Page 83 of Big Bad Wolf

This wasn’t possible. There was no way this could be happening. Not to him. Not with Ruby.

You poor bastard.

Gert knew.

Rafe paced the woods beyond the house. Every muscle in his body, every instinct was screaming at him to run back to her. But he couldn’t. Especially not now. Not with Ruby’s taste still on his tongue, the feel of her body still imprinted on his. He shook his fur out, like he could shake off the feel of her. God, she must hate him. The look on her face when he pulled away, the betrayal and the anger, would haunt him forever.

But this couldn’t be possible.

Rafe hadn’t grown up with the fairy tale of fated Mates. His father shut down any whisper of it. The pack mated for strength and skill, not based on destiny or, worse, love. From a very young age, Rafe was convinced the concept didn’t even exist.

The light in Ruby’s bedroom went out, bathing the yard in darkness. She’d given up on him coming back. Rafe’s chest cracked, letting the darkness in.

Good. She needed to give up on him. It was why he didn’t fuck her. Why he couldn’t, even as his body craved it like his next breath. Stories linger, even when they are suppressed. People whisper. Wolves talk. He knew the fairy tale even if he never believed in it. Werewolves were meant to mate for life. If they were lucky, they found their fated Mate, the wolf that was tied to their soul, the wolf they literally could not live without. It was all bullshit. Rafe had never met anyone who’d found their one true Mate. It wasn’t possible. It wasn’t real.

And he’d definitely never heard of a werewolf mated to a human.

It. Wasn’t. Possible.

Unless it was… Rafe shook himself again, his body still reverberating from the realization he’d had between Ruby’s legs. The word Mate still ran through his blood, still screamed at him to pay attention to what was right in front of him.

It made everything he’d felt about Ruby since he met her fall into place. It was why he was drawn to Maple Hollow. Why he couldn’t stay away. Why he felt compelled to be near her, to touch her, to protect her.

It explained everything.

And yet … he couldn’t do it. Didn’t want it. Humans were not for him. Not even that one, not even Ruby. It didn’t matter how much time he spent as a human, pretended he was one. Deep down, he wasn’t. He was an animal and he would only lead Ruby into danger. Just like Scarlet.

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to pull himself together, trying to slow his racing heart so he could think.

If the stories were true, the Mate bond wouldn’t lock in place until he claimed her. In his current state, there was exactly one way Rafe could think of to claim his Mate, and it didn’t involve promise rings. Which was why he’d stopped before they went any further, before he lost himself in her and did things they’d both regret.

Just imagining being buried deep inside her made Rafe groan in agony, but there were so many things he didn’t know. Would she feel it too? Would she be tied to him, or would it be one-sided? Would he be doomed to follow her around for the rest of his life even if she didn’t want him in return? He could imagine it. He could picture himself wasting away in the woods beyond her cottage just for a glimpse of her.

And if she could feel it, then what?

Would she really want to tie her life to his? Forever?

He couldn’t imagine she would. Couldn’t convince himself that she wanted him beyond this passing attraction. He didn’t have anything to offer beyond a life of violence and struggle.

None of this was fair to Ruby. She wasn’t a werewolf.

But even as he vowed to himself that he wouldn’t claim her, even as he swore to himself that he would leave, his body rebelled. His feet wouldn’t budge. He should find another way to protect her from afar. But as he racked his brain for ways to do that, his heart laughed at what a liar and a fool he was.

It was too late. It didn’t matter if he stayed away from Ruby for the rest of his life. It didn’t matter if he ran to the ends of the earth to avoid her. It didn’t matter if he never touched her again. She was already his. It was too damn late.

For him anyway. But maybe she could be the one to run.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Rafe never came back to bed. Maybe he’d scampered off back home. Good, Ruby thought, running her fingers through her tangled hair. She twisted it into a knot and then swung her legs out of bed.

She couldn’t do this … this … whatever it was anymore. All this hot and cold with Rafe was driving her to the point of madness. If he didn’t want to be with her, she certainly couldn’t force him to be. He would have to take his tortured pining elsewhere.

Just when she’d convinced herself she was glad he left, that she was better off without a werewolf in her bed, the smell of breakfast wafting up from the kitchen told her Rafe hadn’t gone anywhere. The bastard.

Her stomach flipped at the memory of last night. She’d thought he wanted her as much as she wanted him. She didn’t want some pity oral! Not that it hadn’t been amazing, but that was beside the point. He’d made her feel like a complete idiot, and that was not the post-orgasm experience anyone wanted. And if he thought he was just going to run off again or pretend nothing happened, he had another think coming. Mr. King of Mixed Signals was going to get a piece of her mind this morning.

She’d slept in her tank top and nothing else, secretly hoping like the desperate pervert that she was that Rafe would come back, but clearly this outfit would not do for breakfast and telling wolf-man to go fuck himself. Ruby grabbed a fresh tank top, dark red like her rage. She pulled it on over a black bra. She didn’t bother with fancy underwear because that furry bastard would not be seeing them today, but she did wear her shortest skirt just to spite him. She never wore make-up to breakfast in her own home but today it felt necessary. Black eyeliner on her top lids with just a little swoop at the ends and her favorite lipstick color: Sexy Red Riding Hood. She smiled at herself in the mirror. She looked damn good for a morning of telling a guy off.