**Mature Content Warning**

Raff

The mainstreet looked like a postcard. Trees tinged with the first colors of autumn, the breeze soft but crisp, and the air sweetened with baked goods and coffee. Few cars moved down the narrow road, most people preferring to commute by foot or bike on such a glorious September day. But Raff could enjoy none of it as he marched across the town with his thick brows furrowed and his lips wrenched into a scowl.

Meribella hadn't come home last night, and she hadn't called to let him know she would be staying on the boat. She'd warned him, but he'd assumed after they'd cleared the air, she would hurry back to their home, back to his arms. He'd gone to bed without calling her. It had been torture lying in the dark with her scent all around him, anger and fear warring in his chest, but he needed to prove to her that he valued her independence.

But this morning, when his phone lacked even a single text message, he'd refused to wait any longer. Meribella had long ago learned that if he was going to respect her right to be independent, then she needed to respect his desire to protect. Usually this meant he'd get some sort of message, even a single heart emoji, to prove that she was safe when she wasn't by his side.

A flash of gray drew his eyes to the lanky wolf pup at his side. Aurora had been nearly as restless as himself, and when she darted out the door this morning, he didn't stop her. She followed closely at his heels, her ears upright and eyes lacking their usual playfulness. The behavior didn't exactly settle his nerves.

Raff turned off the sidewalk and onto the boardwalk, the soles of his shoes slapping on the damp wood with every hurried step. The homey smells of mainstreet were nothing but memories here, and his nose twitched as salt and fish replaced cinnamon and chicory. He would've moved here if she'd asked, but he was so glad she hadn't.

He stopped in front of the boat and curled his fingers in his pockets. Everything looked to be in order from the outside, and a tendril of shame wound its way through his mind. There was every chance she'd fallen asleep late and had yet to rise. Which meant, there was every chance he was going to look like a fool.

Aurora whined up at him, and the first smile he'd worn all morning bloomed on his lips. "Thanks girl. If she asks, you wanted to see her? Got it?"

The wolf snorted and twitched her ears as if she understood what he was saying and found it comical. His own wolf nudged him to hurry up, and he wondered if Aurora could understand him. Or at least the wolf half of him. It was a theory he'd have to try later, because a cold rage blanketed him when the door swung open and an all too familiar odor greeted him.

Two empty wine bottles were sitting on the island, and they were accompanied by two empty wine glasses. A normal person might see this and assume Meribella had indulged with her roommate. But Thorne's fragrance was faint- it had been over twenty-four hours since the witch had been home.

Aurora froze, her hair raising and her lips peeling back to expose long canines as she began to growl. Ears flat against her head, she inched around the island and her snarls grew in volume. She too had caught the musky smell particular to selkies- one selkie in particular.

Meribella was slumped over on the small, window sofa, her black curls a tangled mess against cheeks still flushed with alcohol. The skinny jeans and cream sweater she'd been wearing yesterday were rumpled from sleep, and he spied a few drops of burgundy staining the material. Any other time, he'd have found the vision before him sweet, but her head resting on Caspian's lap spoiled the image.

The hulking blonde man stirred at their approach. The hand he had resting on the swoop of Meribella's waist slipped lower, pulling a snarl from Raff's throat. The selkie's eyes snapped open then, flashing from black to blue as he focused on the angry werewolf and wolf before him. But Caspian didn't look afraid.

Smirking, he said, "Well good morning, friends. Fancy seeing you here so early."

"You have about three seconds to extricate yourself from that couch without assistance you really don't want."

With a raised eyebrow, he cupped Meribella's head and gently lowered it onto the couch as he stood. His movements were languid, each action filled with taunting. "There. Is that better?"

    "I thought we'd put all this behind us," Caspian said, gesturing towards the woman who was still sleeping soundly. Aurora took the move as an attempt to touch Meribella and lunged, her teeth snapping over his meaty fingers with a satisfying crunch.

    He yelled, shaking his captured hand and reaching forward with his free one, a strange new smell burning in the air. Raff hissed and shoved the man backwards while he gripped Aurora by the scruff of her neck. "Release him," he commanded. She obeyed immediately and sat down on her haunches, red staining the white of her muzzle.

    "What's going on here?" Meribella was sitting up, her turquoise eyes wide with dismay as she took in the scene before her.

    Clutching his bleeding appendage against his chest, Caspian seethed. "Your damned wolf bit me."

    "Which one?" Meribella quipped, the jab making the injured man turn red and Raff's chest swell with pride. It didn't matter that he was furious with her; he was more concerned with clearing the room of vermin first.

    "I'll see myself out. Clearly, I'm not wanted at the moment." Caspian pushed open the sliding glass door to the deck and paused. "I enjoyed our time together last night." With another smug grin, he waved and jumped over the side.

    "Raff, what are you doing here?"

    "What am I doing here?" Raff shouted. "What was he doing here? You were supposed to come home last night."

    "Please don't yell," she begged, her hand pressed to her head as she stood and began to clean up the countertop. "I have a marching band inside my brain right now."

    He grabbed the glass bottles and chucked them into the trash so hard they shattered, earning a whimper from both Aurora and Meribella. "You're not answering my question."

    "You're acting like a jealous brute."

    "If you came home and found me drunk and snuggled up with Mariah, would you be asking nicely?"

