Fighting the Inevitable (26 page)

The man who survived is
your Wolfie here. It took three weeks for him to become sentient
and stop shifting and trying to kill anyone close to him. Once he
was coherent enough to understand what was happening to him, he
took the changes he was experiencing hard. He wanted to go back to
his human life, but I couldn’t allow that.”

Wolfie whined loudly and
Rhianna’s heart melted and she reached out and stroked his head. He
seemed to settle a bit but he was still so melancholy it was
pitiful to see. At least she could sort of understand why he was
hurting so badly.

“
I couldn’t
let him go home, Annie,” Jared said quietly. “He was legally dead
and a danger to himself and his family. I tried to integrate him
into the pack but he has such a gentle nature and pack life is
quite rough. He’s fought me every step of the way. I’ve tried my
best to help him but he is slowly dying inside. He pines for those
he’s been forced to leave behind.”

“
Is that why
he comes to me?” Rhianna asked her tone curious. “Do I remind him
of one of his family members?” She stroked Wolfie’s head as he
whined softly and began to tremble wildly.

Jared took a deep breath
and looked her directly in the eyes. “He comes to you because you
are his family, Annie,” he said as gently as he could. He watched
her lavender eyes widen with shock, saw her hand still on Rafe’s
fur as the big wolf howled loudly between them.

Rhianna dropped her gaze
from Jared’s and let it fall on the trembling wolf beside her.
Those deep brown, all seeing eyes. The instant connection she had
felt towards the wolf. The way he rolled over and submitted to her
the very first time they met. Jared showing up with the unheard of
insurance money. She stared in shock at Wolfie and felt fresh tears
start to brim in her eyes as her hands began to shake.

“
Rafe?” she
whispered. He whined and turned his head towards her. His tortured
brown eyes seemed to plead with her as he whined again and his
trembling reached fever pitch.

Her heart thundered hard
in her chest as she looked into Wolfie’s eyes and saw Rafe looking
back at her. She burst into loud sobs and threw her arms around his
wide neck. “Rafe,” she choked out between sobs. “My
Rafe!”

CHAPTER twelve

Rhianna sobbed against
him, her tears soaking the fur on the back of his neck as she wept
uncontrollably. His Alpha had moved off a bit to give them some
privacy and Rafe could only tremble and whine as his little sister
sobbed. He wanted to hold her and comfort her and tell her how
sorry he was but he would need to shift to do that and he was too
afraid to look at her with his human eyes.

She wept on and the
longer she wept the worse Rafe felt. It was sheer agony to hear her
heartbreak and he howled loudly once more before he shifted beneath
her and wrapped his arms around her trembling body. “Don’t cry,
Annie. Please don’t cry. You’re breaking my heart with your tears.
I’m so sorry, Annie. I’m so sorry I’ve done this to
you!”

Rhianna heard the rich
timber of her brother’s voice and felt the steel bands of his
strong arms crushing her tightly against him. She cried harder,
trying to speak, trying to tell him of the sheer joy she felt at
finding him alive but the tears wouldn’t let her. She settled on
kissing him instead. She twisted in his arms, grabbed his face and
planted kiss after joyful kiss on every single part of his skin she
could reach.

He went rigid with shock
for a moment and then he slowly relaxed and he was kissing her
back, his big hands brushing at her wet cheeks so gently as if
afraid he would hurt her. “Annie,” he breathed softly. “My baby
girl!”

“
I can’t
believe you’re alive, Rafe,” she finally managed to get out. “I
can’t believe you’re not really dead.” She was crying and laughing
at the same time, hugging him tightly one minute and then kissing
his face the next.

Rafe could feel the joy
radiating from her and he felt such shame. How could she be so
happy he was alive when he had put her through such pain and
misery? “Why don’t you hate me, Annie?” His voice broke as he
spoke.

