Fighting the Inevitable (27 page)

Long moments passed and
she began to bite her lip. She didn’t want to press him too hard
but she couldn’t just stand on the driveway all night. The sound of
the front door opening behind her drew her eyes and she took a deep
breath as Caleb stepped out of the house.

Caleb’s quick gaze took
in Rhianna’s tearstained face and her anxious expression as she
looked at him and then back at the huge man sitting half-naked in
her car. He tensed and felt his anger start to boil up. Had the man
hurt his Annie? He took one threatening step forward and then
stopped as suddenly as he had moved.

He recognised the man
from the night before. He watched Rafe Armand intently as he sat
staring straight ahead. Annie’s brother was truly wounded to his
core. It was plain for all to see. Caleb stepped forward again,
keeping his tread light. He opened the passenger side door and
looked down at the man.

“
Welcome to
my home, Rafe,” he said quietly. “You are welcome to stay for as
long as you need.”

Rafe turned his head and
looked at the vampire who had captured his sister’s heart. He
didn’t look half as intimidating as he had the night before. He
sensed no intent on the vampire’s part to harm him in anyway.
Perhaps Rhianna was right about the vampire. He unbuckled his
seatbelt and climbed out of the car as the vampire stood
back.

Caleb closed the door
then turned to look at Rhianna. Her expression showed relief and
gratitude. Did she doubt he would welcome her brother into his
home? Was she going to be angry with him? He knew she must know
everything. Obviously something had transpired on her way over to
his place.

“
I’ll tell
you about it later,” she said quietly walking over to him. He took
her overnight bag and slipped an arm around her shoulder. At least
she was talking to him. “Coming, Rafe?” Rhianna held out her other
hand to her brother. He moved to take it and they walked into the
house together.

Caleb set her bag down in
the hallway and turned to her with a questioning look but she shook
her head quickly at him but managed a smile, which did reach her
beautiful eyes. No trace of anger yet. Perhaps it was a good
sign.

“
Are you
hungry, Rafe?” She turned to her brother but he shook his head in
the negative.

“
I’d really
just like to lie down.” It was the same listless tone he’d spoken
in the entire drive over.

Rhianna sighed and
frowned at him. “Well that’s just tough. Is that how you escaped
your pack? Did you pretend to be tired and then sneak off the
moment their backs were turned? Well you’re not doing that to me,
Rafe. I’ve only just found you again and I am not going to lose
you. Now get a grip of yourself and act your age!”

Caleb didn’t know who was
the more surprised, himself or Rafe. The big man’s head snapped up
and a small smile began to tug at his lips as he regarded his
sister intently. “Is it running with a vampire that has turned you
into a little harpy?” There was spark of life in his voice for the
first time in a long time.

“
No, it’s
having an ass of a brother who also happens to be a part-time
wolf,” she retorted waspishly. “Really, Rafe. I don’t know what to
do with you. I don’t recognise this person in front of me. My
brother is inside there somewhere and I want him back. So have a
chat with Wolfie and work out how you’re both going to accomplish
that.”

He blinked at her in
surprise and then laughed. It was a harsh sound, his brown eyes
narrowing. “You think it’s that simple, Rhianna? Just snap my
fingers, say hi to
Wolfie
, and everything is going to be
okay?” He felt his anger rise and he struggled to dampen it down,
aware of the dangerous man at his sister’s side.

“
It’s as
simple or as hard as you want to make it, Rafe.” Her tone was less
abrasive. “My big brother used to tell me that and he was a very
wise man. Maybe you should talk to him about it.”

She turned to Caleb,
slipped her arms around his waist and leaned her head against his
chest. “I could really use one of your excellent
mochas.”

He followed her lead and
ignored the burnt out man at their side. He smiled slowly and
picked her up so he could give her a long, thorough kiss. “As my
lady commands,” he answered before he set her feet back down on the
floor and escorted her into the kitchen, leaving Rafe alone in the
ornate hallway.

