Page 65 of Wolf Desired
“Want to join me at the mess hall and simply talk?” Rafe asked, as if he were giving her a peace offering. “Can we do that? I mean, if you’re nervous about being with me, we’ll wait until there are other humans in there. Or Tiernan and Maddox can come with us if you prefer.”
He didn’t understand. Probably none of them did, but Rafe less so. When he gave orders, shifters followed them. She hadn’t exactly fallen in line with shifter norms. Rafe had already made some compromises for her, and he thought that would solve everything. It did in terms of being on a team, but her relationship with the three of them went beyond being a team.
“Sure,” she said, before thinking about it, mostly because he seemed so insecure at that moment, and Rafe was the epitome of strength. She wondered if his invitation was nothing more than a stall tactic to keep her close to him a little longer. Maybe he felt as if he was losing her after she’d reached out to Tiernan and not Rafe or Maddox. Tiernan needed her. They all knew it, but she hadn’t saidyesto mating him. She simply wasn’t ready for that and wasn’t sure she ever would be. But that didn’t mean she was ready to lose them. Any of them.
“Hold on,” Maddox said before she headed off with Rafe. “I need to speak with you for just a minute, Artemis.”
She nodded to Rafe. “Go ahead, Rafe, I won’t be long. I’ll catch up to you in the cafeteria.”
Once Rafe and Tiernan disappeared from sight, Maddox thrust a hand through his hair. “After I took Snake to Tiernan, I went back to see what was taking so long. I saw you in the woods with Rafe.”
She could feel the heat rising to her face.
“You don’t owe me an explanation, Artemis. That’s not why I brought that up.”
“Then why?”
“Ever since we got back from that op, Tiernan’s been growling at everyone, and Rafe’s having an identity crisis or something. I’m not quite sure, but both shifters are out of sorts. And while I’m all for giving you time to sort things out, I’m not sure I can handle the two of them right now. Not without you, that is.”
“There are a lot of other shifters you can hang out with.”
“Why would I want to?” he asked, with so much sincerity she had to laugh. Maddox was as blunt as ever, and she loved him all the more for it.
“Because they’re shifters. They’ll relate to you better.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Quite frankly, I’m more concerned about you after what happened with the anti-shifters. And now with Graves. The guy really has it in for you.”
“I can handle Graves. And if anything, I should worry about you. You’re the one who nearly overdosed on tranquilizers.”
“Yeah, don’t remind me. I still feel sluggish. But you did something out there that I don’t think you’re comfortable with.”
“You mean kissing Snake and taking my shirt off to lure him?”
“No. I meant with Rafe.”
She knew exactly what he meant. Except she wasn’t ready to face it. “It was nothing, Maddox. Just sex.”
“Just sex. You once told me you’d only been with one guy before. And in the past three weeks, you’ve been intimate with Tiernan and now Rafe.”
“He didn’t force me,” she said.
“I don’t think being forced is your problem. Just the opposite.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think you’re torn, Artemis. Between Rafe and Tiernan.”
And you.
But Maddox didn’t list himself. Damn shifter either didn’t see her as anything more than a teammate or didn’t want to acknowledge this growing bond between them.
That much she understood. She feared saying anything, because she could lose him, and that scared her.
“You’re loyal,” Maddox continued. “You’re not one to use people.”
“And?”
“And you think you have to choose between them.”
