Alpha Wolf: Black Mesa Wolves #2 (Werewolf Shifter Paranormal Romance) by J.K. Harper Page A

was.
    “Sara,” he began.
    “Rafe,” she immediately snapped back. Her fingers beat out a
staccato rhythm against her sides under the short, sassy little blue dress she
wore. He couldn't help notice the beautiful swell her hips made. All he wanted
to do was grab them and pull her close to him. Preferably on top of him, where
the dress would ride up to those sweet hips and expose every gorgeous inch of
her.
    Instead, he ran a hand through his hair to rub his temples.
Just behind the beautiful she wolf glaring at him for all she was worth, Black
Mesa rose. Like Sara, the mesa seemed to accuse him of abandoning it.
    His wolf let out the wolfish equivalent of a disgusted sigh
and poked a claw into his mind.
    “Sara, I couldn't tell you. No one else is supposed to know
yet.”
    “I'm not no one, Rafe.” He eyes and her voice both snapped.
“We're patrol mates, and—”
    From the sharp way she cut herself off, he sensed something
running deeper and more furiously hot beneath her words.
    He tried reasoning calmly yet directly, which usually worked
for him. “You don't seem to want to be someone for me.” Inside, he flinched at
the words. The knowledge still stung. “I wasn't supposed to tell anyone until
Alpha was ready to make the announcement.” He gave her a searching look. “How
did you find out?”
    She flapped one hand dismissively. “That doesn't matter.
What does matter is all the confusion I'm getting from you.”
    He couldn't help a short laugh. “From me? I've been clear.
What I don't understand is your temper right now.”
    Wrong thing to say. That lit a fuse under her.
    “Temper? My temper? Rafe, this is not about me being angry
that you didn't tell me you're leaving! You're leaving!”
    Repetition seemed to shock her into the truth of his
impending departure. Abruptly quiet, her posture shifted from crackling anger
to nonthreatening, nervous unease. The blonde locks Rafe again wanted to tangle
his hands into curled and waved over her shoulders and delicate neck. A few
strands blew over her eyes in the light breeze. She didn't swipe them away. Her
instant relaxation from aggression to more submission lowered his own defenses
as well.
    After another long moment, he carefully tried again.
    “I seem to keep screwing up with you, Sara. But I don't know
how to handle this.” He paused to uncharacteristically search for words. “You
said you weren't ready. You showed me you were weren't ready. So I backed
off—again—to let you do what you needed to do.”
    A faint nod. She kept looking right at him, which just
slightly unnerved him and his wolf. He wasn't used to her being so direct.
    “Alpha wants me to start up a new pack because it needs to
happen,” he said, keeping it simple. “He's our Alpha. I'll always obey his
commands, no matter what.”
    She nodded again, a tiny tremble bobbing in her chin. It
still didn't seem like tears, however. Bothered that he couldn't place her
emotion, he continued.
    “I need a mate, Sara.” The sentence hung stark between them.
“I can't run a new pack without one. And I have to start this pack soon. The
timing is critical.”
    “Did you know when we first got together?”
    “You mean last year? No. Alpha told me a few months ago.”
    Her face dropped even more.
    “When we were first put on patrol together.” The usual lilt
had left her voice.
    Rafe blew out a long breath. He'd thought of that, too, but
only within the last week. It didn't remotely surprise him to finally put the
pieces together. His father was a brilliant strategist. He'd probably thought
Rafe and Sara would be good mates since they were pups. But he would never
force any such decision on any of his wolves. He'd maneuver them into place,
certainly. The final outcome had to be one of their own making, however.
    An outcome Rafe was destroying with every wrong word and
move he was making. Maybe Caleb was right about him being a lame-ass alpha. If
he couldn't convince Sara of his completely