Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Wolf Instinct

Rafael's pov

The knock at the door was sharp. I expected it to be the woman I had summoned earlier as a distraction to prove I could still ignore the pull of the bond.

But when I opened the door, a nervous guard stood there instead.

"Sir," he stammered, "the woman you requested... she sent word. She’s fallen ill. She won't be coming tonight."

I slammed the door in his face without a word.

The silence of my room felt like a cage. My skin was crawling.

Every nerve in my body was screaming for a presence that wasn't there.

I paced the floor like a caged beast, my claws scratching against my palms. I needed a distraction, or I was going to tear this castle apart.

"Fine," I growled, grabbing a fresh shirt. "If the world won't give me what I want, I'll take what I'm owed."

I heard that Zara always hid in the library when the sun went down, so I knew she would be there now, hoping to disappear among the dusty shelves.

When I pushed the heavy oak doors open, the scent of old paper and her maddening scent of rain and mint hit me like a physical blow.

She was tucked in a corner, a thick book in her lap. She looked up, her eyes widening as she saw me. She looked like a deer staring at a predator.

"Rafael," she whispered, her voice trembling.

"You," I said, walking toward her until I was looming over her chair. I placed my hands on the armrests, pinning her in place.

"My entertainment for the night was canceled. I’m bored, Zara, and restless."

She tried to shrink back. "I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe you should try to sleep."

I leaned down, my face inches from hers. I could see the pulse jumping in her neck.

"I don't want to sleep. I want company. Since you're the reason I can't look at another woman without feeling like my heart is being ripped out, you're going to fill the void. Entertain me."

Zara’s fear shifted. Her jaw set, and that stubborn light I hated and secretly noticed too much flickered in her eyes.

"I am not a toy, Rafael. And I am not your 'entertainment.' Find someone else to bully."

"I'm not asking," I snarled, my wolf snapping at the surface.

"Talk to me. Read to me. Do something to stop this ringing in my head."

"No," she said firmly. She stood up, forcing me to step back or touch her. "I have work to do tomorrow. If you want to be miserable, do it alone."

She brushed past me. The rejection stung worse than the bond’s physical pain. My rage boiled over.

"You think you can just say no to me?" I shouted after her. "In my own house? Under my own roof?"

She didn't even look back.

"If you won't do what I ask," I muttered, a dark plan forming, "I'll make you wish you had obeyed me.”

I spent the next three hours making her life a living hell. I sat in the main hall, barking orders through the mind-link and sending servants to fetch her for every petty whim I could imagine.

"Zara!" I barked when she appeared for the fourth time, her hair messy and her breath coming in short gasps.

"The wine in the cellar is too cold. Go find the bottles from the south vineyard. Bring them up. All of them."

She stared at me, her hands trembling with exhaustion.

"The cellar is on the other side of the castle, Rafael. I just finished scrubbing the floors in the east wing."

"Did I ask for a report?" I leaned back in my chair, watching her.

"Go.

Now."

“Ugh…”

I smirked.

“Do you want to say something to me?”

I watched her as she clenched her fist but didn't say anything and just turned and left.

An hour later, she was back. Then I sent her to the attic to find a map that didn't exist.

Then to the kitchens to organize the spices by scent.

I wanted to break her. I wanted her to come crawling to me, begging for a moment of rest so that I could be the one to say 'no.'

But she didn't break. She did every single task, her face becoming a mask of cold, hard stone.

It was nearly midnight. I was standing on the balcony of the second floor, watching the courtyard.

I saw her crossing the stone tiles, carrying a heavy crate of old books I had ordered her to move to the study.

The stones in the courtyard were slick from the evening mist, shimmering like oil under the pale moonlight.

I stood on the balcony, my eyes fixed on Zara's small, tired figure as she struggled with the heavy wooden crate.

Every muscle in her body looked strained, yet she refused to drop the load.

In the back of my mind, a low, guttural rumble echoed. It wasn't my own thought; it was the wolf's.

“You are being mean to her,” the beast growled, his voice a heavy vibration behind my ribs.

“Too much. This is not how we treat what is ours.”

"She isn't mine," I hissed under my breath, my fingers digging into the stone railing.

The wolf didn't listen. His instincts were sharp, heightened by the bond that I spent every waking hour trying to ignore.

“Look at the ground. It is wet. What if she trips and falls? What if she breaks?”

"Then she’ll learn to be more careful," I snapped back mentally.

But even as the words formed, my heart rate spiked.

My eyes didn't leave her. I watched her heel catch on a jagged edge of stone. I watched her wobble.

“Protect her!” the wolf roared, suddenly surging forward in my consciousness.

The crate tilted. Zara's foot slid on the damp moss growing between the pavers.

In an instant, the "mean" game I was playing felt like a death sentence.

The arrogance I had been nursing vanished, replaced by a cold, sharp terror that turned my blood to ice.

I didn't wait to see the impact. I vaulted over the railing, my body reacting before my pride could stop me.

"Zara!"

I reached her in seconds. She was curled on her side, her face pale, clutching her ankle. Her palms were scraped and bleeding.

"Don't touch me," she hissed, but her voice was weak.

"Shut up," I growled, but the bite was gone. I knelt in the dirt, my hands hovering over her. I felt a frantic need to make sure she was whole.

I reached out, sliding my arms under her knees and back.

When I lifted her, the world seemed to go quiet. The constant, agonizing pressure in my chest... vanished. For the first time in weeks, I felt peace.

I carried her into the small garden shed nearby, the closest place with a bench.

I sat her down and immediately went to her foot, my fingers trembling as I pulled off her shoe.

"It's just a sprain," she whispered. She was looking at me, her eyes wide and wet with unshed tears.

I didn't look up. I held her foot in my lap, my thumbs rubbing circles over the swelling.

"I told you to be careful," I lied. I hadn't told her that. I had been a monster.

"You did this," she said, her voice trembling.

"You pushed me until I fell. Why do you hate me so much?"

I looked up then. Our eyes locked. The moonlight filtered through the window, hitting the gold in her irises.

She looked beautiful and broken, and it was my fault.

"Because," I whispered, my hand moving from her ankle to her cheek. My skin tingled where I touched her.

"Because you're the only thing in this world I can't control. And it's driving me insane."

I leaned in. I could smell the salt of her tears and the sweetness of her skin. For a second, the hatred died.

There was only the bond—strong, warm, and inviting. I wanted to bury my face in her neck and stay there forever.

I leaned closer, my lips almost brushing hers.

She didn't pull away. She exhaled, a soft sound that sounded like surrender.

Then, the realization hit me like a bucket of ice water.

I am kneeling in the dirt. I am worried about a Beta. I am becoming exactly what I promised Gabriel I wouldn't be.

I felt a surge of self-loathing so strong it turned into physical heat. I let go of her like she was made of fire.

I stood up abruptly, pushing her away so roughly that she bumped against the back of the bench.

"Stay there," I snapped, my voice harsh and cold again.

"I'll send a doctor. Don't think this means anything."

"Rafael?" she called out, sounding confused and hurt.

I didn't look back. I couldn't.

"You're a nuisance, Zara. A clumsy, irritating nuisance. Don't ever expect me to help you again."

I walked out into the night, my chest burning twice as hard as before. I had almost let her in. I had almost lost.

As I walked back to the castle, I clenched my fists until my knuckles turned white.

I would not be tamed. Not by her. Not by anyone.