Betrayed: Days of the Rogue (53 page)

He kissed her back then rested his
forehead against hers, his eyes closed as if gathering inner
strength. When he stepped back, his face was deadly serious. “If
that’s the case, then we need to talk.”

“I thought that’s what we were
doing already?” She cocked her head, puzzled as to what else there
was to say.

“You asked if I was a werewolf. How
do you feel about them, wolves I mean?”

She rolled her eyes. “We’re back to
that again? Rafe, I was talking crazy. I let Caro—”

He pressed a finger to her lips,
hushing her. “Please. Just try to imagine if I was involved with
wolves. How would you feel?”

Eve considered his question. “I
suppose, if it was a necessary part of your job, it would be okay.
It’s not like I’d be going to work with you. Are they like therapy
dogs?”

Rafe didn’t answer, instead asking
yet another question. “But what if there was a wolf right here, in
the house?”

“In the house?” Her voice rose an
octave and she looked around nervously. “You have one as a
pet?”

“Um…something like that. And I’m
very attached to it.”

“Oh. Well,” she swallowed
nervously, imagining a wolf in the house, lying in front of the
fireplace, eating from a bowl in a corner of the kitchen… Her palms
grew damp at the very thought but she tried to put on a brave face.
“I guess I’d just have to get used to it.”

“And could you keep its existence a
secret. Not tell anyone?”

She removed her arms from around
his waist and stepped back. Was it illegal to keep a wolf as a pet?
While she didn’t voice the question, she wasn’t sure she was
comfortable with possibly breaking some city bylaw. Rafe remained
silent, waiting for her answer. “I suppose if it means that much to
you then I would.” She bit her lip, feeling the tension rising
inside her. “I’m assuming it’s friendly?”

“Very.” For the first time in
several minutes, he actually showed a trace of a smile. “Here, sit
down.” He took her by the shoulders and sat her in one of the
elegant chairs that decorated the front foyer. “I’ll be right
back.”

Eve watched Rafe disappear from
sight and started to nervously pleat the hem of her sweater with
her fingers. He had that wolf out back in a pen no doubt, and was
going to introduce her to it. She took a steadying breath. She
could do this. He’d be right beside her and the beast would be on a
leash, right? The scars on her arm throbbed and she rubbed her hand
over the spot, trying not to think about the attack.

The faint clicking sound of claws
on tile was the only warning she had before a large chocolate brown
wolf appeared in front of her. It was massive with thick fur and
piercing eyes. Her breath hitched in her throat and she leaned as
far back in the chair as she could.

“R..Rafe?” She called out his name.
Where was he? Why wasn’t he here, holding onto the animal’s leash?
And speaking of leash… From what she could see, there wasn’t one.
Not even a collar.

The wolf walked closer. Her
breathing began to speed up, her heart started to pound. She
gripped the edge of the chair, not caring that her nails were
likely piercing the satiny fabric. When it was right in front of
her the wolf licked its lips and its jaws opened. Her eyes widened
as she took in the glistening teeth. Oh God…

About to scream, she froze when the
creature suddenly yawned and plopped its chin in her lap. Looking
up at her, it wiggled its ears and quirked a brow as if to say,
‘aren’t you going to pet me?’

For a moment Eve stared at the
creature dumb-founded. When it made no move except to sigh, she
forced herself to relax.

“Okay. I can do this.” She began to
give herself a pep talk. “Obviously, Rafe must think you’re pretty
tame or he wouldn’t have left me alone with you. At least, I hope
he wouldn’t…” Forcing herself to move, she released her death grip
on the chair and tentatively reached out to touch the animal. Her
hand hovered over its head and then slowly lowered it until her
palm made contact with the wolf’s head. Its fur was warm and
smooth. She began stroking it, running her fingers through the
silky brown fur, enjoying the thick softness.

The wolf let out a low rumble and
closed its eyes. Eve giggled softly. “You’re just like a dog,
aren’t you? No need to be scared of you, is there?” She ruffled its
fur and shook her head before calling out to Rafe. “It’s okay. Your
pet passed the test.”

