Page 27 of Wolf Desired
A growl sounded behind them a second before Tiernan shifted and ran up the path up the mountain. “Go,” Rafe ordered Maddox. “Stop him before he reaches the summit. I’ll take care of Artemis.”
“How?” Maddox said even as he shifted.
“I don’t know. Go, Maddox!”
“Get off!” Artemis yelled.
Brock’s foot rolled and tangled in her line. He pushed off to get away, dragging her line with him, which caused Artemis to lose her footing and spin. She kicked out twice to keep from slamming into the rock, but in doing so, she released her hold and dropped several feet, where she lost her footing completely.
“Oh, look at that. My foot slipped,” Brock called down to her, grinning as she swayed like a pendulum toward the sharp outcropping.
Rafe grabbed the end of her line and pulled it away from the cliff to keep her from striking the rocks. “I’ve got you, Artemis.”
He listened to her heavy breaths and noticed her hands shaking on the line as she regained control. Her descent turned choppy. Brock’s attack had unnerved her.
When her feet finally hit the ground, it took all of Rafe’s control to keep from pulling her into him to reassure himself that she was fine.
“Thanks,” she said, fumbling with the harness around her waist. “You saved me.”
Rafe reached out to unclip her harness. Instead, he grabbed hold of it and gently tugged her toward him. He could swear she stepped into him all too willingly, without any resistance, as if she wanted to be close to him.
She was shaking, but not nearly as much as he was.
“I’m not your enemy,” he said, his voice low and deep. There was so much more he wanted to say to her, but not here in the open, and certainly not until he figured out what he was doing. He only knew that he wanted her to trust him. Not that it would change what could and couldn’t be between them. He was an alpha heir and needed to blood-bond a shifter, but, damn, there was something about Artemis that he couldn’t simply walk away from.
“I know,” she said, in a soft voice as hazel eyes looked at him with a need for something he couldn’t make out, but a need he wanted to satisfy. And here he had wanted her to see the truth inhiseyes, to know he’d never hurt her.
She tilted her head back, her mouth opened in invitation, one he should refuse. But he wanted to taste her, to see if her tongue and lips felt as silky as they looked, to know if she tasted tangy and rich like her personality or sweet like her honey scent.
“Sloppy work, Artemis,” Graves yelled from a few feet away as he barreled over to them. “You could have killed yourself and Brock.”
Artemis pulled away from Rafe. “Are you kidding me? I—”
“Did I say talk?” Graves stepped in front of Rafe, physically cutting him out of the conversation.
Rafe’s wolf wanted to sink his teeth into Graves, not to kill, but to teach the male some respect, but Rafe pushed him down. Artemis wasn’t in any danger from Graves. And she wouldn’t like it if Rafe stepped in. The female had a fierceness to her and a need to prove herself to everyone. Or maybe just to herself.
Graves used his height to his advantage, trying to intimidate the much shorter Artemis, but she clasped her hands behind her back and took the dressing down as if she’d been in this position before.
“It was Brock who screwed up,” Rafe spoke up.
Graves spun around. “Stay out of this, Rafe. She was responsible for training them, so she bears the responsibility for what happened. If she can’t cut it here, then it’s better to find out now.”
“You’re not throwing me out,” Artemis said with fire and determination in her eyes.
“We’ll see about that.” Graves walked away without another word.
Rafe’s wolf growled. Graves needed to be taught a lesson. Namely, how to treat females. This was the fourth time he’d singled her out in as many days, pointing out her failures, not to help her improve, but to humiliate her.
“He wants her to fail,” Maddox said on Rafe’s left. “Why?”
“That’s a very good question.” Rafe scanned the area for Tiernan. Maddox had returned alone. “I expected the human instructors here would be hardest on us, not the humans.”
“Human. Just the one. He doesn’t do this to the others,” Tiernan said as he emerged from the path that led up the cliff.
“What happened with Brock?” Rafe asked, relieved to see the scout unharmed but not sure what Tiernan had done to Brock when the shifter had climbed back up the rope.
“He’s alive.” Tiernan didn’t elaborate as he grabbed an extra set of clothes from the pack he’d brought. As long as Brock was still alive, he’d heal.
