Fighting the Inevitable (35 page)

Caleb tossed his clothes
to him, and Rafe quickly stepped into his jeans and T-shirt. He
looked back at the wild boar and found he could look at the animal
without wanting to heave his guts up. He smiled wryly, as he felt
Wolfie’s approval deep inside him. “Seems a bit of waste.” He
nodded his head at the carcass.

Caleb’s keen gaze was
still intent on the man before him, taking in every nuance of his
speech and emotion crossing his face. He smiled and pulled out his
cell phone, making a quick call to the Hanlon compound to let them
know there was a fresh kill near the stream. Some of the pack would
come out soon and claim it.

“
Ready to go
home, Rafe?”

Rafe looked at him
steadily, knowing he wasn’t referring to returning to the mansion.
The vampire seemed to sense his more balanced state. He was asking
him if he was ready to return to the pack. He ran a hand through
his shaggy hair and pursed his lips. “Another few days,” he finally
answered. “I’d like to spend a bit more time with Annie, if you
don’t mind?”

Caleb smiled and turned
to head back towards the mansion. “I meant what I said, Rafe.
You’re welcome to stay as long as you like. Even when you go back
to the pack, you will still be welcome in my home. You’re Annie’s
brother.” It was just as simple as that, as far as the vampire was
concerned. Rafe made Rhianna happy, so he would always be
welcome.

“
You’re not
so bad, for a bloodsucker.” Rafe laughed, matching Caleb’s long
strides, as they threaded their way through the trees.

Caleb threw his head back
and laughed, loudly. “You’re not so bad, for a dog.”

They entered the house
from the rear, using the back door, which entered into a large
utility room. Caleb stopped and inhaled, discerning instantly that
Rhianna was gone. His brow drew down in a frown, as he moved into
the kitchen and spotted the note on the dining table.

“
What?” Rafe
asked, following him inside, seeing him tense.

“
Annie’s
gone,” he answered, handing him the brief note that simply said she
would be back later. He looked at the two coffee cups, scented
Demetri in the room and pulled his cell phone from his
pocket.

“
What did you
say to Annie?” he demanded, when his friend picked up.

“
Good morning
to you too, Caleb,” Demetri drawled. “I only stopped by to see if
we were at war with the dogs and showed Annie how to use the coffee
machine. Why? What’s wrong?”

“
She’s gone,”
Caleb snapped tersely. He was sure his friend had said something to
upset his woman. He wasn’t fooled by the innocence in Demetri’s
tone.

Demetri laughed softly
down the phone. “Well, if you don’t know where your little human is
I don’t know why you would think I would know where she is. Maybe
she’s tired of you already?”

“
What did you
say to her, Demetri? You forget how well I know you. Keeping your
mouth shut is not a skill set you’re particularly good at. Now, if
you don’t want me to come over there and beat it out of you, I
suggest you start talking right now.” Caleb’s tone brooked no
argument, his anger clearly audible.

“
Oh, very
well,” Demetri sighed, wearily. “I may have pointed out the fact
that your ‘relationship’ couldn’t last, what with you being a
vampire and Annie being a human. How was I to know you hadn’t
discussed that little ‘hiccup’ with her? I thought it was fairly
obvious myself.”

Caleb’s breath hissed out
angrily, and he seriously contemplated going over and kicking the
shit out of Demetri, but he needed to find Rhianna first and make
sure she was okay.

“
In future
keep your opinions to yourself, Demetri,” he hissed down the phone.
“If you find you just can’t manage it, then I suggest you fuck off
to some far flung region of the planet for a couple of centuries
where I can’t track you down and beat you senseless. Just in case I
am not making myself clear here, DO NOT fuck with Annie ever again!
You hurt her in any way, and I will hurt you back a thousand times
worse.”

“
Fuck, I
really hope what you’ve got isn’t contagious, my friend,” Demetri
chuckled, softly. “I’d rather pay someone to take my head, than
fall in love, if I’d start reacting like you are.” He chuckled
harder when Caleb growled loudly down the phone at him. “Alright! I
get the message, Caleb. I swear I will not upset your little human
again. Now go find her before you burst a blood vessel or
something.”

