all his life heâd had it beaten into him; never let a wolf get familiar enough to get your scent. it was dangerous that way. there was no guarantee when your prey could hunt you down from just a brief little inhale. richard knew how to cover his tracks and knew how to disappear. he can tell exactly when it gets to the wolf that heâd outlasted him for three years before finally choosing to throw in the towel. he couldâve gone his whole life hiding right under raffertyâs nose and the wolf never wouldâve known.
then raff is sniffing and watching him and thereâs almost a sense of relief having that choice to run taken away.
it was too easy to tuck tail.
dark eyes watch the wolf, watching as that familiar gleam gets in those eyes. rafferty joked once that he was like some kind of rubix cube or a puzzle and richard wonders if heâs got those same thoughts running through his head. heâd laughed back then, shoved the wolf away, and gone to make coffee. at least the smile on those lips is the same and thereâs some measure of comfort seeing it again and again so damn easy.
âyeah well - those mountains ainât no joke. always figured you both got smart and stayed in new york.â where it was safe. his family didnât have connections there, the place was so densely packed you could hide in plain sight. richard had been so careful about picking his trail always hoping that love and raff would get too tired and slow down. maybe theyâd even settle down.
heâd known a long time ago he couldnât give raff any kind of future. not in a way he figured a wolf would need.
knuckles tap against wood and he swallows thickly. even after all this time it felt damn impossible to keep his heart buried when it came to the wolf.
âyou uh, three years here done you good.â
From the beginning, the relationship between the two of them had been something that no wolf or hunter would have ever accepted. They had bred familiarity between them, let each other get close enough to cut the otherâs throat, but nothing like that ever happened. It was just a beautiful little friendship, a kinship that Rafferty couldnât quite explain.
Then, like nothing had ever happened, Rick had vanished as if into thin air. What a shock to the system that was, when Raff could barely even follow the scent. But Richard was a hunter, and he knew how to dodge someone if he didnât want to be found. Even if that someone was an incredible tracker.
They watch each other for a moment, each one wondering what the other is thinking, but itâs Richard who speaks first, and Rafferty frowns only slightly. His suspicions are concerned with the things that Rick says, and it upsets him though he tries not to let that show on his face as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other behind the bar, reaching over to refill Richardâs glass even though heâs only drunk a little. âI was following something. If I knew that something really didnât want me to follow, maybe I wouldâve stayed in New York.â
He looks at Rick then, leveling his gaze at the hunter as if to cut through him, as if to say I see you. But what does the past matter now that theyâre here?
âYouâre daft.â Raff replies, but itâs said with a smile that he canât even try to hide. When heâs happy, heâs always been easy to read. âItâs good to see you. You look like lifeâs been treating you well, too. Whatâve you been up to?â He knows that Rickâs hunting wouldnât be allowed, not inside the city, so the hunter has to have been feeding himself some other way.
