Free Betrayed: Days of the Rogue by Nicky Charles Page A

she’d
left the cabin and gone somewhere despite his warnings.
    It took a lot to upset him. In
fact, those he worked with often marvelled at his patience in the
face of provocation, but Eve was pushing those limits. He took a
deep breath and forced himself to relax and think logically. His
level of concern had been excessive—he acknowledged that fact
readily—but truthfully, she’d scared the shit out of him and he
wanted to make sure she didn’t pull a similar stunt again.
    Calm down, stay controlled. Anger
is a pointless emotion. How often had he said those words to one of
his clients? Funny how he’d never realized how annoying those
instructions were!
    Tired of pacing, he sat on the
front step and rolled his shoulders, trying to ease some of the
tension that had accumulated there. This was why he’d taken a leave
from his job. Hours spent in a tiny office pouring over reports and
budgets and treatment plans and interventions. Too much stress
caused by too many years working with rogue wolves. He was trying
to get away from all that, and here he was dealing with the same
issues again!
    As the head of the Rogue
Rehabilitation Clinic, he’d seen Lycans at their worst, knew the
havoc they could wreak. While he might work with them daily and
firmly believe many could be saved, he was under no illusions about
dealing with one outside the controlled atmosphere of his clinic.
So it wasn’t that unrealistic for him to assume the worst when Eve
had appeared to vanish.
    Of course, she wouldn’t understand
any of this. Eve didn’t even know Lycans existed, let alone
dangerous rogue ones. Rafe rubbed his hand over his face. He should
have insisted that she leave. In fact, he still couldn’t figure out
why he hadn’t. Well…that wasn’t quite true. The woman intrigued him
and he hadn’t wanted her to go; that was the honest answer.
    The sound of a car approaching had
him rising to his feet. It was Eve. Firming his mouth, he held back
the lecture that hovered on his lips.
    She parked the car and got out,
nodding a greeting at him. “Rafe.”
    “Eve.”
    They stood staring at each other,
saying nothing. He kept his thumbs hooked in his belt loops, his
gaze steady, patiently waiting. She shifted from foot to foot, a
look of guilt playing over her expression. As expected, his silence
caused her to speak first.
    “I…uh… was planning on returning
before you came by today.”
    “I’m sure you were.”
    She licked her lips and appeared to
eye him cautiously as if trying to gauge his reaction. “I had to
meet my agent in town.”
    He said nothing, merely raising an
eyebrow.
    “I called to see if you’d found out
anything about the wolf, but there was no answer and I couldn’t
wait any longer.” She spoke in a rush, obviously finding his
silence unsettling. “I was very careful. I checked all around the
cabin and kept the gun with me as I ran to the car.”
    Hell, he thought to himself. She
was damned lucky the local police hadn’t pulled her over and
charged her for carrying a firearm without the proper papers! The
Canadian law was much more stringent than the U.S. and he’d assumed
she’d known that. Mentally shaking his head, he folded his arms and
widened his stance into a deliberately dominant pose.
    He could see her swallow hard and
begin to fidget with the strap of her purse. Yep, she was
definitely feeling guilty. About to relent, he was surprised when
she suddenly did an about face, throwing her purse onto the hood of
the car and planting her hands on her hips.
    “All right, Rafe, that’s enough.
You’re not in charge of me. Sure, this is your cabin, your land and
even your damned lake. Yes, you told me stay inside in case the
wolf was around, but I was very careful. I took every
possible precaution I could and nothing happened. So get off your
high and mighty horse and stop treating me like a disobedient
child.”
    By the time she was done, a faint
tinge of pink graced her usually pale cheeks and