Chapter 24 No One Can Tame Me.

Chapter 24 No One Can Tame Me.
Rafael's pov 

I had just reached the turn leading to my chambers when a familiar presence cut into my path.

“Rafael.”

I stopped.

Gabriel stepped out from one of the side corridors, hands shoved into his pockets, expression unusually careful.

I didn’t turn around. “If you’re here to defend Annie—”

“I’m not,” he said quickly. “She crossed a line. I told her.”

That at least made me glance back.

“She means well,” he added, softer. “But she doesn’t know when to stop.”

I scoffed. “That’s a generous way of putting it.”

Gabriel hesitated, then nodded toward my door. “Walk with me.”

I exhaled sharply but didn’t argue. We moved in silence for a few steps before he spoke again.

“You left like something was chasing you,” he said. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

He shot me a look. “Don’t insult me.”

I stopped walking this time. My jaw tightened.

“…I had a dream.”

Gabriel blinked. “A dream?”

I laughed, bitter and short. “A fucking sex dream.”

That got his full attention.

“With a beta,” I continued, disgust curling my lip. “It felt real. Too real. No pain. No punishment. Nothing.”

My hands clenched at my sides.

“And then I woke up,” I finished coldly. “And my pants were wet like some inexperienced teenager.”

Gabriel stared at me, stunned into silence.

“For the first time in my life,” I snapped, “I didn’t touch anyone and still felt humiliated.”

He ran a hand over his face. “Rafael…”

“Don’t,” I warned. “Don’t pity me.”

“I’m not,” he said quietly. “I’m worried.”

I laughed again. “Save it.”

He hesitated, then said carefully, “Maybe… maybe it would be easier if you stopped fighting it.”

My head snapped toward him. “What?”

“The bond,” he continued. “What if accepting it lessens the pain? What if—”

“NO.”

The word tore out of me, sharp and loud enough to echo down the corridor.

“I hate her,” I snarled. “I hate her so much that if I ever get the chance without feeling pain I would strangle her to death.”

Gabriel’s eyes widened. “Rafael—”

“I will NEVER accept this mate bond, Gabriel.”

My chest heaved. The words burned as they left me.

“Never.”

He was quiet for a moment. Then, carefully, “What if she isn’t that bad?”

I stared at him like he’d lost his mind.

“What?”

“I mean,” he went on slowly, choosing each word, “look at Alessandro. He hated Aurora once. Couldn’t stand her. And now—”

“Now he’s in love,” I finished mockingly.

I laughed.sharp, humorless.

“That will never be me,” I said flatly. “I don’t fall in love. I don’t want to. I hate love. I hate being tied down. I hate the idea of belonging to anyone.”

Gabriel didn’t interrupt. He just watched me, jaw tight.

“I’m Rafael Prickette,” I continued coldly. “And I will never change for a woman.”

“Maybe if you give her a chance—”

I looked at him.

Slowly.

Deliberately.

The corridor felt smaller all of a sudden.

“A chance?” I repeated quietly.

“Yes,” Gabriel said, holding my gaze. “A real one. Not the version of her you’ve already decided to hate.”

I let out a short, incredulous laugh. “You’re joking.”

“I’m not.”

“You want me to give her a chance,” I said, voice sharpening, “after everything this bond has done to me?”

Gabriel spread his hands. “I’m saying maybe she’s not your enemy.”

“She exists,” I snapped. “That makes her my enemy.”

“That’s not fair.”

“I don’t care about fair,” I shot back. “I care about control. About choice. And she took both the moment she breathed.”

Gabriel stepped closer. “You’re blaming her for something neither of you asked for.”

I leaned in too, eyes burning. “You think that matters to me?”

He hesitated. “It should.”

I scoffed. “Spare me the moral lecture.”

“This isn’t about morality,” he said. “It’s about you destroying yourself out of spite.”

My jaw clenched. “Careful.”

“You’re angry,” Gabriel pressed. “And you’re scared.”

That did it.

I laughed loud, sharp, and humorless. “Scared?” I echoed. “Of what? A woman?”

“No,” he said quietly. “Of losing.”

I stopped smiling.

“Losing what?” I asked.

“Your freedom. Your identity. The version of yourself you’ve spent years building.”

Silence stretched between us.