Caleb was so close to
crushing his phone, when Demetri terminated the call. Sometimes he
hated his friend with a vengeance, and this was one of those times.
He knew he’d calm down once he found Rhianna and talked to her, but
right at the moment he wanted to kill his friend.

Rafe remembered the
vampire Demetri from the night Caleb came looking for him. The
vampire had been irritating to say the least. He found it hard to
understand what Caleb saw in him. “Is Annie okay?” he asked Caleb.
If this Demetri had hurt her in anyway, he would kill the vampire
and worry about the consequences later.

Rafe’s anger transmitted
to Caleb, and he forced himself to relax slightly. “I’m sure she’s
fine, Rafe. I’m going to head out for a bit and track her down.” He
grabbed his car keys and swiftly left the house.

~~~~~

“
Mmmmm,
Jared, what do you think you’re doing?” Millie squealed, as she
tried to lay out clothes on the bed. It should have been a simple
task, but he kept getting in her way, dropping little kisses on
whatever exposed skin he could find. It wasn’t that she objected to
his warm lips brushing against her skin, only he had promised to
take her to Caleb’s house, so she could see Rafe, and she was
really anxious to get there.

“
What does it
look like I’m doing?” Jared rumbled huskily, his tone light and
teasing, as he watched Millie’s robe part temptingly, as she moved
around the room. He grabbed her around the waist, as she tried to
slip past him to get to something on her dressing table.

“
Jared, come
on.” Millie groaned in exasperation, as she tried to pull some
clean lingerie out of the pile on the top of her dressing table.
She really did need to fold them and put them away. She would have,
if she had known she was going to have a man in her
bedroom.

“
That’s what
I’m trying to do, baby,” he laughed, softly. “I’m trying to come on
to you.”

He seemed to find his
play on words very amusing, and Millie wondered if a smack around
the head would convince him to stop thinking with his dick and
concentrate on getting ready so he could take her to Caleb’s. She
turned to give him a piece of her mind, but his big hands stopped
her.

One moment she was
upright, and the next, she was bent over the dressing table on her
stomach with her robe up past her hips, and Jared’s thick fingers
running over her backside to slide down between her legs. She
gasped in a combination of shock and arousal and felt her face
flush scarlet, as she immediately became wet at the contact of his
hand on her tender flesh.

She winced slightly at
the tenderness there and Jared’s fingers gentled immediately. He
leaned down and planted a soft kiss on the side of her neck, before
running his mouth slowly up to her ear.

“
Sorry, baby,
I forgot you would be a little tender. Let me kiss it better for
you.” He dropped to his knees before she even registered his words
and spread her legs.

“
Jared,” she
groaned, moving to push herself upright, and then, his tongue laved
her and the breath whooshed out of her as liquid fire shot through
her veins. “Oh!” she gasped hoarsely, and he chuckled against her
heated flesh and paused in his ministrations.

Jared had really tried
his hardest to leave her alone, to give her time to recover from
her first experience of sex, but her scent was driving him wild and
the little flashes of skin teasing him, as she moved proved too
much for him. He growled his pleasure, as his woman gave up
fighting him and began moving her hips backwards, pressing against
his mouth.

She tasted so damned
good. His cock was hard and throbbing, and he knew he would pay for
his actions with his own unfulfilled need, but he had to taste her,
had to give his woman pleasure. He loved tasting her like this,
bringing her release from the most intimate of kisses.

He could feel her
starting to tense, knew her completion was just moments away, and
he increased his ministrations. He was so desperate to be inside
her there was a ringing noise in his ears as she moaned loudly and
shattered against his mouth.

He growled, drawing out
her pleasure. This was so worth walking around with a raging
hard-on for the rest of the day. His ears were still ringing, and
it took a moment for him to realise that the sound wasn’t in his
head.

“
Jared,
someone’s at the door,” Millie suddenly gasped, pushing her body up
