Rafe woke slowly and smiled without opening his eyes. A deep sense of peace and contentment enveloped him and he simply wanted to just lie there and bask in the amazing feeling.
The woman lying sleeping in his arms was the source of that contentment. His Lacey, his precious mate. He breathed in her wonderful scent as she stirred slightly against him and cuddled further into his arms. He couldn't imagine a more perfect way to wake up than having her beautiful body draped over his.
He was hard and aching for her but he didn't want to move and wake her. They had enjoyed each other into the small hours and it was early still, just gone six am. He needed this moment of perfect peace with her. He had no idea if he would ever get to experience it again. War was coming and they would need to start preparing.
Lacey's words of the night before came back, about people dying, and he felt a deep fear in his heart. He wasn't afraid of dying himself, he was afraid for Lacey. He knew if anything happened to her he wouldn't be alive to see it. He would defend her to the death and pray Jared or Caleb or someone else would take up his position and protect her. Graves couldn't be allowed to get his hands on her again.
His arms tightened around her and he buried his face in the side of her warm neck, breathing in her scent, brushing his lips gently across her warm, fragrant skin, memorising how she felt in his arms because he had no idea when he would get the chance to lie with her like this again.
A noise just outside the bedroom door attracted his attention and there was a discreet knock before it slowly opened. Rafe disentangled himself from Lacey and made sure she was completely covered before he turned to look at his Alpha.
"Sorry, Rafe, I need you," Jared said very quietly so as not to wake the sleeping woman.
"I'll be right there," Rafe answered just as quietly, turning back to look down at Lacey's sleeping face. He brushed her silvery blonde hair away from her face and leaned down to gently brush his lips against hers.
"Rafe?" she murmured sleepily opening her eyes to look up at him.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, baby," he whispered against her mouth. "Jared needs me so I have to go. Try and go back to sleep."
She smiled sleepily and closed her eyes again, drifting quickly back into sleep as Rafe rose from the bed and dressed. He headed down to the study figuring that was where Jared would be. His Alpha was tiredly running his hands over his face, sitting behind his desk when Rafe entered the study.
"Sorry to drag you away from Lacey, Rafe," he said with a slight smile tugging at his lips. He was happy to see the contentment on the big man's face. Despite the danger they were all in, seeing a member of his pack find their mate was always a satisfying experience.
"The pack meeting is in a few hours and we need to be able to give everyone as much information as we can," he said after a brief pause. "We need to have the evacuation plan for the children already mapped out. I'm going to work on that with Millie so I'll need you to liaise with Caleb about what he can bring to the party. He had meetings set up last night with some of his friends. I know it's early but can you see what you can get from him?"
Rafe snorted and ran his fingers through his mussed up hair. "Why'd you always give me the tough jobs, boss?" he asked ruefully. "Too chicken to wake Caleb at this ungodly hour in the morning?"
Jared's smile widened slightly. "You're his brother-in-law. He's less likely to scream abuse at you than he is me," he answered.
Rafe stared at Jared for a long moment feeling the burden of being responsible for what was about to land on the pack's head and wishing there was some other way out of the mess. Some of his people were going to die over him choosing Lacey as his mate.
Jared watched the brooding expression settle over Rafe's face and sighed deeply. "Don't go there, Rafe," he said quietly. "The pack would do the same for anyone whose mate was threatened. The pack protects its own. Sometimes that means not all of us will make it. It's a fact of life we all have to live with. Lacey's pack now even though you haven't fully mated with her yet."
Rafe frowned deeply but he nodded his head. He knew what Jared said was true but he still didn't like being the catalyst of a war with vampires. He didn't want to be responsible for people dying.
Jared turned away from him and picked up some papers from the desk, evacuation plans for the more vulnerable members of the pack. "I need you to talk to Aaron too, Rafe," he said quietly. "I don't have time to go down and see him. Make sure he knows, in no uncertain terms, that he will be leaving with the children. Convince him it's for the best somehow."
Rafe snorted again. "He's going to be pissed, Jared," he answered rolling his eyes. "You know he's not going to agree to meekly go with the others."
"Well, it's your job to make sure he does," Jared sighed. "He's not going to be properly healed by the time the vampires get here. They'll take him out in seconds if he's not up to par. I don't care how you do it, just convince him he's needed elsewhere. I don't want to have to come down on him heavy, I need to save that for the pack meeting."
Rafe heard the steel in Jared's voice and watched him with a thoughtful expression on his face. "You think there's going to be trouble at the meeting?"
Jared put down his papers and looked back at his friend with a resigned expression on his face. "Bill Shepherd has already been to see me. A few others of his group of friends too," he answered with a frown. "The pack has had it easy for so long now, Rafe. We haven't had any real challenges for nearly a century now and we've become complacent about it. I've become complacent about it," he amended with frown on his face. "I'm expecting a challenge today, Rafe."
Rafe's face turned thunderous. "You're not serious?" he ground out. "You're a good Alpha, Jared. No one is going to challenge you." He was incensed at the very thought of it.
