Page 16 of Wolf Desired
“I’ll help him,” Rafe said. “But you need to leave.”
“Because I’m the human?”
“Because despite your belief that you know us, you don’t, female. You know nothing about shifters. Your presence is making the situation worse.”
Times like this, when she felt like such an outsider, she wanted to scream at her mom for leaving her, but mostly for pretending shifters didn’t exist. Too many humans thought if they ignored shifters—wild animals, as many referred to them—they would remain hidden in the forests and avoid humans.
“You’re closing me out. The entire point of this program is for humans and shifters to learn to get along. You want to stop future terrorism attacks like the SEV virus, then tell me what to do, how to help, but don’t shut me out.”
“Taking the time to explain to you right now keeps us from helping Tiernan,” Rafe argued.
Tiernan remained huddled on the ground, watching her every move. Rafe and 86 were right. Tiernan didn’t want her here, even though something deep inside her demanded she go to him.
“You’ll stay with him?” she asked Rafe, needing that reassurance that he’d watch over Tiernan.
“I don’t abandon my people.”
His people. Not hers. The divide between human and shifter never seemed wider.
“Go ahead, Artemis,” Rafe said, his voice softer, gentler now. “Let 86 escort you back. You’re rather banged up.”
“You don’t think much of humans, do you, Rafe?” she asked.
“No.”
At least he was honest. And he had a sense of loyalty toward other shifters, even after pointing out they weren’t part of his pack. She didn’t have to like the guy, but she did have to get along with him for the next five weeks. Now she knew what type of person she was dealing with. That would help her find her target and return to her life as soon as possible.
CHAPTERFIVE
RAFE
Having showered and dressed, Rafe sauntered to the training field with Tiernan and 86 flanking him. He took his time joining the humans and shifters already assembled in two lines. Graves paced between the groups, impatient and looking rather displeased. He wasn’t the only one. The shifters in line were glaring at Graves. Any one of the shifters could take the human, except they were bound by the treaty to cooperate. The humans in the other line looked equally on edge. So much for the first exercise promoting team building.
“The asshole didn’t let anyone else return to shower,” 86 noted. The shifters and agents in line still wore muddy, dirty clothing from hiking through the woods. Including Artemis, whose tattered clothes from her fall out of the tree made her look like the prey Graves had set her to be.
A growl sounded behind him. “Tiernan?” Rafe asked.
“That was me, not my wolf. He’s under control.”
Rafe understood how he felt. At the very least, Graves should have permitted Artemis to tend to her wounds.
“Why did he order us to return to the dorm while the others waited?” 86 asked.
“I guess we offended him by walking around naked. Humans are skittish that way,” Rafe replied. Nudity made humans uncomfortable. This world, these people, were so foreign to him, but he had a job to do. He would not disappoint his father, his alpha.
“Skittish about a lot of things,” 86 added.
Tiernan huffed in agreement. The shifter wasn’t talking much, not after what had happened with Artemis at the end of the challenge. It seems the shifter’s wolf wanted the female more than Tiernan. That was rather odd, but males going feral rarely thought with a clear head.
As Rafe took his place on the shifter line, his eyes fixated on Artemis. He had no idea why, but he couldn’t stop looking at her, thinking about her. The female was a huge distraction. And worse, she was human, someone he could never get involved with, other than having some fun in bed. He could not blood-bond a human, but as for taking Artemis to his bed. . . He would make an exception for her.
Icy wind swept her hair into her face. Her teeth chattered, drawing too many eyes to her, eyes that noticed how her wet pants clung to her beautiful curves. She held the torn section of her shirt over her left breast with one hand while she trained her eyes on Graves. Not once did she look in Rafe’s direction. This female, this agent, was too observant, too alert and aware of her surroundings, not to have noticed him in return.
“You need to toughen up, Artemis,” Graves said as he passed her. The bastard was going to make her stand there and suffer in the cold as if she had screwed up.
“Now that we’re all here finally, I’d like to brief you on the next week of activities.”
The agent didn’t even praise or acknowledge that the female had won the challenge by evading capture. Rafe’s wolf growled at Graves. He didn’t like the DSA agent, and Rafe agreed. The human had no respect for the female and what she’d accomplished. Outsmarting eighteen shifters in the woods was an achievement. One very few shifters could have accomplished, let alone a human.
