Cassandra watched in horror as Raphael sprung away from her. A loud ripping sound tore through the air and a huge dark wolf stood where he had been. Power and strength was stamped into every sinew and when he growled, the very earth beneath her seemed to shake with his chest. Its murderous eyes still retained their previous deep blue but were tainted with so much bloodlust she could hardly associate them with the tender gaze that had caressed her just moments before.

The four men laughed and shifted before them. She watched in terrified fascination as one wolf leapt up to attack first and was quickly brought down to the hard earth by a swipe of Raphael’s large paws. She had never seen wolves as large as these before but the wolf who was once Raphael outsized them all. Yet, even for his size, she worried that he might not be able to take on all four of them at once.

She slowly dug through her purse and pulled out a small canister. Megan made her swear to use it and in copious amounts in case of emergency. She had looked at the harmless plain pink bottle then and glanced warily at her cousin. It looked a lot more like a bottle of cheap perfume.

Megan had rolled her eyes, “It’s my own personal pepper spray.”

“Isn’t it illegal?”

“Self-defense isn’t illegal,” her dark-haired cousin shot back.

She held it before her and one of the wolves yipped in excitement. She shrieked a little and sprayed it on his glaring yellow eyes. A high-pitched howl tore through the night and she stumbled back in alarm. The wolf was rolling around on the ground in a picture of misery, its paws tearing through its eyes in agony.

The other wolves took it as a signal and attacked simultaneously. She sprayed them all as much as she could. One of them got near enough to take a swipe at her with its huge paws but Raphael quickly deflected the attack and clamped hard against its leg before sending it crashing with one of its companions.

Casey watched on in horror as the wolf that had once been Raphael slowly maneuvered the other wolves away from her while successfully putting two of them out of commission for the entire night. Where the gang fought with brute strength, Raphael showed skill and strategy with every move. It was like he anticipated every move they did and was always a few steps ahead of them. They never stood a chance.

With a powerful swipe, he brought the leader of the small group down and firmly lodged his massive paw on the other wolf’s airway. He brought his muzzle close to the face and growled menacingly. Casey flinched when the other wolf made to bite off a chunk of his snout but was quickly silenced by a swipe from his other paw. After a few more seconds of dominant growling, the leader of the attacking wolf conceded defeat.

Raphael strutted over to his mate and watched in disgust as his enemy collected his defeated brethren and the whole lot of them limped out into the darkness. He rubbed his face gently against her hip and frowned when he noted her ashen face.

His mate had been frightened out of her wits. She probably had no idea of the existence of his kind before. And while he had been able to demonstrate he was able to protect her, a brawl was hardly the kind of impression he wanted to make.

He gently licked her hand and urged her into a dark alleyway but she shook her head frantically. He made a rumbling sound from deep within his chest. Unlike the menacing growls just a few moments ago, it was more like a soft, pleading purr.

When she refused to go, he hung his head and trotted to the darkness himself. A few moments later, he emerged dressed in a white shirt that fit a little too snugly on his broad shoulders and black pants.

“I am so sorry you had to see that,” he murmured, crushing her smaller frame to his. He breathed her scent of tea roses and felt his senses unwind, the bloodlust receding rapidly at her warmth. He cradled her pale cheeks in his larger hands and kissed her forehead. “Let’s get you back to the hotel before anything else happens.”

She managed to nod weakly before she was scooped up into his arms. He stopped by briefly to gather her fallen purse before heading back to the hotel where they met.

Once she was in the safety of his suite, he would explain everything to her. Hopefully, after the entire fiasco, she would still be able to accept him. If not, he would just have to try harder because after tonight, he knew that he would never be able to let her go.