Alpha Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves #2 (Werewolf Shifter Paranormal Romance) (8 page)

His wolf sent him an image of Sara, satisfied and
practically glowing from his touch. With that inspiring picture, he went off in
search of her.

Each time Sara went for a run around the den property, it
emptied the clutter in her head and heart in the most satisfying manner.
Everything inside her loosened up and clarified at the same time. Right now,
she felt at one with the world as she did her cool down walk back to the den's
shower facilities, which were open to any pack member at any time.

Rafe lingered around the edges of her mind. Dammit. She'd
had sex with him in the hot springs! Her patrol mate, the son of the Alpha, the
one man whose touch it seemed she craved more desperately than she'd thought
she could. And now that he made clear his desire for her, what did she do? Run
away.

Thoughts of him continued to haunt her. His laugh, which he
shared infrequently yet wholeheartedly when he finally relaxed enough to do so.
The unruffled expression he usually wore, which was livened considerably by the
slow burn in his eyes when he looked at her. His talented hands, touching and
stroking her body to the point of pliant desire to do anything he asked. And
the rough timbre of his voice when he told her she was going to come for him,
no exception.

A light shiver danced along her spine at the memory.

If she were to be fully honest with herself, she'd thought
about him off and on for the last year. Getting touched by other men in the
meantime had eased the physical cravings. She had no regrets about that. But
Rafe.... She shivered again. He settled her in all ways. She trusted him
implicitly, and that made all the difference.

Then again, proving herself would make all the difference as
well. On her own terms. If she didn't do this, on her own, she'd never feel
really good about herself. She'd never feel truly grown up.

Her wolf murmured in her mind. Sara saw image fragments of a
cowardly wolf slinking off rather than facing the enemy. Not, of course, that
Rafe was the enemy. But the point was clear. If she wanted to prove herself in
the eyes of the Pack, she had to face the one wolf she'd been hiding from since
she'd fled the hot springs a few days ago. She had to find him, tell him thanks
but no thanks, and move on with her goals. Exactly, she decided. This was the
Sara she needed to be.

Head held a little higher, confidence in her step, she
rounded the back corner of the huge house. The peace vanished in an instant
when she ran smack into Rafe. Her stupid pulse galloped madly at the sight of
him. Those brilliant blue eyes gazed at her with his trademark calm. His dark
gold hair begged her fingers to run themselves through it and muss it up. His
hands were thrust into his jeans pockets, in what seemed to be an awkwardly
casual pose. An instant replay of the incredible orgasm this man had given her
just days ago flowed through her again like a slow, hot wave. She felt color
rising into her cheeks and damned her uncontrollable physical responses to him.

“Hi,” he said.

Just the word, low and rolling of his tongue like melted
sugar sweetened with honey, hardened her nipples and made a shambles of her
thought process. The happy wolf rolling in ecstasy in her mind didn't help
matters.

“Ah...hi.” Why did being around him make her sound
simple-minded?

He waited. She took in the broad chest spreading out his
t-shirt, the hard muscles nicely filling his jeans, the sharp plane of his
cheeks, the lips that had kissed her senseless. Her knees felt slightly weak.
Warmth flooded between her thighs and her clit tightened.

Holy crap. She had to get this out, say it well, and do it
fast.

“Rafe.” She took a deep breath. The mid-morning smells of
pine forest, her own post-run tang, and the intoxicating scent of the male wolf
standing mere feet away suffused her senses. “I've been avoiding you.”

He raised one eyebrow and nodded his head in a brief dip.
But he said nothing, leaving it up to her to fill in the blank space between
them.

Her heart beat in an erratic rhythm. She took another breath
to center herself and plunged on.

“I really enjoyed what happened in the hot springs.” Wow.
That was stellar. “I mean, it felt great. It was great. It was hot.”

Rafe kept looking at her. His expression still have nothing
away, but Sara thought she could see a darkening in his eyes. She didn't blame
him if he was getting irritated by her bumbling attempt to speak her truth. She
was irritated with herself.

She shoved a hand through her hair, letting her fingers
scrape over her head in a mini-massage. “Look. Rafe, I'm really attracted to
you.” Cue flaming cheeks. “But I can't do it again.”

