Protecting Honor

by Dena Christy

  Rafe ran through the woods, following the scent of his woman and his adversary. Over and over, a litany played in his head. She would be safe, he would get to her in time. He clung to that hope as he vowed revenge on the man who hunted his mate.

  The scent trail got stronger, and he slowed his steps when the sound of a frightened female voice came to him, followed by the rumble of an angry male one. He hid his big body the best he could in the thick stand of trees he was in and made sure that his body was downwind. He had the element of surprise on his side, and he wasn’t going to give it up by doing something stupid like letting Nathan get his scent before he sprang at him.

  His heart plummeted to the pit of his stomach as he looked through the trees to a small clearing and he could see Nathan standing with his left arm wrapped tight around Honor and a gun pressed to her temple. He took in the sight of her frightened face, the blood staining her sleeve and the wolf inside him clamored to get out and protect her.

  He held on to his control. He needed to be very careful, because if he spooked Nathan, then he could very well kill Honor. Rage bubbled inside him at the thought, but he clamped down on it until it was time to unleash it. He silently made a promise to Honor that he would save her, and once he had her back, he would never let her go again.

  17

  Honor swallowed hard as the cold steel of the gun barrel pressed against her temple. She and Mercy had thought it a good idea if they separated when they got to the woods, in order to provide some confusion over which scent trail Nathan should go after. Unfortunately, it was Honor’s scent he’d chosen to follow.

  “Why are you doing this?” She was trying to buy time. Rafe was on his way, and she just needed to give him enough time to get there.

  “It’s nothing personal, Honor. I’m just tying up loose ends now. Really, you should blame Barrett Todd’s obsession with you for your current predicament. Now call out to Mercy. It’s time we all had a chat.” Nathan’s voice was oddly calm as if they were talking about nothing more pressing than the weather.

  Cold seeped into Honor’s bones and she shivered. She was not going to do what he said. Despite the gun pressed against her temple, there was no way she was going to call out to Mercy. There was no way she was going to endanger her best friend to save her own skin.

  “No. If you want her to come, you’ll have to call her yourself.”

  He tightened his arm around her, and she winced as the wound on her arm was squeezed by his action. The barrel of the gun pressed harder into her temple.

  “Stubborn bitch.” The calm was starting to leave Nathan’s voice, and it gave Honor hope that he would make a mistake. One that would enable her to get away from the gun pressed against her head. “Mercy, I know you’re out there watching. I can smell you. Why don’t you come out and we’ll come to an amicable solution to all this.”

  Silence followed his pronouncement. If Mercy was there watching, she wasn’t going to come barreling out of the woods because Nathan demanded it. Perhaps Mercy was waiting for an opportunity to come when Nathan was distracted, and frankly, Honor wanted to keep him talking. If he was talking, then he wasn’t killing her and hunting for her friend.

  “Did you kill my brother?” There was a tremor in her voice, and she hated herself for it. She wanted to be strong, but the pain of losing her brother was still very raw and knowing that this asshole had something to do with his death only made it that much worse.

  “Well, I arranged it, but I wasn’t the animal on the road that night. It would have looked much too suspicious to the cops if there were wolf tracks around the scene of the accident, especially when you consider that they have a werewolf on the payroll. I knew a deer shifter who owed me a favor. Besides, I was much too busy meeting your friend Mercy.”

  “Was she a part of your big plan too?”

  “I saw your friend’s profile on an online dating site and I arranged to meet her once I found out she was from Eden Creek. I needed to have a way in and out of town that wouldn’t be suspicious, just in case Barrett didn’t play his role the way he was supposed to. I thought I would have to work a lot harder to get her to trust me but I didn’t count on how easy Mercy made it for me. Your friend has some issues with men, that’s for sure.”

  Anger went through Honor, and she bent her head forward and slammed it back against his face. She heard a crunch when the back of her skull hit his nose, and she heard a scream from behind them as Mercy came rushing out of the woods.

