Protecting Honor

by Dena Christy

  They came to the border, and Rafe stopped the truck in front of the sign that told travelers they were now leaving Cold Bay. He shut off the engine and they sat in the quiet for a moment. They were the only people on the stretch of road that led to Eden Creek. There was no sign of Mercy, and Honor sat up a little straighter as she looked out the truck’s windshield.

  Rafe undid his seatbelt and turned to her slightly. He took her hand and she looked over at him.

  “We’re a little early. Don’t worry, she’ll be here.” He gave her hand a squeeze and she relaxed back a little in her seat. She didn’t know what it was about him that always seem to know what was bothering her and how to make it better. She hadn’t said a word about the worry that had gone through her when she’d seen that Mercy wasn’t here, but he knew it anyway. It amazed her sometimes how well he could read her.

  She looked into his eyes and it hit her with a suddenness of a sledgehammer to the gut that she was in love with him. The force of it almost took her breath away.

  “You okay?” His brows pulled together and he leaned a little closer.

  “I’m fine.” She knew that now was not the time to declare her love for him. Part of it was because the feeling was so new that she almost didn’t trust it yet. And another big reason was that she wasn’t sure that Rafe wouldn’t close himself off from her if he knew how she was feeling. She had to remember that he was the skittish type when it came to love. Fortunately, she was saved from saying anything more when a car coming from the direction of Eden Creek pulled up a short distance away. “Mercy’s here.”

  Thank God for that, because it took Rafe’s focus off her as he looked out the front of the truck. It was Mercy’s car but she wasn’t driving. There was a man behind the wheel, one Honor had never seen before. Honor assumed that this was Nathan, Mercy’s new man.

  Honor scrambled with her seatbelt and got out of the truck as quickly as she could. She ran the short distance to her friend and hugged her.

  “You don’t know how glad I am to see you.” Honor gave her a squeezed before she let go and stepped back. “You didn’t have any trouble getting here, did you?”

  “Not a single problem. I told you not to worry about it. I think Barrett is holed up in his house, probably plotting his next bonehead move against the pack and he doesn’t have time to worry about me.” Mercy stepped back and gave her a reassuring smile. Rafe joined them and Mercy turned her attention to him. “Rafe, it’s nice to see you as always. There is someone I’d like both of you to meet. Honor, Rafe, this is Nathan.”

  Mercy’s boyfriend stepped up close to her and Rafe was the first one to stick out his hand. Honor glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and was surprised to see he had his enforcer look on his face. Gone was the open, easygoing man that she’d been riding in the truck with.

  “Nice to meet you.” Rafe’s voice was gruff, and he dropped Nathan’s hand quickly once he’d responded in kind.

  Honor took a good look at Nathan, and pure ice raced down her spine. Every hair stood up on the back of her neck, and she couldn’t put her finger on why. He was an attractive man, tall and muscular with closely cut brown hair and brown eyes. If one glanced at him quickly, all they would see was a good-looking guy, but there was something about him that made Honor want to back away. Perhaps it was the smile that didn’t reach his eyes, or the coldness that seem to lurk under the amiable mask he was wearing. Whatever it was, Honor shook his hand quickly and took a step away from him.

  “Come on, I have your stuff in my trunk.” Mercy turned away, and if she’d noticed both her and Rafe’s reaction to Nathan she didn’t say anything. Honor followed Mercy to the back of her car with Rafe close by her side. Nathan must have realized that he was surplus to requirements because he went around the car and got into the driver’s seat.

  Mercy opened the truck and pulled out a big box which she handed to Rafe. He took it and turned to walk to his truck. Mercy pulled out a smaller box and handed it to her.

  “Well, what do you think?” Mercy inclined her head to where Nathan sat in the car.

  “He’s certainly attractive.” Honor didn’t know what else she was supposed to say. Should she tell Mercy that this guy sent alarm bells screaming in her head? Her friend looked happier than she had for a long time, and Honor couldn’t bring herself to say anything. Maybe he was a different man when he was with her. God knows that most people who encountered Rafe thought he was scary and had no idea what he was like when he was with her. Maybe it was the same with Nathan.

