Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
R uby had just experienced the best orgasm of her entire life, but Rafe was the one who looked wrecked. He knelt in front of her, her wetness on his lips, his fingers still digging into her thighs, but his eyes were filled with something she’d never seen before.
Longing and desire mixed with?… fear? Rafe was looking at her like he wanted to fuck her into oblivion and run from her at?the same time. She grabbed tight to his arm. She wouldn’t let him run.
“Fuck me, Rafe.”
He shook his head, hard, as though the words had rattled him out of his thoughts.
“I…” His voice was rough and choked like he couldn’t bear what he was about to say. Somehow Ruby knew she couldn’t bear?to hear it. She leaned forward and claimed his mouth with hers, demanding he open for her, demanding he let her in.
For a moment he did, and Ruby sagged in relief.
She ran her fingers through his hair and down his shoulders.
He was still fully clothed which now seemed like a horrible oversight.
She tugged at his shirt, and he let her yank it over his head.
He kissed her like a desperate man, like this was some kind of goodbye.
But that couldn’t be true. Despite all that “bad idea” crap, Rafe couldn’t deny what existed between them. Not when it was so obvious.
Ruby pulled away and leaned her forehead against his. She let her hands trace the planes of his chest.
“That was amazing, but I don’t want to stop.”
Rafe’s exhale was one of defeat. “You got what you needed.” He pushed away from her, rising up. Ruby stood too, not wanting him to tower over her. Not now when he already held too much else over her. She’d been completely open with him and still he was pulling away?
“What I needed? I thought this was mutual. We both feel it, I know we do.” She crossed her arms over her bare chest. Rafe grabbed her shirt from the bed and handed it to her.
“We can’t, Ruby.”
What the actual hell was happening here?
Ruby tugged the shirt on, not caring that it was inside out and backwards.
This whole night was falling down around her.
“Are you kidding?” she asked, ignoring how hurt her voice sounded.
“You’re pretending that was just a favor to me?
” She gestured to where Rafe’s cock strained against the front of his pants.
The color rose in Rafe’s cheeks, a pained expression crossing his face. “This is all I can give you, Ruby.”
He stalked from the room before she could argue. Ruby dropped back onto the bed, her legs still shaking from her soul-shattering orgasm.
This wasn’t possible. There was no way this could be happening. Not to him. Not with Ruby.
You poor bastard.
Gert knew.
Rafe paced the woods beyond the house. Every muscle in his body, every instinct was screaming at him to run back to her.
But he couldn’t. Especially not now. Not with Ruby’s taste still on his tongue, the feel of her body still imprinted on his.
He shook his fur out, like he could shake off the feel of her.
God, she must hate him. The look on her face when he pulled away, the betrayal and the anger, would haunt him forever.
But this couldn’t be possible.
Rafe hadn’t grown up with the fairy tale of fated Mates. His father shut down any whisper of it. The pack mated for strength and skill, not based on destiny or, worse, love. From a very young age, Rafe was convinced the concept didn’t even exist.
The light in Ruby’s bedroom went out, bathing the yard in darkness. She’d given up on him coming back. Rafe’s chest cracked, letting the darkness in.
Good. She needed to give up on him. It was why he didn’t fuck her.
Why he couldn’t, even as his body craved it like his next breath.
Stories linger, even when they are suppressed.
People whisper. Wolves talk. He knew the fairy tale even if he never believed in it.
Werewolves were meant to mate for life. If they were lucky, they found their fated Mate, the wolf that was tied to their soul, the wolf they literally could not live without.
It was all bullshit. Rafe had never met anyone who’d found their one true Mate. It wasn’t possible. It wasn’t real.
And he’d definitely never heard of a werewolf mated to a human .
It. Wasn’t. Possible.
Unless it was… Rafe shook himself again, his body still reverberating from the realization he’d had between Ruby’s legs. The word Mate still ran through his blood, still screamed at him to pay attention to what was right in front of him.
It made everything he’d felt about Ruby since he met her fall into place. It was why he was drawn to Maple Hollow. Why he couldn’t stay away. Why he felt compelled to be near her, to touch her, to protect her.
It explained everything.
And yet?… he couldn’t do it. Didn’t want it. Humans were not for him. Not even that one, not even Ruby. It didn’t matter how much time he spent as a human, pretended he was one. Deep down, he wasn’t. He was an animal and he would only lead Ruby into danger. Just like Scarlet.
He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to pull himself together, trying to slow his racing heart so he could think.
If the stories were true, the Mate bond wouldn’t lock in place until he claimed her.
In his current state, there was exactly one way Rafe could think of to claim his Mate, and it didn’t involve promise rings.
Which was why he’d stopped before they went any further, before he lost himself in her and did things they’d both regret.
Just imagining being buried deep inside her made Rafe groan in agony, but there were so many things he didn’t know.
Would she feel it too? Would she be tied to him, or would it be one-sided?
Would he be doomed to follow her around for the rest of his life even if she didn’t want him in return?
He could imagine it. He could picture himself wasting away in the woods beyond her cottage just for a glimpse of her.
And if she could feel it, then what?
Would she really want to tie her life to his? Forever ?
He couldn’t imagine she would. Couldn’t convince himself that she wanted him beyond this passing attraction. He didn’t have anything to offer beyond a life of violence and struggle.
None of this was fair to Ruby. She wasn’t a werewolf.
But even as he vowed to himself that he wouldn’t claim her, even as he swore to himself that he would leave, his body rebelled.
His feet wouldn’t budge. He should find another way to protect her from afar.
But as he racked his brain for ways to do that, his heart laughed at what a liar and a fool he was.
It was too late. It didn’t matter if he stayed away from Ruby for the rest of his life. It didn’t matter if he ran to the ends of the earth to avoid her. It didn’t matter if he never touched her again. She was already his. It was too damn late.
For him anyway. But maybe she could be the one to run.