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Jess slept in a shirt and pair of sweats pilfered from Rafe’s closet. She washed out her underwear in the sink and left them drying overnight. It wasn’t ideal, but she was low on options.
Sometime early Rafe came in with a carafe of coffee, two mugs, and two muffins. He set it all up on the table by the couch before throwing the curtains open and bathing the room in bright sunlight.
“Good morning, Jessica.”
“It’s a bit early for that, isn’t it?” She sat up, the sinfully soft comforter bunching at her waist. Her hair was a mess and she could almost feel the makeup caked under her eyes. At least her frightful looks would cure the alpha of whatever strange attraction had burst between them. That was a good thing.
Right?
“I’m a busy man, the morning starts when I say it does.” He poured out coffee and sat down, taking a bite of his muffin. “Now, come and eat.”
She got off the bed but didn’t move towards him. “Did you at least give me a toothbrush?”
He smiled, “There’s a whole kit in the bathroom. You should be all set.”
He was the most accommodating captor she could imagine. “I’m taking a shower.” She didn’t wait for his permission.
But after twenty minutes in the bathroom she’d run out of excuses. He’d even provided a hair dryer. She put back on his sweats and shirt, this time including her underwear, and squared her shoulders.
The Wolf still sat on the couch, now reading a newspaper, relaxed as could be. When he saw her, he smiled. It was the strangest thing. She’d seen genuine smiles from interested men before and she could have sworn their expressions were alarmingly similar to the Wolf’s.
But he couldn’t really be interested in her. That kiss was a fluke, a ploy.
For her own sanity, she had to keep repeating that.
“Eat up,” he said. “We’re going for a walk.”
“To the dungeon?” She couldn’t think well enough to hold her tongue when he spoke with her and that was going to get her in trouble. More trouble.
“Do you want to go to the dungeon?” He folded the paper up and set it on the table in front of him.
“Not particularly.” She had no need to see what he could do to her, she could imagine it well enough herself.
“Then we’ll stay away.”
They didn’t leave immediately. She had breakfast to eat, after all. He opened back up his newspaper and read while she took small bites of the lemon poppy seed muffin. She was more grateful for the newspaper than for the food.
She didn’t normally have an issue eating in front of others. Occasionally she was self-conscious, especially when her food wasn’t exactly healthy, but it wasn’t one of her major hang-ups. That didn’t mean she wanted an incredibly attractive man staring at her while she tried to keep crumbs off her clothes. Anyone would be unnerved.
Once she was done, he stood, setting the paper back down and offering her a hand up from her chair. Jess took it, his hand was warm and hers fit perfectly into it, but he dropped it once they were in the hallway.
The Wolf gave Jess an insider’s tour of his castle, from the kitchens to the battlements. There were four main floors of the keep, though most of the day to day activity happened on the first two. The top floors were mainly residential, with the Wolf’s inner circle and their families all residing there. Rafe had the east wing of the fourth floor all to himself. It was meant for the alpha’s entire family, but as he had none, he kept the suite to himself.
They walked into a huge library, the walls were lined with books from floor to ceiling and other smaller shelves were spaced evenly. There were thousands of books and yet no one was in the library to enjoy them.
“The entire pack is welcome to use the library,” he said.
“It’s all very nice.” She could have spent all day, hell, an entire week in this room alone. But the Wolf kept moving, leading her out the side door of the library and outside. The courtyard was a floor below them, down the stone steps. A team of wolves sparred in one corner and others walked to and fro throughout the rest.
“Thank you,” he said. “I’ve tried to make this place my home.” He stood so close their hands brushed, but he didn’t take hold. It didn’t disappoint her, even if she had to repeat that thought twice to herself. It didn’t. He couldn’t show favor like that to a prisoner, especially not to a werewolf who wasn’t in his pack.
She wondered if he’d told anyone about that. He must have. But she didn’t ask.