  “I know. I have to pinch myself sometimes. It doesn’t seem real and it’s like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.” Mercy slammed the trunk shut and Honor couldn’t stop herself from saying something to caution Mercy.

  “How much do you know about this guy?”

  A defensive look crossed Mercy’s face and she crossed her arms over her chest. “I know enough. What are you getting at?”

  “I’m not getting at anything. I just think that you should slow down a little, that’s all. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  Mercy seemed to relax a little, and Honor wondered for a moment if there something about Nathan that didn’t sit right with Mercy, deep in a subconscious part of her mind. And maybe Honor was reading into things because she hadn’t liked her friend’s boyfriend on sight.

  Mercy didn’t exactly have the best track record with men, so perhaps that was what was coloring her judgment of Nathan. Mercy was also stubborn, and Honor didn’t think she could say anything else without Mercy getting her back up and that might push her further into this guys arms. The only thing that Honor could do was try to be happy for her friend, and if things got bad with this guy, offer her help and a shoulder to cry on.

  “Call me if you need anything else.” Mercy walked to the passenger side of the car as Honor walked toward the truck. Mercy stopped by the open car door and smile at Honor. “Or you can just call me for no reason at all.”

  “I will.” Honor smiled back at her before she turned toward the truck. Rafe was there waiting for her and he took the box from her hands and put it in the bed of the truck. Honor climbed into the cab and put her belt on. As Mercy’s car pulled away, her friend waved to her and Honor lifted her hand in return.

  Rafe got in and started the truck. He glanced at her as he put his seatbelt on and she could see the worry for her friend that was gnawing at her insides reflected in his eyes.

  “You didn’t like him, did you?” Honor searched Rafe’s face and she had her answer when a grim look came over his face.

  “No, I didn’t. Can’t put my finger on why. Something in my gut tells me that he’s bad news.”

  “I got the same feeling, but what can we do? Mercy’s a grown up and maybe he’s different with her when they are in private. We only just met the guy and only exchanged a few words with him.” Honor knew that she was trying to explain away the bad vibe she’d gotten off of Nathan, but what else could they do? “I don’t think Mercy would like it very much if we told her to dump him because we don’t like the looks of him.”

  Rafe grunted as he made a u-turn and pointed the truck in the direction of home. “We’ll just have to wait and see, but if he doesn’t treat her right, I’m going to have a few choice things to say to him.”

  “Why do I have the feeling that your fists are going to be the ones doing the talking if that happens?” Of course, her question was entirely rhetorical. She knew how Rafe would react if Nathan hurt Mercy, particularly if he got physical. There was a reason Rafe was Cold Bay’s enforcer, and it wasn’t because he had such a big, brawny body. Deep in his nature, Rafe was a protector, he’d proven that when he’d taken her into his home when he hadn’t owed her anything. It only made sense his protectiveness would extend to her friend.

  “Well let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” There was a grim quality to his voice that wasn’t reassuring. Honor glanced out the back window in the direction her friend had gone and she hoped that she and Ra
fe were wrong about their first impression of Mercy’s boyfriend. Her friend deserved a win for once.

  Honor had been quiet for most of the afternoon after they’d gotten back from seeing Mercy, and Rafe knew it was because she was worried about her friend. Frankly, so was he. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something about that Nathan guy bugged him. He looked like a nice enough guy from the outside, and it wasn’t anything that the guy said in the couple of words that he’d spoken. But there was an instinct deep inside Rafe that told him that Mercy’s new man was bad news.

  Rafe sighed as he threw himself down on the sofa. There was really nothing that he and Honor could do about it, because like she’d pointed out in the truck on the way home, Mercy was an adult. They couldn’t very well pull her aside and tell her to stop seeing this man. And with all the shit happening in Eden Creek, her new boyfriend seemed to be the least of Mercy’s worries. She was helping out Honor, and Rafe found it hard to believe that Barrett Todd was going to let that slide.

