable of getting there on my own.”
“It’s not as satisfying, though, is it?” Rafe asked.
He didn’t wait for Adri’s reply before leaving. He’d pushed his kitten enough for now. Through the reflection in the window, he watched his mate’s gaze trained on his ass as he left. Adri might not feel the mating drive the same way, but he was definitely feeling something.
He’d planned to take over with his afternoon appointments once he got back to the clinic, but Rocco nudged him away and up the stairs with his air magic before he could do more than ask how they were getting on.
“Don’t need you, Doc. You’re still scraping the bottom of your magical barrel. Go rest and get your mojo back,” Rocco said.
Rafe shook his head in annoyance at being pushed out of his own space, but at least the unexpected free time would give him another chance to trawl the medical archives for the information they needed.
Settling down in bed with his laptop on his lap, Rafe dived into researching any mention or statistics on feral shifters.
Most of it he already knew, although it wasn’t a speciality he’d developed.
Feral shifters were rare, but there was a one-in-five chance that a bite from one would infect the victim and pass it on.
Usually, there were enough warning signs that they could be contained before they turned and hurt someone.
Feral shifters lost their humanity—an animal stuck in human form, scared and hyper-aggressive.
A common, unproven assumption was that the condition was a magical, rather than physical, malady of some kind, given it interfered with the shift.
Early efforts to treat the condition had focussed on partnerships with witches through the Council.
However, as the Cruor Coven’s pharmaceutical company took off and proved the value of human technological advances to the supernatural community, some researchers were now looking to broaden their methods.