Chapter Two
His mate tumbled down the embankment in a heap of white limbs. One of the most terrifying sights Raphael had had to endure in a long time, and he’d seen some shit in his time. However, all that paled into insignificance at the realization that she was in human form and thus far more vulnerable.
Any she-wolf would have shifted mid-fall and escaped the melee, but her deer was either not capable, or too terrified to try. Perhaps a combination of both. Her terror was a palpable force in the air, and it made his wolf want to kill those bastards who’d touched her all over again.
He zigzagged his way down the steep incline and did the only thing he could do, bite the back of her neck to yank her head out of the water, while he put all his weight on the log which had half fallen on top of her. That action shifted it enough for her to twist her upper torso and to take a deep gulp of air. Her terrified brown eyes connected with his before she lost consciousness, which was probably just as well. With her legs effectively pinned under the rest of the tree, she had to be in an awful lot of pain. Raphael shifted into his human form with a bone-crunching roar which would have also served to warn away anyone else. He didn’t even want his pack to see his mate so broken and vulnerable. There would be enough explaining to do when they realized their Alpha had chosen a deer for his mate.
Raphael shook his long, dark-brown hair out of his eyes and proceeded to extricate the young woman from the debris surrounding her. The more of her his actions revealed to him, the more she took his breath away. His mate was all woman with curves to die for, and his wolf positively salivated at the sight of her wide hips, rounded tummy, and large tits, not to mention the bare cunt he caught glimpses of as he turned her over and lifted her out of the icy water in one fell swoop. Not that now was the time to have those thoughts, because his little doe was barely breathing and far too cold. The cut on her nape was also bleeding quite heavily and Raphael cursed under his breath, while he half shifted and licked the wounds to help clean them. The sweet essence of his mate exploded on his tongue, and his wolf whined his need.
If he needed any more proof that he’d finally found the one female he was destined to be with, seeing those wounds close in front of his eyes was all the confirmation he needed. Throwing his head back, he gave a long mournful howl into the night air. The echoing howls of his pack filled the air, among them one from Collins.
No, I do not need help. I’ll explain when I see you. Take charge in my absence.
Absence?
Where are you going?
Boss, are you sure?
A cacophony of howls filled the night air, and the confusion of his pack set heavy in his gut, but Raphael’s mind was made up. He roared his confirmation to the moon, and his pack fell silent.
One lone howl brought him peace.
I’ve got this, boss.
The woman in his arms coughed and her eyes briefly fluttered open. He forced a grim smile on his face and the most delightful blush spread over her pale skin. It was hard to tell in this light and with her long tresses all matted and dirty from the water, but if he had to guess, he’d say she was a natural strawberry blonde.
“Hey, little doe. It’s all right, I’ve got you.”
She blinked and the most delightful blush stole across her far too pale, heart-shaped face. Her little nose wrinkled up, her brows drew together, and she inhaled deeply. That blush deepened, her breathing sped up, and her sweet musk increased. Sensing her body’s immediate response to his nearness did nothing to help Raphael control his wolf. His jaw ached with the need to bite her shoulder and to cement this bond between them, and he knew his incisors had grown more prominent. His cock hardened and the little bundle of curves in his arms gasped when she noticed that body part of his nudging her hip.
“No, please, I can’t. No.”
She struggled in his arms, or tried to. As ineffective as a newborn’s mewls, her voice barely carried and her hand pushing against his chest simply served to inflame his wolf. His animal didn’t care about the circumstances. All he wanted was to pin this woman down right here and now, fill her with his cum, and listen to her screams of ecstasy as she came all over his dick with his teeth buried in her neck.
Raphael closed his eyes, took a deep breath in to draw her sweet scent into his lungs, and to appease his wolf. Even so, he knew his voice came out distorted when he spoke to her again.
“You can, and you will, little doe, but not here and not now. Where do you live? Let me take you home.”
His mate jerked in his arms, and she frantically shook her head.
“No, you … mph.”
Kissing her seemed the most expedient way to shut up her protests, if not the wisest to help his control.
Her gasp of surprise granted him access, and Raphael took full advantage of that fact. He took charge of the kiss, letting his animal take over and do the talking for him. His wolf’s low growls filled the night air when she kissed him back. Tentatively at first, as though she was afraid of his response, and then bolder. Her hands wrapped around his neck, fisted in his long hair, and the sweet scent of aroused woman hit him in the gut.
It would have been so easy to pin her against a tree, bury himself balls-deep inside her sweet body, and fuck her brains out. In the past, that was exactly what Raphael would have done, but this woman setting his blood alight with lust was not just any woman. She was his mate, and she deserved better than an animalistic fuck against a tree. As he breathed in her scent, imprinting the feel and taste of her onto his brain, he also pulled back.
All flushed and warm now, she clung to him, and when she tried to pull his head back down to kiss him, he smiled and shook his head.