  Still, he didn’t like to see Honor worry, and it made him want to do something to make the worry go away. But unfortunately there was nothing he could do, and he hated that helpless feeling. Mercy lived in Eden Creek, she was part of that pack, and it wasn’t Rafe’s place to go there, guns blazing and demand that Nathan leave her alone. Logan would have his head if he went to Eden Creek without permission, and Mercy would probably tear him a new one if he interfered in her life. All he and Honor could do was wait and see how Mercy’s new relationship played out and be there for her to pick up the pieces if it went to shit.

  Honor came into the living room, cradling what looked like a photo album against her chest. She gave him a shy smile when she came to sit beside him.

  “What’s that?” He glanced at the album as she let it rest in her lap. She looked at him and a piece of her hair fell forward to block part of her face. He reached out and tucked it behind her ear and caressed her cheek before letting his hand drop. It was the times like this, in the quietness between them that he felt so close to her. He wanted to take her in his arms and go upstairs with her to make love, but looking in her eyes he could see there was something significant about the album resting in her lap that he exerted control of himself.

  “It’s pictures, family ones mostly. I asked Mercy to get it for me.”

  Family photos meant there would be pictures of Quinn in there, and his gut clenched for a second. He didn’t know if he was ready to look at pictures of Quinn, and if he was feeling that way, she had to be feeling it twice as much.

  “Are you sure you’re ready for that?”

  She looked over at him and gave him a sad smile. He wanted to wipe that smile away, to bring some happiness into her eyes, but maybe this was something that she needed to help her move forward from Quinn’s death.

  “I honestly don’t know. I do know that I’m still kinda angry at Quinn, and I thought maybe looking at these old pictures might help get rid of those feelings. I want to remember him, and this seemed like a good idea. You don’t have to look at them if it’s too painful for you, but I’d like it if you did.”

  “Of course I’ll look at them with you.” Despite his trepidation at looking at old pictures of Quinn, his need to support her was much stronger than his reluctance.

  She opened the album and the first picture there was a chubby baby. She gave a little laugh.

  “Quinn was a big baby and my mother used to say that when he was three months old, she could have used him as a doorstop.” She sat looking at the picture for a long time, tracing her fingers over it as if she was lost in thought. Her eyes swam for a moment and a tear slip down her cheek. She took a deep breath, blew it out slowly and turned to look at him. The deep sadness in her brown eyes felt like a punch in his gut, and he didn’t know how he could take that look away. “I’m the only one left.”

  Jesus. Rafe didn’t know what to say to her to make her feel better, but perhaps that wasn’t what she needed anyway. He had a feeling that she needed to experience the sadness of losing her family. Maybe it was what she needed to move on. All he could do was be here for her and support her. To that end, he put his arm around her and she rested her head against his shoulder for a second.

  “Turn the page and let’s see what else is in there.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze and reached out with his other hand to turn the page.

  The next page held a group of pictures, all of Quinn as a little boy. There were a couple of school pictures and through the grins with missing teeth, Rafe could see the man that Quinn would grow up to be. One picture caught his eye, one of Quinn sitting on a couch and a chubby, redheaded toddler sitting beside him, who looked up at him with adoration in her eyes.

  He smiled as he looked at Honor when she was little more than a baby.

  “You were pretty cute, you know.”

  “I was a chubby baby too. Not quite as big as Quinn, but close. I used to follow him around all over the place, and he made a big deal of not wanting me around. But he never made me go home. He just watched out for me and tried to include me in what he was doing.”

  They flipped through a few more pages in silence. He glanced at Honor out of the corner of his eye and he saw that some of the sadness had leached out of her as she smiled down at the pictures in the album. Seeing the chronicle of her brother’s life must be helping her deal with his absence from her life. Rafe was glad to see that she’d been right about looking at the album was good for her.

  She turned the page once more and burst out laughing.

