Rafe Season Two Novels & Stories

CHAPTER 22— Gaslighting Raffi's Point of View WHEN I woke up the sun was high. I can feel my sweat now and I know, I don't have a fever anymore. When I looked at the sofa, Rock wasn't there. He was not in the room and I was the only one there. I spent a few moments before standing up and going to the closet. I'm sticky and want to take a shower. There is a heater so my body will not be shocked by the cold.

Her laugh came easily, and she knew how to throw a look over her shoulder that could make a priest reconsider his vows. Next to her was a stranger who definitely wasn't strange to attention. Rafe was tall and golden, all long limbs and rolled sleeves, with sun-kissed skin and a lazy grin that threatened to slide into mischief at any moment. His eyes were the kind you didn't forget, crystal, maybe green, maybe blue, perhaps both, and his confidence had an effortless, boyish charm. You could tell he was fun before he said a word. Dangerous in the way that made you want to stay.

"**ANSWER ME! NOVAH!**" Silence answered, thick and accusing. Each unanswered call was a hammer blow to the fragile casing around his panic. The carefully constructed Alpha-heir composure lay in tatters back in that empty room, shattered like the door he’d demolished. All that remained was this primal drive, this clawing terror in his chest that tightened with every passing minute. *Gone. She’s gone. Because of you.* "Alpha-heir!" A voice, strained against the storm. Rafe materialized from the gloom, his dark hair plastered to his skull, face grim. "South quadrant’s clear to the creek. Jensen’s team is pushing further. Nothing."

*Harper* While monsters roared under the streets, I was spooning soup into Rafe’s stubborn mouth in my apartment. Lili sat at my side, her phone out, scrolling news feeds she wasn’t reading. I knew he was doing something terrible tonight, and for once, I didn’t ask myself how much blood. I only wondered when he’d come back to me whole. Rafe caught my wrist, his pulse weak but steady. “He’s going to break that man for me,” he rasped, his voice dry. “He’s going to break his boy first.” I nodded, pushing the spoon closer to his lips. “I know.”

What was Rafe up to? “Find Jace and get rid of him.”

Only then did he look back at me. His eyes found mine. There was no fear in them. Only love, and a fierce, unbreakable promise. I love you. This is not the end. Caleb walked up to him, grabbed a fistful of his hair, and yanked his head back. “Say goodbye to your monster, Alpha.” Rafe just kept looking at me as Caleb’s men shoved him forward. He didn’t stumble. He walked with his head high, into the line of trees. I stood there, the waterfall soaking me, Rafe’s command finally fading. I was free to move.

I've still one big, massive trouble to endure that is the divorce matter, bearing Mom and Dad's reactions and interrogations and Rafe's reaction too. "What? Aren't you finding anything interesting to watch?" "Uh-oh." This time I look up and see Rafe standing on my side. I mute the TV, put the remote down and rise up. My pupils enlarge when I see him in outfits unusual to his regular style. I freeze on my spot. He's wearing an ash-grey sweatshirt and dull blue loose trousers. This outfit is displaying his athletic, virile figure; muscular built, strong arms and broad chest. His hair are being messy in a way as if he has ran fingers in them.

He barely flinches. We settle into the living room. I pass out mugs of coffee with shaky hands. The two of them sit opposite each other like goddamn chess pieces. Dante, half-naked and still damp from the shower he took five minutes ago. Rafe, dressed like a funeral director and pretending to be normal. I perch on the edge of the couch. Watching. Waiting for one of them to explode. “So,” Rafe says. “How are you feeling, Dante?” Dante shrugs, slow. “Alive. Bit bored.”

The life that they’d wanted together went up in smoke, burned by his rage. How could he just act like all was right as rain, like nothing had happened? “So all he left out was the good morning kiss and the goodbye kiss?” “You find it strange too! I think the real Rafe was kidnapped by aliens and this guy is either a host or they gave him a lobotomy.”

Gab said, ending the call. Without thinking, Rafe barged into the room. Gab’s eyes widened in surprise, and before he could react, Rafe was on him, fists flying. Rafe’s punch landed square on Gab’s jaw, sending him stumbling backward. Gab retaliated, but Rafe was too quick. He dodged and landed another blow, this time to Gab’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him. The two struggled, Rafe’s adrenaline pushing him past the pain as he pummeled Gab into submission. With one final, powerful strike, Rafe drove Gab to the ground. His breath came in ragged gasps as he grabbed Gab by the collar, hauling him to his feet.