from the dressing table and looking down at him. Her face flushed
scarlet, as she took in his heated eyes and wet mouth. “Oh God, you
don’t think whoever it is heard, do you?” she asked,
mortified.

Jared laughed and stood
up trying to position himself so it didn’t ache so painfully. He
grabbed his shirt and pulled in on but left it unbuttoned. “You get
ready, baby. I’ll see who’s at the door.” He dropped a quick kiss
on her lips before he ran a hand over his mouth and stepped out of
the bedroom.

Whoever it was at the
door wasn’t going away. Jared could feel his temper starting to
rise, as he strode across to the front door to open it. Whoever it
was better have a very good reason for interrupting
them.

“
Jared,”
Caleb said, not the least bit surprised to see the Were at the
apartment. His lips quirked in a little smile. “You missed a bit,”
he commented, pointing at the other man’s face as he stepped around
him and into the apartment.

Jared laughed and rolled
his eyes, as he wiped at his face again. Caleb had no doubt heard
everything in the apartment. Thankfully, Millie wouldn’t be aware
of that fact. “I was going to call you,” he said, as he closed the
door. “Millie knows everything, apart from you that is. She wants
to go see Rafe. I trust that won’t be an issue.”

Caleb sat down in one of
the armchairs. “That’s fine with me. I’m starting to get used to my
home turning into Grand Central Station, since I’ve met Annie.” He
had hoped to find his woman at the apartment, but knew instantly
she wasn’t there. Her scent was nearly a day old.

“
Sounds like
Annie,” Jared smiled. He flopped down onto the sofa, stretched out
his long legs and re-adjusted himself into a more comfortable
position. Caleb’s appearance was helping with his frustration
problem. “So, how is Rafe doing?” He was suddenly all
Alpha.

The vampire smiled.
“He’ll be back with the pack soon. I think he’s ready to come back
now, but he needs a little more time with his sister. You’ll find
him much improved.”

Jared quirked an eyebrow
in surprise. “So soon? Annie is a miracle worker. She’s not only
managed to tame you, but she’s put Rafe back together again, and
all in twenty four hours?”

Caleb’s smile widened.
His woman really was a force to contend with. “I’m looking for her
at the moment. I thought she might be here. Do you think Millie
would have an idea where she would go to if she needed some quiet
time to think?”

“
The
Botanical Gardens, by the pond display,” Millie said from the
bedroom doorway. She had successfully managed to get dressed,
throwing on a pair of jeans and a couple of tank tops, one over the
other in two different shades of blue. “Did you two have a
fight?”

Caleb sighed. “No, we’re
fine,” he answered. “One of my friends said something which may
have upset her. I just want to find her and make sure she’s okay.”
He stood up relieved to have a possible location for Rhianna. “I’ll
maybe see you later, if you’re still at the house when we get
back.” He nodded to them both and left the flat.

“
You know
there’s something about that man that isn’t quite right,” Millie
said, with a thoughtful expression on her face. Her cobalt blue
eyes bored into Jared’s, as he shrugged as if he didn’t know what
she was talking about. She would eventually have to know about the
vampires, but he thought Rhianna and Caleb would prefer it if they
told her.

“
He’s not a
Were, is he?” she suddenly asked and Jared burst out
laughing.

“
No, he most
definitely is not a Were,” he smiled, standing up and buttoning his
shirt. “Are you ready, yet?” he asked with a twinkle in his eyes.
“You do know we’re going to see Rafe?” He laughed loudly, when she
hit him with a cushion from the sofa.

~~~~~

Caleb stood silently
under the shade of a large tree watching his woman, as she slowly
paced up and down beside the pond in the Botanical Gardens. Her
beautiful face was deep in thought, and he wanted to cross the
final distance to her, but was afraid of the upcoming conversation.
He sucked his breath in when she suddenly stopped pacing and turned
to look directly at him.

She stood there for a
long moment, and then she slowly smiled, and he was striding across
to her and pulling her into his embrace. “I don’t like coming home
and finding you gone.” He kissed the top of her head. “The house
feels so empty without you.” He was astounded at just how empty it
did feel without her in it.