  He looked down at the album and knew immediately what picture she was looking at. Rafe recognized it because he remembered posing for it. It was senior prom, and he and Quinn were standing side by side in their cheap rented tuxedos. Rafe smiled as he remembered that Quinn had thought it would be a great joke if they wore powder blue tuxes that looked straight out of the nineteen-seventies, right down to the ruffles down the front of the shirts.

  “Nice tux, Rafe.” Honor looked at him and grinned. Rafe’s mouth pulled up at the corner and he leaned in to press a swift kiss on her lips. She looked so cute when she smiled at him like that.

  “It was a joke and your brother’s idea.” God that was such a long time ago. They looked so young standing there in their tuxes and he didn’t think either of them was shaving more than once a week. But even at that point, Rafe could see that he was already a few inches taller than Quinn, even though neither of them had stopped growing yet.

  “Let’s see what other treasures are in here.” Honor turned the page and the smile fell off Rafe’s face. There was another prom night picture, this time with their dates. Rafe’s eyes zeroed in on the young woman who stood beside him, smiling into the camera while he smiled down at her.

  “I didn’t know Quinn took Becky Rogers to the prom. She’s mated with five kids now.” She looked at him and he grunted. Her smile slipped a little as she glanced back at the picture. “Who was your date? I don’t remember her, at least I haven’t seen her in East Brook at all.”

  “Her name was Rachel and I think she moved away.” He sat back against the sofa and looked at a point on the wall opposite him. Relief went through him when she turned another page, and it seemed like the prom pictures were at an end. He was looking at the album for her sake, to remember Quinn. He didn’t need to look at old pictures of himself back in the day to remember his past. It was all still pretty vivid to him.

  She nudged him with her elbow and he looked at the album once more.

  There were pictures of him and Quinn when they worked on a road crew for the summer after they’d gotten out of school.

  “God, I remember that job. It was a bitch once the summer got boiling. There were a bunch of wolves from the area, not just the ones from Eden Creek. I think Logan was on that crew, it’s where I first met him. Of course, Quinn and I stuck together and didn’t hang out much with anyone else.” He smiled as he remembered that summer, and how much fun he and Quinn had when they had money to burn a
nd no responsibilities weighing them down.

  She turned the page again and there were a series of shots at a lake that the crowd he ran with back in the day used to like to hang out at. He remembered when these shots were taken, it was very close to the time he’d left Eden Creek for good. And his eyes zeroed in on a big part of why he left.

  “There she is again.” Honor glanced at him when she pointed to a picture of him and Rachel was standing next to him. There was such devotion in his eyes in the picture when he looked down at her, like a dog that didn’t know it was about to be kicked. Rafe turned his face away. “Was she your girlfriend?”

  “She might have been, just one of many back in my Eden Creek days.” Rafe stood up and stretched. He’d had enough of reminiscing for one night. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a break from the trip down memory lane.”

  She seemed startled by his sudden movement, and he hoped that she wouldn’t ask him about it. He didn’t want to get into his ancient history, especially considering his life was different now.

  “Are you okay?” She closed the album and leaned forward to put it on the coffee table in front of her. Relief went through him as he glanced down at the photo album as if that silly book had the power to hurt him somehow and now its power was diminished.

  “Yeah, it’s just hard seeing Quinn when he was so young knowing that he’s not around anymore.” The house was starting to feel claustrophobic and Rafe felt the need to get out, to have a change of scenery and get the hell away from that album. “You hungry? I know it’s your night off, and maybe work is the last place you want to go, but do you want to go to Sawyer’s and get a bite to eat?”

  “Sure.” She gave him a look, one that said she didn’t know what was going on with him but was willing to go along with what he wanted. “Just let me go freshen up and we’ll head out.”

  She stood up and picked the album up and took it with her. Once she was out of the room, Rafe sighed. Hopefully, those pictures wouldn’t make another appearance, because he hated looking at them and remembering what a stupid idiot he’d been.