He gathered her into his
arms the moment they were alone and sat her on one of the kitchen
counters, easing between her thighs so he could bring his face
close to hers. “You’re making him angry,” he said quietly, his
golden brown eyes searching hers.

“
I know.” She
kept her voice just as quiet. “It’s the only time he has a spark of
life in him, Caleb. He needs to remember what it feels like to have
some fight in him. I’m going to push him hard, love, and I need you
to not interfere, no matter how angry he gets with me. I know I’m
asking a lot of you but you have to trust me. Rafe will never hurt
me no matter how angry he gets.”

Caleb frowned darkly at
her, his expression turning mutinous. “He’s not only Rafe now,
Annie. He’s a wolf too and he is unstable at the moment. He could
accidentally hurt you. You can’t expect me to stand idly by and do
nothing to protect you.”

“
Wolfie will
never hurt me either, Caleb,” she sighed softly. “I keep telling
you that but you don’t seem to believe me. I’m asking you to have
some trust in me, Caleb. I need you to trust me to know what is
best for my brother.”

He didn’t want to argue
with her and he could tell from her set expression she would dig
her heels in if he pushed her and her first night in his bed would
be a distinctly chilly event. He smoothed his frown away but his
unhappiness was still etched across his face. “I’ll try, Annie,” he
conceded. “It’s the best I can give you. You’re just too precious
to me, my love. I don’t want to lose you when I’ve only just found
you.”

She smiled and cupped his
face. “It’s a start, Caleb. Just count to ten very slowly if you
feel your anger taking hold. Rafe told me what happened last night
with the Weres. Whilst I appreciate your need to protect me and
your sense of outrage at the perceived injustice done to me, I
really will be very unhappy if you start a war in my
name.”

Caleb actually blushed
and looked down, his teeth worrying his bottom lip. “I’m sorry
about that, Annie.” He almost sounded humble. “I wanted to tell you
about Rafe, I truly did, but Jared needed to be sure you could
handle finding out about me first. It was his intention to put the
question of whether or not to tell you the truth to his pack once
I’d had the chance to meet with him again after I had revealed
myself to you. I didn’t quite expect it to happen so soon. I was
going to meet with Jared tomorrow. Something serious must have
happened to have brought about all this.” He raised his eyes and
searched her face intently for some clue as to what had happened on
her way over to his place.

“
I tried to
commit suicide by throwing myself in front of a passing car,” Rafe
said from the doorway and they both turned around and looked at
him. He rolled his eyes and snorted. “I am a wolf now. You could at
least try and remember I have enhanced hearing abilities. It will
make it less embarrassing for both of you when I overhear you
talking about me.”

“
Rafe,”
Rhianna sighed, trying to hop down from the counter but Caleb kept
her pinned with his body.

He growled low in his
throat and his hands tightened on her hips painfully. “If you tell
me you selfishly threw yourself in front of Annie’s car, I am going
to beat the living daylights out of you, dog!” he hissed
furiously.

“
Caleb!”
Rhianna gasped, stunned by the onset of his sudden rage. “Count to
ten very slowly. Now!”

He ignored her and
continued to glare at Rafe, another long hiss coming from his
throat, as the other man did not deny his actions.

“
Caleb!” She
tried to get his attention again but he was totally focused on her
brother. She could feel the rage in the tenseness of his body and
she was afraid he would give in to it and attack Rafe.

He seemed to pay her no
heed so she changed tactics as her fear began to build quickly. She
moaned low in her throat and let her body go completely limp. As
she started to fall back against the counter, Caleb’s head spun
around as his arms wrapped around her and he pressed her against
his body, Rafe completely forgotten.

“
Annie,” he
groaned, his hand cupping her cheek.

She opened her eyes and
caught his gaze with hers. She watched slow realisation dawn in his
eyes and then anger flare for a brief moment before his expression
slowly cleared and he gave her a rueful smile.

