Bad Kitty (14 page)

"Rafe. Earth to Rafe. Did you hear a word I
said?"

He jerked from his thoughts and focused in
on her gaze. "What? No. Sorry."

She shook her head at him. "I was saying we
should probably go now."

He zeroed in on her lips. "Uh uh." He came
around the kitchen peninsula and pulled her from the stool. "First
I want this." He pushed his fingers through her hair at the nape of
her neck and smashed his mouth down on hers, swallowing her stunned
gasp.

Their tongues tangled and
her arms wrapped around his waist. God
,
he loved her touch, her taste. How
could he let their differences come between them now and lose this?
He didn't care that it had only been a few days. Some things just
are.

He pushed his hands up her full hips and
past the lovely indentation of her waist. There was so much more to
enjoy from a woman like her.

In classic bad Simon timing, the front door
began to rattle. They sprung apart, panting for air.

"I guess we have to go," she said.

"Yes. We're going to have to explain to
Burke that we're mates."

A look of pure horror crossed Kitty's face.
"Like hell. You can't throw your entire future away over this."

"She's
right
,
of
course." Simon entered the room. He held up his hand. "Wait. Hear
me out before you start planning my death. Burke's going to smell
the two of you coming a mile away so he'll figure it out easy
enough. I mean seriously." He waved his hand in front of his face.
"But if we don't get there until the moon is high and the rest of
the pack is too focused on the coming hunt, you'll give Burke an
opportunity to decide what to do without forcing his hand. He can
be a little old guard sometimes but you know he supports your
politics. I think you should trust him to do the right
thing."

Rafe relaxed back on his heels and thought
about what Simon said. He couldn't stomach having to choose between
his mate and pack and if there was a way to keep them both then
that's the path he had to pursue. Would Burke make the right
decision when he sensed what had happened? It'd be a lot better if
Rafe had marked her a little more permanently, but he had a feeling
making that suggestion would not go over well at the moment.

"I vote for letting the chips fall where
they may before anyone else gets into a fight," Kitty added

Rafe grasped her shoulders and pulled her
closer. "Do you trust me that I won't let Tanner hurt you no matter
what happens?"

"Uhm, sure," she answered.

Not that her doubt didn't
broadcast loud and clear, but he'd take it for now. Burke was
family but that didn't always trump pack. One way or another he'd
keep Kitty safe
,
even if that meant walking away.

Chapter Eight

Kitty valiantly tried to cling to her
tattered dignity as she trailed behind Rafe and Doc through the
woods. On the thirty-minute drive from Rafe's house, they'd all sat
silently as his pickup truck drove deeper and deeper into the
woods. From paved streets to barely a gravel road no one had said a
word. Tension was thick and she didn't know what to do about
it.

What had she been thinking? Sex with a wolf
was a sure recipe for trouble and now they'd pay. She shook her
head. She wasn't thinking. That was the problem. Or at the very
least she'd decided to ignore all common sense. Her instincts
seemed to go haywire any time Rafe got near her.

What a fucking dumbass. She'd allowed her
pity party and a few hormones to drown her normally rigid self
control. It wouldn't happen again. It couldn't.

Still, the memory of her wolf staring down
at her with nothing that resembled pity wrapped around her mind.
Every time he'd peeled his lips back and bared his teeth she'd
braced for the bite. Part of her wanted to be marked as much as
he'd been tempted to do it. He hadn't said as much, but the
knowledge had been in his eyes and the way they continued to stare
at her bare neck.

Kitty wanted to wipe the
memories away and forget the last several days ever happened. It
simply wasn't possible she was falling for
him
.

Of course, then he'd gone
and cooked for her. No one had ever done anything like that for
her. Even with Simon sitting there most of the time it had felt
like a date, another new experience for her. She'd been off kilter
and greedy for more the entire time. Sex she understood and if she
was lucky sometimes it came with a few nice words. This nearly
uncontrollable desire to be with Rafe
,
on the other hand...

Now he was ready to
sacrifice everything for her and she refused to allow it. She
agreed with Simon about his destiny for greatness. He'd taken in
the fact that his potential mate wasn't a wolf and run with it.
Hell, he appeared to embrace it. If he had his way he'd have locked
her in his house and she'd be barefoot and pregnant before she knew
it. Not many people she knew would do the same.
More like nobody
.

Now it was up to her to make sure for once
in her life she did the right thing for someone other than her.

After a short fifteen-minute walk from where
they'd left the truck, the three of them arrived on Alpha property
and were met by no less than a half a dozen guards.

"You've kept him waiting," one of them spoke
directly to Rafe while the others slowly edged closer to her.

"It's none of your fucking business who I
keep waiting. We were summoned and now we're here." Rafe bared his
teeth and waited. She could feel the tension in the air. There were
definitely going to be some dominance issues tonight.

The tall guard turned an angry shade of red
and hesitated for several long seconds before he stepped back from
Rafe and dropped his head. Kitty let out the breath she'd been
holding and ogled the men in front of her. These men were very
unhappy with Rafe at the moment but still managed to acknowledge
his status. She didn't exactly understand much about pack politics
since she'd learned very little second hand. But the law of the
jungle was an instinct she understood well. Survival of the fittest
and submit to the alpha animal or risk death. Even humans
understood the concept. Whoever held the power maintained
control.

Rafe was an alpha and these were not. He
might not be pack alpha but he held a much higher rank in their
pecking order. Now she wished she'd taken some time to ask more
questions. How much power he maintained would have a lot to do with
her fate. Despite the chill in the air, a sheen of sweat broke out
across her brow. Healed fully or not she was on the verge of
running. Her cat was restless and skittish. If things continued
into danger, she'd push the human aside and take control.