“Come on, there’s something I want to show you.” He walked her down the stairs and away from the keep. They crossed the courtyard and made it halfway to one of the turrets. She expected him to take her there, but he surprised her by stopping by a discrete wooden door.
He opened it up and led her inside. It was dim, only one incandescent light hanging from an incredibly high ceiling. It had to go all the way up the outer wall. He led her up a flight of old wooden stairs and through one more door. The Wolf closed the door behind them and flipped the light switch.
Compared to the rest of the castle, it wasn’t impressive. The room was small, she could nearly touch two opposite walls at the same time. But it was clearly a personal space. Even more personal than his bedroom.
There was a tattered old couch and a small coffee table stacked with books. Opposite the couch was a small TV hooked up to an old video game system. There was even a mini-fridge.
“As you’ve seen, my room is not exactly my refuge. This is where I come to be alone. No one bothers me when I’m up here. At least not unless everything is on fire.” He sat on the couch and patted the seat beside him.
This was personal. And it scared Jess more than the kidnapping. Why would he bring her here?
“I used to have a place like this too,” she admitted. It seemed only fair. “When I was a little kid, I mean.”
“Oh?” They didn’t quite touch, but she could feel him in the air next to her. She wanted to sit closer, but she held herself still.
“It was in the woods,” she explained. “There was this little clearing with an old tree fort. I used to go there to get away from my mom and Rebecca.”
“Did you need to get away from them often?” He reached an arm out and laid it on the back of the sofa.
She laughed, “As the disappointing youngest daughter? Yeah, kind of.”
Now his hand landed on her shoulder, urging her closer. Jess didn’t fight the pull. “Disappointing? How? I don’t see it.”
She rolled her eyes. “Right, come on. Fat, high school dropout, underemployed...kidnapping victim? What about that screams daughter of the year?”
He took her other hand in his, tracing his thumb against her palm. “That’s not what I see.” He raised her palm to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on it.
“Sure.”
He flipped her hand over and started tracing around her knuckles. “It’s true.” He looked up, meeting her eyes, “I see a beautiful, smart, brave woman. And I wish would think of yourself as my guest.”
She grinned, he had to be joking about that last part. “Guests can leave.”
“So can you, if...”
She interrupted him. “Don’t ruin the moment, Wolf.”
He laced their hands together. “Call me Rafe. I’m the Wolf, the alpha, to everyone else. I want there to be just one person to whom I’m me. Only me.”
Jess knew it would be unwise, but she couldn’t stop herself. She swallowed hard, “Okay...Rafe.”
He grinned and it wasn’t the expression of an alpha, for the moment he was simply a satisfied man. “Was that so hard?”
“I’m still wrapping my head around it,” but she grinned back.
Rafe leaned in and she knew he was going to kiss her. He hadn’t made a move, other than the hand holding, since their kiss the day before and her lips itched for his. But his phone beeped at the last minute and he pulled back.
“Damn it,” he checked the screen. “Duty calls.”
“So it’s back to my cell?” It sounded more petulant than intended and she felt like she’d just been dumped with ice water. What was she doing, letting Rafe Blackwood kiss her?
Rafe tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re free to walk around the grounds and the castle so long as it’s not a restricted area. You’ll know it’s restricted by the scary werewolves that look ready to tear your throat out. Don’t take it personally, they’re all like that.”
That was an unexpected development. “You’re not afraid I’ll run?”
His hand stilled, resting on her shoulder, “Will you?”
“In a hot minute,” she smiled though she was utterly serious.
He returned the expression. “And you wonder why I like you.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that. And she was scared that if she examined herself too closely she’d find that she liked him too. Which could not happen. She needed to get free of him, not spin daydreams about living in an amazing castle with a scarily powerful man.
He spoke again, “The New Moon party is in two days. I’d like you to come.”
“I don’t have anything to wear.” Jess wanted to smack herself. Who was she, Cinderella? Of all the reasons to object, that was not what she should have used.
Rafe kissed her forehead quickly. “I’ll take care of it. But now I have to go.” He left with her still sputtering on the couch.
