Page 11 of Wolf Desired
“Stop the fight, Rafe,” she demanded, no longer asking.
“Why me?”
“You’re a shifter.”
“That doesn’t make it my responsibility.” It did actually. It’s the reason his alpha had sent him here, but he wanted to see what she would do. “If you want to go by shifter culture, then I should stay out of it. If anything, you should break it up. You’re the cause.” He gave her the same smile he’d given Jason, but without the contempt. He liked her perseverance, especially compared to Jason, who backed away like a frightened animal.
“You’re just going to stand there while they kill each other?” Artemis asked, the shock in her voice clear.
“Why do you care? Two fewer shifters in the world won’t make a difference.”
Her mouth fell open and then snapped closed as her face tightened. She actually cared what happened to them. To twoshifters. That surprised him.
Granted, she was in this program designed for shifters and humans to work together to bring down the anti-shifter organizations, but that didn’t make her a friend to shifters. It just meant she was following her government’s orders like he was following his alpha’s.
“I don’t want to see anyone get hurt,” she said.
Feral or not, Tiernan had been right. She smelled sweet, like honey. Suddenly, Rafe had the insane urge to lay her out and lick every inch of her until he found her sweet center and made her come in his mouth.
Fuck, he needed to get laid. If he was thinking about this female and all the wicked things he could do to her, then it had been too long since he’d had that type of release. But he wasn’t a shifter going feral, needing to blood-bond a mate to stabilize his wolf. He had no excuse to touch a human female, and he should be thankful he didn’t need to blood-bond, especially a human.
But the fire in her eyes right now, the challenge there. . . It called to him, him and his wolf. That’s what stirred him, not to mention the delicious curves on her.
Whatever had happened to her today—the scrapes, bloody nose, torn shirt, hair pulled from her braid—she wasn’t upset. This female hadn’t been attacked. Tiernan had misread the situation and most likely lost control to his wolf. If Rafe had to guess, he’d say Tiernan had interrupted 86 from scoring. The shifter had looked rather content leaning into the female.
“You know nothing about us,” she said, motioning to include Jason behind her. Rafe didn’t care to hear from Jason. That human was not an asset to a team, any team. The female, however, had managed to elude all the teams. Even Rafe had been inclined to follow her scent south. He’d have to ask her how she threw them. Everyone except Tiernan. The scout had held steadfast that she’d crossed the river and headed east.
“You humans always back one another,” Rafe replied, trying to ignore the growing scent of blood. He glanced at the white and silver wolves circling one another. Tiernan’s wolf had a bloody shoulder. The white wolf didn’t have a mark on him yet. Not surprising. White wolves were better fighters, bred and raised to do little more. Tiernan didn’t have much of a chance against 86 unless he surrendered full control to his wolf. Magnified strength aside, feral wolves had no sense of right or wrong. They were driven by instinct alone, and a male protecting his female could prove quite deadly. But giving full control to a wolf could trap Tiernan. Every shifter knew that. The question was, who had control at this point, Tiernan or his wolf?
“You’re an ass,” Artemis said outright, then headed toward the fighting wolves.
Rafe reached to stop her, but the female was lithe, quick on her feet and easily evaded him. Fear rose within him as she darted in between the circling wolves. Rafe didn’t know the white wolf, beyond his code name of 86, but at least that shifter wasn’t close to going feral like Tiernan. 86 would still think rationally and not intentionally hurt Artemis. Tiernan posed the greater risk. If his wolf was in control without a physical bond to the female, he might see her as an adversary, not a potential mate.
Rafe shifted and leapt between her and Tiernan’s wolf, who bared his teeth, showing off long canines ready to inflict some real damage.
“Stop this!” Artemis yelled from behind Rafe’s wolf as he tried to stare Tiernan down. “All of you. Shift back, now.”
The white wolf drew up beside Rafe, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, building a protective wall between Tiernan and the female. While Rafe appreciated the solidarity—and from a white wolf, surprisingly—the maneuver angered Tiernan’s wolf, who considered her his. And Rafe and 86 were keeping him from her.
CHAPTERFOUR
ALYSSA
As part of Alyssa’s orientation before coming to the DSA’s facility just outside the Nebraska National Forest, she’d seen videos of men shifting into wolves, but the reality was considerably more frightening, intriguing, and even beautiful to witness. But the fighting was, without a doubt, terrifying.
The white and silver wolves were trying to tear each other apart. Earlier this morning when she’d woken up, she’s stumbled around thinking she needed coffee, thinking nothing else mattered in the world. Not the usual mudslinging going on between political candidates, nor the fact that she was running late getting to the first day of training. While she’d stumbled through her kitchen, looking for coffee grounds, she certainly never imagined she’d be thrown to the wolves later in the day by the instructor in charge, only to end in the middle of a shifter brawl, or whatever the hell this was.
The white wolf dug his teeth into the silver wolf’s shoulder. Except for all the blood and snarling, there was an innate beauty in how they moved. Almost like a dance, they changed direction instantly, gracefully, quickly assessing and reacting at speeds that boggled the mind and made her appreciate just who these shifters were. A force of nature, no different from the wind, the sky, and the earth itself. No wonder the anti-shifters were terrified of them.
Shifters were more than physically superior to humans; they were a force to be reckoned with. They had a confidence in everything they did, and while she wanted to call it arrogance, she couldn’t. They were skilled hunters and proud of their culture. And they didn’t fear humans, despite all the shifters that hunters and anti-shifters had killed over the decades. But biological warfare? Yeah, that scared the shit out of them. It was the one thing humans and shifters had in common. And the reason for this program.
Alyssa just didn’t understand was their culture, their beliefs. That would take time to absorb. While growing up, she had missed her one opportunity to gain a true understanding of shifters. In that respect, she was truly like other humans, ignorant of what drove these magnificent beings. Ignorant of how to stop them fromkillingone another.
“Break it up already,” she yelled, to no avail. The wolves continued snarling, circling, and completely ignoring her as if she were invisible. She’d been invisible before. Didn’t care for it. Maybe that’s why she’d let sexy-as-sin 86 cage her against the tree. With him, she felt desirable.
As for Rafe, that infuriating shifter with the amazing green eyes, he turned out to be a real disappointment, refusing to break up the fight. Until she’d done as he’d challenged and tried to separate the shifters herself. He jumped in front of her the second she’d stepped between the fighting wolves.
“Enough!” she yelled again behind Rafe’s and 86’s wolves. She still had no clue who the silver wolf was who had attacked 86, but 86 was a pure white wolf. White wolves had a reputation in the DSA as being uncooperative, dangerous, and untrustworthy. They needed to add stubborn, sexy, and tempting to that list. And protective. 86 and Rafe formed a wall between her and the silver wolf who seemed desperate to reach her.
