Page 120 of Big Bad Wolf

“Hm. What good is a seer if she can’t remember her visions?” He smirked.

Rafe growled in frustration. “You don’t think it’s odd that these sisters are being attacked and one of them has visions?”

“Well, only one sister has been attacked. Technically.”

“Lena never leaves the damn house! But Ruby—” Rafe swallowed hard, the breath leaving his lungs in a painful rush. Ruby was out there every damn night. An easy target. What the hell was he doing here arguing with his asshole brother?

“Never mind. Forget I said anything.”

“I said I would send out more patrols, and I will.”

Rafe clenched his fists. “A hell of a lot of good that does me.”

“You could come back.”

Knox’s words dropped between them like stones into a still pond. They stood and silently felt the ripples.

“Come back to the pack?”

“Yeah.” Knox cleared his throat. “If you’re tired of being alone.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

His brother pushed away from the tree, coming closer. “You could bring those sisters. We’d protect them. We’d protect your Mate.”

Unease settled in Rafe’s gut. “You don’t believe in Mates.”

Knox shrugged. “Maybe you changed my mind.” His smile was slow and calculated.

Rafe shouldn’t have come back here. He was right when he told Ruby that Knox would only use Lena to help the pack. He didn’t know what his brother was plotting but he knew he didn’t give a shit about Ruby and her sister. Or him. He just wanted the power a seer would give him, the edge he would have against other packs and a future he couldn’t control.

“Well, change it back. I didn’t claim her as mine. And I’m not going to.”

Knox shrugged again, casual even as he held Rafe’s stare with his own. “The offer stands if you get tired of protecting her by yourself. You know how that turned out last time.”

Rafe’s body slammed into Knox’s before he could stop himself, his hands fisted in his brother’s shirt. He pressed Knox against the tree he had been so casually leaning against, scraping his back against the bark.

“Fuck. You.”

Knox didn’t bother to struggle in his grasp, not even giving Rafe the satisfaction of fighting back. “I’m just reminding you what’s at stake here, little brother. You couldn’t save that other pretty human from our own father. How are you going to save this one?”

Every word sunk into the marrow of Rafe’s bones, his every fear laid out in front of him. He released Knox’s shirt and stumbled backward.

“I’m not bringing her here.” He was breathless like they’d fought physically and not with words.

Knox held his hands up in surrender. “I’m just trying to help you out. Two human women under my protection is the last thing I need. But if you don’t want my help, stop showing up here.” Knox’s expression was tight, his stare hard. The coolness had left his demeanor, replaced with something else. Something like hurt and, simmering beneath it, worry.

His brother was a good liar, better than most wolves. But Rafe could see it now. The Alpha was worried.

“Consider this my last visit.” Rafe stormed away from his brother, praying he hadn’t just made things much, much worse.

Chapter Fifty-One

Ruby was nothing if not dedicated to her work.

That and her desperate need to distract herself from thoughts of Rafe had driven her from her bed today. It had been three days, twenty-one hours, and fifty-two minutes since Rafe had stood on her porch covered in blood, and three days, seventeen hours, and forty-one minutes since she’d stumbled away from his cabin a broken mess. Not that she was counting. Not that every minute was etched on her soul. Nope. Ruby was really fucking fine.

And werewolf drama aside, she had bills to pay. So she’d forced herself to get up, stuffed her feet into her boots and clocked in to her shift.