RAFF 

Damn if the woman before him wasn't magnificent. Brown contacts covered eyes like sea glass, but the slips of plastic didn't hide her blazing spirit. Never before had a woman stood up to him the way she did. There was the small fact that she wasn't aware of his true nature, but he didn't believe the knowledge would dissuade her.

"I don't know how to make it any clearer to you. I have no desire to answer any of your questions. Just leave me be."

The timbre of her voice became silvery, twining through his head and distracting him from his natural inclination towards anger at disobedience. Cocking his head to the side, more like his wolf than man, Raff watched as she tightened her grip on her luggage as she slipped by. Perhaps he would have sat like a good dog and watched her slip away so mesmerized was he by her mellifluous grace and voice, but she could not bewitch the scent of distress curdling her blood. Both the man and wolf shook and snarled, the aroma of fear a bouquet far more alluring than her siren's song.

"Is that how you did it?" he demanded, racing to cut her off. Though her speed was faster than normal for humans, she was still slower than him. A chase would end in his victory, but he was not in the mood. "Did you bespell my men so that you could slip away?"

"Turns out your men are much more agreeable than their master. I simply had to ask, and they let me pass."

"I asked you to stay for your own safety," Raff insisted.

"You know, I asked around about you and your men. I don't see how being the only female amongst a bunch of sex starved men was safer than me going home."

"Sex starved... what exactly do people say about us?" He tried to keep his words lined with rage and authority, but he couldn't quite stop himself from strangling on the sex starved description.

The woman huffed but her essence altered slightly. Spicy fear became laced with honeyed amusement. "It varies, depending on who you ask. Some think that you're a harem of gay men. I suppose I would've been safe if that's the case." The scent of honey grew stronger, overpowering. "But, the popular opinion is that you're some sort of rehab group for recovering sex addicts, and that celibacy is strictly enforced."

He started to speak, adamant protests forming when he noticed how hard she was trembling. Gathering her luggage, he put his hand on her lower back and guided her back to her house. She surprised both of them by not protesting the touch. After two attempts at unlocking the door, he took the key from her.

The cabin was sparsely furnished, and the quality was poor. The interior wasn't much warmer than outside, icy wind piercing the thin walls and slipping through crumbling seals around windows and doors. He set her luggage down and grabbed a shabby blanket from atop the sagging sofa. Wrapping it around her, he dragged a chair in front of the fireplace and searched for the switch to ignite the flames.

A sharp, shivering giggle shattered the silence. "It's not a gas fireplace."

Suppressing a growl, he tossed a few logs from the small pile she'd built into the fireplace and struck a match. The draft from the chimney swallowed the flames. "Shit."

"Move." A sharp elbow to his ribs shooed him out of the way, and with skilled efficiency, she rearranged the wood so that the smaller logs were on top. She added newspaper to the pile and lit it before sitting back with a smug smirk. "Perhaps Mr. Bossy wouldn't do well out in the world on his own. Maybe I should hold you captive until I can be sure that you're safe."

Raff leaned in close to her, enjoying the sharp intake of breath as his body invaded her space, the heat emanating from both of them far hotter than the flames crackling in the hearth. She didn't move, waiting for his next move as he let his eyes rover over her face, frowning as he took in the gauntness of her features. His eyes landed on her lips, the fullness enticing him to lean closer than necessary as he tugged the blanket back around her shoulders.

"Do you think I run a harem of gay men?" he asked, letting his thumb brush against her cheek before pulling away. Bright spots of color bloomed in her pale face, and it pleased him.

"Well- I-"

"I'd be happy to put that rumor to rest. In fact, I just might. It would take care of both rumors at once."

"How?" she asked, breathless.

"I could prove to you I'm not gay, and I sure as hell don't enforce celibacy." A half truth, but she didn't need to know that.

She rose to her knees and reached for him. Slim fingers gripped his t-shirt as she slid onto his lap. The citrus fragrance of her shampoo engulfed him as she pushed a long black strand of hair behind her ear as she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth.

"And how," she questioned, lowering her lips to his neck, "are you going to prove it?" He felt her mouth curve into a smile against his skin when his pulse leaped. A sting. Her teeth nipped at him before her hot tongue darted out to soothe the hurt.

"Good god woman," he moaned, gripping her hips to stop the rocking motion she'd started. He didn't require his men to remain celibate, only commanded that they stayed away from human women who could become pregnant with their sons. That left plenty of Fae women to choose from. For himself, well he hadn't touched a woman since he'd killed Meghan. It was the only way he could explain how quickly this vixen was undoing him.

"Please," she begged, heat filling those unnatural brown eyes. Eyes that were far too human.

He shoved her off his lap, scrambling to reach the opposite side of the room. The heat of the fire had yet to fill the room, but the brisk air didn't touch the boiling in his blood. But her laughter did what the temperature couldn't.

"You little-" he began.

"Oh don't finish that statement," she shouted, leaping to her feet. "You have done nothing but torment me since the night of the storm. You kidnapped me, stalked me, and then invaded my home and have the nerve to get angry at me when I beat you at your own game. And for the record, you do act like some sex starved monk. I've never been able to wind up a man that easily. I want you gone. Please."

It was the "please" that undid him. The word was drenched in barely concealed tears and desperation. Raff's motivation, misguided though it would seem to her, had always been to protect her. "Fine."

"And one other- wait, did you just say fine? As in fine, I'll leave you alone?"

"Yes." Lie. He'd just be less obvious.

"Thank you."

He started to leave but couldn't resist flaring his nostrils to inhale her scent one last time. But beneath the smoke and spice, he found vanilla, roses, and something clean and salted like the sea. Her desire. His wolf howled appreciatively and thrashed to claim her. The scowl plastered on his mouth hid the lengthening of his canines as he wrenched open the door.

"You're welcome," he tossed over his shoulder. "But let's make one thing clear."

"And that is?"

"I wasn't the only one playing hungry." And he stormed into the winter night, disappearing into the darkness in a flash of light and shredded clothes.