Soul Bonded (18 page)

“No need to apologize.” He caressed her cheek, staring at her with an expression of pure wonder. “I’m okay, you know. It was a long time ago.”

Katie sniffled, nodding rapidly. “I know. I just wish…” She hesitated. “I wish I’d known you then.”

Rafe chuckled and dropped his hand to entwine their fingers. “You wouldn’t have liked me much. I was a bad boy.”

“I doubt that.”

Scoffing, Rafe said, “Well, I wasn’t a good boy.”
 

“I imagine you were a troubled boy.” Unable to stay away, Katie traced his jaw line with her thumb. “And who could blame you?”

“After Cain was killed, I got passed around to various members of the pack. I’d stay a month here, three months there, but I never had a permanent home again.” He gestured at their surroundings with unmistakable pride. “Not until I built this place when I was seventeen years old.”

“Seventeen?” Katie was floored. “I wasn’t even doing my own laundry at seventeen.”

Rafe smiled. “I grew up fast. It wasn’t what I would have chosen, but I had to. After my father died, my childhood ended. Don’t get me wrong…my pack-mates were good to me. They kept me alive at a time when I had no survival skills and no kin, but after Dad died, I had to look out for myself. I was no one’s first priority. And I didn’t trust anyone, least of all those with authority.”

“What about Susan? When did you meet her?” She tried to keep her tone light, hating the jealousy that swept through her at the thought of Rafe loving another woman. It was almost painful to think of him with someone else.

“I was sixteen. She was twenty-two.” The warmth in his eyes hinted at the importance of Susan’s place in his early life. It wasn’t difficult to understand why. With no family, a lover must have quickly become the center of his world. “She just turned up one day—no family, no friends—looking for the security and protection of a pack. Alpha agreed to let her join. I was living with him at that time, and he put her in the bedroom next to mine for a few months. We hit it off almost immediately. She was my first everything.”

Any jealousy she’d been harboring dissipated at the realization that Susan had been a friend for Rafe at a time when he’d clearly felt totally alone in the world. “I can’t imagine how devastated you must have been when she disappeared.”

“I was destroyed. I built this cabin for us. I thought we would grow old here together, maybe have some pups. But we only lived here for two months.” He stopped talking suddenly, giving her a careful sidelong glance. “It was a
very
long time ago.”

Knowing he was concerned about her reaction to the talk of his long lost love, Katie shook her head. She wasn’t worried about competition. Rafe belonged to her, and she to him. The only thing she felt about Susan was sorrow that her disappearance had caused young Rafe yet another heartbreak. “Have you been alone since?”

“Yeah.”

She recalled Rafe’s confession the night before when she’d asked about condoms. He’d wanted babies with Susan, and now he wasn’t sure that he could impregnate her. That kept spontaneous sex nice and simple, but it also meant they couldn’t fulfill the dreams Rafe once had. Dreams that
she
had, as well. “Do you still want pups?”

He avoided her gaze. “I told you I don’t think that’s possible for us.”

“But if it were?”

Rafe’s jaw tightened. Before he could speak, a muffled thump drew their attention to the front door. A louder thud brought both Rafe and Shilah to their feet. Rafe held up his hand as he walked to the door. “Stay there.”

Katie huddled on the couch, happy to obey. “Be careful.”

Rafe walked to the door and looked out the peephole. Then he jerked back as another
thump
shattered the quiet. Glowering, Rafe stalked back and forth a few times before peeking out again. “They’re throwing snowballs.”

Her instinct was to giggle at the absurdity of their weapon of choice, but Rafe’s obvious frustration took the humor out of the situation. “Ignore them.”

Rafe let out a truly inhuman growl and pounded his fist against the door. “
Fuck
them.”

Fury poured off him in palpable waves. Without thinking, Katie got off the couch and walked to stand behind him. Her only desire was to soothe Rafe’s temper, to somehow draw him back inside their own private bubble. With so little time before he transformed, she didn’t want to spend even a moment wallowing in anger and frustration about the situation outside. She touched his shoulder. “Come sit with me.”

He shrugged away from her. “I need to go outside to get some supplies so I can secure the windows. Do you have the gun?”

