Fighting the Inevitable (13 page)

“
Oh,
Annie,”
his heart cried as he stared into her beautiful
lavender eyes and whined for a third time.

Rhianna let out a deep
breath as the enormous brown wolf whined as it looked at her. Her
terror was slowly starting to abate, as the wolf appeared to not
want to rip her to shreds as she’d first thought it was going to.
It simply stood there regarding her with large brown eyes and
whined repeatedly.

“
Don’t move,
Annie,” she heard Caleb say as he stood slowly and took a step
towards her. The wolf’s large head swung towards him and it bared
its teeth and growled low in its throat, halting Caleb’s forward
movements instantly.

“
I don’t
think it wants to hurt me, Caleb,” she said shakily and the wolf
turned back to her and whined again before it lay down very slowly
in front of her and rolled over onto its back and thrust its head
back against the tarmac.

Caleb watched the wolf
intently, ready to dispatch the Were in an instant if he even
looked like he was going to hurt Rhianna. The consequences of doing
so would be enormous. There would be no hiding what he was from her
if he had to protect her from the Were. He would most likely start
a war with the pack too if he deliberately took out one of their
own. It would be a complete headache to sort out but he was ready
to do what he must to protect Rhianna.

He tried to relax when he
saw the wolf’s posture though his heart was still pounding with
concern. It appeared the Were did not want to hurt Rhianna, but
Weres could change at the blink of an eye when in wolf form. He
moved a step closer and the wolf turned its large head and growled
low again. He caught the sharp intelligence in the animal’s eye and
he relaxed a bit more as he saw the human persona in control of the
huge animal.

The Were was less of a
danger when its human was in control. The fact it was apparently
submitting to Rhianna was curious and strange. He had only ever
known a male Were to submit to its mate or its child, never a total
stranger in the middle of a road.

He decided to step closer
again and test the wolf’s reaction. If the dog thought the redhead
was his mate he would instantly attempt to attack him. Despite
growling again, the wolf remained prone so Caleb took the last step
needed to reach Rhianna’s side. He didn’t touch her, merely stood
as close as he could without enraging the wolf.

“
Why is it
lying there like that, Caleb?” Rhianna asked hesitantly. The
enormous animal didn’t appear dangerous at the moment, but she was
still a bit frightened of it.

“
He’s
submitting to you, Annie,” Caleb said calmly, keeping his tone
non-threatening to the wolf. “In the wolf world, this is the sign
of letting another wolf know he will not hurt them and that he
submits to their dominance over him.”

Rhianna stared down at
the wolf in shock. This huge beast was submitting to her? He was
telling her that she was dominant over him? Why on Earth would he
do that? She started when the wolf’s head moved to look at her and
he whined again deep in his chest.

“
What do I
do, Caleb?” she asked, not taking her eyes from the
wolf.

“
Very gently
touch his stomach and then his neck,” Caleb instructed. “Let him
know you accept your position as being above him and you mean him
no harm. He is effectively baring his most vulnerable areas to you.
To accept him, you must touch those areas without causing him any
injury.”

Rafe listened to the
vampire talking to his Annie. It was obvious the golden haired male
knew of Were life. He didn’t like the scent of him but his Annie
appeared to trust him, so for now he would do so as well. He whined
and tried to will Rhianna to accept his gesture. He needed her to
know that he would never hurt her. This was the only way he knew
how to do so when locked in his wolf form.

He chuffed lightly as she
slowly knelt down beside him and pressed a trembling hand to his
exposed belly. Her touch was so hesitant at first, but then it
firmed as she slowly ran her hand up to his neck. She held her hand
against his neck for a long time as he lay docilely before her,
feeling the first true moment of happiness since he’d been forcibly
turned.

“
Your fur is
so soft,” Rhianna murmured with a delighted smile on her face. “You
are so big and strong, Wolfie, but I think underneath all that
brawn you’re really a big softie at heart, aren’t you?”

