Page 116 of Big Bad Wolf

“I’m not good for you, Ruby. I don’t belong around humans. You saw it. You saw me.”

She spun to face him, her eyes wide and cheeks flushed with anger. Her voice was raw when she spoke. “There are no guarantees, Rafe. I lost my parents when I was eight years old, not because of monsters but because of fucking icy road conditions.” She took a long, shuddering breath. “This is the only promise I can make you. I see you. And I’m still here. That’s all I want from you in return.”

He shook his head, trying to force the voices of the past to leave him, Ruby’s words thundering through him. It was time to listen to the woman right in front of him. Not the voices of people long dead. But the voices were loud, persistent. He couldn’t silence them, even for her.

“Ruby, I’m sorry. I can’t.” His voice cracked miserably, but he forced the words out.

Tears streamed down her face and he reached out to touch her, wanting to comfort her even as he hurt her, but she backed away. “Don’t do this. Don’t throw this away.” Her voice was thick with pain.

“It’s not natural!” he snapped, grasping for anything to make her go, to make this end before he lost the strength to push her away. “We don’t make sense.”

She flinched at his words, at the thunder of his voice.

“Tonight reminded me of that.” He kept going, severing their bond for good. “I’m a killer, Ruby. You need to stay away from me before you end up like Scarlet.”

She shook her head, looking like she would say more, like she would fight him. Fight for him. But he watched as resignation settled over her like a fog rolling in over the fields. She was done. His brave girl was done fighting.

He’d made sure of it.

Chapter Forty-Nine

One knock on the door was surprising, but the second in one night was unheard of. He yanked open the door.

“Ma?”

“So, this is where you’ve been hiding all this time?” she asked, her shrewd gaze scanning the outside of his cabin. She was bathed in the yellow glow of the porch light, looking eerily out of place on his doorstep.

“Not hiding,” he snapped.

Nell hummed knowingly. Of course he was hiding. He’d been hiding for a year. He was hiding from Ruby right now.

“Can I come in?”

Rafe nodded, unable to turn her away, and let his mother glide past him into his cabin. It was the first time anyone from his pack had been in his space. Having her here sent a shiver of unease through his gut. This was his sanctuary, and even though his stepmother had taken care of him in his childhood, she’d done nothing to stop his father’s abuse as he got older. His feelings for the woman were nothing if not complicated, and more complicated feelings were the last thing he needed.

All he wanted to do was curl up in the corner and lick his wounds. Alone.

Nell looked around, taking in the cramped space. She ran a hand over the stack of books on his end table, trailed her fingers over the blankets on the back of the couch, and let out a small sigh that Rafe found unreadable. Was she expecting more?

“What are you doing here?” Rafe sounded like an asshole even to himself, but he didn’t care. The woman who had raised him hadn’t come looking for him in the past year, and he didn’t need her here now.

Nell turned to face him, a crease in her brow. “You left without saying goodbye.”

Rafe nearly laughed. Leaving without a goodbye was the least of his crimes. “Now’s not a good time.”

His mother’s gaze landed on his chest, his various injuries still on display. “What happened?” Her pale green eyes were nearly translucent as she studied him. The concern on her face only tied the knot in his stomach tighter.

“A fight.”

Nell blew out another long sigh, letting her gaze flick over him one more time. “I see you don’t want me in your space. I… I only thought you might need someone to talk to. Family.”

She moved back toward the door while that word “family” burrowed into Rafe’s gut. Why would he need a family now? He’d survived this long without them.

He glanced down at his slashed torso, remembering the look on Ruby’s face when he’d showed up on her doorstep. His stomach twisted again, the pain sharp and desperate.

“Wait.”

Nell froze with her hand on the doorknob.