Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
R afe never came back to bed. Maybe he’d scampered off back home. Good, Ruby thought, running her fingers through her tangled hair. She twisted it into a knot and then swung her legs out of bed.
She couldn’t do this?… this?… whatever it was anymore. All this hot and cold with Rafe was driving her to the point of madness. If he didn’t want to be with her, she certainly couldn’t force him to be. He would have to take his tortured pining elsewhere.
Just when she’d convinced herself she was glad he left, that she was better off without a werewolf in her bed, the smell of breakfast wafting up from the kitchen told her Rafe hadn’t gone anywhere. The bastard.
Her stomach flipped at the memory of last night.
She’d thought he wanted her as much as she wanted him.
She didn’t want some pity oral! Not that it hadn’t been amazing, but that was beside the point.
He’d made her feel like a complete idiot, and that was not the post-orgasm experience anyone wanted.
And if he thought he was just going to run off again or pretend nothing happened, he had another think coming.
Mr. King of Mixed Signals was going to get a piece of her mind this morning.
She’d slept in her tank top and nothing else, secretly hoping like the desperate pervert that she was that Rafe would come back, but clearly this outfit would not do for breakfast and telling wolf-man to go fuck himself.
Ruby grabbed a fresh tank top, dark red like her rage.
She pulled it on over a black bra. She didn’t bother with fancy underwear because that furry bastard would not be seeing them today, but she did wear her shortest skirt just to spite him.
She never wore make-up to breakfast in her own home but today it felt necessary.
Black eyeliner on her top lids with just a little swoop at the ends and her favorite lipstick color: Sexy Red Riding Hood .
She smiled at herself in the mirror. She looked damn good for a morning of telling a guy off.
Ruby stomped down the stairs to the kitchen and found Rafe leaning against the counter, nursing a cup of coffee. He looked like shit. Good.
He didn’t bother to smile when she walked in, just watched her. She lingered in the doorway, not wanting to actually get close enough to him to get to the coffee maker.
“Morning.” His voice was like black coffee, hot and rich. He had circles under his eyes and his hair was tied back messily at the nape of his neck. His stubble was dark and thick. Damn it, she was wrong. He didn’t look like shit at all. He looked sexy as usual. How fucking dare he?
Ruby opened her mouth to tell him off, but Rafe spoke first. “I’m going to see the pack today. I’ll get you their protection and then I will leave you alone.”
Wait. What? He was leaving? Just like that? She hadn’t even told him off yet.
He turned away, avoiding her shocked stare and poured her a cup of coffee. Two teaspoons of sugar, no milk. Damn it. He remembered how she took her coffee. Could he be any more infuriating? He put the mug on the counter and slid it toward her. A peace offering. Well, screw that.
“You’re leaving?”
He nodded. “I think that’s best.”
“Why?”
“It’s time to stop playing house, Ruby. You’re a human. I’m a wolf. This doesn’t end happily for us.”
Ruby gaped at him. “That’s bullshit.”
He growled. “The pack will protect you better than I can,” he said, blowing past his earlier statement. The one that had Ruby’s heart breaking.
“And if I don’t want the pack to protect me?”
He blew out a long-suffering sigh. “Don’t be difficult about this, Ruby.”
“Ha!” She threw her arms up in the air. “Don’t be difficult .
Okay, yep. No problem. I won’t be difficult at all.
I will make this very simple for you, Rafe.
” She’d stalked closer as she spoke, and Rafe stepped back until he hit the counter behind him.
She put her hands on his chest, and he sucked in a breath like her touch burned.
“I don’t want you here anymore. And I sure as fuck don’t want any of your wolfy friends here either.”
“Ruby—”
“No, don’t Ruby me. You can’t just tongue-fuck a girl like that and then run off!”
“Ruby.” His voice was low and pained.
“You can’t keep toying with me like this, Rafe! Today it’s ‘I’m leaving’ but then you’ll be back telling me you can’t stay away, you can’t live without me, and you’ll be kissing me like it’s the end of the goddamn world!”
“Ruby!” His brows pulled together as he grabbed her arms, gripping tight enough to hurt, tight enough to make her stop her tirade.
“What?!” she snapped.
“I’m trying to do the right thing.” He dropped his forehead to hers, panting with the effort to keep it together. But Ruby was falling apart too.
“This doesn’t feel like the right thing,” she whispered.
Rafe pulled her to his chest, and she let herself collapse against him, burrowing into the solidness of him, the safety. She whimpered and he kissed the top of her head, pressing his lips to her hair, murmuring that he was sorry over and over again.
“I need to talk to Knox,” he said at last and she pulled back to look at him. She was sure the make-up she’d put on this morning was smudged. Rafe swiped a thumb across her cheekbone, rubbing at her ruined eyeliner. “I can’t… I can’t do this alone. I need the pack.”
She knew what that confession must be doing to him, how hard it would be to return to his brother, to the pack that had disowned him.
“I’ll come with you.”
“No.”
“Rafe!”
“Absolutely not.”
She pulled away, needing more space to fight with him. “Why not?”
“Too dangerous,” he grumbled.
“Too dangerous? Everything’s too dangerous! Maybe you should just wrap me in bubble wrap and put me on a shelf for safe keeping.”
He scowled. “Trust me, I would if I could.”
“You’re being insane.”
“The last time I saw Knox he was trying to kill me! I will not bring you around that man!” he roared and Ruby flinched.
Rafe winced. “I’m sorry. But the answer is no.”
“But you were going to trust the pack with protecting us?” She?put her hands on her hips and Rafe’s gaze tracked the motion, lingering too long on her hips, her thighs, her tits. Heat simmered inside her. Even when she wanted to kill him, she wanted to fuck him.
He shook his head. “I don’t… I just need to talk to him. See what he knows. I was going to ask him to send a wolf or two here to look after you until we got it figured out.”
Ruby scowled. “What a cute plan.”
“I’m doing my best,” he grunted before storming out the back door.
“Son of a bitch,” Ruby muttered, collapsing into the nearest chair. So much for telling him off. Instead, she’d almost begged him to stay, and he was leaving anyway. For now? Forever? She didn’t know what was going through that wolfy head of his.
She didn’t even really know what was going through hers. Everything was a jumbled mess of fear and anxiety and anger and lust and?… and something stronger. Something she refused to name.
Something that kept her coming back to him again and again.