White Wolf Mate (Silverlake Shifters Book 2) Read online

  When they got inside, she made him spread a blanket on the pile of hay in the corner. Then she stood in the middle of it, dropped the gun, peeled off her sundress and commanded, “Kneel.”

  Rafe’s eyes flashed gold. He knelt in front of her, his hands sliding up the back of her thighs, caressing her.

  Terin’s wolf growled in pleasure. Seeing his muscled, naked body at her feet was incredibly arousing. “Kiss me,” she demanded boldly.

  She felt his warm breath on the soft curls around her pussy. His lips moved against her mound in slow, deep kisses, his tongue sliding into her slit. He kissed her clit as if he were kissing her mouth, tasting, sucking, delving deep and then pulling back with gentle sips before kissing her hard once more.

  Terin gave a low whimper, her knees buckling. Rafe supported her easily, his hands cupping her ass, holding her against him as she wrapped her fingers in his hair and held on. It was hot, wild and glorious. It was too much, but he pulled her closer, not letting her escape his relentless lips and tongue, making her writhe against him and beg for release.

  Just as she was losing control, he sat back and pulled her down onto his lap, right onto his swollen cock. He rubbed it between her pussy lips, tantalizing her.

  “Take me,” she begged. “Please, Rafe.”

  He locked his hot gaze onto hers, then drew her toward him, his lips against her mouth. “Who’s in charge now?” he murmured.

  He caught her lower lip between his teeth and bit gently, then kissed her long and deep. Terin rocked her hips against him, rubbing along his cock, moaning.

  He shifted her weight and thrust himself inside her, filling her. The moment the base of his cock touched her clit she exploded around him, shaking with every thrust, reveling in the hunger in his golden eyes. He laid her down and pulled her legs up so that he could thrust deep into her, and she urged him on with mindless whimpers. She couldn’t get enough of him.

  He thrust more deeply still, until he tensed and hot warmth shot into her, filling her. Slowly, the tempest calmed, and they clung to each other, trembling.

  They lay together, their ragged breathing slowing and synchronizing, neither of them able to talk. They made love again, teasing each other with their hands, their mouths, touching and retreating until finally Rafe pinned her to the ground once more and claimed every part of her, and sent her spiraling into the stratosphere once again. She couldn’t imagine how she had ever lived without this, without even knowing that it existed outside of fiction. Without knowing that someone could make her feel so amazing. So alive.

  She had to have all of him. She rolled him on his back and straddled him, easing herself down on his cock. He stroked her breasts, her hips, as he filled her completely.

  She gave a growl, raking her nails lightly over his chest, and she felt his wolf growl in return. Sexy beast.

  She moved over him, rocking her hips, raising and lowering herself to sheathe and release him. She tipped her head back, losing herself in the sensations, and she could feel him pushing into her harder as she reveled in the knowledge that he was losing control as well.

  As the fire began to spread through her, he reached out and stroked her clit with his thumb, sending her into orbit once more.

  He pulled her close then, so that she lay on top of him, his arms around her. He began thrusting harder, faster, and she urged him on until she felt him come, throbbing inside her and calling out her name.

  Afterwards she lay on his chest, spent, feeling the aftershocks and the way he relaxed underneath her. He kept running his hands over her back, her butt, her hair, as if he couldn’t stop touching her. She just wanted to stay curled up with him forever.

  His phone started ringing, outside, and he groaned.

  “That’s Jace’s ringtone,” he said. “I have to get it.”

  “Won’t he leave a message?” she asked.

  “Yeah. And then he’ll drive over here to see why I didn’t answer. You know, in case I’m dead or anything.”

  She moved reluctantly and let him up, feeling suddenly cold and alone. He walked outside, and through the open door she could see him fishing his jeans out of the mud puddle and searching the pockets for his phone. She hoped it was waterproof.

  The phone had stopped ringing, but he hit a button and called back. Jace answered right away.

  “Yeah,” Rafe said hoarsely into the phone. He listened, and then said, “I know. Sorry. It’s just—kind of a delicate situation here.”