He finally spoke. “And why would that be, Sara?”

She detected an edge in his usually calm voice. When she
answered, her own shook just a little bit.

“Because I need something I can't get from you.” Her own
blunt honesty startled her. Rafe still just stood there, looking at her. His
expression now granite hard, he waited. Swallowing, she followed the leading
edge of her admission. “Rafe. You're son of the Alpha, in line to be alpha
yourself one day. I'm a good Guardian for the Pack”—pride lifted her words—“but
I have to prove myself in a way you never did. And I really want to.”

She heard the longing in her own voice and blinked back a
sudden prickling at her eyelids. A breeze rustled the grasses just starting to
peek out from the ground and lifted strands of her hair to tickle at her face.
“I'm finally ready to prove myself really worthy of this pack, and— ”

“What are you talking about?” The words erupted from the
golden wolf in front of her with a force that jerked her head back a little. His
face darkened with emotion, although she wasn't sure exactly what emotion it
was. “Sara, you are more than worthy of this pack. You're a Guardian!”

Sara's wolf sat with the same startled attention in her mind
at this abruptly spirited Rafe.

“You are, and always have been, an asset to the Black Mesa
Wolf Pack.” Rafe's fierce voice sliced through the air with adamant conviction.
“You're one of the most confident wolves, one of the most confident women, I've
ever known. How in the hell can you doubt yourself?

Mouth hanging open, hands dangling nerveless at her sides
from surprise, Sara still couldn't answer. Even if she'd been able to form
articulate words, Rafe wasn't done yet.

“I believe in you, Sara. So does the Alpha. Why else do you
think he put us on patrol together? Why else do you think I'd trust you with my
life? Because you're very good at what you do. And you care about every member
of this pack.” His eyes had definitely darkened, along with his tone. “You are
exuberant, playful, fun-loving—”

“That's the problem!” Her words sprang from a well of
personal criticism she hadn't quite realized ran so deep. “I'm the good time
girl. I laugh, I have fun, I make everyone feel better about themselves. But it
hasn't helped me get more respect from the Pack.”

Now his expression radiated incredulity.

“Sara, of course you're respected. You help protect this
pack, and you wouldn't be able to do that if no one took you seriously.”

“But most of them don't.” Sara's voice began rising.
“Because all I've shown is that fun side, that party girl side.”

Rafe barked out a short laugh. “You are hardly a party girl,
Sara!” He swiped at his face with his hand as if brushing away cobwebs, then
shook his head. The sun glinted off his hair. “You can't be serious about
this.”

“I am. I want to prove what I'm capable of, what I'm really
capable of. That's why....” She struggled for the right words in the face of
his expression that dared her to keep going with what he clearly saw as
ludicrous thinking on her part. Her voice dropped to just above a pained
whisper. “That's why I ran away the other night.”

“Explain.” She blinked at the hard tone. It was his most
alpha-like voice, the one she'd sometimes heard him use with other wolves who
were not pulling their weight. He'd never used it with her before.

She forced her arms back to life and reached out a tentative
hand toward him. When he didn't move, she let her fingers rest on his upper
arm, now tightly crossed over his chest. The prickling behind her lids moved
into her throat, making her words thick as they left her mouth.

“I haven't felt that way since we were together before. When
you touched me in the hot springs, I thought I was being shot to the moon and
back.” She paused to compose herself. Her wolf bolstered her and she went on.
“That was unbelievably amazing, Rafe. It's never been like that with anyone
else. Never.” She might have imagined it, but she thought his muscles twitched
under her hand.

“I just look at you and I'm wet,” she admitted. He inhaled
sharply at those words. She could almost hear his increased heart rate. “But
it's more than just the fact we had great sex before, and that you blew my mind
again with that orgasm the other night, and that you were more concerned about
my enjoyment than your own. And it was really, really enjoyable for me.”

Sara stopped to clear her throat, choking back the sting of
tears. She didn't even know where they were coming from. The sound of voices
and laughter drifted over from the house. Hopefully no one was witnessing their
raw moment out here.

