Page 1 of Wolf Unleashed
Chapter One
RAFE
“You disappoint me, Rafe,” Soren Anderson, the salt and pepper-haired shifter with a square jaw and chiseled muscles, said as he stood before Rafe, Alyssa, and Tiernan. Rafe’s alpha—his father—ignored Tiernan and Alyssa. He was too busy laying into Rafe in front of their pack.Rafe’spack. Over two hundred males and females with a few dozen children, all of whom had the decency to continue on their way to their cabins or the communal dining hall for dinner instead of staring at Rafe while his father scorned him without even attempting to lower his voice.
“I won’t grovel to the humans to take you back,” Soren said. “How could you be so stupid as to leave there?”
A dressing down. Why the hell had Rafe expected anything less? He’d succeeded in his mission at the Department of Shifter Affairs training facility. Sort of. The treaty with the humans remained intact. More or less.
“I’m not going back. I can’t.”
“Damn well you can’t. You’ve made a fool of me and our pack. Once the other packs hear about what you’ve done…” Soren shook his head. “I expected better from you. Eero never would have lost control of the shifters. How many dead? Ten? Fifteen?”
“Nine, if you include the one in the woods Maddox killed. They had kidnapped Alyssa.”
“A feral shifter that should have been put down, a murdered human, and a kidnapping? What the hell were you doing up there, Rafe? Sitting on your hands and hoping those shifters would fall in line with the humans and their rules? They’re shifters. They don’t answer to humans. That’s why I sent you, to ensure they learned how to cooperate. Eero would have had them under his control in minutes.”
“I’m not Eero,” Rafe said, straining to keep his voice even. “And I didn’t lose control.”
“No, I suppose not. You can’t lose what you never had!”
Behind Rafe, Alyssa sucked in a breath. He’d almost forgotten she and Tiernan stood behind him. They had remained quiet. They were guests here, after all. When Soren had first scented Alyssa, he’d frowned, making no attempt to hide his disapproval. At least he had permitted them to enter his territory. Despite how much Soren was eager to make the treaty with the humans work, he didn’t want humans in his territory.
“You had one goal there. To keep the other shifters in line and ensure this program succeeded.”
“I did just that, Alpha,” Rafe said, clenching his hands behind him. It wouldn’t do any good to debate his father when he was in a mood.
Soren lifted his chin as if he’d been insulted. “Watch that tone.”
A hand rested on the small of Rafe’s back, just beneath his shirt. Skin to skin contact. Cool, gentle fingertips brushed his skin, not meant to distract, but to soothe. He wanted to turn around to Alyssa, to see her smile, to deliver one of his own so she’d know everything would be all right. She didn’t know his father. The alpha tended to blow off steam when things didn’t go according to plan. And Rafe hadn’t yet told his father about his relationship with her.
Soren caught the movement of her hand on Rafe’s back. His eyes darted to Tiernan as if he expected the shifter to attack Rafe at any minute. He’d seen Alyssa and Tiernan holding hands when they’d entered the main part of camp. He’d assumed they were mated. Correctly so. He just didn’t know the full extent of the mating.
“Female, you’re playing a dangerous game,” Soren said when Tiernan did nothing to stop Alyssa. “Keep your hands on your mate and off my heir.”
Tiernan swallowed as he pulled Alyssa’s hand in his. Inside of Rafe, his wolf growled low and deep at his alpha, for the threat against Rafe’s mate. Shit. His wolf had never growled at his father, let alone his alpha before.
Rafe turned to face Alyssa. One look at her, confirmation that she was fine, would settle him and his wolf. Neither of them could afford to threaten their alpha. Especially not with Alyssa here.
“It’s fine,” Alyssa said as the wind tossed her long blonde hair into her face. She casually pushed her hair back, revealing beautiful hazel eyes that had lost their shine. Alyssa looked trapped, unsure of what to do. She’d been trying to help Rafe, not make his position worse. He could see it in her face; she felt utterly helpless because she didn’t know how a pack worked. He and Tiernan should have prepared her better.
“She’s my mate, Father,” Rafe confessed. “And I’d appreciate it if you watch your tone with her.”
The alpha’s pale green eyes grew dark. “What do you meanyour mate? She’s with him, the scout from Liam’s pack.” Soren nodded his chin toward Tiernan without looking directly at him.
Rafe really didn’t want to have this conversation out in the open. “I’ll answer all your questions. At home.”
“You’ll answer them here and now, Heir.”
“This is a personal matter, not a pack one.”
“You’re my heir. Every personal decision you make affects the pack.”
Rafe drew a deep breath. If his father wanted to talk here, then fine. The entire pack would know the truth soon enough. “She’s our mate. Tiernan’s and mine.”
His father’s eyes grew impossibly dark. He didn’t even know about Maddox yet. Soren scented the air once more, longer than he had upon first meeting Alyssa. “She’s human.”
Soren suddenly relaxed. “I’m not so old that I don’t remember what it is to be your age. You and Greyson’s scout can have your fun with her, but do so off my land and then return her to the humans. Bringing a prostitute here is beneath you and a distraction. You have work to do.”