Kitty followed Rafe inside a large barn and
immediately stopped moving. The scent of wolf overwhelmed her. Her
body jerked and her hand came up to cover her nose and mouth. Rafe
whirled in her direction and grabbed her around the waist pushing
her back out the door and turned them both until her back hit the
side of the barn and he covered her body with his.

He leaned into her hair and whispered.
"Control your responses. Any sudden moves or reactions will be
taken as a sign of weakness and an already impossible situation
will get worse." His hands roamed her sides and his fingers
tightened on her hips. She started to object when she realized what
he was doing. He'd pulled her to the side in the guise of some sort
of sexual move so that no one would notice her reaction.

"Seriously, Kitty. I get how you feel right
now. But your life may very well depend on how you handle yourself
in there. They'll be looking for any and all weaknesses they can
exploit. Got it? If Burke doesn't believe in you then we've got
nothing."

She nodded. Her stomach
rolled and her eyes burned from the overload of scents stealing
through her
,
but
the determination to appear strong fought for dominance inside her.
"This isn't my first dog and pony show," she finally bit out. "I
can take it."

Rafe lifted his head and looked down at her,
the sides of his mouth twitching as if fighting a smile. He pushed
himself off the wall and took a step back, giving her a few more
inches to breath. "Might want to tone down the sarcasm too." He
lifted his hand and cupped her cheek. "While I find it sexy as
hell, they might not."

She didn't mean to turn into his hand but
she couldn't help herself. His touch was magnetic and sensual. The
man had a dangerous knack for calming her. She wasn't so sure she
wanted to be tamed by him.

"You're thinking too hard. Trust me to
handle this and with any luck it won't have to get ugly."

Kitty wanted to believe him but trust wasn't
exactly her strong suit. "Maybe. Or maybe I should take my chances
and run now."

The look in his eyes sharpened. "Running is
out of the question. You want to start a statewide cat hunt? You
don't stand a chance on your own against the whole pack so get that
idea out of your head right now. You're mine to protect."

The rough edge of his voice with a heavy
dose of possessiveness startled her. Part of her wanted to argue
with him and the other melted a little. The two separate thought
processes were going to drive her mad.

"We'll see. But I don't relish pissing off
your entire pack today so let's just do this." She brushed past him
and tried not to think about how good he'd felt inside her or how
badly she'd wanted him to bite her when he came. This wasn't the
time or place for her head to be in the clouds. Her life depended
on what she did next.

Inside the
door
,
her eyes
scanned the room. Where she'd been expecting an actual barn where
maybe animals are kept, she found something totally different. It
looked more like the inside of a modern recreation center than a
barn. Except the smell. This many wolves together created a stench
she wasn't used to. She forced herself to breath through her mouth
and not give away any visual signs of her reaction. Inside though
was a whole 'nother story. As all of the talking ceased and
everyone turned to look at her, her insides churned with
unease.

"What the hell is that?" A young good
looking man approached her, his teeth bared in a snarl and closely
followed by a low growl.

Kitty stood her ground. She curled her hands
into fists at her sides and hissed in his direction. Several men
surrounded her but it was Rafe's touch on her arm that caught her
attention. He wanted her to trust in him but she didn't know if she
could. It simply felt like too much for him to ask.

"Bout time you brought her to me." She heard
the booming voice from the back of the room and a chill ran up her
spine. Her memories from that first night were still fuzzy but she
recognized the sneer in his words. He'd been one of the three men
who'd found her before Rafe. Most of the men in the room had
gathered close by and there was a commotion in front of her as
whoever had spoken broke through the crowd.

Big and tall, the man in question stopped
several feet in front of her. She stared at him, trying to remember
this man looming over her. Dark hair, dark beard, and eyes shining
gold the longer she stared at him. Not exactly the ugly, scary man
she'd imagined him to be. His sneer of contempt didn't exactly
enhance his looks, but he had a look in his eye that told her not
to be fooled by his demeanor.

"Glad to see you finally cleaned up." Rafe
spoke from behind her as the grip on her arm tightened and he
pulled her toward him until her back grazed his chest. She tried to
hide the shiver his touch created, but the other man's eyes
narrowed and she suspected he hadn't missed her reaction.

"Time to hand her over. My
rights to
it
have
already been filed and witnessed."

Kitty's muscles tensed at
his reference to her as an it and she started to open her mouth and
tell him where he could stick his
it
.
Rafe
wrapped his fingers into the waistband of her pants and the now
familiar spark between them caught her attention. He sure knew how
to make it difficult to concentrate.

She shook her head and tried to take in all
of the wolves around her. There were different waves of growling as
the man in front of her demanded she be handed over. In the midst
of the commotion another man entered the fray. Several of the men
and women around her took several spaces back, including the man
trying to make a claim. The air sizzled through the room, making
the fine hairs at the back of her neck stand up for attention. It
was easy to recognize the sensation of power. The man now moving
closer had to be the pack alpha. For what felt like endless minutes
but was probably only thirty seconds, he approached before stopping
in front of her. She got the sense he was waiting for her to do
something. More than likely he wanted her to lower her gaze in
submission, but despite Rafe's pleas to go along with this meeting,
she couldn't do it.

Her father had always treated her in the
same way and she swore she wouldn't do it again. Any pride or pack
leader commanded a certain amount of respect and she'd accept that.
But the kind of submission a wolf alpha commanded had to be earned
as far as she was concerned.

The corners of his mouth quirked moments
before his brow furrowed and his gaze zeroed in on something.

"Step forward," he commanded.

Kitty cringed. She'd entered the barn but
purposely avoided the light. The pants and long sleeved shirt she'd
borrowed from Rafe covered the scars on her body but even if she'd
worn makeup it wouldn't have been enough to cover the damage on her
face. Deeply rutted and mangled flesh wasn't the kind of thing a
little concealer could hide.