Rafe’s misery finally
penetrated through Rhianna’s happy haze and she drew back and
looked into his anguished face. She knew her expression must be one
of complete shock because that was how she was feeling inside. “I
could never hate you,” she whispered. “How can you even think that,
Rafe? You’re everything to me. You always have been.” Her lavender
eyes saw the denial in his and she really looked at him and saw the
deep lines of abject misery on his face.

She turned to find Jared,
and the dark haired man approached them slowly and sat down beside
them. He placed a hand on Rafe’s shoulder and she watched her
brother flinch from the contact. “Be at ease, Rafe,” Jared said,
his tone soothing. “I am not going to take you away from your
precious Annie.”

Rafe’s broad shoulders
relaxed and he nodded his head to his Alpha as Rhianna quickly ran
through what Jared had told her about Wolfie just before she found
out he was her brother. Her heart broke at the thought of how hard
Rafe was finding it to adjust to his new life. She could understand
his pain. Her big brother was even more tender-hearted than she
was. He refused to swat a fly or stomp on a spider. He would always
find some other way to deal with the little pests. Having a wild
wolf inside him would be so hard for him to come to terms
with.

“
Why did you
run in front of my car, Rafe?” she asked suddenly and she saw the
truth before he was able to slide his ashamed gaze away from her.
“No, Rafe.” Rhianna felt her stomach clench with fear. She squeezed
her eyes shut and shuddered before she took a deep breath and
opened them again.

“
What
happened to you create your own happiness, Rafe?” she asked softly.
“You always told me that. You brought me up telling me to never
give up no matter how hard things became. It’s what helped me get
through the pain of losing you. How could you give up, Rafe? How
could you stop fighting?”

He bowed his head in
shame. She was so right. He had given up. He had stopped fighting.
“I don’t know how to make myself happy being what I am now, Annie,”
he replied brokenly. “I don’t know how to be at peace with the wolf
inside me.”

Rhianna met Jared’s
troubled eyes and she saw the deep concern he had for her brother.
He was worried Rafe would try to kill himself again.

“
The pack
needs your help, Annie,” Jared said quietly. “I need your help. You
are all Rafe thinks about, the one person he thinks of over
himself. We want him back in our pack but not until he is ready to
return willingly. Will you help him, Annie? Will you mend his
wounded soul so he can one day come home to us?”

The plea in Jared’s voice
touched her. He genuinely cared about her brother. The whole pack
obviously did, otherwise they would never have broken their laws
and revealed themselves to her. “Where can I take him?” she asked.
“I can’t take him home, Millie is there. She’ll ask questions which
neither of us can answer.”

She thought of Caleb’s
mansion as she spoke. She could take him there. She didn’t think
Caleb would mind. If Rafe was there, then she would be spending a
lot of time there too, and she knew Caleb wouldn’t be averse to her
spending as much time with him as possible.

“
I can take
him to Caleb’s,” she decided before Jared could answer. “He’s got
plenty of spare rooms.”

Jared arched an eyebrow
at her. “Don’t you think it would be a wise idea to ask first?” His
remark came out drolly. “I mean, Caleb’s okay for a vampire but
Weres and vampires don’t usually get on that well.”

Rhianna snorted. “I don’t
care about that,” Her expression was determined. “Love me, love my
family. He’ll just have to like it or lump it.” She didn’t feel
half as confident as she sounded, but she needed somewhere safe to
take her brother and Caleb’s was the only place she could think
of.

“
Come on,
Rafe.” She stood up. ”Can you put those sweats on? You are naked.”
She turned her back while her brother quickly pulled on the
sweats.

Jared smiled warmly at
her. “Caleb really doesn’t know what he has let himself in for,
does he?” he laughed softly.

“
I think he
has a fair idea,” she laughed back and then she turned serious
again. “I’ll take good care of Rafe, Jared. I’m not angry with you
or your pack. I understand why you did what you did and I know you
only have my brother’s best interests at heart. I have already
sworn once I would keep your secret. I mean that tenfold now. No
one will ever learn from me of your existence.”

