Chapter 50
Chapter Fifty
O n the second day of battling every instinct in his body to go throw himself at Ruby’s feet, Rafe returned to his pack.
There was no way this thing was settled just because he’d killed a couple of wolves.
He needed assurance that Ruby really was safe.
He needed to know it was over and that he could walk away.
Rafe needed every excuse to hover around Ruby gone.
He meant what he told her that night on his porch. The worst night of his miserable life. Taking down those wolves reminded him of exactly who and what he was. A killer and an animal. He had no place in a human’s bed or heart.
Not surprisingly, Knox was thrilled to see him.
“Fuck, Rafe. Again?” His brother rose from his spot by the fire and strode to where Rafe stood on the edge of his campsite. The smell of roasted rabbit wafted to Rafe’s nose. His stomach turned. He hadn’t been able to eat since Ruby had left. Or sleep. His body wouldn’t rest.
“Twice in one week. What now?”
“Another attack,” Rafe growled, his blood heating just thinking about the fight.
Knox ran a hand through his hair and then gestured for Rafe to follow him away from the other men seated around Knox’s site.
Curious pack members watched them go, eyes sharp and assessing, but Rafe didn’t have time for all that today.
He just needed answers, needed to settle the anxiety simmering under his skin, needed to fucking rest.
“What happened?” Knox asked when they were at the edge of the camp.
“I killed them.”
“Jesus Christ, Rafe. This isn’t the dark ages. You can’t just go around killing?—”
“They attacked my?… Ruby.” The word Mate echoed through his skull, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak it. He didn’t deserve to, not since he sent her away.
Knox’s eyes widened a fraction of an inch. “Where is she anyway?”
“Home. Safe.” He hoped. Being this far away from her even during the day made him feel like his skin was too tight, like his lungs didn’t work.
“Does she know?” Knox cleared his throat. “That you think she’s your?… Mate?” He said the word like it left a bad taste in his mouth.
Rafe knew if Ruby had been there right now, she would have warned him about his murder face. But she wasn’t, so he let his face do what it wanted. He bared his teeth at his brother. “She knows. But it’s not worth it.”
“Oh?”
Rafe kicked a rock and watched it skitter through the trees. “Devon was right about humans. Too fragile.”
Knox gave a stiff nod, his silver eyes so like their father, studying Rafe while they stood in the dappled sunlight of the afternoon.
“I didn’t come here for that,” Rafe continued.
“I came to find out what you know about the Highlanders on our territory.” Rafe?lowered his voice and leaned in closer, fully aware of the perked ears all around them.
“Nell mentioned you were worried about something. She said she felt like there was something on the horizon. Something bad.”
His brother narrowed his eyes. “There’s nothing to worry about.”
“There is!” Rafe nearly exploded. “There clearly is, Knox! What are you going to do about it?”
Knox growled low in his throat. A warning. “I’m protecting my pack. My concerns don’t extend beyond that.”
Rafe opened and closed his fists at his sides, for once wishing he could get back in the ring with his brother and kick the shit out of him.
He nearly turned to storm off, but the image of Ruby screaming and bloody in the grass wouldn’t leave him.
If there was some way to help her while still keeping his distance, he needed to do it.
“Ruby’s sister is a seer. I think it’s connected somehow.”
Knox froze, surprise written across his face. He quickly schooled his features. “Can’t be. There hasn’t been a seer around here in decades.” Obviously, the packs had never known about Ruby’s aunt but Rafe sure as fuck wasn’t going to bring that up now.
Rafe pushed forward. “She has visions.”
“And what does she see?” Knox crossed his arms, leaning back against the trunk of a tree. Calm, cool, completely in control again.
Rafe hesitated. How much should he tell his brother? “She can’t understand them. She doesn’t remember when she wakes up.”
“Hm. What good is a seer if she can’t remember her visions?” He smirked.
Rafe growled in frustration. “You don’t think it’s odd that these sisters are being attacked and one of them has visions?”
“Well, only one sister has been attacked. Technically.”
“Lena never leaves the damn house! But Ruby—” Rafe swallowed hard, the breath leaving his lungs in a painful rush. Ruby was out there every damn night. An easy target. What the hell was he doing here arguing with his asshole brother?
“Never mind. Forget I said anything.”
“I said I would send out more patrols, and I will.”
Rafe clenched his fists. “A hell of a lot of good that does me.”
“You could come back.”
Knox’s words dropped between them like stones into a still pond. They stood and silently felt the ripples.
“Come back to the pack?”
“Yeah.” Knox cleared his throat. “If you’re tired of being alone.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
His brother pushed away from the tree, coming closer. “You could bring those sisters. We’d protect them. We’d protect your Mate.”
Unease settled in Rafe’s gut. “You don’t believe in Mates.”
Knox shrugged. “Maybe you changed my mind.” His smile was slow and calculated.
Rafe shouldn’t have come back here. He was right when he told Ruby that Knox would only use Lena to help the pack.
He didn’t know what his brother was plotting but he knew he didn’t give a shit about Ruby and her sister.
Or him. He just wanted the power a seer would give him, the edge he would have against other packs and a future he couldn’t control.
“Well, change it back. I didn’t claim her as mine. And I’m not going to.”
Knox shrugged again, casual even as he held Rafe’s stare with his own. “The offer stands if you get tired of protecting her by yourself. You know how that turned out last time.”
Rafe’s body slammed into Knox’s before he could stop himself, his hands fisted in his brother’s shirt. He pressed Knox against the tree he had been so casually leaning against, scraping his back against the bark.
“Fuck. You.”
Knox didn’t bother to struggle in his grasp, not even giving Rafe the satisfaction of fighting back. “I’m just reminding you what’s at stake here, little brother. You couldn’t save that other pretty human from our own father. How are you going to save this one?”
Every word sunk into the marrow of Rafe’s bones, his every fear laid out in front of him. He released Knox’s shirt and stumbled backward.
“I’m not bringing her here.” He was breathless like they’d fought physically and not with words.
Knox held his hands up in surrender. “I’m just trying to help you out.
Two human women under my protection is the last thing I need.
But if you don’t want my help, stop showing up here.
” Knox’s expression was tight, his stare hard.
The coolness had left his demeanor, replaced with something else.
Something like hurt and, simmering beneath it, worry.
His brother was a good liar, better than most wolves. But Rafe could see it now. The Alpha was worried.
“Consider this my last visit.” Rafe stormed away from his brother, praying he hadn’t just made things much, much worse.