Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
R afe flung open the door to find Ruby sitting on the metal steps to the trailer, her beer dangling from her fingertips.
“We should go.”
Ruby’s gaze shot to his, a frown bracketing her lips. “We need to ask about Lena.”
“It’s not a good idea.”
She stood up, hands going immediately to her hips, fighting stance. “Why the hell not? We came all this way and all we found out was that your mom misses you and maybe your brother didn’t want to murder you!” Ruby’s voice rose with each word, and Rafe could feel the pack perking up around them.
He tugged her closer. “Keep your voice down,” he warned.
Ruby blew out a frustrated breath but whispered when she spoke. “I thought we came to help Lena. We need to figure out her visions.”
Rafe glanced around them, but the camp was quiet. “You need to trust me.” He waited, his gaze locked on Ruby’s. She wanted to argue. He could see it in the grim set of her mouth and the furrow of her brows and the anger flashing in her dark eyes.
“Fine,” she ground out. “I trust you. Let’s go.”
He took her hand and they strode back through camp, not bothering with goodbyes.
His need to leave was stronger than his need to mend fences right now.
Maybe someday he’d come back and try again, but a year hadn’t been enough to close his old wounds.
He still couldn’t forgive what had happened here.
Or his own role in it. Maybe he was a step closer than before, but today wasn’t the day he rejoined the pack.
When they were finally far enough from the camp that Rafe felt safe again, he tried to explain. “Being back here, it reminded me of something. Something I’d managed to push aside while I was living on my own.”
Ruby turned to look up at him. Her cheeks were pink with exertion. Rafe slowed the fast pace he’d set since they left.
“Oh?”
“The pack comes before everything else, Ruby.”
“Okay. But what does that have to do with Lena? We still don’t know what to do.”
Rafe flinched at the accusation in her tone, but he went on.
“If we told Knox what Lena is, the first thing he would do with that information would be to figure out how it could benefit the pack .” He’d seen it in his brother’s eyes, the calculations he’d made when Rafe told him about Wyatt.
He only agreed to increase patrols because it would look bad to let Highlanders stick around on County land.
He hadn’t done it for Ruby. And certainly not for Rafe.
What he would do with information about a seer was anyone’s guess, but Rafe didn’t think it was worth the risk.
It was just like Eloise had said: a seer would be valuable to a leader.
Someone to guide the Alpha in his decision-making.
And that didn’t only go for the Highland pack.
His former pack could use the help just as much.
Werewolves lived a perilous life. Whatever small assurance a seer could give would be welcomed.
The more Rafe thought about it, the happier he was that he hadn’t told Knox the whole truth.
“You think he would hurt her?”
“I don’t think so. But I do know his first thought would be for the pack. Not for helping Lena.”
Ruby sighed, pushing the wispy hairs from her face. Curls stuck to the sweat on her brow. “Well, fuck.”
Rafe grunted. “Yeah.”
They walked on in silence, the afternoon unseasonably warm, before Rafe spoke again. “I’m sorry I didn’t think of all this before we left. I can be impulsive, I guess. Act before I think sometimes.” More so when she was involved.
“You were trying to get away from me again.” He hated the words, but Ruby’s tone was light like she was trying to tease him.
“I’m sorry about that too.” He said it even as Knox’s warning rattled around in his head. Exhaustion settled heavily on his shoulders. He was so tired of fighting this thing between them. He wanted to sink into it, to give in and crawl into her lap like a damn puppy.
“Rafe, stop.” Ruby tugged him to a standstill on the narrow trail.
“What is it?”
Her face was tipped up, and he couldn’t stop himself from brushing the damp tendrils from her brow.
“I know,” she said, never taking her dark gaze from his face.
He swallowed hard, his blood suddenly speeding through his veins. “You know what?”
“I know what we are. To each other, I mean. At least I think I do.” Her forehead scrunched in hesitation, and Rafe pressed his lips to the creases, unable to stay away, to stay back, to resist.
“Say it,” he whispered, needing to hear the word from her blood-red lips.
“I think we’re?… Mates.”
His mouth crashed down on hers, all restraint breaking. Mates.
She jumped into his arms, wrapping her thick thighs around his waist. “I thought I was going crazy,” she said between kisses.
“It was all so much, so fast.” Her breath was coming in short gasps as he backed them up against a tree.
He kissed down her neck, nipping and biting her soft flesh.
She writhed against him and he pushed his hardening cock into her center, heat and need pulsing through him.
Every instinct was clamoring at him to claim her, to make her his forever. But her words rang in his head, even as her body called to him. So much, so fast. This was all new to her, to both of them really. He pulled back, panting. Ruby stared at him with hungry eyes.
“Wait,” he growled. “Slow down.”
Ruby stilled in his arms.
He leaned his forehead against hers, their breath mingling between them. “Once we do this, that’s it. There’s no going back. Mates are forever.” That was one thing he knew for certain.
“There’s no going back for me regardless of whether or not you stick your dick in me, Rafe.”