Turning in her chair, she craned
her neck, looking down the hallway and expecting to see Rafe
walking towards her. He’d probably been observing the whole
interaction.

Rafe didn’t appear, but the wolf
suddenly got to its feet and trotted down the hallway. It turned
the corner and barely a second later Rafe appeared hitching his
shoulders as if adjusting his clothing. He must have one of those
silent dog whistles that the wolf responded to, she decided.

Eve got to her feet. “You know that
wasn’t very nice of you to let me meet your pet all by myself. You
could have at least come in the room and given me moral
support.”

“You weren’t alone.”

“Right. The wolf was with me.” She
rolled her eyes.

“So,” he shoved his hands in his
pockets. “What do you think? Are you scared of wolves?”

“Well, not that one, that’s for
sure.” An idea popped into her head. “One of the wolves that I saw
that last day in Grassy Hill looked just like that, I’m sure of
it!” She cocked her head. “Was it him? But if so, where did you
keep it? I never saw him the whole time I was there and he’s pretty
big to hide.”

“He was there.” Rafe suddenly
crouched in front of her and took her hands in his. “Eve, are you
sure about this? About us?”

His tone, the expression on his
face was so serious, that she began to feel nervous. “Yes. I’m
sure.”

“If we go ahead now, there’s no
turning back.”

“Rafe, what is it?” She shifted
uneasily.

“I have to tell you something, Eve.
It’s a secret. A deadly secret. One you can’t tell anyone else,
ever.”

She licked her lips but nodded.
“All right. Is it about the wolf?”

He nodded. “The wolf and I…we’re
one. What Caro suggested to you—that I’m a werewolf, or a Lycan—is
true.”

Eve blinked. “You’re really a…? No.
Oh no. This is just… It’s…” She shook her head and tried to pull
her hands free, but he held on tight.

“It’s not so hard to believe, Eve.
You’re Fae. Lots of people would say that’s impossible but it’s
not. I’m half Fae and half Lycan. It’s not scary or weird or
impossible. Just another form of life amidst the thousands that
already populate our planet.”

“You’re a werewolf. You turn into
an animal at will.” She restated the facts, hoping that by saying
them they’d seem more real.

“Yes.” He looked at her
expectantly, but she didn’t know what to say.

“You know, I came here to ask you
this very thing but now… It seems unreal. I suppose I secretly
never thought Caro was right and was just using it as an
excuse.”

“But now? Are you okay with
it?”

“I have to be. I mean… I love you,
Rafe. All of you. And if that includes you spending part of the
time as a wolf, it’s something I’ll have to accept…I guess.” She
rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe I’m saying this!”

Rafe stared at her and then gave a
laugh. Standing up, he pulled her to her feet and hugged her. “I
think I’ll have to thank Caro next time our paths cross.”

“Thank her? Why?” Eve relaxed in
his grasp, the tension she’d been feeling easing away.

“She introduced a tricky topic that
I wasn’t sure how to broach. I was actually coming home from work
trying to think of how to introduce the topic to you and then here
you were.” He shook his head. “All I could think of was ‘damn, now
what am I going to say to her.’”

“Ah! That explains why you reverted
back into stone-faced McRae when I first got here.”

“Stone-faced McRae?”

“One of my secret names for you
those first few months.”

He scowled. “That’s not very
respectful, you know.”

“And you weren’t very friendly.”
She lifted her chin giving her head an airy toss, before standing
on tiptoe and kissing him. “But I forgive you.”

“I can see you’re going to keep me
on my toes.”

“Me? You’re the tall one. I’m on
tiptoe all the time trying to reach you.”

He chuckled and gave her another
hug before sobering. “There’s a serious side to this, though. We’re
not allowed to tell anyone. It’s a law called The Keeping. Telling
humans about our existence is strictly forbidden and there are
severe consequences for disobedience.” Putting his arm around her
shoulder, he guided her back towards the den. “In fact, we’re only
allowed to tell humans if they become pack members.”

“But…I’m not a pack member. Is that
going to cause a problem?” She slid him a sideways look.

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On you, and if you’re deemed
trustworthy. Approval has to be gained from an Alpha. And since I’m
technically considered the Alpha of my clinic, that means appealing
to the next level of authority.”