“
I suppose I
deserved that,” he admitted, brushing her lips gently with his.
“Are you going to do that every time I lose my temper? I really
hope not because you just made my heart stop there, sweet one, and
I really didn’t like it one bit.”

“
Counting to
ten slowly is the preferred option, but I will use any and all
tactics I have to. You have to learn better self-control than that,
Caleb. I can’t let you hurt Rafe.”

“
You should
have let him pound me,” Rafe said darkly, his expression angry. The
vampire was right to be angry with him. He had almost killed his
sister tonight and there was no excuse for his actions. “You think
you feel angry, vampire? You should have heard Annie run her mouth
off at me. I’ve never heard the words fuck and fucking used so many
times in a mere handful of sentences before.” He sounded oddly
impressed, as Rhianna felt her cheeks flush scarlet at the
memory.

Caleb regarded him with
narrowed eyes, and then looked at Rhianna. “I wish I’d been there
to hear it.” He rubbed his thumb across her bottom lip
thoughtfully. “Maybe you could repeat it for me later on?” He
suddenly found himself wanting to hear her utter profanities,
preferably, when he was sliding his body deep inside hers. It had
been so deliciously erotic when she’d done so earlier.

She flushed scarlet
again, knowing what he was thinking of and pushed at his chest. “If
you two have finished, perhaps you could get around to making that
mocha?” she asked archly.

Caleb slid her from the
counter top and turned to Rafe. “Would you like a coffee?” He kept
his tone as polite as he could manage. “I can make just about
anything you fancy.” He was trying his best to connect with
Rhianna’s brother. He knew it would make her happy and despite
wanting to rip the other man’s head off for recklessly endangering
his love, he felt almost responsible for the desperation he must
have felt to try to end his life like that.

“
I’ll have a
cappuccino,” Rafe answered slowly as he watched Annie move over to
the table and pull out a chair. He followed her and sat down across
from her. “I promise I won’t try anything like that again.” He
paused and looked down at the table. “I know I’m a bit of a mess
right now but, at the time, I thought you would never know I was
still alive. There was nothing keeping me to this life. There is
now.” He looked up and met her gaze.

Rhianna stared at him
solemnly before nodding. “Just don’t give up. You can’t ever give
up, Rafe. I know it’s not easy for you dealing with this duality
inside of you. Your problem is you see your human side as being
separate from your wolf side. When you come to me, you either come
as Wolfie or as Rafe. You are not two separate individuals in the
same body, you are one. When you can make that connection, find
that inner balance, the pain and misery will all go
away.”

“
How do I do
that, Annie?” he whispered, his handsome face twisting into a mask
of misery. “I’ve tried but I just don’t know how to do
it.”

Rhianna reached across
the table and took his hand in both of hers. “Wolfie needs the
wisdom of Rafe and Rafe needs the strength of Wolfie,” she told
him, her tone firm. “When Wolfie is having a hard time, he needs to
reach within himself and ask Rafe to help him and vice versa. You
have to learn to trust both aspects of your nature. Stop viewing
Wolfie as a monster. I know Wolfie well and he most certainly isn’t
one. He may be an animal and have some baser type needs, but he is
still a lovable creature.”

“
When did you
get so wise, Annie,” Rafe asked, a hint of awe in his
voice.

“
Ironically,
I think it started to happen when I lost you,” she answered with a
wry smile. “I suddenly had to start making difficult decisions
without having you there to back me up. I didn’t think I could do
it on my own, but every time I fell down I would remember something
you had said to me and I used that to help me through the rough
patch. I’ve never lost faith in you, Rafe, even when you were gone.
Have faith in yourself. You can find your inner peace and I’ll be
here to help you when you fall.”

Caleb set the coffees on
the table and sat down beside Rhianna. He had listened into their
conversation and his love and respect for his woman grew in leaps
and bounds.

“
I will be
there to help too, Rafe,” he offered. “I can help you when you need
to confront your wolf side. I would prefer if Annie was not present
during those moments. Just as a precaution.”