“Rafe.” She let one finger press against him, then stroke
tiny circles against his hard muscle. His arousal flared again. Biting her lip,
she pulled back her hand. “You want more from me than just a fling, don't you?
More from—us.” She hadn't thought of them as an “us” before, but saying it
aloud made it simple reality. There could be an “us” with Rafe.

Her wolf whined in eager agreement, nudging hopefully at the
corners of Sara's mind.

Rafe took a long, measured breath in through his nose. As he
let it exhale slowly through his mouth, he also seemed to let off some of the
coiled energy still clinging to him. All other sounds faded to inconsequential
background noise as she waited for his reply.

“I knew from the very first moment we ever kissed, Sara,” he
finally said. “Over a year ago. But you weren't ready, so I let you go.”

His eyes, still darkened to indigo, lasered into hers and
didn't let go. The hair on the back of Sara's neck almost crackled from the
electricity bouncing between them. Rafe's eyebrows lowered and cast his face
into that possessive expression she'd seen at the hot springs. Damn her body,
it once again responded with hardening nipples, wetness pooling between her
legs, and a shortness of breath that had nothing to do with tears.

“I'm not letting you go again, Sara. Regardless of how you
see yourself,
I
know who you are. You're the only woman for me.”

He stepped forward in a graceful motion, gently caught the
back of her head with his hand, and pulled her to him. Trembling from his
proximity, mind and emotions scrambled into a mix of confusion topped with
helpless lust for this one wolf, Sara let his mouth cover hers. His lips played
over hers, dancing and teasing until she groaned into them, then fastened on
with an intense, breath-stealing kiss. Her hands seemed to rise of their own
volition to his shoulders, then his neck, cupping around and pulling his head
down to hers.

Rafe reached his arms around Sara and pulled her body
against his. Her breasts pressed hard into him, her hips moved into his, and
she leaned into his kiss so hard their teeth scraped. She didn't care. She let
him savor her mouth with his, let herself get lost in the roaring moment of
simple oneness that made everything else disappear. It felt too good to stop.

Except, of course, she had to. With a major effort, she
pulled back from him. Chest heaving, lips roughened to an almost painful
sensitivity from his welcome assault, Sara put up a hand between them, despite
the fact he hadn't resisted her release.

“I can't.”

A crow coughed out its harsh sound from one of the trees.

“Sara.” Maybe he hadn't fought her moving away from him, but
a mix of longing and warning coated his voice. She rushed to get the rest of
the words out before she lost control again.

“I have to prove myself, Rafe. On my own terms. It can't be
because I'm the next alpha's girlfriend. Woman. Mate.” Rushing apparently led
to more linguistic stumbling. “I've got to do this on my own.”

“You don't have to prove anything to any—”

“Yes, I do!” God, she wanted nothing more but than to kiss
him again. To fling herself on him and have those fingers tiptoe over every
inch of her body, inside her, coaxing out more sensations that would make her
scream. “Nobody would ever take me seriously as your mate if I can't prove
myself first.”

He took breath again to speak, but she beat him to it.

“I want you.” She laughed a little, at herself. “Trust me.
But being a Guardian has to come first right now. Being the strongest Pack
member I can. Please, Rafe. Please say you understand that. Please.”

Another silence stretched between, taut yet fragile. The
crow uttered its husky, croaking call again, then flapped off to another tree.
Sara was achingly aware of her racing heartbeat, her wolf's nervous pacing, the
sun bathing her in light and warmth while she felt darkness creeping inside.

Rafe spoke as though it were difficult for him, as though he
pushed the words out through lips now stiff and hard.

“All right, pretty wolf.” She blinked at the ragged emotion
behind those words, despite his stiff face. “Do what you have to. But I'm
telling you this. Now that I've made up my mind, I'm not letting you go again.
I think the question here is, are you letting me go before we have a chance to
make this something real?”

As if shot through the heart, she lurched back from the
vehemence of his words. He gave her another long, almost unbearably silent
look. Then he just lifted his eyebrows and twisted his lips in acknowledgement
they were done with the conversation, and turned and left.