Fighting the Inevitable by J C Gordon Page B

black wolf. The thought of even
accidentally scratching Rhianna, of possibly turning her into the
monster he now was, made him want to howl loudly. He could
understand the wisdom in the Alpha’s words but his heart was
breaking too.
    “ I’m all
she has, Jared,” he said forlornly. “I’ve taken care of her
since she was three years old and our parents died. I’ve dedicated
my life to ensure she was always safe and happy. Her heart will
break when she knows she will never see me again.”
    Jared could feel the
other man’s pain and he really felt for him. He didn’t want to add
to his pain but he believed in being totally honest with his pack. “I’m sorry, Rafe, but you should know that she will already have
been informed of your death. You’ve been here three weeks already.
There was enough of your flesh for the police to find and perform a
DNA test on. Your Annie will have most probably buried you by
now.”
    The shock of his words
rocked Rafe to the core, and his pain washed over him at the
thought of Annie and Millie arranging his funeral, crying as an
empty casket was lowered beside their parents’ graves. The wolf
howled within him and retreated, and he was once more a man lying
balled up on the floor, weeping for the life now lost to him
forever.
    Jared left Rafe to his
grief and shifted back to human form before knocking on the door to
be let out. Aaron waited outside with a pair of jeans for him. He
slipped them on silently with a wry smile. He hadn’t expected to
have to shift today otherwise he’d have worn an old pair of sweats
before entering the safe room. He hated ruining a perfectly good
pair of jeans, but it was part and parcel of the life of a
Were.
    “ Arrange some
sweats for him,” he told Aaron, “and socialise him a bit more. Have
different people entering with his food and water. A small amount
of small talk is permissible, but no direct answering of any
questions regarding pack life or what’s happened to him. I’ll deal
with those questions. If he asks for me, let me know as soon as
possible.”
    Aaron nodded and gave his
Alpha a tight smile. He’d been working the safe room ever since the
man had been brought in, and he couldn’t help being impressed with
Rafe’s progress. Being coherent during a shift so early on boded
well for his chances. “He’s one big wolf, boss,” he said to Jared
who nodded his agreement.
    “ I think he
may be an Alpha,” Jared sighed. “He was able to shake off my
command when he was shifting.” He met Aaron’s light blue eyes and
saw a note of concern in them. He understood his friend’s
concern.
    There could only be one
Alpha in a pack. If Rafe truly was an Alpha, then it could create
major problems once he joined the pack properly. He could even
challenge Jared for his role as Alpha. He turned and walked away
leaving his beta to take care of Rafe.
    ~~~~~
    Rhianna didn’t know how
she’d made it through the last few weeks. Millie had been there for
her constantly. She had helped her every step of the way and they
had spent many a night huddled in either hers or Millie’s beds
crying out their joint grief.
    Letting her friend in had
opened up a floodgate of emotions that threatened to cripple her,
and yet she knew she had to work through her grief. Still, she felt
so alone. She knew she had Millie, but Rafe was her last blood
connection in the world and she couldn’t help but feel completely
orphaned. She knew she had to start pulling herself together, had
to start thinking about going back to work and getting on with
life, but it just felt insurmountable.
    She alternated between
having good days and very bad days. On the bad days, she could
barely drag herself out of bed and even Millie couldn’t reach her.
The insistent ringing of the doorbell dragged her out of bed on one
of her bad days. Millie was at work and Rhianna tried to ignore the
bell, however, whoever was there wouldn’t give up. Cursing loudly,
she pulled on her dressing