  Great, Terin though. She was a ‘delicate situation.’ Just what every girl wanted to be.

  “Um, I’ll ask her,” Rafe was saying. “Let me call you right back.”

  He cut off the call and then rubbed the back of his neck. He was obviously uncomfortable.

  Terin took pity on him. She got up and went out to him.

  “That was him?” she said.

  “Yup, that was Jace,” he said. Then he added, “My pack alpha.”

  Terin waited. He knew she knew who Jace was, so she wanted to know why he was explaining again.

  Rafe said, “He agreed to let you come and stay with the pack, to protect you from the hunters.”

  Terin frowned. She’d told him she wasn’t leaving.

  “If you want,” he added hastily, clearly interpreting the look on her face correctly.

  “But even if you don’t,” he went on, “he wants to meet you. You’re another wolf, near our territory, and those hunters…we might need to fight them too. He wants to know why they want you.”

  “I don’t know why,” she snapped. She didn’t like this. His alpha had no right to come here. “I don’t see why he cares about me,” she said. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Rafe smacked his hand into the mud puddle, sending up a splash of muddy water.

  “Shit. Okay,” he said. “I told him how I feel about you. And he wants to see if…well, if you and I were mates, you’d be a member of our pack. And he’d be responsible for you. For how you fit in, or if you disrupted the pack dynamics…” he trailed off.

  Terin put her fists on her hips. She should have known. This Jace was going to come here and judge her, and decide she wasn’t good enough.

  “I never asked to be part of your pack,” she said. “I don’t want to. I told you that.”

  “I know,” Rafe said quietly.

  The hurt in his voice made her go still. She absently gathered up her hair, twisting it into a long tail. She hated hurting Rafe. It made the middle of her chest hurt. But she didn’t want him going behind her back and arranging things.

  He said, “But what if those guys come back? You can’t hold out here under an assault like they could bring, no matter how many traps or weapons you have. You’re only one person.”

  She knew that. And it scared her, but Rafe and the pack scared her even more.

  “This is my home,” she said. “And this Jace doesn’t need to come here and see if I’m good enough to be let in your wolf club.”

  Rafe sighed. “I knew I’d fuck this up,” he said. “Would you please just listen?”

  She wanted to stalk away. She wanted to shift, and run up the mountain where the air was clear and she didn’t have to worry about what anyone thought of her, or what they expected out of her. She could just be herself, the way she was—broken, but free.

  But then she looked at Rafe’s face. She could feel his emotions, the way she’d been able to feel his feelings since the first night they’d slept together. Before that, even. When they were in the cave, and she was tending his wounds.

  She could feel his frustration, his sense of inadequacy that he couldn’t convey to her how important this was to him. And she could feel his heart breaking, because his pack was part of him, and she didn’t want it. She didn’t want him.

  She hesitated. The forest was calling her. Freedom was calling her.

  Taking a deep breath, she closed her mind to all that and sat down on the ground in front of him.

  “Tell me,” she said. “Expla
in what this Jace person wants.”

  Rafe ran his hands through his hair. “Okay,” he said. “I know you don’t want to be in a pack. But remember when I told you about true mates?”

  She nodded, watching his face. He didn’t look at her, just down at the ground in front of him. “Well, regardless of what you feel for me—that’s what I feel for you. Ever since the first night I saw you, when I was delirious. I want that forever bond, and I want it with you.”

  She was stunned. Rafe wanted to bind himself to her forever? To make it permanent and magical, so that she’d know he would always be there?

  She didn’t know what to say to that. She wanted it desperately, and it terrified her.

  “Oh, Rafe,” she murmured brokenly.

  “I didn’t want to pressure you,” Rafe said. “But Jace is worried because of the hunters.” He looked into her face then, his grin crooked. “And because I’m so messed up over you.”

  Terin hated to see him hurting. But she didn’t know if she could do this. “So if we had this bond thing, I’d have to go live with your pack? There’s no other choice?”

  Rafe rubbed his hand over his face. “No, there’s other choices. But it’s complicated.”