On impulse, she wrapped
her arms around Jared’s big body and gave him a tight hug. He
hesitated briefly and then hugged her back. “Thank you for trusting
me, Jared. Thank you for giving me my brother back.” She stepped
back and turned to look at the wolves sitting patiently just
outside the ring of the trees surrounding them. “Thank you,” she
called loudly. They regarded her solemnly for a moment and then the
golden streaked wolf chuffed lightly in her direction.

“
Aaron says
it is you we should be thanking,” Jared translated. “He is Rafe’s
closest friend in the pack. He has fought as long and hard as I
have to keep your brother well.”

“
You have my
eternal gratitude, Aaron,” Rhianna said quietly to the beautifully
marked wolf. “I will keep him well.” The wolf grinned at her and
bowed his head.

She turned to her
brother, who was staring silently off into the distance as if
trying to detach himself from the wolves around him. She gave Jared
one more smile and then turned away. “Come on, Rafe.” Rhianna
pulled on his arm to move him over to the car.

Rafe was silent as she
drove towards Caleb’s mansion. Her mind was whirling as it tried to
assimilate everything that had happened. She was anxious about
Rafe. The depth of his depression was scary. She had promised to
keep him well but she didn’t know if she even knew where to
begin.

“
Your vampire
will not be happy that you’re bringing me to his home.” Rafe broke
the silence and she was surprised at him speaking and the certainty
in his voice.

“
I’ll talk to
him.”

“
He wanted to
kill me last night.” Rafe’s tone lacked emotion.

“
He what?”
Rhianna couldn’t stop the shocked gasp escaping her lips. Caleb
knew? He knew Rafe was alive and he hadn’t told her? Her hands
tightened hard on the steering wheel and she felt a deep anger
begin to pulse inside her. She couldn't believe Caleb could keep
something like this from her. How could he say he loved her but
leave her grieving for her brother who was still alive? She felt
Rafe’s eyes on her and tried to relax some of the tension from her
body.

Rafe sighed loudly and
leaned his head against the headrest. “Don’t be angry with him,
Annie. He didn’t find out until last night. Something you said to
him led him to put the pieces together as he knows the Alpha well.
He came to Old Forest Road with his people. He was beyond rage,
furious on your behalf. He demanded justice for the pain our pack
had caused you. He was quite magnificent actually.” His tone still
lacked emotion but it was the most he’d said.

“
He should
have told me!” she blurted out and then she remembered their
earlier conversation about how he couldn’t tell her something
because it was someone else’s secret. How she had told him not to
worry about it. She felt her anger lessen slightly and took a deep
breath.

“
He would
have started a war if he had,” Rafe told her quietly. “He almost
started one last night. The vampires would have decimated the pack
even though they were in smaller numbers. They are faster than us
and their bite is deadly to us. He agreed with the Alpha to reveal
his true nature to you, so he could prove you were able to accept
the truth and protect those you cared for. He risked losing you so
he could convince the Alpha to agree to tell you I still lived. It
would be rather mean and petty of you to be angry with him after he
did all that for you. Don’t you think so?”

He opened his eyes and
looked at his sister. She was biting her lip hard as she listened
to what he had to say. Her hands relaxed more around the steering
wheel and her lips tugged in a slight smile. “Maybe just a little,”
she finally agreed.

Rhianna was reeling at
the information she had just learned. Caleb had almost started a
war because of her? He really needed to work on learning how to
handle his newfound emotions. A small part of her was flattered
too. He had told her he loved her but she hadn’t understood just
how much. He was willing to lose her so she could have her brother
back? That was huge!

“
Rafe, don’t
worry about Caleb.” Rhianna felt the need to reassure her brother
as she pulled up outside the mansion. “He really is a wonderful
man. He’s still learning how to control his emotions, so he may be
a bit erratic at expressing them from time to time, but his heart
is kind even if he doesn’t quite believe it yet.”

She smiled at him and
stepped out of the car. She opened the back door and pulled out her
overnight bag, waiting for her brother to decide he was getting out
of the car. She waited patiently as Rafe just sat there.