“It’s on the coffee table.” Katie didn’t like the idea of Rafe coming face-to-face with Lisa and her thugs while he was so upset. “Rafe, the windows can wait. Let’s finish our conversation.”

Rafe whirled around and stared her down. “Like hell it can wait. And I told you to keep that gun on you. At
all
times.”

She didn’t know what else to do but answer his anger with tenderness. Moving slowly, Katie looped her arms around Rafe’s neck and rested her head against his chest. His heart hammered beneath her ear as his entire body vibrated with fiery rage. Afraid that he would fly apart at the seams, Katie squeezed him as tightly as she dared. Eyes closed, she put every ounce of her concentration into passing calm, soothing energy from her chest into Rafe’s. She had no idea what she was doing, but there was no denying that Rafe been able to create a palpable effect on her mood by doing something similar. Even if she wasn’t supernatural, maybe it went both ways.

She felt the change immediately. His shoulders loosened and his breathing evened out. His hands came up and splayed across her back, possessive and reverent at the same time. He spun them in place so her back was against the door, then leaned against her with a shudder. She buried her face in his neck, stroking her hands over his shoulders. Another snowball hit the door, but she didn’t react—nor did Rafe. He just leaned into her harder, breathing deeply as his heart rate eased.

Relieved that she’d somehow defused the situation, Katie reached up to play with the fine hairs on the back of his neck. “I’m enjoying getting to know you better. Let’s keep doing that for just a while longer.” She kissed the side of his throat. “
Please
.”

He bumped his hips into hers and rumbled deep in his chest. Still rock hard, for once he didn’t pull back when his cock pressed into her belly. A moan slipped out from between her lips unbidden, a trill of pleasure skittering up her spine. Her arousal triggered an instant change in their embrace. Rafe slid his hands around her waist to her lower back, then moved down to squeeze her ass. His fingers sought out the cleft of her buttocks, exploring her through her pants. Breathing that had slowed turned ragged as Rafe’s touch grew more demanding.

She couldn’t allow things to get out of control. Not unless she was prepared to risk another round of Rafe’s self-flagellation. Summoning her will, Katie put her hand on Rafe’s chest and gently pushed him away. At first she thought he wouldn’t go, but after a moment of resistance, he retreated. Nostrils flaring, he stared at her with hungry, entreating eyes.

Once green eyes that now glowed unearthly amber.

Katie’s startled gasp sent Rafe stumbling away from her. His wild, luminous eyes instantly lost their amber sheen, reverting to pretty green and transforming him back into the man she’d already come to love. He turned and hid his face, cursing audibly under his breath. With that, the peace she’d created for them vanished. Awkward silence lingered in its place.

She wanted to tell him that everything was okay—that
she
was okay—but her throat wouldn’t work. While she’d understood that touching him carried the possibility of unchecked passion, she hadn’t expected
that
at all.
 

Rafe curled his hands into fists, knuckles going white. “I’m going outside.”

She stepped out of the way without protest. “Rafe, I’m sorry. I was startled. That’s all.”

He brushed past her, then hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. “Get the gun. Whatever happens, do
not
come after me.”

“All right.” Hating that her reaction to his appearance must have seemed like disgust, Katie reached for him but stopped short of making contact. “Please be careful. I want to finish our conversation.”

He grunted, then opened the door and stepped outside to a round of jeers and catcalls. He slammed the door in her face before she could make out what was being said, but she didn’t need to hear specifics to know that it was going to take all of Rafe’s considerable resolve not to rise to their baiting. Between his pent-up sexual energy and his simmering rage over their threats to her life, Rafe had to be on the verge of explosion. She just wished that he would let her do something to help. Even with his eyes gone wild and a sky-high libido, he still hadn’t attacked her. The opposite, in fact—he’d allowed her to push him away.

Rafe wouldn’t hurt her. She knew it in her bones—all she had to do was figure out some way to make him see that, too.

Sighing, Katie jogged to the coffee table and snatched up the revolver. She didn’t trust Lisa and her friends not to instigate trouble. More directly, she didn’t trust Rafe to keep his cool in his current state of mind. There was too much bottled up inside him, and it made him vulnerable to the threats and taunts she knew were being hurtled at him outside. Aware that Rafe wouldn’t approve, she took a chance that everyone was too distracted with antagonizing each other to notice as she cracked open the front door an inch.
 