  “You fucking bitch.” Nathan’s hold loosened for a second and Honor managed to break free. Mercy came at Nathan, holding a piece of a tree branch like a makeshift club and as she swung it at him, all hell broke loose.

  To Honor’s surprise, Rafe came flying out of the woods on the other side of them just as Mercy managed to bring her club around to hit Nathan across the back, sending him stumbling forward. Honor went over to her and pulled her back just as Rafe reached Nathan. The amber glow in her mate’s eyes told her that Rafe was going to handle Nathan and it would be best if she and Mercy got out of the way.

  With a primitive growl of rage, Rafe launched himself at Nathan. Nathan scrambled for his footing as Rafe charged him, and as he brought the gun around to aim it Rafe had reached him and grabbed his arm. He brought it around Nathan’s back, up high and Nathan screamed in pain. Honor heard the snap of bone and watched as the gun fell to the ground. Rafe kicked it away and let go of Nathan.

  “Now this seems a little more fair,” Rafe growled as his fist flew out and connected with Nathan’s jaw.

  Without his gun, Nathan was no match for a man of Rafe’s size and power. Using his fists as hammers, he beat Nathan until he was prone on the ground and no longer moving.

  Honor had seen enough, and she went over to her mate and put her hand on his shoulder. Rafe’s face turned to her with a snarl on his lips and blood splattered on his face. His eyes were pure amber, but she didn’t back away. This was Rafe, her mate and the man she loved down to the depths of her soul. He would never do anything to hurt her.

  The amber faded from Rafe’s eyes as they returned to his normal moss green. He got up from where he knelt over Nathan’s prone body. He didn’t say a word as he pulled her to him and held her tight. Now that it was over, she started to tremble.

  “Are you okay?” Rafe cupped Honor’s face as he looked down at her.

  “I am now.” She rested her head against his chest for a moment. The sound of running footsteps came to them, and Mercy gave a startled cry from where she stood not too far away. Rafe reacted swiftly, his big body tensing as he moved so that he was between the two women and whatever threat was coming next.

  Logan, Mason, and Alex burst through the woods, and relief went through Honor when she realized that this mess was finally over.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Logan slowed his forward progress as he took in the scene in front of him. “Who the hell is this?”

  “My ex-boyfriend.” Mercy’s voice was quiet and in it, Honor could hear her friend’s shame. Honor knew her well enough to know that Mercy would blame herself for being fooled by Nathan.

  “His name is Nathan.” Honor went over to Mercy’s side and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. “He killed Barrett, and he is responsible for Quinn’s accident. From what Mercy and I overheard, at least one person on the council has had a hand in making Barrett alpha. Nathan was the tool they used to do their dirty work.”

  Logan’s face was sober as he went over to Nathan’s prone body, and he put two fingers at the side of his neck. “He’s still alive.”

  Rafe growled and moved forward, but Mason stepped in and held on to him. Logan looked at him sharply.

  “What exactly do you think you’re going to do? Finish beating him to death? Hopefully, we can get him to medical attention quickly enough so that he survives this.”

  “Survives? After he tried to kill Honor and Mercy?” Anger was evident on Rafe’s face and Honor knew that if he had his way, Nathan would be dead
on the ground right now for what he’d done to her.

  “Lucien will want to know that there is a traitor on the council and the only one who can give him that information is this man here. So yes, he is going to survive long enough to tell Lucien what he knows. What happens to him after that will be up to Lucien, but I’m sure you can appreciate that whatever it is, it won’t be pretty.”

  Logan pulled his phone from his pocket just as Luke Everett came into the clearing, along with two paramedics carrying a stretcher. Honor recognized them from the bar as two members of the Cold Bay wolf pack, so at least no humans were going to get involved in this mess. While they went to work on Nathan, Luke came over to her and Mercy.

  “Are you okay? Do you think you can give me a statement while it’s still fresh?”