Rafe chuffed again and
tried to grin at her without looking too ferocious. She was
accepting his wolf and he wanted to howl for joy, though he wasn’t
overjoyed with the ‘Wolfie’ part of her words.

“
I’m sorry if
we hurt your friend over there,” Rhianna said soothingly. “It was
an accident. He seemed to come out of nowhere. There was nothing
Caleb could do to avoid him.” She was worried all the whining the
wolf had been doing was because of the one they’d hit.

She moved back slightly
when the wolf rolled over and looked at the grey beast in the road.
Caleb automatically slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her
tightly to his side when the wolf moved, but the animal merely
stared at the dead Were and growled loudly and then swung its big
head back towards her.

“
I’m glad he
wasn’t a friend of yours,” Rhianna said softly, correctly guessing
this beautiful animal was not unhappy with them about the demise of
the other wolf.

A sudden noise from the
trees made them all tense and the brown wolf jumped swiftly to its
feet and placed itself in front of Rhianna and the other wolves
that had cleared the tree line. He growled loudly at the large
black wolf that walked slowly towards them while the others hung
back.

To say Jared was pissed
at Rafe taking off was an understatement. To find him standing
protecting his little sister was beyond surprising. How in hell had
something like this come about? His quick gaze took in the dead
rogue, damaged car and Caleb Ryder eyeing the pack warily whilst
shooting glances at the little redhead behind Rafe.

This was just
unbelievable. A bloody car accident took out the rogue and the
people in the car just happened to be Annie and one of the resident
vampires? Someone somewhere must be having a laugh at his
expense.

Rhianna didn’t appear to
be afraid of Rafe and Jared knew this meeting was going to give him
an endless headache. He had to get Rafe back into the pack and he
had to do it swiftly and without a challenge.

“
Rafe,
your place is no longer at Annie’s side
,” he sent
telepathically.
“You must come back to the pack
now.”

Rafe growled and tossed
his head wildly. “
No! I’m staying with Annie. She accepts me in
wolf form. She’s my sister. I must protect her. She’s with a
vampire of all things. She needs me to look out for
her.”

“
I know
this vampire,
” Jared said firmly.
“He is honourable for his
kind. He will not hurt Annie. You must come back to the pack now,
Rafe.”

“
I will
not,”
Rafe growled angrily, feeling his rage start to build at
the mere thought of losing connection with his sister
again.

Rhianna watched the two
wolves chuff at each other. It was clear they were having some type
of conversation and whatever was going on was quite bad because all
the other wolves were watching them intently as if waiting for
something to happen.

She stepped to the side
of Wolfie and placed a hand on his trembling head. The growls he’d
been omitting silenced immediately and he whined softly and turned
to look at her with large sad eyes. “I don’t know what’s going on,
Wolfie, but it’s a bit frightening all that growling and stuff,”
she said softly. “I’m guessing really, but I think the big black
wolf wants you to go home with them?”

Rafe whined and chuffed,
lowering his head in misery.

The huge animal seemed so
miserable Rhianna felt her heart tug painfully. He didn’t look like
he wanted to go back with his pack. “Don’t be sad, Wolfie,” she
said wrapping her arms around the wolf’s thick neck impulsively and
sensing Caleb’s hands reaching for her. She shook her head at him
and his eyes darkened in anger. Reluctantly, he did drop his hands,
though he remained tense.

“
They’re your
pack. Your place is with them,” she said soothingly as she stroked
the beautiful animal’s soft fur. “You didn’t think I could take you
home with me, did you?” she asked with a wry smile at the thought
of Millie’s face if she came home with this beast at her
side.

“
I think
you’re the most beautiful animal I’ve ever seen and I’ve been
privileged to get the opportunity to meet you, but it’s time to go
home now,” she sighed softly. “Old Blackie there doesn’t look too
happy at the moment and I really don’t want to see you get into
trouble. Please, Wolfie. Go home to your pack. For me.”

