Page 43 of Wolf Desired
“Why not? Because you’re some important alpha back at your pack?”
“I’m the alpha heir. Destined to rule one day. I’m no different from any other shifter when it comes to females, though. I’m betting I’m not that much different from the human males here, even. Except I can satisfy a female better and longer.”
Ooh, she was starting to hate that arrogance of his. And yet that heat from earlier began spreading through her body again at the thought of him thrusting into her all night long. She was tempted to say yes.
“We both have jobs to do here, Rafe. This isn’t some luxury resort to hook up.” Except thatthinginside of her seemed to be pushing her to take him. But take him and do what, exactly? Whatever was going on inside of her seemed to be about power, not sex, and Rafe was the ultimate symbol of power. Heir to his pack. This shifter was a leader, and a formidable one at that.
“You’re right,” he said. “We have jobs to do.”
“That’s not what this discussion is about. Tiernan says you and Maddox are ready to kill him if he goes feral.”
That stopped him cold. “When, not if. It’s only a matter of time with Tiernan. He knows it too. And yes, when a shifter goes feral and I’m around, I put him down. That’s all there is to it. It’s not personal.”
Tiernan, a shifter she was falling for, was going feral, and the one male who had any real say over what happened to Tiernan refused to listen to her.
She grabbed his arm and stopped him again. “How can you say it’s not personal when you know the guy?”
“It doesn’t matter if I know him. I do what needs to be done.”
* * *
RAFE
Artemis didn’t understand.Not that Rafe expected any human to, but it was important to him that she understand. He didn’t want her to view him as a killer. At least not a heartless one. Killing came with the territory of being a shifter, especially an alpha heir. It was part of who he was,whathe needed to be to protect his pack, and he wouldn’t apologize to anyone for it, not even her, the female whose scent he knew better than his own.
Rafe could still taste her. After she’d shattered around his fingers, he’d licked each finger, imagining it was her. Had the angle been right, he would have gladly tasted her with his mouth, but she’d been there with Tiernan. He’d had no right to join in, except she’d wanted him.
Those beautiful eyes spoke more than she did at times, and he would not deny her something so basic as the need to sate one’s body. Until she blood-bonded Tiernan. Then, she’d be off-limits, even if she gave him that same soft, needy expression that made his cock harden. But she wouldn’t. Blood-bonded shifters only looked to their mates to satisfy their needs.
“So you’re just going to kill him?” Artemis asked, anger and fear mixing in her face.
Fuck, he didn’t want her to fear him.
“If he goes feral, yes,” he answered. He would not lie to her, even to spare her feelings. She was a federal agent, a strong female. She could handle the facts, unpleasant as they were.
“You can’t,” she ground out, crossing her arms over her chest as if she truly thought she could convince him to change what had been a fact of life for nearly two centuries, since the original shifter virus merged shifter and human DNA to create the first shifters.
“I’m an alpha, Artemis. That means I don’t get to choose what I need to do, but I do it just the same. That includes making the hard decisions, and yes, putting otherwise good shifters down when they go feral. I don’t make the rules—”
“But you follow them,” she said, the contempt in her voice clear.
He puffed out his chest. “Yes.”
“You’re heartless.”
“If it’s not me, then another shifter or group of shifters will put him down. And they won’t necessarily spare him any pain by making it fast. Some shifters like to go up against a feral shifter, taunt him even to rile him up, just so they can tear him to shreds and prove they’re the better fighters.”
“That’s sick.”
“I can step away when Tiernan goes feral, let the other shifters put him down, but I won’t. I’ll make it quick. He deserves that.”
“He deserves help, not a death sentence.”
She was mad and frustrated, and he loved that she felt so strongly about Tiernan. Maybe she’d agree to blood-bond him after all. He considered telling her about the blood-bond, as an option to putting Tiernan down, but that conversation was for Tiernan. Besides, Rafe had a feeling she couldn’t see past her hatred of him to hear what he was trying to say.
Rafe stroked a lock of her blonde hair. So silky and fine. He wanted to feel it against his legs as she went down on him, or beneath him as he thrust into her. He couldn’t make a move, not now, not ever. Touching her earlier. . . he’d given in to the temptation just that once, so he’d know the feel of her coming around him, know what he was letting Tiernan take. The male needed her.
Sacrifice. . . She didn’t know the sacrifices he made for other shifters, and he could never tell her.
