Free Rafael by Faith Gibson Page A

out drinks as
Priscilla was placing the steaming pans of food into the warmers that were situated
on a couple of side tables. The men all grabbed their drink of choice then
started filling their plates with food. There was no formality when they
gathered like this. They were just a family sitting down to a meal together.
    Rafe grabbed his
plate and sat at the head of the table. Once everyone was seated he began
eating. Small talk was made while they ate. Nothing serious was spoken about in
front of the newcomers, not until Rafe felt them out, got a sense for where
their heads were. He stood to refill his drink and felt someone behind him.
    Frey, who was
grabbing a beer, held an expression of amusement as he clapped Rafe on the
shoulder. “Did you happen to notice one police issue vehicle earlier?”
    Rafe nodded,
grinning. “Yeah, for her to be chief she sure can’t tail someone for shit. I
clocked her as I was leaving the office.” They both enjoyed a chuckle then Rafe
grew serious. “We really can’t have her seeing us all together. We’d have some
serious explaining to do.”
    “Truth, Brother,
truth, unless...”
    Rafe cut him
off. “I need to speak to Jonathan, then on to the fun and games.” Rafe found
his old friend inside the house eating with his sister. “Priscilla, dinner was
excellent as always. Jonathan, when you are finished eating I need a favor. The
chief of police followed me home. I’m not worried that she knows where I live,
but I do not want her nosing around when all of the Clan are gathered together.
If you would, please monitor the perimeter cameras to be sure she is not trying
to find another way in.”
    “I will be glad
to, my Lord.” Jonathan inclined his head.
    Rafe returned to
the gathered men. He could tell Gregor was anxious to get the game started. He
loved the full contact. Rafe and Gregor were almost always captains when they
played. Today he decided to switch it up. He raised his hand, and everyone got
quiet. “Now that you all have your bellies full, I think we should play a
little football. We have new family among us, therefore I have decided we’ll
let them be captains. Lor, Jasper, I’ll flip a coin and you two can choose your
teams. Jasper, you call it.”
    Rafe flipped the
coin and Jasper called tails. Tails it was. Pointing to opposite sides of the
deck, he separated the captains.                      Jasper eyed all of the
men and chose Gregor. Lorenzo chose Rafe. They went back and forth until
everyone was on a team. Rafe picked up the football he’d stashed earlier and
led the way down to the back field. “You chose first, so we get the ball
first,” he told Jasper and his crew.
    “Any rules?” the
newcomer asked a little warily.
    “Just one: no
phasing.” Rafe grinned at him and trotted off to his team.

Chapter
14
     
    All the men were
shirtless. No reason to tear apart perfectly good clothing and as rough as they
could get, that is exactly what would happen. Gregor and Rafe lined up facing
each other. Gregor loved the chance at rushing his brother and knocking him on
his ass. This was one time when Rafe was not King but just another player on
the field. Nikolas, in the quarterback position, called the play and Rafe
snapped the football between his legs. Players scrambled all over the field
trying to get away from the defense. Being shifters, they were equally matched
in speed and strength.                    
    Lorenzo
zigzagged and used his muscular legs to jump a little higher than his opponent,
snagging the pass out of the air. Strong arms wrapped around his waist taking
him down. If he were human, the breath would have left his chest as he hit the
ground with a thud.  “Good catch, cousin.” Frey offered his hand to help Lor
up.
    After the snap,
Nik handed the ball off just before he was knocked to the ground by Jasper, their
bare chests pressed together. “If I didn’t really like women, I might think
this