“I didn’t build myself to kneel,” I said finally. “I didn’t fight my way to the top to be softened by fate.”

Gabriel’s voice softened. “Alessandro said the same thing once.”

“I’m not Alessandro.”

“No,” he agreed. “You’re angrier.”

I turned away, fists clenched. “Love is a weakness,” I said. “It dulls instinct. Cloud judgment. Makes men hesitate.”

“And yet,” Gabriel said, “it also makes them human.”

I looked back at him sharply. “I don’t want to be human.”

That surprised him.

“I want to be untouchable,” I continued. “Unmovable. Unaffected.”

Gabriel searched my face. “And if you can’t be?”

“Then I’ll break whatever tries to change me.”

His voice dropped. “What if breaking her breaks you too?”

I smiled slowly, dangerously. “Then we’ll both suffer.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one I accept.”

Gabriel exhaled, defeated but still stubborn. “You don’t even know her.”

“I know enough,” I said. “She’s weak. She’s inconvenient. And she’s chained to me.”

He shook his head. “You’re wrong.”

“Am I?” I challenged myself. “Because all I feel when she’s near is irritation. Rage. This constant pressure under my skin.”

He hesitated. “Sometimes hatred isn’t hatred.”

I stepped closer. “Finish that sentence carefully.”

“Sometimes,” he said steadily, “it’s fear of wanting what you shouldn’t.”

The air went still.

My expression hardened instantly. “Don’t project your romantic nonsense onto me.”

“I’m not projecting,” Gabriel replied. “I’m recognizing patterns.”

“Well recognize this one,” I said coldly. “I will never love her. I will never accept her. And I will never let this bond turn me into something weak.”

Gabriel studied me for a long moment.

“…Then I hope,” he said quietly, “that whatever you plan to do next doesn’t cost you more than you’re willing to lose.”

I smiled faintly.

“You worry too much,” I said. “I already know the price.”

And I was fully prepared to make her pay for it.

I turned away from Gabriel before he could respond, my boots echoing against the stone floor as I headed for my chambers.

“Rafael,” he called after me. “Don’t do something you can’t undo.”

I didn’t slow.

“I’ve undone worse,” I said over my shoulder.

The door to my room shut behind me with a solid, final thud.

Silence.

For a moment, I just stood there, staring at the wall like it had personally betrayed me.

My chest still felt tight not with pain this time, but with something worse.

Restlessness.

I snarled and crossed the room, ripping off my jacket and tossing it aside like it had offended me.

“You think you’ve won?” I muttered, pacing. “You think forcing dreams and sleepless nights will tame me?”

A bitter scoff tore from my throat.

“No one can tame me,” I growled into the empty room. “Not you. Not fate. Not even the Moon Goddess herself.”

That was when it hit me.

The thought came sharp and sudden, slicing through my anger so cleanly that I froze mid-step.

I stopped breathing.

Slowly, a smile crept across my face.

“…I see,” I murmured.

The bond didn’t punish me for that thought.

It tightened.

Interested.

I let out a low laugh. “Of course.”

I paced once. Twice. My mind is moving faster now, piecing it together.

“I can’t touch anyone else,” I said aloud. “I can’t sleep. I can’t think. You make sure of that.”

The pressure in my chest pulsed again.

“But you don’t stop me from being near her.”

Silence.

My smile sharpened.

“You don’t punish me for making her uncomfortable,” I continued thoughtfully.

“For ordering her around. For forcing her into my presence.”

The bond shifted uneasily now.

“That’s it, isn’t it?” I said softly. “You don’t care how I treat her. You just want me close.”

I stopped in the center of the room.

An idea fully formed now. Cold. Precise.

“If I can’t have peace,” I said, voice dropping, “then neither can she.”

I pictured her face careful, guarded, trying so hard not to be seen. Always shrinking. Always avoiding my eyes.

Good.

That would make it easier.

“I won’t touch her,” I said slowly. “Not like that. Not yet…

…but I will make her stay,” I continued. 

“When I can’t sleep. When the nights get long. When this thing crawls under my skin.”

I laughed quietly. “She’ll sit. She’ll talk. She’ll listen.”

I leaned back against the desk, crossing my arms.

“She’ll entertain me.”

My eyes darkened.

“You want me bound?” I whispered. “Fine.”

I straightened.

“But I decide how.”

A knock sounded at my door.