Page 11 of Unbreakable Bond
Chapter 6
Zoey was trappedunder two hundred plus pounds of pure, unadulterated werewolf. She should have been screaming her head off. She should have been struggling to get away from him. She should have been fighting it but she’d already figured out that fighting wasimpossible.
Her senses had betrayed her and her body wasn’t farbehind.
She reveled in the smell of him. Man and musk, pine and dirt. She ached at the feel of him. Hard muscles and coiled strength. And she wanted more of it, wanted all of it, now. Some voice deep inside of her was whispering that he was hers and she could, and should, do whatever she damn well pleased to him, conscious ornot.
She whimpered when the still slightly rational part of her brain forced her to squirm, trying to free herself, but in effect all it did was rub her body against his and make pinwheels of desire swirl in her blood. She should have been trying to get away. Instead, it was all she could do not to wrap her legs around his waist and rock herself against him. She gave in to the urge to wrap her arms around him, to hold him close to her, cradle him and try to offer some semblance of comfort, even as her head screamed at her that this was wrong, allwrong.
These weren’t her feelings. They couldn’t be. This was the heat. It was the mating bond taking over and wresting control fromher.
This was Rafe. Michael’sbrother. A man she hadn’t seen in years. A wolf that, last she’d heard, was still completely unbalanced from the horrors he’d faced when he watched most of his family murdered in front ofhim.
Had she cared about him before, when she was just a girl? Maybe. Probably. But in all honesty, she didn’t remember. He hadn’t been a part of her life, not really. She had vague memories of Gabe teasing her good-naturedly about her crush on his little brother. Remembered Rafe teasing Michael not so good-naturedly aboutit.
Had he known back then? Impossible. She’d been too young. But was it possible that he’d felt… something? Just as Michael had felt something for her all of these years that he hadn’t been able to explain, something that told him to protect her like she was family, because one day, she wouldbe?
Michael.
Her senses came jolting back to her. Not even the magical heat that drew her to Rafe could mask the conflicting emotions she was feeling when it came to her best friend now. Confusion, frustration and more than a little bit of anger. They weren’t new emotions where he was concerned but they were all amplified now to a level she couldn’t possibly ignore or swallow down like she’d been doing foryears.
“Michael!”
“I’m coming Zo! I’m coming!” He staggered into her view, rubbing a jaw that was already turning an array of colors as his impressive genetics fought to heal him, “Are youokay?”
“Never beenbetter.”
“Yeah, I know. Stupid question.” He winced and shot a look over his shoulder, “Wiley, help me get him offher.”
She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from hissing at him when he grabbed Rafe by the shoulder and started to haul him up. She couldn’t force her hands to let go of him until Michael frowned, looked between them and uttered a growl of his own. She swallowed a whine and let her friend and the Sheriff roll her unconscious mate off ofher.
Her mate. She was Rafe’s mate. He washers.
She could feel the truth in the statement. She’d felt it even before she’d known what was going on. That urge to go to him, to be with him, the immediate and intense attraction she’d felt, they’d all been signs. She’d heard the mated females in the pack talk about the bond, about the heat, she just hadn’t expected it to be so instantaneous or socomplete.
She hadn’t expectedRafe.
If it had been Michael, she would have known how to handle it. She would have known what to do. She would have leaped into his arms and never looked back. Her head and her heart and the heat would all have been in perfect, blissful harmony and everything would have been right in the world. She wouldn’t have second-guessed herself for even aminute.
But it wasn’t Michael. It had never been Michael. It was never going to beMichael.
Hadn’t she been trying to get that through her thick skull earliertonight?
She’d come outside to get some fresh air, to get some space from him, but he’d followed her. He’d touched her and talked to her and she’d started to think that he was coming around to the idea of them being together, even though she knew better. Even though she knew that she wasn’t his mate. Even though she knew that he knewthat.
Looking back on it, the moment felt as if it had happened a lifetime ago. It was a faded, foggy memory already. Indistinct. Important only because it had been the last one she’d had with Michael before her entire world shifted, until it realigned, and he was no longer the center ofit.
Rafewas.
The others rolled him to his side and she sucked in a breath of air now that she wasn’t being smothered. She missed him. Instantly. Missed his weight and the heat of his body, and she reached for him before she’d made a conscious decision tomove.
She rolled up to sitting, ignored the hand Michael offered her, and felt for a pulse in Rafe’s neck. It was there. Slow. Far too slow for a shifter. His chest was rising and falling softly but he didn’t so much as twitch when she swiped his hair off his forehead and trailed her hand across his cheek. The jolt of electricity that flowed through her when they touched skin-to-skin was powerful but he didn’t react atall.
She frowned, “Something’s wrong withhim.”
“There’s a lot of things wrong withhim.”
She hissed in a breath at Michael’s grumble and spun to face him. He was standing at her feet, close enough to touch, and for the first time in as long as she could remember, she didn’t feel the urge to reach out for him. Considering the anger she felt rising inside of her, that didn’t surprise her. What surprised her was the urge to lash out at him, to put herself between him and his brother, and not to protect Michael but to protectRafe.
