He didn’t like it, but the Alpha Prime was right. He sat down hard on the entryway bench. “Does he have a suggestion?” It wasn’t what Rafe would have chosen, but he would follow the wishes of the Alpha Prime because if these men did have some far-reaching plan, it might involve more than just those responsible for the murders. Catherine had only spoken of five men. And while Javier had been one against at least five, his panther should have done some damage to at least one of them.
That question had troubled Rafe each time he went over the written report, hoping to glean some new piece of information. Why hadn’t there been any human blood—other than Catherine’s—at the scene. And hers had been mainly upstairs, except for a few tracks from the man who had killed her leading away from where he’d left her.
Rafe leaned against the wall behind the seat. “It’s never made sense to me how they overpowered my brother. He was naked when I found him.” Max nodded. Again, he knew this from the report. “So he’d shifted. There were no bullet wounds. Just several markings from what looked like a stun gun. But that shouldn’t have incapacitated him.”
“Again, that’s why we need to know more.”
“All right,” Rafe said as he stood and faced the bear. “We’ll plan. And then we’ll strike.”
And strike hard.
It was quiet. Too quiet.
Dex had gone to bed hours ago after opening up more to him and Aubrey. One of the things that had haunted Rafe for all these months had been laid to rest.
Dex hadn’t seen a thing.
It didn’t mean hearing some of what happened wasn’t horrific. It was. But according to Dex, after his mother had hidden him in the closet, he hadn’t heard another word from her—not a cry, no begging. Nothing.
After learning that, Rafe hadn’t wanted to know what it took for Catherine not to make a sound while she’d fought being taken against her will. And there had been evidence she’d fought with her attacker. It was a strength even he as an alpha couldn’t imagine having. All he could think was her love for her child had meant more to her than any pain or degradation she’d had to endure.
Javier’s Destined Mate had been a woman of true worth and courage.
He prowled through the house and went down the hallway to Dex’s room. The door was slightly ajar, but the room was dark—something he hadn't seen at night since Dex had been under his roof. He’d always needed a light on, but even then, his sleep had been fitful at best. Not tonight. Dex slept peacefully with none of his normal restlessness—his features relaxed.
Rafe quietly backed away from his nephew’s door, made his way downstairs to the front door, and then outside without any firm destination in mind. Soon, though, he found his feet taking him to the guest house.
And Aubrey.
All her lights were out, so more than likely she was asleep, which didn’t surprise him. It had been a hard day for her too—at least emotionally. So, even though it went against all his instincts and needs, he turned away and headed back toward the house.
“What?” He stopped at the low murmur of a voice coming from the stable as he passed. He quirked his head and frowned. “Is that…”
He prowled toward the stable and paused at the slightly ajar door. Then he sifted through the strong odors of horses and stalls that needed to be mucked out in the morning to let the scent of lilacs and honeysuckle drift over him—along with Aubrey’s low murmuring.
What is she doing out here so late?
He silently walked down the row of stalls to Chaparrita’s, where he found Aubrey dressed in a pair of pajama pants and tank brushing over the mare’s side.
“I can see why Dex talks to you,” she said, her tone low and soothing. “You’re a good listener.” She patted over the horse’s flank and then moved to her other side and continued brushing. “It’s just too bad you can’t tell me what to do.”
Rafe frowned at that but kept to the shadows.
“I’m sure Rafe won’t want to just fire me outright.” She chuckled while denial rose up inside him. “Although he would call it letting me go. Or something nice like that. Probably. But either way, I’m out of a job, a home, and…and…” She shook her head. “I’m not sure what to call it.” She went to the front of Chaparrita and ran the brush over her cheeks. “Besides, I doubt Rafe wants me around anymore after our mistake by the stream.”
“You couldn’t be more wrong.”
Aubrey jumped back while winding up the brush like she was going to throw it at him. Then she pressed her other hand against her chest—her breathing harsh—drawing his eyes to the clear outline of her free breasts under the thin light blue fabric.
“I’ve asked you this before, but have you lost your mind?” He was sure she thought her narrowed gaze was intimidating. It wasn’t. “You nearly scared me to death.” She shook the brush at him. “And I was just about to clock you with this.”
“I’d have caught it.” He grinned as she raised one brow and smirked.
“I doubt it. I was the star pitcher on my college softball team—full-ride scholarship.” She nodded. “I would have cold-cocked you.”
He could have said, "shifter reflexes,” but that would have only earned him another, "Have you lost your mind?” And at this point, he might have. He moved further into the stall. “We’ll agree to disagree on that. But what’s all this about you leaving?”
She let out a short, humorless laugh and then went back to brushing the horse’s face. “My work here is done. I was only here because of Dex.”
“Yes. And I didn’t have the chance to thank you earlier.” He moved closer. “So, thank you.” Although those two words weren’t enough to convey what she had done for Dex, or for him. “But you still have a job here.”
“You know that was only so I could be here for Dex,” she said turning to him with a sad smile. “And because you felt bad for my situation.”
