AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The others, Rook and Drago especially, only intensify his aggression.
But Rafe wouldn’t hurt me.
Not even when I was just an omega, nothing more.
It doesn’t hurt that I could likely put his ass on the ground now if I wanted to.
But that’s not the point.
Rafe flexes his claws. Not at me, but to work off the extra energy he’s collected. His right foot slides behind the left. Then the left slides behind the right. He tips his head back and lets a soul-deep howl rip free.
It lasts for ages.
And just long enough for him to find his senses once again.
He follows the howl with a curt command, garbled by his non-human mouth. “Shut the fuck up, Chad!”
I can feel my guys sharing bewildered looks behind me, but I don’t turn.
Rafe’s body reverts to his human self, and the moment he does, he falls to his knees. “Willa, honey, I’m so sorry. So fucking sorry I missed your heat. I went off to fix my fucked-up head, and you probably called out to me, but I was in a damn warded building and didn’t hear you. I’m so fucking sorry, baby. I promise, I was seeing someone to help me work through all this fucking jealousy.” He says it all in one anguished breath as my feet finally hit the floor.
“I never meant to hurt you. I never wanted to miss your heat. You probably thought the worst of me, that I was doing this on purpose to hurt you, and I fucking deserve that.” He looks up at me, green forest eyes back to normal, though streaked with pain, studded with tears.
“If you want to kick me out of your pack of men, I understand. For the way I’ve been acting, I deserve it. But I wouldn’t lie to you. I was trying to fix myself, and I was too embarrassed to tell you how or why. It’s my fault for not telling you that I went to Cranbrook to see a psychiatrist and that I’d be in a building with a fucking top tier ward that was so powerful it even turned off my pack buzz. But I swear, if you keep me, if you let me stay, I’ll prove to you just how much I want to be here. How much I want to be in your life, regardless of how many other men are in it, too.”
“Fuck, man. That’s quite a speech. An Oscar-worthy performance,” Rook chides from behind me.
Rafe doesn’t bat an eye. He doesn’t take the bait, either. “I deserve that, too. I let my knot-brain do too much of the thinking for me. It’s time I took control and got myself together.”
“It’s not just me you need to give an apology to. You were a dick to all of them,” I say, expecting that to be the line. The point where this new, improved Rafe breaks and the old one shines through.
“You’re right,” he says and gets off his knees and faces the rest of my guys. “I was awful to all of you at one point or another.” He points to Drago. “Not so much you—’cause you’re terrifying—but I would have been if I didn’t think it would get me killed.”
Drago just grunts at him. Rook listens, arms crossed over his chest. And Jonah does his utmost not to be the mediator and offer suggestions on how to move forward, because he knows, just like I do, that Rafe has to do this on his own.
“You all have my heartfelt apology for the way I’ve demanded to be involved in your sex lives and for being an overall Chad about the whole situation. So, as recompense for my awful behavior, and to show I’m working on it, I offer myself as the unit slave for a period of time to be determined by consensus.”
That perks everyone right up.
“What does that mean, exactly?” Jonah can’t resist asking.
Rafe shrugs. “Whatever you want. Dishes, laundry, cooking, cleaning, all mine. But also anything else. Doctor appointments you don’t want to make, I’ll make it. Christmas card list updated? Done. Want me to dress up like a princess and serve everyone tea… fine.”
I say nothing. This isn’t my vibe at all. We all share the housework evenly, anyway, so…
But the other guys’ eyes are alight with glee, thinking up all the ways they might emasculate Rafe.
And I guess that’s the point.
I let out a sigh. This is going to be interesting.
Chapter16
Pretty, Pretty Princess
Warm sunlight streamsin from the front windows, slashing golden ribbons of light across the dining table, reminding me just how close winter is and how my time with all my mates is finite.
“I’ve finally reached all the bloodline heads and their first and second chairs,” Emilia says as Rafe serves another pancake off the stack in front of him. He trots over to Rook, asking without words if he wants another, and I can’t help but grin as Rook holds his plate out.
