Page 42 of A Deeper Blue
“I told myself I could leave her. I told myself that she wasn’t the one.”
Rafe stared at him, confusion still reigning. Why would anyone be in denial about finding their mate?
“I thought she was human. I knew what would happen if I brought a human home. I knew it was her or the pack, and I wasn’t prepared to make that decision.”
Rafe grunted. Hedidunderstand that.
“But Scarlet is magic, so now I don’t have to,” said Liam, with the smug complacency of a man who had everything.
“Azure…” Rafe hesitated, uncertain he wanted to say it out loud. “She’s the one for me. I believe she is my destiny. But I’m not sure she will feel that way for me after so short of a time together.”
Liam nodded. “They aren’t wolves. They don’t have the same… imperative that we do. Scarlet could decide to leave me. And believe me, sometimes that thought wakes me up at night.”
Rafe nodded.
“But the way I figure it, we’re going to live a long time, and I’ll have plenty of time to remind her why I’m better than everyone else.”
Rafe chuckled. “I like your confidence. Also,” he looked around to make sure no one else was listening, “you can howl for her.”
Liam’s eyes widened. “Does that work on them?” he whispered.
Rafe grinned. “Try it and find out.”
“Well, now I’m going to,” said Liam. “Although,” his voice came up to a normal level, “I don’t think that a girl who is willing to break her witch oaths for you is likely to leave you anytime soon.”
“I feel like I should humbly protest that,” said Rafe, “but I see your point.” He scratched his chin through his beard, fluffing out the brown mess. It probably needed a trim. He grunted in annoyance. “I need to talk to Azure. Some of this… I just don’t understand enough about her magic. I might be worrying about nothing.”
“Yeah,” agreed Liam nodding and coming back to the table. “Besides, right now, you should be worrying about the fact that your dad is headed this way.”
Episode 20
Albert DeSandre
Rafe
Liam was still scooping food off his plate and shoveling it into his mouth as he walked to the sink, and by the time Albert joined them, Liam was sliding out the kitchen door into the hall. Not that Albert didn’t notice, but there was nothing to be said about a smart wolf getting the hell out while the getting was good.
Rafe stared at his father, and his father stared back. He ought to stand up, but that felt like it would make this a showdown, and he didn’t want that. Albert DeSandre was still tall and broad-shouldered but with more gray in his hair than Rafe remembered. He wondered how different he looked to Albert.
Albert looked as if he might speak but then grunted and detoured to the coffee pot. He opened the cupboard with the mugs, then he turned back to Rafe, his eyes narrowing at Rafe’s mug choice. Rafe lifted the cup, took a sip, and made a loudmmmnoise. Albert rolled his eyes and selected a white mug that said World’s Best Grandpa. He added cream and about eighty scoops of sugar and brought it to the table, taking Liam’s recently vacated seat. He twirled a spoon around in his coffee with a little clink, clink noise and eyed his son. Rafe endured. As a younger wolf, he would have said something defensive, but now he waited. Protocol dictated that between a pack leader and a lone wolf, the pack leader spoke first. Rafe had never paid any attention to the rules in the past, and he thought his current observation of them was worrying Albert.
“You look scruffy,” said Albert, giving Rafe a squinty-eyed once over.
“I was born scruffy,” said Rafe. “Also, I nearly died, so fuck off.”
“You like that kind of thing, though,” said Albert with a shrug, relaxing now that Rafe was swearing at him.
“I like nearly dying? What kind of bullshit is that?”
“The truth? You have always been a wild one. Do you know how many sleepless nights you gave your mother?”
“I notice you slept just fine, though,” snapped Rafe.
Albert made a grumpy growl and scrubbed his hand vigorously through his hair. Rafe waited for what would come next. He had pictured confronting his father many times, but he found now that he was actually in the situation that he was more interested in what Albert had to say than he ever had been in any of his fantasies. Albert cleared his throat, apparently deciding to try again.
“You and your witch took out a lot of Warlocks. Nice job.”
“My witch?” asked Rafe. “My human witch, you mean?”
