Chapter 30 Chapter 30: The Alpha’s Counsel

Chapter 30 Chapter 30: The Alpha’s Counsel
Rafael’s POV

The air in the training room was thick with the scent of sweat and sawdust. I was throwing punches at a heavy leather bag, each strike echoing like a whip crack against the stone walls. 

My knuckles were raw, but I didn't care. Physical pain was a welcome distraction from the mental circus Zara had set up in my head.

"You’re going to burst that bag, and I’m the one who has to pay for the repairs," a voice drawled from the entrance.

I didn't stop. I knew that voice. Gabriel walked in, leaning against a wooden pillar with a smirk that usually meant he was about to annoy me.

"You're late," I grunted, landing a roundhouse kick that sent the bag spinning.

"And you're obsessed," Gabriel countered, walking deeper into the room. He picked up a wooden sparring sword and weighed it in his hand. 

"I saw her today, you know. The little Omega, Zara. She’s still limping, but she’s got this weird look in her eyes. Like she knows something we don't."

I stopped, my chest heaving. Just the mention of her name made the bond hum behind my ribs. "I don't care about her look. I care about the fact that she’s a nuisance."

"Right. A 'nuisance' that you spent all night thinking about," Gabriel teased. He stepped onto the training mat, his eyes dancing with mischief. 

"Come on, Raf. We’ve been brothers since we were born. I know you. You’re in total self-denial. Your heart is getting interested in that girl, and it’s eating you alive."

"Shut up, Gabriel," I snapped, lunging at him.

We traded blows for a few minutes, sparring with an intensity that would have sent a normal human to the hospital. But Gabriel kept talking. He always did.

"You can deny it all you want, but the way you look at her... it’s not hate. It’s hunger. You’re fighting the Moon Goddess, and you’re losing."

"Who's losing?"

A tall, broad figure stepped into the training room. My brother, Alpha Alessandro, stood there with his arms crossed. 

He had a regal air about him, the kind that came with being the leader of the pack. Behind him, the aura of his power rippled, but today, he looked more amused than authoritative.

"Rafael is losing a fight with his own feelings," Gabriel chirped, ducking a swing from my wooden sword. 

"He’s mated to an Omega, Alessandro. And not just any Omega—the weakest, most clumsy girl in the servant quarters."

Alessandro paused, his eyebrows shooting up. He walked over to the weapon rack and picked up a heavy staff. 

"An Omega? Our Rafael? The man who stood up at my wedding to Luna Aurora and declared to the whole pack that 'even the Moon Goddess cannot tame me'?"

Gabriel burst out laughing. "That’s the one! And now, the great Rafael gets tamed by a girl who trips over air. Not only that, he feels her pain. If she stubs her toe, he’s the one clutching his foot."

Alessandro stopped laughing, his face turning serious. He looked at me, searching my eyes. 

"Is it real, brother? Is the physical bond that strong?"

I dropped my sparring sword, the wood clattering on the floor. I couldn't hide it from him. 

"Yes. It’s real. Every scratch she gets, I feel it like a hot iron. It’s a nightmare."

I walked over to the bench and grabbed a towel, wiping the sweat from my face. "I even went to the pack seer. 

I demanded she find a way to break the link. But the old woman told me a bunch of nonsense. Said the bond is 'fated' and 'unbreakable. 'Blah, blah, blah. She was useless."

Gabriel leaned on his sword, looking thoughtful. 

"So, I suggested a different route. If he can't break the bond through magic, maybe he has to break it through her. 

Make Zara fall in love with him. Get her so obsessed that she’d do anything for him, and then... when she’s completely willing and vulnerable, he rejects her. 

A clean break."

Alessandro whistled low. "Cold. And how is that going?"

"Terrible," Gabriel said, shaking his head. "Rafael is making things worse. He treats her like dirt, then protects her, then yells at her. 

There’s no way Zara is falling in love with a man who acts like a bipolar wolf. She probably wants to poison his wine."

Alessandro walked over and put a heavy hand on my shoulder. 

"You know, Raf... I thought I could never fall in love with Aurora. I fought against the idea of being tied down just as much as you. 

But now? She is my world. She is my wife. Maybe... if you actually got to know Zara... you could change your mind about breaking this. Maybe you could just accept the bond."

I shook his hand off, my jaw tight. I loved my brother, but I hated his sentimentality.

"Never," I said, my voice cold and hard. 

"I see how you are with Aurora. You’re soft. You’re tied to one woman for the rest of your life. I want to enjoy my life. 

I want to spend my nights with countless Betas and not have to answer to anyone. No offense, brother, but I don’t want your life."

Alessandro sighed, looking at Gabriel, who just shrugged.

"I will break this curse no matter what," I vowed, gripping the edge of the training table until the wood groaned. 

"If the Moon Goddess thinks she can chain me to a weak girl who has nothing to offer but rain-scented hair and big, sad eyes, she’s wrong. I’m going to make Zara love me, and then I’m going to walk away. I am Rafael Prickette. 

I don’t get tamed."

But even as I said the words, a sharp, stinging pain shot through my palm. I looked down. Zara must have pricked her finger on a needle or a rose thorn.

The wolf inside me let out a low, mournful howl, and for a split second, I didn't want to break the bond. I just wanted to find her and make sure she was okay.

I pushed the feeling down, burying it deep under layers of pride and anger.

"I'm going for a run," I muttered, leaving my brothers behind in the dust of the training room.

As I shifted into my wolf form and sprinted into the woods, the only thought in my head was that I was a liar. 

I wasn't running to get away from the bond. I was running because I could smell her scent on the wind, and my body was moving toward her before I could even tell it not to.