  Which meant he’d have to leave his pack. She couldn’t make him do that.

  “Look, would you just talk to Jace? Please?” He was almost begging her. Her heart broke a little more.

  Terin sighed. “I don’t understand why he has to be involved in something that’s between us.”

  “I know,” Rafe said. “But I’m involved. And if I’m involved, the pack’s involved. That’s how it works. And Jace is responsible for the pack. He’s my alpha, so if he wants to meet you, you can tell him no, if you want, but I can’t.”

  Terin said, “So you have to do what he says?”

  “Well, yeah,” Rafe said. “He’s the alpha.”

  “And if I mated with you, I’d have to do what he said too?”

  “He’s a good guy, Terin,” Rafe said. “He wouldn’t give you orders just because he felt like it. Only if the good of the pack was involved.”

  Terin thought about that. “I suppose that wouldn’t necessarily be so bad,” she said. “I pretty much used to do what Ben said.”

  Rafe huffed. “So wait. You’re telling me you did what Ben said, and you’d do what Jace says. So why the fuck do you never want to do what I say?”

  “I don’t know,” Terin said, standing up. “I guess you just bring out the rebel in me.” She headed back to the house, but not before she saw him begin to smile.

  “I like rebels,” he called after her.

  “Good thing,” she said. Just because she got scared about some things didn’t mean she was a pushover.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To clean up. If I’m going to meet this alpha, I don’t want to do it covered in mud.”

  She heard Rafe mutter something about X chromosomes before he heaved a sigh of relief and started dialing Jace.

  Chapter 15

  Jace and Emma arrived about an hour later. Rafe walked down the road to meet their truck coming in, to talk to them before they met Terin.

  “She’s a little dubious about the whole pack thing,” he said to Jace. “So go easy on her, please? She doesn’t ever remember living with a pack, and she’s been on her own for a whole lot of years, some of them hiding who she is. She doesn’t understand protocol or how she’s supposed to act, so don’t get mad at her, okay? She seems tough, but she’s fragile underneath, and—”

  “Relax, Rafe,” Jace said. “I’ll try not to terrify your princess, okay? I’m really not that scary, and Emma is here to keep me in line.”

  At Jace’s request, Rafe waited outside for him and Emma to speak to Terin alone. Rafe paced up and down the yard, sat down in the swing, and immediately got up again, too restless to sit.

  He knew he should have faith in Terin. But Jace and Emma didn’t know her. They didn’t understand her. And what if she felt like she couldn’t talk to them? What if she felt threatened, and shifted and just ran? What if she panicked? What would Jace say then?

  It seemed like an eternity until Jace came out of the cabin.

  “Where’s Emma?” Rafe asked.

  “Chill, Rafe,” Jace said with a grin. “She and Emma are talking about quilts and preserve recipes.”

  “Oh,” Rafe said, feeling stupid. “I guess it went okay, then?”

  Jace’s face grew more serious. “She seems nice, Rafe, and she’s a lot less unbalanced than I was afraid she’d be. Sometimes wolves that have been without a pack get a little…”

  “Crazy?” Rafe said.

  “Unstable,” Jace said. “But she seems to have lone wolf tendencies. Loners don’t suffer from not being in a pack. But…” Rafe waited. Jace said, “Sometimes they don’t have the temperament to be in one, either. They feel…hemmed in.”

  Rafe felt fear clutch his heart. “And you think Terin is one of those. Who’s born to be a lone wolf?”

  Jace sighed. “I don’t know. If you’re both feeling the mating bond, then she’s not a true lone wolf. I’d be willing to have her in the pack, if she wanted it.”

  Rafe started to feel relieved, until he saw the look in Jace’s eyes. “But she doesn’t want it,” Rafe said. “She told you that, didn’t she.”

  Jace said, “She said that, yes. That doesn’t mean she might not change her mind. Or that you couldn’t still mate with her, if she were willing. But it would mean you couldn’t live together full time.”

