Rafe
“Y-you’re glorious, too,” Adele pants.
I push away the crowding awareness that I’d had the urge to mark her. That what my pack brothers have been pointing out is true.
Adele is my mate. I can’t unpack that, just like I couldn’t let my wolf off-leash to claim her. I’m in no position to mate. I’m the alpha of a mercenary shifter-ops pack that engages in the most dangerous missions invented.
Adele, this incredible, talented, feisty, gorgeous female, is a human. Fragile. Delicate. If I mated her, we could have children instead of pups. They, too, would be fragile. I can’t live knowing someone I love could be ripped from my life again. I won’t live that way.
It’s simply too much to bear. Fearing for her safety tonight was bad enough.
“Are you going to let me take care of you now?” I
