Page 12 of Wolf Desired
This new wolf and Rafe’s wolf, both silver, could be mistaken for brothers, except for the eye color and size. Rafe’s wolf had those striking green eyes and stood inches taller than the other silver wolf, the one with blue-gray eyes. While Rafe’s wolf had more mass, the other silver wolf moved with grace and amazing speed.
Gray-blue eyes swirled as he snarled at Rafe’s wolf again. This wouldn’t end well if he attacked her protectors. They’d hurt him, or worse. She had to do something to end this stand-off, not hide like she was some helpless civilian with no training. She’d worked hard to become a federal agent.
Alyssa tried pushing her way up the middle between 86 and Rafe. They closed ranks, keeping her behind them.
“I don’t need you guarding me,” she said, but neither wolf budged. “Fine, I give in,” she said, backing up into the woods. Rafe’s wolf rotated his left ear slightly, tracking her movement without taking his attention off the silver wolf. Rafe’s ear turned forward again, apparently satisfied that she backed away from the stand-off.
Alyssa circled around a few trees and reappeared on the other side of the silver wolf. “Hey, buddy. Over here.”
“Are you crazy?” Rafe scorned when he shifted back to human form—wickedly fast, too—and stood there quite naked. She couldn’t help staring at the size of him before her eyes snapped up to his face. But the image of his magnificent body. . . Oh, she would enjoy that image later in bed, when she was alone and needed to take the edge off. She’d definitely need to make herself come after glimpsing at that piece of art.
The silver wolf notched his head like he was trying to understand her. He’d stopped snarling at Rafe and 86 and focused on her. His ears flattened back slightly. Well, one did. The other remained up. She wasn’t sure what that meant, but he looked like a big huggable dog. Bigger, actually, but still quite huggable. Certainly not as scary as Rafe would have her believe the way he’d guarded her against him.
“He won’t attack me,” she said with a confidence she had no right displaying, let alone feeling. She didn’t know this wolf with the shiny silver coat and blue-gray eyes, but he hadn’t threatened her, just the males. She had an unexplained desire to move closer to him, to weave her fingers through his fur, to understand him better, as well as why she had this sudden empathy toward him.
“Stay away, Artemis. Tiernan’s nearly feral,” Rafe said.
“Tiernan,” she repeated his name as she looked straight at the wolf. “You won’t hurt me, will you?”
“Artemis.” 86’s voice held a warning to it. “He’s dangerous.”
“He doesn’t look feral.”
“Looks can be deceiving,” 86 added.
Yeah, she’d heard that. Knew it first-hand.
Alyssa had to stifle a laugh at the bizarre scene. Two naked men and a supposedly feral wolf stood before her. Tiernan’s wolf walked up to her like a puppy and nudged his head under her hand. She ran her fingers through the soft fur, down to the wound in his shoulder. Already, the skin had knitted closed. She’d heard about shifters healing fast, but the speed was truly amazing.
“It was a minor bite,” 86 said, as if reading her mind.
“Nothing from a white wolf is minor,” Rafe remarked. “But anything short of death and you count yourself lucky.”
“I was handling him. No one asked you to interfere,” 86 snapped.
“The female got in the way,” Rafe said, his tone harsh as usual.
“The female has a name,” Alyssa said calmly as she glared at both shifters. “It’s Artemis.”
“I know your name,” Rafe said, once again wearing that stoic expression. And still no clothing.
“Then use it.”
“It’s not derisive to call youfemale.” Rafe’s voice softened. “It’s what you are. I could just as easily call you human.”
“And then I’d be in my right to call you shifter or ass, because that’s what you are right now. An ass.”
86 laughed. “She got you there, Heir.”
“Don’t call meheir,” Rafe warned, with a growl underpinning his words.
86’s dark eyes brightened with the challenge. “Whatever you want,Heir.”
The silver wolf started to growl, drawing everyone’s attention. She ran her hand over a soft ear. “You’re okay, Tiernan. Everything will be alright.” She glanced back at Rafe. “Is he your brother or cousin?”
“You think because we’re both silver wolves that we’re related? Human, you have a lot to learn about shifters.”
“As much as you do about humans, I suspect. Maybe Graves was right. We needed this challenge.”