“Your address, my sweet. Let’s get you home and then we can finish this.”
She blinked again in that sweet confused way she had, but she did whisper her response.
“The teacher’s cottage in the village, but…” She stopped speaking and her terrified deer briefly appeared in her eyes.
He sensed the reason for her flight response before he heard them. Furious growls vibrated through the air.
Southern wolves on the opposite bank. Fuck it all to hell and back. They were exposed and he was on his own with his fragile mate to protect.
Pushing her away from him, he shifted and put his large bulk between his mate and the other wolves.
****
Aubrey gasped as she landed butt first in the snow. Seeing him morph into his big black wolf had to be the most awesome sight ever. As a man, he towered over her, his strength apparent in the effortless way he carried her. Aubrey was no lightweight, yet he hadn’t seemed fazed at all, manhandling her with an assured ease, which should have pissed her off, yet had the opposite effect on her. His amber eyes seemed to look directly into her soul when she’d struggled to shrug off the last membranes of fog claiming her brain after that fall. Her deer had screeched just one word over and over.
Mate.
It couldn’t be, however. He was a wolf, an Alpha at that. He would never take a mere deer shifter as his mate. Even if by some miracle he did, his pack wouldn’t let him, and an Alpha was ruled by the best interests of his pack. Everyone knew that, and Raphael Taylor was one of the best Alphas there was. She would be a hindrance to him at best, a liability at worst, just like she was now.
Terror held her firmly in its grip, as she watched the growling exchange between him and the other wolves. She couldn’t understand a word they were saying to each other, of course, but she got the meaning loud and clear.
If ever she’d seen a declaration of war, this was it. Her deer at long last erupted, and not wishing to hang around, she took off as fast as she could. Following the stream, she eventually found her bearings and sprinted for home, all too aware of the wolves running alongside on the other side of the stream, taunting her.
Of Raphael, there was no sight, and she’d never been so grateful to leap over her back fence than she was at that moment. Safety, at last. The familiar scents of home surrounded her. Taking a furtive look around to make sure the old dear in the cottage next to her hadn’t woken up and was taking a stroll like she was wont to do, Aubrey shifted back into her human form and pulled the tattered old bathrobe she’d left on the deck over her naked form.
Everything hurt back in her human form, and she gingerly put one step in front of the other. What she needed was some painkillers and a good long soak in the bath. She might even finish that bottle of wine. Aubrey typically didn’t drink on a school night, but these were hardly ordinary circumstances. Not every night she was hunted by wolves, met her mate and then run out on him.
The bite on her nape throbbed as she thought of Raphael. He must have bitten her there when he pulled her out of the water. Fear gripped her anew as she lifted her back door key out from under the flowerpot and unlocked her little place.
He had bitten her. Not the usual place a wolf marked his mate, but did it count anyway? Were they in fact now mated? That didn’t bear thinking about.
Aubrey only had her parents and sisters, and the rest of the mated deer she had encountered to hold up as a yardstick, but there was no way in hell she was ready for that.
Being mated meant subjugating herself to your mate and hell would freeze over before Aubrey would ever do that.
She purposely ignored the little devil on her shoulder calling her a liar. Would submitting to Raphael be that terrible? After all, her body had come alive in his arms. His warmth, his strength, his sheer overwhelming masculine presence had made her forget where they were and she’d simply acted on instinct. His kiss—boy, could that man kiss—had been a brand, a claim on her very soul, and she had responded.
Aubrey pulled the chilled wine bottle out of the fridge and held it to her overheated cheeks. Just remembering that kiss made her body react. Her nipples did their best to poke their way through the terry of her robe, her clit tingled, and she grew wet between her legs. If he burst through that door right now, then…
Oh my God, the door, the wolves.
The wine bottle slipped through her fingers and smashed on the stone tiles which made up the floor of her kitchen. She jumped over the shards of glass, her only aim to secure all the doors and windows. By the time she checked the last one, she had trouble pulling breaths into her lungs, and then she saw him.
One lone, big massive wolf on the edge of the forest her cottage backed up to. Blood marred his fur, and he limped. The deer inside of her wanted to leap through the window and help him, but her rational side urged caution. Sure enough, more wolves appeared and surrounded him. One almost as tall as him nudged his side and then looked straight at her.
Aubrey quickly let the nets fall and stepped back. That had to be his pack, and if she had to guess, that wolf had been his beta. He, too, had been covered in blood, and the look he’d thrown her way had been almost menacing.
No, they would never approve of her.
One by one, the wolves retreated until only Raphael remained. Their gazes connected and even across the distance separating them she could feel the connection between them. Tears streamed down her face as she pulled the nets away and rested her hand on the windowpane.
Raphael raised his head and his long, mournful howl echoed through the night air. Aubrey blinked and he was gone, as though he’d never existed.