She had no idea why she
knew she was doing the right thing at the moment; she just knew it
was somehow important that the enormous brown wolf went home with
his pack.

Rafe whined loudly, his
eyes glistening with unshed tears as his beloved Annie spoke with
such wisdom for her tender years. He knew he couldn’t go home with
her. He knew he couldn’t endanger the pack either. He just wanted
one more moment with the girl who was more a daughter to him than a
little sister.

“
Listen to
her, Rafe,”
Jared said with a hint of kindness in his tone.
“
You know what she’s saying is true. You belong here now, in our
world, not in hers.”

Rafe whined one final
time and stepped away from Rhianna and towards the pack. He turned
and looked over his shoulder at his little sister and then turned
and ran into the trees howling his misery.

Wolfie’s abrupt departure
surprised Rhianna. A chuff from the black wolf sent a golden brown
wolf careening into the trees after him. Another chuff sent four
wolves over to the body of the grey animal. They picked it up with
their teeth and dragged it into the trees.

Caleb watched Hanlon
closely as he wrapped his arm protectively around Rhianna. He knew
the Alpha well and wasn’t expecting any trouble from him, but he
was still prepared to defend the girl if he had to.

Jared shook his head at
the familiar way Ryder held Rhianna against him. The touch screamed
intimacy and he was surprised and a little concerned. He felt a
small bubble of hope well up inside him. If the girl had feelings
for a vampire then perhaps things would not be as difficult as they
currently were. He bowed his head at the couple and then chuffed
loudly and the pack turned on their heels and sped into the
forest.

Caleb relaxed slowly when
the pack moved off. He turned his head, looked down at Rhianna and
frowned deeply. “What part of ‘stay in the car’ didn’t you
understand?” he asked, unable to keep his anger out of his
voice.

Rhianna looked up into
his furious face and swallowed loudly. She was in big trouble and
for a moment, she wished she’d disappeared into the trees with the
wolves…

CHAPTER Six

Caleb didn’t quite know
what to do with Rhianna. Half of him wanted to pull her into his
embrace and kiss her senseless, while the other half wanted to
punish her for scaring him so badly. He was vaguely aware that he
needed to address what it meant for him to have felt such fear, but
he wasn’t willing to do so now.

Instead, he opened the
car door. “Get in the car, Annie, and stay in it this time.” It
took all his self-control not to take the door off its hinges when
she did as he asked.

He slammed it closed,
took five long strides away from the car, and struggled to calm his
anger. The car was a write off and wasn’t going anywhere. He dug
his cell phone from his pocket and hit speed dial.

“
Demetri, I
need a car out on Old Forest Road, about half-way down heading into
town. I hit a wolf and the car’s a write off.”

“
How’d you
manage to hit a wolf?” Demetri asked with a healthy dose of
surprise in his voice. A vampire’s reflexes were phenomenal. His
friend should have been able to avoid the Were.

“
I don’t have
time to go into it,” Caleb sighed. He could just imagine his
friend’s laughter if he admitted he’d been too busy mooning over
Rhianna at the time of the accident. “Have someone else follow you
out so you can get a lift back. I’ve got Rhianna with me and don’t
want any additional passengers.”

Demetri whistled loudly.
“So, you managed to track her down. I’m impressed.”

“
Demetri,
just get here as soon as you can,” Caleb said tiredly, running a
hand through his hair. “This night has been a complete disaster and
I just want to get it over and done with.”

His friend laughed and
hung up after promising to be there within the half hour. Caleb
turned his head to peer back at the car and noted that Rhianna had
remained safely inside. At least she was listening to him this
time.

He kept his distance from
the car, not trusting himself near the petite redhead. His thoughts
were in turmoil and the longer he ignored them the worse his rage
was becoming. The blind panic and fear that had coursed through him
as the brown wolf charged out of the trees had stunned him and left
him immobile for a fraction of a second.