  Rafe had been afraid of that. It wasn’t what he wanted. It would mean no cubs, for one thing, because he wouldn’t want his cubs raised outside the pack, and even if he did, they were the pack’s responsibility and Jace would likely insist on having them at Silverlake. He could never take cubs away from their mother.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I just know she’s my mate. And I know she feels the bond. She just…”

  “People resist the bond,” Jace said. “Not often, but it happens. I think you need to at least consider the possibility that she might not want it.”

  Rafe shook his head. “Maybe I’ll have to accept that one day,” he said. “But not today, bro. Not today.”

  Jace bumped his shoulder. “Don’t give up,” he said. “Just because Emma and I fell in love in a couple of days doesn’t mean that if it doesn’t happen right away, it won’t happen at all.”

  Rafe nodded. He still felt inadequate, though. If he were better, stronger, more—something—if something wasn’t lacking in him, then Terin would want to bond with him. Wouldn’t she?

  Rafe said, “What about the hunters? Has Kane found out anything about them?”

  Jace shook his head. “Not so far. He’s still tracking them down. And so far his background check hasn’t come up with anything on Terin. Her people may have been off the human grid. He’s going to check with the Council next, to see if there is any record of her going missing.”

  Rafe didn’t know how she’d feel about that, but if they were after her, it had to be done. He said, “There’s something you should know.” He told Jace an abbreviated version of Terin’s story, about her husband and the man he’d brought out to “cure” Terin.

  Jace frowned. “That can’t be good,” he said. “If there are people trafficking in shifters…”

  They might be after a “rare and exotic specimen.” That thought made Rafe’s blood run cold. “Or it might have something to do with her past—the part she doesn’t remember, I mean.”

  “Maybe,” Jace said. “But —”

  Whatever he was going to say was cut off by the sound of a truck coming up the road. Rafe and Jace looked at each other.

  “Is Terin expecting anyone?” Jace asked.

  “Terin’s never expecting anyone,” Rafe said “No one ever comes up here.”

  Before they could go back into the cabin, an army truck came around the bend in the road at high speed, and slid to a stop in front of the house. Men poure
d out—the same ones Rafe had encountered at the cave. Their hunting dogs milled around at their feet, and they all turned to focus on Rafe and Jace.

  “Damn,” Jace murmured. “My gun’s in the truck.”

  And Rafe’s was in the house. “Shit,” he said. “Some protectors we are.”

  Together they turned to face the men, who were bristling with weapons.

  “We meet again,” Rafe said. “How delightful. This is my friend Jace. I know I ask you this a lot, but what the fuck are you assholes doing here?”

  “We’re not interested in meeting your friends, dog,” the leader said. “We know what you are now. And we know what that dog next to you is. Shifter filth.”

  “Maybe,” Jace said, his voice pleasant, but with steel underneath. “But at least I’m the alpha dog.” He stood on the porch without moving, arms crossed over his chest, but Rafe could feel alpha power radiating out of him. It filled him with warmth and purpose, but it had a different effect on the men—and their dogs. The dogs all started whimpering, their tails between their legs, and they lowered their bellies to the ground in submissive posture. The men tried to get them up, but they refused, whining in fear.

  Rafe noticed that a couple of the men looked like they wanted to follow suit. The leader seemed unaffected. Rafe was impressed. For a human, he was pretty damn alpha.

  The man shrugged. “Big deal, so you can talk to other dogs. We want the white wolf, and we’ve still got our guns.”

  Rafe heard the screen door creak, and then Emma’s voice said, “Yeah. Us too.”

  She walked out of the house, rifle at her shoulder.

  “Just one,” the man sneered.

  Emma kept walking, moving far enough forward so that Rafe and Jace could see two handguns stuck in the back of her jeans. Rafe’s respect for Emma went up a notch.

  “Actually, a couple more than that,” she said.

  From the window by the front door came a rifle blast. The bullet whined past the leader’s head. He ducked, cursing, and while his men were distracted, Emma pulled Rafe’s pistol out of the back of her jeans and tossed it to him. He caught it and cocked it, while Jace grabbed the other one. By the time the men had recovered, there were four guns trained on them.