Page 67 of Wolf Unleashed
“He wants to blood-bond you again, but he’s afraid you’ll say no,” Rafe said.
Tiernan released a growl directed at the alpha. “Not cool, Rafe.”
“We don’t have time to waste on getting reacquainted. You can give her all the flowery proposals and reasons for your decision later. Get moving, Tiernan.”
Tiernan pressed his lips to hers, stole a quick kiss, then shifted back to his wolf and leapt into the woods. One simple kiss… That’s all it took to feel renewed again, to remind him what he was fighting for.
* * *
ALYSSA
With Rafe’shand still on her lower back, Alyssa entered the cabin Tiernan had found three miles from the compound. It wasn’t far, but it was extremely well hidden by dense foliage around and over the house. A trickle of sunlight wove through the thick veil of branches overhead and pierced the grimy window. At least this time, she was properly dressed for the cold. Her father had seen to that. Despite the warm clothing she wore, she still shivered. Rafe feared smoke from a fire would be spotted by the mercenaries that by now were searching for them.
“Did Tiernan go to find Maddox?” she asked. Once Tiernan had led them to the cabin, he’d taken off again.
“Maddox will follow our scent trail here. Tiernan went to erase any footprints or evidence of our trek here and then to lay down a false trail in another direction. He’ll return eventually.”
Rafe tipped her chin up with a single finger. “He’ll be fine. I wouldn’t have sent him back out there if I had thought otherwise.”
“You trust him to do his job, but not me.”
“Enough, Artemis. You know as well as I that it was too risky for you and your wolf. There’s a time to fight and a time to retreat.”
She leaned her head against his chest. He was right, but still she couldn’t feel as if they’d missed a grand opportunity.
His mouth pressed to her ear. “I can’t do this without you, Alyssa.”
He rarely called her by her first name. Only when he felt vulnerable. She pulled back, looking at him.
“Do what? Lead? You’re doing great, but don’t expect me to listen to every order, Rafe. I’m not programmed that way.”
He chuckled. “Life would be boring if you were. I meant exist, precious. I need you. Fuck, I think I need Tiernan and Maddox just as much. I never had a close bond with my own brother. Maybe because he was the alpha-heir.
“You should have seen it, Artemis. Tiernan and Maddox understood what I needed, when I needed it in that cell, and they gave it to me without question. Until that moment, I never felt like an alpha before, not truly. Oh, I can fight and force other shifters to submit, but this was different.”
“Loyalty. You proved yourself to them. And to me,” she said, tugging at the hair at the back of his head.
“Is that what you feel for me? Loyalty?” he asked, losing his smile. He wanted more with her. She’d known it for a long time now. It was Rafe who needed to realize what that was, though.
Alyssa unbuttoned the shirt on his uniform. “I’d feel more than loyalty for you if you weren’t wearing a mercenary uniform.”
As he stripped, she admired the flex of his muscles, each one a testament to his strength, not just as a shifter, but as an alpha who was coming into his own. For all of his confidence in his abilities, he never thought he deserved or could wield the title of alpha.
He stood before her, completely naked, grinning. “If you want to be a shifter, precious, you need to learn to get used to seeing others naked and being naked, too. We shift a lot and clothing isn’t always handy.”
“Oh, I’m not embarrassed. Just enjoying the view.”
“Lose the clothing, Artemis. Before I rip them off of you.”
Chapter Twenty
MADDOX
“You said Rafe had a DSA tracker in him,” Maddox said to Tiernan as they approached the cabin. Tiernan had done well. The place was perfectly camouflaged, and they’d both taken care to erase their trail. Only a shifter could find them now.
“Rafe gave me the tracker,” Tiernan explained. “He planned to distract the guards while I escaped and grabbed Alyssa.”
“What happened?”
