I wiped down the counter with more force than necessary, trying to scrub away the twist in my chest, the heat rising up my throat. My pulse thudded behind my ears.
My wolf paced, sharp claws scraping just beneath my skin. Restless. Uneasy. Hurt.
Then I heard the soft creak of the back entrance opening. The door we all used when we didn’t want to make a scene. Rafael.
I didn’t turn. Not right away. I pressed the rag harder into the counter like I could will myself calm. One breath. Then another, but it didn’t help.
I knew the moment I met his eyes, I’d either yell… or fall apart. And I didn’t know which one scared me more.
“You found Avery,” I said finally, still facing the counter. My voice came out quieter than I meant it to. Too calm. A dangerous kind of calm.
Behind me, I heard the soft thump of his boots on tile. Hesitant. Not his usual purposeful stride.
Questions swirled in my head. Didn’t Rafael trust me? Didn’t Callum? Why exclude me from this? I forced myself to breathe in out.
When that didn’t work, I silently counted to ten in my head and forced myself to calm down.
Starting the conversation with me hurling accusations at my grumpy bear made me seem immature…and this was Rafael. He deserved better.
“Yeah,” he said. “We found him.”
“And?” I turned slowly, every muscle stiff. “You went without me.”
He looked like he’d expected this. Shoulders squared but tense. Jaw clenched like he’d been grinding his teeth all the way back to town.
Seeing how guilty he looked eased my anger a little.
“It was safer that way,” he said.
“Safer?” I let out a quiet, bitter laugh, but there was no humor in it.
I continued, “You went into a confrontation with a predator who’s been threatening me for months, and you thought excluding me was the best move?”
“James—”
“No,” I snapped, stepping forward, my hands curling into fists at my sides. “I get it, okay? You were trying to protect me. You and Callum and Beau and everyone else, like I’m some helpless little wolf who can’t fight his own battles. But this?”
I thumped a hand against my chest. “This is my mess. My brother’s debt. My name Avery’s been using to string me along like some scared little pawn. You think I wouldn’t want to be there when it finally ended?”
Rafael moved closer, eyes locked on mine.
“I didn’t say that,” he said, voice low and rough. “I knew you’d want to be there. That’s exactly why we didn’t tell you.”
His honesty slammed into me like a punch. Sharp and unapologetic. I looked away, jaw clenched tight. The brief calm I felt earlier was gone.
“You don’t get to make those choices for me,” I whispered.
“I know.” His voice softened, earnest. “I know, and I’m sorry. But if something had gone wrong in there. If Avery had made a move, if it had escalated, and you were there, I don’t know if I could’ve?—”
He stopped, shook his head once. “I couldn’t live with that.”
The room went quiet again, the kind of quiet that buzzed behind your eyes and filled your chest with heat and ache.
He ran a hand through his hair and looked at me like I was a secret he wasn’t sure he had the right to keep.
“I didn’t do it to cut you out,” he said. “I did it because I care.”
That cracked something inside me. I looked at him.