  Honor nodded and both she and Mercy told him what had happened at the house, providing as much detail as they could. Luke nodded and closed his notebook. “I think that’s it for now.”

  Mercy was pale, and she looked like she was going to be sick. Her friend trembled slightly and Honor knew that she wasn’t going to be able to take much more. Honor was feeling the same way, and all she wanted to do was leave this place and put tonight behind her. At least she had Rafe for support, Mercy had no one.

  Honor’s eyes lighted on Alex and she motioned for him to come over.

  “Mercy, I’m going to ask Alex to take you home. I think you’ll feel better once you're in familiar surroundings.”

  “I don’t think I’m going to feel better ever again.” Mercy’s voice was quiet, and she looked down at the ground. Alex came over, he stopped when he was standing in front of Mercy.

  “Hi, Mercy. Do you remember me from the bar? I’m Alex. Is it okay if I take you home? I promise you’ll be safe.” Alex’s voice was soft and gentle as if he was talking to a frightened animal. Mercy nodded and Alex tucked her close to his side as he led her out of the woods.

  “Are you ready to go? You need to get that arm looked at.” Rafe spoke quietly from beside her as he took off his leather jacket and put it around her shoulders.

  “And once that’s done, can I go back to your house? I think you can understand why I don’t want to stay in mine.” Honor sagged a little when Rafe tucked her close to her side. “I know we have to talk, but I don’t want to do it now. I just want to put tonight behind me.”

  Rafe was silent as he walked with her out of the woods. Now that the adrenaline was no longer pumping through her body, all she wanted to do was sleep and escape what had happened. As much as she wanted to know if she and Rafe were going to have a future together, she was too tired to deal with it if the answer was no. Just because he came here to save her didn’t mean that he wanted them to be together. They’d talk about it tomorrow, once she felt more like herself and could deal with it if he still wanted to let her go.

  Rafe got out of his big, lonely bed the next morning and vowed that it was going to be the last night he would spend in it alone. By the time they’d grabbed a few things from Honor’s house for her to bring here, and had gotten her arm checked out, it was close to three in the morning. As much as he wanted to hold her close to him in his bed, he’d given up that right when he’d let her go straight into danger. He hadn’t argued when she’d slowly walked toward the guest room and crawled into the bed there.

  He went down the stairs and set about making some coffee. It was late in the morning, which was hardly a surprise considering how late it had been when they’d come in. As he set about getting the coffee ready, he rehearsed in his head what he was going to say to her. He’d fucked up so bad with Honor that he wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t take him back. He’d do whatever it took, including begging if he had to, to get her to give him a second chance.

  There was a scuffle of feet behind him, and he turned to see her standing there at the foot of the stairs. Her hair was in a messy braid, she looked exhausted and she was hugging that oversized cardigan around herself. He didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone more beautiful.

  “How are you feeling?” He came to stand close to her, and she looked up at him.

  “Tired and a little weird. Did last night really happen?”

  “Yes, it happened.” He reached for her and she took a step back. He let his hand drop to the side. He’d given up the right to touch her whenever he wanted, and now he was going to have to earn it back.

  “Including the part where you dumped me?” She crossed her arms over her chest, and Rafe sighed. It was clear that they were going to talk about this now, without him having had his coffee first and without time to get clear in his head what he was going to say. But he did object to one thing.

  “I didn’t dump you. Not really.” Dumping sounded so harsh, and it was not what he had intended. He’d let her go so that she could be free to live her life.

  Honor rolled her eyes. “You dumped me.”

  “Would it help if I said I was sorry?”

  “It might if you tell me why you did it.” She walked away from the kitchen and went into the living room. She sat down on the sofa and patted the spot beside her.

  Rafe went over to the sofa and sat down. He took her hand as he turned his body to face her, and he was encouraged when she didn’t pull her hand away.