Eve made a face. “It sounds like a
lot of fuss over something quite simple. So I know you’re a
werewolf. Is it really that big of a deal?”

“At one time Lycans were hunted
almost to the verge of extinction. Keeping our existence a secret
is the only thing that has allowed us to continue to live
undisturbed.” His voice had lost any trace of teasing; his
expression was serious. “We guard our privacy fiercely and the
penalty for revealing our existence is death.”

“Death?” Eve swallowed and pulled
away slightly. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea, me knowing about
you. I mean, what if your superiors don’t think I’m
trustworthy?”

He gave her a reassuring hug. “It
won’t be an issue. If I thought there was even a chance your
character would be doubted, I’d never have admitted a thing.”

“But how can you be so sure?”

“Because I know you. And because
you’re part Fae. While some might protest otherwise, the Fae are
part of the ‘other’ realm we all belong to. You don’t go around
telling people about your empathic abilities, do you?”

“No! They’d likely think I was
crazy.”

“That shows you know how to keep a
secret. High Council won’t have a problem with you.”

“You’d better be right.” Almost,
Eve wished she’d never asked Rafe about being a werewolf. High
Council sounded pretty official, and she’d never done well those
types of individuals, tending to get tongue-tied and blurting out
the first thing that popped into her head.

She decided to focus on something
else for the time being.

“What’s it like to shift? Can I see
you do it?”

“Right now?”

“Sure.” She looked about. They were
in the kitchen just outside the archway to the den. “Why not?”

He stepped away from and before she
was even prepared there was brief shimmering of the air, not quite
a flash of light but something, almost a spark, and then a wolf
stood before her. Surprise had her stepping back and bumping into
the island counter. “Oh. My. Gosh.”

The wolf cocked its head, its
tongue lolling in and out of its mouth.

“Um…Rafe?” She took a small step
forward and then bent over to peer directly in the animal’s eyes.
“Are you in there? Can you understand me?”

A thump of its tail on the floor
could be taken as a confirmation.

“Wow.’ She straightened still
amazed by what she’d seen. “How do you do that?”

Another shimmer of the air and Rafe
stood before her again. “It’s not hard. We just manipulate the
energy around us.”

“Manipulate the energy?”

He nodded. “All matter is made of
energy, right? We simply harness it, shifting the energy that our
body is made of into another form.”

“But what about your clothes? I
thought you needed to strip or something.”

He waggled his eyebrows at her.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Rafe!”

“All right. No, we don’t need to
strip. Clothing is matter. Anything we’re wearing or holding gets
caught up in the energy shift.”

“And when you return to human?”

“The energy we used simply reverts
back to its original state.”

“Oh.” She wasn’t a science major by
any means, but it sort of made sense. “Does it hurt?”

“Not really. When you shift you
gather your personal energy inside you, sort of squeezing or
compressing it as you concentrate on the form you want to attain
and then you let go. It expands, spreading out, filling you until
it sort of explodes. It’s actually rather pleasurable.” He ended
with a smile.

“And when you’re a wolf, you
understand everything I say to you.”

“Everything. The wolf is there, but
I’m in control.” He wrapped his arms around her waist. “How did you
feel about me being a wolf? Did it bring back bad memories of your
attack?”

Eve considered his question. With
his arms wrapped around her and the warmth of his body seeping into
hers, it didn’t feel like a problem at all. “No. I had a sense that
you were there, that you’d never hurt me.” She looked up at him and
smiled.

He leaned down and kissed her
softly on the lips. “I’m glad. That’s one of the reasons I stayed
away. You were so upset that last night that a relationship with
you seemed doomed.”

“Of course I was upset.” Eve
scolded. “It wasn’t even twenty-four hours after the fact. Geez,
you’d think with your job you could figure that out.” She smacked
him lightly on the chest.

Catching her hand, he pressed it to
his chest. “That doesn’t mean I always get things right. I make
mistakes, just like everyone else.” His voice took on a serious
tone. “And after your experience with Grant, I wasn’t about to
suggest an emotional exchange so I could understand how you were
feeling.”