Chapter 58

Raphael trudged through the cold, dark, night. His silver wolf was worn out from the run, his tongue was lolling out and his tail hung low. He was beat.

His heart was still heavy from Brooke's reaction to the kiss. 'No! Don't think if the kiss.' He ordered himself. If he thought of it then he would begin to feel conflicted again.

He sat and rested for a few seconds then he began walking again. He pushed through his front door which had been left open, so the tiled floor of the entryway was ice cold. He mind linked Thomas, he could smell that he was still here.

Thomas walked out, "Welcome back!" He said with a wide grin. Raphael looked at him unimpressed. -Get my clothes.-

"Right, right." Thomas said as he walked away.

He returned with a pile of wrinkled clothes that were still warm. "She came down?" He asked once he had shifted.

Thomas, who wasn't bothered by nudity in the least, answered, "Yes, but I don't think she knew I was here. She walked down to the laundry room, singing loudly, and then came back up. I followed her in wolf form, and cloaked, so she didn't see me." He relayed. Thomas was a stealth Lycan, so he could dilute and almost completely erase his image, and block his mind link, or channel, as Brooke called it.

"Huh." Raph said as he looked up the staircase, then he remembered something, "And what are you doing here?" He asked, again.

"Oh, uh well I was given a clean bill of health by Gloria two days ago, I've been recovering in my house and I decided to come over today, but when I did, you weren't home, so the Shapeshifter that you adopted opened the door." Thomas finished with a proud grin as if he'd accomplished something.

Raphael rolled his eyes at his friends bizarreness, "Okay, we will talk more tomorrow, I'm going to bed." He said tiredly.

"Wait, but I've got beer, it's in the kitchen," He pointed in the direction of the kitchen, "Come on man, loosen up."

It had been awhile since Raph had had a drink, and he was really wound tight with all of this stress with Brooke.

He turned and headed to the kitchen, "Oh, great!" Thomas said enthusiastically as he put his arm around Raph's shoulder, which made it hard for them to fit through the door, "Now let me tell you….

~~~~~~~~~

Raphael was holding his twenty or twenty-fifth, he didn't know he'd lost count, bottle in his hands.

Thomas was yapping away about some girl he'd met on a stealth mission, and how crazy she'd been.

Raphael had been thinking about his kiss, the one he'd shared with Brooke, his mate. But, no. Wait, she wasn't his mate yet, he hadn't marked her, or even mated with her.

He stood up quickly and knocked his stool over, "Woah! Buddy, you okay there? You've had a lot," Tom laughed, "To drink at least."

Raph braced his body against the counter, the world didn't seem right, it seemed skewed and bright. He could tell that Tom had joked about something but his slowed mind couldn't understand what it was.

"I'm," His speech came out in a slurred mess, "I'm gonna mate- I'm gonna mark 'er."

"Okay, pal. Good luck with that." Thomas said as he drank the rest of his bottle.

Raphael walked to the stairs and fell on top of them, he pulled himself up but his body felt heavier than usual. He got to his room and opened the door. He could smell wisps of his mate's scent, he followed them to the bed.

He smiled carnally and began taking off his shirt and pants. Left with only his boxers he crawled over his sleeping mate's form.

"Mine." He growled out.

She stirred and opened her eyes, they widened in fear and she screamed.

~~~~~~~~

I felt like there was something hovering over me, something large that blocked out the dim light of the room. I opened my eyes, afraid it would be an Elf, but was quickly proved wrong.

I screamed.

Raphael was hovering over me with a terrifying look in his golden eyes, he was smiling and his teeth were pointed.

I could only assume what he was doing.

And no! I wasn't ready yet, I wasn't! He moved quickly and crashed his lips against mine sloppily, I was assaulted with the smell and flavour of beer.

'He was drunk!' I realized.

He wasn't stopping, he began cupping my breasts, my body betrayed my fear and I moaned at the pleasure that arose from his touch.

He went to grab my pants and my eyes flew open, 'No!'

I kneed him hard in his groin which I could see had a bulge growing. As much as I hated to hurt him, he was hurting me. He cried out in pain and rolled off the bed.

I cringed then bolted across the room, towards the door and flung it open. I tore down the stairs and in through to the dining room, I made it to the basement door when I saw a man walking towards me. I pushed him aside, and he asked what was happening, I couldn't answer.

I got to the base of the stairs and started to search frantically for a place to hide. My breath was coming out in shrill pants, the way it did when I was scared.

And I was, I was terrified and confused.

I heard footsteps and ducked into the linens closet next to me. There was just enough room for me to crawl behind a stack of sheets and pull my legs to my heaving chest.

I swallowed and tried to slow my breathing. My heart felt like it was trying to break out of my ribs.

Then I realized that he could smell me. Lycans had heightened senses, Raphael could just track me down here.

I could only hope that he would realize that I was scared and hiding, and he wouldn't hurt me.

I stared tensely at the floor under the closet door, expecting a shadow to appear on the other side any moment now.

My eyelids began getting droopy, and I sat up as straight as I could in the cramped space.

I was drifting off to sleep when I heard footsteps.

I froze.