The first thing she heard was a crude remark from Lisa. “Driving you crazy, isn’t it? I could smell her cunt from here. It’s only a matter of time before you tear that bitch to shreds.”

“Back off.” Though Katie couldn’t see anything through the narrow opening she’d created, Rafe sounded like he was standing close to Lisa. Too close. “Let me pass.”

“Or what?” Lisa snorted. “You ready to go against your Alpha and attack me? I’m not ready to cross mine.”

“Then get the fuck
out of my way
!”
 

Rafe’s booming voice echoed off the bare trees and set Katie’s heart racing. She tightened her grip on the gun, ready to use it. If he started a fight, she wouldn’t be able to stand by and not try to help.
Even if that’s exactly what he’s asking me to do tonight
. She closed her eyes and waited, hoping that nothing would happen that forced her to disobey Rafe. She wanted to do as he said and stay put, but not at the cost of letting this situation escalate out of control. If they injured or killed Rafe now, her life was forfeit. Even if she did manage to somehow hold them all off for the night, there would be no happy ending.

Rather than react to Rafe’s outburst with violence, Lisa laughed derisively. “Shit. You
are
frustrated, aren’t you?” He didn’t answer. She increased her volume, as though he was walking away from her. “I know you’ve fucked her at least once. You reek of it. What’s wrong? Are you afraid of frightening her?
Breaking
her?”

Rafe’s heavy, deliberate footsteps ascended the porch steps and came closer. Katie pulled the door closed, muffling the sound of Lisa’s taunting words. Breathless, she stepped to the side and waited for Rafe to return to safety. Instead, she heard him turn and clomp back down the porch stairs for another trip to the shed. Concerned that Lisa would really amp up her venom now, Katie immediately eased open the door again. After a brief hesitation, she summoned her courage and widened the opening so she could glimpse the confrontation.

She could only see Lisa’s shoulder and half her face because a wooden support blocked the rest of her view. It was more than enough to witness the viciousness in her every movement. Lisa stepped in front of Rafe as he tried to pass. “Was it worth it? Killing my mate for a human you can’t even touch? One too fragile to satisfy a wolf’s needs?”

“Katie is worth a hundred of your mate.” Rafe shouldered his way past her, striding past a dark-colored wolf who sat erect and watched the proceedings with unwavering attention. “More, even.”

“I don’t know about that, but she sure does taste good,” shouted a familiar male voice. The biter.

“Is that right?” Lisa waited until Rafe approached her with an armful of wooden boards, then lunged at him to knock a few off the top into the snow. “Does
Katie
taste good?”

An unfamiliar male voice called out, “If the rest of these fools leave her alive until tomorrow morning, I plan on taking my time and finding out just how sweet she is. There’s nothing quite like human pussy. Am I right?”

Rafe bent, disappearing from view, then straightened with the boards once again stacked in his arms. “Anyone who touches Katie is going to suffer a particularly painful death. That’s a promise.”

The naked brunette who’d gotten fucked on the ground sidled up to Rafe and reached between his legs. “As painful as that massive hard-on you’re wielding?”
 

White-hot anger surged through Katie as the stranger fondled her bond-mate. Rather than pull away, Rafe stood his ground and stared down both women blocking his path. “Remove your hand or lose it.”

“You can’t tell me this doesn’t feel good.” The brunette leered, moving her arm in a slow rhythm that suggested just how intimate she was getting with Rafe. “That human of yours obviously can’t take care of you the way you require. But I can. Seems like the least I could do before we kill you tonight.”

Rafe lunged forward, shoving past the women with an aggressive growl. “No, thanks.”

Lisa grabbed a hammer from atop Rafe’s stack of supplies as he walked past, then drew back to swing at his head. Katie burst out of the cabin without thinking of the consequences. She raised the revolver, took quick aim, and pulled the trigger. Sparks flew as the bullet struck metal and the hammer flew from Lisa’s hand. Ten heads swiveled to stare at her in shock. Katie’s hand shook as she realized what she’d just done, and how easily she could have missed her target. Even though she hadn’t hit Lisa or the other woman, her impulsivity might have just started a war.