Four: Unmarked.

KAYLA.

“Kayla” My father’s voice cried out to me, drifting my attention away from Rafael. I looked to see the tears in his eyes and my heart shattered. “I said shut the fuck up!” Rafael, in a fit of rage struck him with a stick.

A yell resounded from my lips and I plunged myself between them.

“Stop it” I didn’t know when the tears welled in my eyes and then fell down my cheeks. His heart was racing and I could feel it with my hands against his chest. There was also this sizzling sensation before I eventually pulled back. Rafael heaved in deep breathes and tossed the weapon to the grounds.

“Please” I whispered to him, knowing I was probably the only person he would most likely listen to. His eyes burned with vengeance each time he looked at my father and even I could remember his strained cries from when he was being tortured in the dungeon. Now, the table had turned and Archer was forced to his knees and to bow to the new Lycan King of the Black Mountain pack who had been our nemesis since the beginning of times.

“We’re short on warriors” The doors suddenly barged open and in came my father’s right hand beta. He clutched his bleeding neck and one could tell from his mere sight that we had already lost this battle. “It’s on you now” Rafael inched closer to my father and he framed his chin.

“It’s your call.”

“Surrender” Archer turned his face and that word came with a scornful mutter. He spat to the floor and a dark chuckle came out of Rafael’s lips. “I thought as much” He said. I just stood there in awe of how vicious he had become from the man i’d saved earlier. I shouldn’t resonate with my father but he kept looking to me with shimmering eyes.

“Take them to the dungeon. The same cage in which they threw me in for days” Rafael commanded my father’s beta to arrest him and accompany both him and Rose and the rest of the children downstairs. Archer grudgingly stood and the beta reluctantly reached for his hands.

Rafael directed his men to go after them and very soon, we were the only ones left in the room. His woodsy raspberry cologne trickled up my nose and his footsteps walked across the room. He poured himself a glass of wine and downed it in a instant.

“What are you doing here?” I was obliged to ask.

“Should I not have my revenge?” Rafael threw a question back at me and it was then I turned to him. “You said you were coming back, is this the reason?” There was a crack in my voice and he hefted his arms down.

“What other reason, Kayla?” He called my name with a very distinct accent of his but that sentence absolutely gutted heart.

“Me?” I could have said but I didn’t.

“What is your end goal here?” I ended up asking him and he shrugged his shoulders. “I thought I’d made it clear that I was here for revenge. It’s never easy to have a taste of your own poison, is it?” He asked and I batted my lashes. “But I saved you.” Rafael inched close to me until our heated breathes exchanged in the thin air between us.

“That’s why I’m keeping you alive, my love” He slithered through his lips.

“You cannot kill my father” I tried to speak up but there was a sharp pain that struck my chest and limbs. It was probably from the torturing earlier and even till now, I still cried out in pain.

His large hands were quick to wrap around me as I could almost barely walk. “Answer me” I still chastised nonetheless and there was a smirk that curved his lips.

“We can talk in your room” He echoed.

My face was suddenly flustered with embarrassment. “I don’t have a room.” I said to him. His lips slightly parted as his hands dug deeper into my skin. He had a lot of questions but none of which came out of his lips.

“I sleep on the other end of the dungeon” My voice resonated an echo and so instead he helped me to the velvety couch in the corner of the room. I was reluctant but I later gave in to him carrying me.

Rafael seemed to be the most cruel man to everyone else but in that moment, he was quite gentle like I was so fragile in his hands. His gaze was well intentioned and it silenced me even as I laid there. His hands slowly reached across my face as he soothed over my scars.

All of them.

“Your father is horrible to you. Everyone here is” Rafael broke the silence between us and a lump went down my throat. “Then why did you never leave?” He asked. “I have nowhere else to go, Rafael” I replied him and his name already felt familiar coming from my lips.

“You know how dangerous it is being a rogue”

“And it isn’t dangerous here? You told me of your sister pouring hot water on you and I could only imagine how much they could have put you through after finding out you saved me” He leaned back into the chair but our eyes never broke apart from each other.

“I told you I’ll be fine”

“Except you aren’t” He argued. “Rather, you’re here still fighting for the same people that have made your life miserable since you were a kid” He continued and I scoffed. “You think it’s that easy?” It was a rhetorical question and he fell quiet. “Of course it fucking hurts when he lays his hands on me but Archer is still my father and it doesn’t change the fact that he’s still my only relative left in this world” Tears welled in my eyes just then.

“And I can’t loose him.”

Rafael seemed to be lost in thought for a second or maybe he was just harboring his long term solution. He looked at me and I could tell he saw right through my cracks—that I was broken.

Even as I was, my joints still ached and the skin around my wrists were wrinkled and numb. Half my face was paralyzed from all the slaps I’d gotten and other half from the hot water incident.

Rafael was right because somehow here I was, still begging him to save the people that had hurt me so much. “I already lost my mother” My hands wiped across my eyes as I sniffled. “I don’t want anyone else to blame me for Archer as well” I pleaded with him, grasping the hem of his robe.

Rafael cleared his throat.

“I’ll spare them” He decided and I lifted my gaze in disbelief. The tears quenched in my eyes and I was compelled to kiss him in that moment. He stared at me like he had something more to say—or perhaps a catch. But then he shook his head and just allowed me have a moment. “Thank you” I said.

“Thank you so much, Rafael”

He nodded and a lump slipped past his Adam’s apple. His gaze remained fixated on me for a minute or so. “You saved me Kayla” He replied and there was that accent again that liberated the butterflies in my stomach.

“Now I’ll save you.”

Rafael leaned forward and laid right next to me. I could feel his hands sweep through my hair but I didn’t care. The chaos had subdued since my people surrendered and the ravaging fire was put out in no time. Night had fallen and I was offered the comfort of a cushion as well as arms that wrapped so tenderly around me. I drifted after some time into slumberland, leaving Rafael breathing heavily behind the nape of my neck.

He was restless, and only him knew his truest intentions which was to mark me. He knew I was his mate but then I hadn’t realized because my wolf was yet to awake—to recognize him. I was used to just the connection. He had to untether himself after some time, after which he stood up to wear off the strong emotions that raced through his body.

He was impatient and I couldn’t blame him.

They say the longer you spend unmarked and in search of a mate, the more aggressive your wolf becomes. Like it doesn’t belong to you.

The only thing that could calm him in that moment was a shower and the next thing I heard when I opened my eyes was the running water coming from the bathroom. I wondered why he left to have a moment by himself but it also gave me some time to my thoughts.

Just one question roamed my mind.

With the undeniable chemistry between us and my parents with the entire Blood Moon Pack held hostage by him, what exactly was Rafael’s plan?