He laughed at her fearlessness. It was exactly how he felt too, that it was too late for them anyway, that nothing they did now would change what they were to each other.
“I’m serious.” She wriggled from his grasp and put her feet back on the ground. “I want you. Mated or not.” She wrapped her hands in the front of his shirt and tugged him close. “This thing between us is impossible to fight and I don’t want to fight it. I want to be with you.”
Rafe swallowed the emotions rising rapidly in his throat. It was everything he’d wanted to hear from her, but still his doubts lingered.
“I couldn’t keep Scarlet safe.”
“I don’t want a bodyguard. I want a partner.”
Rafe’s heart pounded in his chest as though it was trying to leap directly into Ruby’s hands. A partner. Such a human concept.
“After everything I’ve done?—”
“It’s your turn to trust me. Trust that I want you. That I know what I’m doing.”
“Fate doesn’t make mistakes.” He echoed the words he’d spoken to Knox earlier, and they felt even more true with Ruby pressed against him.
“I feel it,” she said, her breath skating across his neck.
“I know you’re mine.” She wrapped her arms around his neck.
“We’ll figure it out together. Please, Rafe.
Don’t run from me anymore.” Her words were so sweet, so desperate.
He’d made her feel that way: afraid that he would keep pushing her away.
It was all he’d been doing since they’d met.
“I’m done running.” He nuzzled her neck, breathing her in. He’d known her for a month. He’d known her forever. And by some miracle, she felt it too.
She sighed, dreamily, running her fingers through his hair.
“But Ruby…”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not fucking you for the first time up against a tree.”
She pulled back, looking so indignant Rafe had to bite down on a laugh.
“What the hell kind of werewolf are you?”
“One that doesn’t want to fuck you within earshot of his family and friends.”
Ruby nearly growled and the sound shot straight to his cock. “Damn it. Fine. But maybe we could…” Ruby reached between them, gripping Rafe through his jeans.
“Shit, Ruby.” He watched her ruby lips spread into a smile.
“Just to take the edge off. We’ll be quiet. And quick.” She rubbed up and down his length, and he had no doubt he could be quick.
He captured her mouth again, pressing her against the trunk of the tree and her gasp tickled his lips.
He slid his tongue against hers, lapping up her sweet moans.
Her fingers fumbled with the fly of his pants, and he reached down to help, freeing his aching cock.
Ruby wrapped her fist around him and stroked.
Static filled Rafe’s brain. Static and the overwhelming need to spin Ruby around and fuck her against this goddamn tree. But he was determined not to be a complete animal. Not their first time anyway.
Ruby picked up her speed and Rafe groaned.
“Stop.” He wrapped his hand around hers and stilled the motion.
“Please, Rafe. I want to make you come.”
Rafe struggled to control his breath, to control everything.
Every muscle was rigid, every atom at attention.
And then Ruby rubbed her palm over his tip, spreading the moisture that had gathered there and he let her.
He let her slide her slick hand up and down a few more times.
He let her bite and suck the skin at his throat while she did it.
“Shit, Ruby. Shit, shit, shit…” He growled as he came all over her hand like a goddamn adolescent. Pleasure shot through him and left him shuddering against her.
“Was it good?” Ruby peered up at him with dark eyes.
“Good?” Rafe shook his head, unable to right himself yet. “Jesus, Ruby. I just came faster than I have in the past fifteen years. Yeah, it was good.”
Ruby’s grin made up for his embarrassment.
“You deserve to feel good, Rafe.”
“So do you,” he murmured, sliding his hand down the front of Ruby’s jeans. She was warm and so wet for him. He growled, scraping his teeth against her neck. He didn’t waste time. Even through his lust fog, he had no intention of getting caught by his pack with his pants down.
He circled Ruby’s clit and she arched into him. She had gotten this close to coming just by getting him off. That was so damn sexy. He worked faster, mimicking the things he’d seen her do to herself, remembering how her fingers had moved.
“That’s it,” she gasped. She tugged on his hair, her back arching away from the tree. She bit down on his shoulder to stifle her screams as she came, and the feel of her teeth on his flesh sent another bolt of lust to Rafe’s cock.
“Holy shit,” she said, pulling away. Her lipstick was smudged and her cheeks were flushed pink.
Rafe grinned. “Better?”
“Not really,” Ruby grumbled, fixing her pants. She pulled a few tissues from her pocket to clean their hands. “As soon as we get back, we’re doing this mating thing.”
Rafe’s heart nearly burst. “Don’t say shit like that, Ruby.”
“Why not?”
He shook his head but couldn’t hide his smile. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “It just doesn’t seem real.”
“You’re stuck with me,” she said, taking his hand again. “Fated Mates or not, okay?”
He nodded, but words caught in his throat. He wanted to believe her. He wanted to put his father and his pack behind him. He wanted to leave Scarlet to rest, and forget the sins of his past. But the way Ruby looked at him still seemed too good to be true.