“You’re right. I didn’t like the situation you’ve been forced into.” And that was why he’d had Simon Vandiver investigating after that first night. The Tennessee Alpha Regent had uncovered this Jeff Graham’s name within a few hours, discovered his location in less than a day, and had Alliance attorneys on the case not long after. He held in his grin. As they stood there, her ex-boyfriend was more than regretting his decision to fuck over his mate.
Within a week, her savings account should have every penny the man had taken, in addition to payments she’d made, along with a hefty interest rate added in for good measure. Of course all the outstanding loans had also been moved to his name.
He might tell Aubrey—when he thought she might be amenable to hearing it without blasting him for butting in. That is if she didn’t discover it first herself. Hopefully since she assumed the account was empty, she wouldn’t be checking anytime soon.
“But that doesn’t mean I still don’t need your assistance. You’ve done a good job for me and I’m happy with the situation.”
“But I’m not.” She turned and laid the brush on the table behind her, not looking at him with her quietly spoken, “I can’t work with you every day and pretend what happened between us didn’t happen,” filling him with guilt for how he’d treated her that night.
He wasn’t going to excuse his behavior. He’d realized too late his being an ass to her had stemmed from a gut reaction or perhaps a flashback of guilt from his failure to protect Dex that day just as he had failed to protect his family all those months ago. So, he’d pushed her away. The fact it had been made a mistake had become more and more clear to him as the days had gone by.
Aubrey was his Destined Mate—something not every shifter had or found—and he didn’t want to lose that gift. But by the time he’d had that epiphany, he’d had no idea how to make things right.
“Would it help if I apologized?”
She turned her eyes toward him, their depths filled with confusion. “It would depend on what you were apologizing for. Our…the…what we did in the clearing, or for your sudden turn around later tha
t night.”
He moved closer. “What I said to you today—to you and Dex—how I wasn’t there for him and his parents.”
She nodded.
“It was because I was with a woman.” Her eyes widened, but he continued. “I was with her and ignored three calls from Catherine.” Once again, the guilt of it hit him square in the chest as he met Aubrey’s clear gaze. “Three. And it was hours later before I heard her messages.” He doubted he would ever be able to forgive himself for that. “And then the other afternoon, Dex needed me again and—”
“You were with another woman,” she murmured and then closed her eyes and tilted her head back. After what seemed much longer than the few seconds it most likely was, she let out a long shuddering breath and finally lowered her gaze to his. “I understand.”
His brows drew down. “Do you?”
“Psychology degree,” she said, focusing on him. “Remember?”
“And you’re okay with that?”
She gave him a half-shrug and then cast her gaze on Chaparrita. “I have to be.”
He took the last few steps he needed to reach her and turned her chin with one hand—the few tears shining in her eyes wounding him. She should never cry because of him. Never. His gaze searched over the face of this woman who was only his, whispering what she didn’t yet understand, “But you’re not just another woman.”
Her brows scrunched with a couple of tears escaping. He groaned, took her shoulders, and then pulled her close, those few tears beckoning his lips. He didn’t resist and bent to taste them—to make her tears part of him.
“Aubrey,” he murmured against her cheek as he banded his arms around her. He closed his eyes at the light touch of her hands at his waist. Having her touching him was…
He tempered his embrace when all he wanted to do was crush her to him as he ran his hands up and down her back. Then he pulled back enough to see her face. He wanted her to know how serious he was. “You’re the only woman.”
She blinked several times as her fingers at his hips dug in and a flush bloomed over her cheeks. “I don’t know what to say,” she finally murmured as her hands inched up either side of his body. He watched the play of emotions over her face as the light press of her hands went higher and she huffed out a laugh. “And honestly, this is the last thing I expected you to say.” She gave a slight shake of her head as her hands went to his chest and pressed against his pounding heart. “And I might believe you if…”
She left him hanging as a look of pure temptation filled her eyes.
“If what?” he groaned as everything in him stilled, waiting for her reply.
A slow grin spread over her face as she eased her hands up and linked her arms behind his head. “If you finish what we started by the stream.” Her eyes widened when he molded her against him and pressed his ever-hardening cock into her soft body.
“I can do that.” He glanced around the small confines of the stall. “But this isn’t—”
“Yes. It is.” She motioned with her head and then whispered as she pulled his head down. “There’s an empty stall across from this one.”
He hefted her up against his chest and took her lips as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Then he walked over to the other stall. It was only a few feet, but he almost wasn’t able to take those few steps. He groaned and nearly lost his footing when she pressed her heated core against his ridged cock over and over.
“Keep that up,” he moaned against her lips, “and we’ll have to wait for me to recover.”
She pressed harder as her eyelids fluttered closed. “Wouldn’t want that.”
“Shit.” Rafe turned and pressed her into the stall wall. He rolled his hips into hers as he raised the bottom of her tank. He ran his hands over her exposed skin, as he ate at her mouth and sucked on her searching tongue, his fingers tracing over the goosebumps along her flesh. “Aubrey,” he panted when he came up for air and eased away from her. “I need inside you.”