    Her mouth worked for a few seconds before she snapped it shut. A tear leaked down her cheek. "No."

    All the anger rushed out of him as she began to cry in earnest, but he didn't approach her. Meribella wasn't the type to manipulate him with tears, but he also wasn't about to pretend he was okay with how he'd found her this morning.

    "I'm sorry. Nothing happened between us."

    "I know that," Raff admitted, his trust in her was complete. "I'm just hurt that you chose to stay here, with him, and you didn't even bother to let me know you weren't coming home."

    Her face pinched together and she fished her cell phone out of her pocket and unlocked it. Shoulders dropping, she handed Raff the device. He took it and saw what caused the reaction. A single text to him sat in the message box:

 Raff, I'm not going to make it home tonight. Caspian stopped by and he's telling me  about Selkie Island. Please don't be mad and don't wait up.

    "I guess I forgot to hit send."

    He dropped the phone to the counter and exhaled. "That makes me feel a little better."

    She moved towards him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Just a little better?"

    "Again, consider if our roles were reversed."

    She slid her hands beneath his t-shirt, her nails raking against his flat stomach. It sent a jolt straight to his groin, and he let his hands slide down her backside, cupping each round cheek with his large hands and pressing her forward so that she could feel the effect she had on him. The smell of her desire banished every other scent from his nose, and he groaned with the effort it took to not abandon their discussion then and there.

    "You're right. In fact, I think I might have dragged her out of the apartment by her hair. I didn't even think of how you might feel about Caspian being her with me alone."

    "Thank you," he said, lowering his head to capture a kiss but stopping as a thought struck him. "Does that mean that I'm not in trouble for him getting mauled?"

    She laughed, the action making her chest rumble against his. "Well first off, that appears to have been Aurora, and we'll just chalk that up as your version of hair pulling. I'm not promising I won't see him again because he can tell me things no one else can, but I will be respectful and ask him to meet me somewhere public next time. Deal?"

    "Fine," he barked, kissing her with force, claiming her.

    Meribella didn't complain. She gripped his shoulders and hoisted herself into the air, wrapping her legs around his waist as she attacked his mouth with greedy little moans. He wondered if every rough swipe of her tongue was an attempt to banish the image of Mariah in his arms from her mind the way every stroke of his hands was an attempt to banish Caspian from his.

    She broke away, chest heaving and humor sparkling in her eyes when she heard the rip of fabric. He looked down and saw that he'd torn her sweater in half, exposing her lacey, baby blue bra. Her nipples strained against the material, and he shoved the cups down, impatient to draw the full nubs into his mouth and feast on their sweetness.

    "We can't go this long again," she cried out as he flicked his teeth across the sensitive skin before soothing it with his tongue. She was right, it had been too long. They were almost frantic, clawing at one another to shed the remaining clothing between them.

    He started to lay her on the couch, but changed course as soon as Caspian's scent wafted towards him. Instead, he laid her out on the counter top, watching her shiver as the cold marble touched her heated flesh. They were in almost the same exact position as the dinner Dorea had crashed.

    "What are you thinking?" she asked, sitting up on her elbows.

    "Just how lucky I am," he said, pushing her thighs further apart as he lowered himself between them. He let his tongue run the length of her, earning a long moan that became a gasp as he thrust his tongue inside. He didn't speak again as he focused on pushing her over the edge. It didn't take long, she'd been half gone at his first touch, and as she spasmed around his tongue, he felt a familiar sadness wash over him.

    "Your turn," she panted, drawing  him up for a kiss before sliding off the counter and getting on her knees. He gripped her hair as she drew him into her mouth until he hit the back of her throat.

    "Good god," he gasped as she began to move. He felt her smile around his length. Nothing satisfied her more than undoing him. In the beginning, what she'd lacked in skill had been more than made up for in her enthusiasm, but now she knew every secret to making him come for her.

"Meribella, baby. I can't-" Raff tried to slow her down, pulling her hair tight as she bobbed, but it only spurred her on. He couldn't even look down, afraid that the sight of her drawing him into her mouth would put an end to it. She popped off, her hand replacing her mouth. Determined to wait, to give her more pleasure, he pulled her hand away and pushed her to her back, pressing his long body against hers.

"Raff, let me make you feel good."

"You always make me feel good," he promised, kissing her while kneading her breasts with his hands. She arched against him, her legs opening so that he fit between them, his tip pressing at her center. The temptation was blinding, and he could tell by the frantic way she writhed against him, that she wanted him to push forward, to sheath himself inside of her fully. He nudged between her folds, the heat drawing him in.

"P-please," she begged, her hands going to his ass and pressing down.

He pulled back with an oath, sweat trickling down his brow. "We can't. We can't."

"It's okay, baby. I know."

Later, they lay wrapped in each other's arms, their passion spent. But Raff couldn't help but notice the usual contentment that buzzed between them was missing. For him, it was the guilt that weighed on his shoulders. One moment had almost ruined everything. A lack of restraint could have killed her.

He stared down at the top of her head, wondering at her scent. The slight prickle of dissatisfaction that tainted her bliss. And even worse- a hint of fear. Fear of what had almost happened? Fear of him? Or did she fear that this was just the first stone crumbling from their carefully built defenses. And soon it would all come tumbling down.