  “To know why I did it, you have to know why I left Eden Creek ten years ago.” Rafe searched his mind for what he could say to explain what had put the fear of love inside him so many years ago.

  “Did it have something to do with the young woman in the pictures?”

  He should have known that Honor would have an inkling that the problem started with Rachel.

  “I was young and in love. I thought she was the one, and I was blind to the fact that she was just putting in time with me until someone better came along. And someone better did come along, one who was prepared to take her out of Eden Creek and into a better life, I begged her to stay. I told her that I loved her and that I would do anything to make her happy. She told me that my best wasn’t good enough.” Rafe expected the same old feeling of shame to burn through him like it always did when he remembered that last conversation with her. But it wasn’t there, and he knew that it was because whatever he’d felt for Rachel was long over. If he hadn’t been good enough for her, it meant there was something wrong with her, not with him.

  “And so you left Eden Creek and turned yourself into a different man, didn’t you? One who seemed incapable of love.”

  Rafe nodded. “I came here for a fresh start, and I got it. I never let any woman that I dated close to me, and I dropped them the second it seemed like things would get serious. And I went along like that for years, telling myself that I was living the life I wanted. But the signs were all around me that I was lying to myself. This house is a prime example. There is no way a man who has every intention of staying single needs a four-bedroom house. This is a family home.”

  Honor stroked her hand over his, and he looked into her deep brown eyes. “Tell me the rest.”

  “One morning I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on my door. And when I opened it, the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen was standing on the other side. I let her into my life and it was the beginning of the end of my single life. Slowly, day by day, I fell in love with her and once I realized it, it scared me to death. If I wasn’t good enough for Rachel, how on earth could I be good enough for a woman who was ten times the woman she was. So once I thought she was safe, I let her go. I told myself I was doing the right thing because it never occurred to me that she could love me back.”

  “And that was your biggest mistake.” Honor leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his mouth. “Back before you left our pack I had such a crush on you. I dreamed of the day that you would see me as someone other than Quinn’s little sister. You finally did see me as a woman, but it’s unfortunate that you couldn’t see me as the woman who loves you. And I do, Rafe. I love you.”

  Rafe swallowed and pulled her onto his lap. God, he’d been such a fool
. Alex had been right when he’d said that he was blind to the woman she was. He knew now what he’d meant by that. He had let his fear blind him to the fact that she loved him and he’d almost lost her because of it.

  “Can you forgive me for hurting you? I’ll do whatever it takes to make it up to you. I love you so much, and I don’t want to lose you.”

  Honor leaned back and looked up at him. He held his breath as he looked into her eyes.

  “You won’t lose me. I forgive you.”

  Relief poured through him as he lowered his head to hers. As he kissed her mouth, everything fell into place inside him. His fear was gone, and all he could feel while he’d held her in his arms was love.

  He pulled back from her, got up off the sofa and carried her upstairs to the bed they would share from now on. His love for her was so strong that he needed to express it and needed to become one with her in the morning light that poured through their bedroom window.

  When their lovemaking was over, once their heartbeats settled, he cradled her against him.

  “I think he would approve.” Honor’s voice was quiet in the bedroom.

  “You think who would approve?” Rafe stroked his hand over her hair as the scent of her shampoo drifted into his nose. He would never get tired of holding her like this, no matter how old they got.

  “Quinn. I think he would approve of us.” She turned and lifted her head a little so that she could look at him. “You were his best friend, and you were the one he told me to come to if I was ever in trouble. I think he knew, somewhere deep inside, that if anything happened to him that we would need each other. I think he would be happy that we are in love and have each other.”

  A smile crossed Rafe’s face as he pulled her down to kiss her. When she’d first come here he’d tried to tell himself that Quinn wouldn’t have liked him messing with his baby sister. But now, he was sure she was right. Quinn had trusted him to care for her when he couldn’t, and he would spend the rest of his life being grateful to his best friend for sending her to him.