Her glance went over his shoulder before she met his gaze. “Over there,” she whispered as she squirmed down from his grasp and went under his arm to the tack wall and the stack of blankets in front of it. He undid the buttons of his shirt as she spread several blankets out across a pile of loose hay, his gaze glued to the ass he wanted his hands on in the worst way. “This will have to work, “she said as she turned and froze with her hands at the hem of her tank. Her eyes widened as he shrugged out of his shirt and went to work on his jeans.
“Let me,” he said, leaving his fly open as he went to her and brushed her hands away. He lifted the thin fabric from her body, taking in a deep breath at finally seeing all of her breasts, and then cupped one in his hand. He watched his thumb stroking over the distended nipple, and then lifted his gaze to hers. He closed his eyes as her hand went inside his open jeans and ran over his length.
The rest of their clothes fell away and soon he had her beneath him on the makeshift bed. His mouth laved over her heaving breasts as she writhed beneath him and his bare cock skimmed over wet heat, prodding into her opening with each pass.
My bare cock.
“Now, please!”
He groaned, but not in a good way. “I don’t have anything to protect you with.” He hadn’t carried condoms around with him in months.
She bit her lip and raised her hips up into his, her lids half closing as she moaned. “I…” She whimpered as he prodded at her again. “I have an IUD.”
He pressed his forehead to hers. Human birth control measures weren’t always foolproof with shifters but, again, this wasn’t something he could just blurt out. Instead he opted for, “It could fail.” Her quick exhale blew over his lips as he slipped into her heat and pulled out again, teasing both of them. The image of her with his mate mark at her shoulder and her body round with his cub became more and more clear in his mind. And if nothing else, he could be honest with her about this one thing as he slipped just that much more into her again, savoring her gasping moan as he held himself still. “I want to see you with my child. With you, I want everything.”
Her eyes searched his for a heartbeat, and then she surged up, taking all of him inside her as she locked her legs around his hips. “Then I’ll give you everything.”
It was all he wanted as he once more took her mouth and let his body speak to her in ways he couldn’t voice—not yet. Their slow rhythm built as her hard nipples pressed into his chest. His alpha and panther purred at having their mate under them.
“Your everything feels so good,” he groaned low when his mouth left hers and trailed to the curve of her neck and shoulder. Her channel squeezed him tightly, and he let his fangs drop, but not all the way, so he could nip over her skin where she would one day be made his in another way. It wasn’t enough for his alpha and panther as they pushed him to mark their mate.
“Yes, Rafe. Yes.”
If she only knew what she was asking for. He retracted his fangs and made do with sucking over the spot and biting down with his human teeth as her hips ground against his and she let out a keening cry. Not marking her was one of the hardest things he’d ever done, made even more difficult by her panting plea. It was almost more than he could resist.
“God, you tempt me,” he said before taking her mouth once more and pumping into her. He gave her every inch of his cock in a pounding pace she met with her own hard press as each long stroke filled her body. They moved together, each taking from the other until her body bowed and trembled, and then she bucked beneath him.
“Rafe!” Her shout of his name as she came sent him over the edge. His body stiffened and he pressed deep into her contracting sheath while jets of his cum filled her and his heart pounded at how right this was, regardless of their surroundings.
My mate. My love.
Her body went lax under his as her fingers clutching to his back slid down his sides and her legs fell away. He grinned at how boneless she went as she sprawled under his body. He didn’t want to let her go or leave the sweet refuge h
e’d found, but he was probably getting too heavy for her. So he slid to his side and pulled her onto his chest where she let out a contented breath.
Neither of them spoke as their breathing returned to normal and his racing pulse slowed while she traced her fingers over his chest.
“I do want to make it to a bed at some point,” Aubrey whispered with a slight chuckle, finally breaking the silence as she settled more firmly into the circle of his arms.
He frowned and pulled his head back to look at her bemused face beaming up at him in the dim light. He said just as quietly, “Are you okay?” He ran his hand down her back and over her ass. “Did something stick you?”
“That's a loaded question.” He loved the sound of her quiet laughter as she buried her face against his chest and her body shook.
He heaved out a short laugh. “I suppose it was.” He pulled her close again and savored having her bare skin pressed against his. “You know. There’s a great big bed at my house.” She tensed as he ran his fingers back up her side. “I’ve wanted to see you in it for weeks.”
“Weeks, huh?” She wrapped an arm across his middle and sighed. “I don’t think I should.” His heart missed a beat until she continued. “Dex has been through a lot today—well, yesterday, now. I wouldn’t want to spring something else on him.” She raised up and braced her forearms on his chest, meeting his gaze. “Let’s let him get used to us together and work up to it.”
He grinned and brushed at her damp bangs. “I like that.” He leaned forward and took her lips in a soft kiss. “Us.” And then another. “Together.”
“You’re good at this. Aren’t you?”
“Good at what,” he murmured. He pulled her on top of him and stared up into her languid gaze as she straddled his hips.
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