Chapter 47
Hours passed between them in silence and
Rafael was finally coming down from the high.
The battle had burned through him like wildfire very hot, blinding, all-consuming
and now, in its wake, there was only the slow, heavy ache settling into his bones.
Muscles that had carried him through violence now throbbed in protest. His lungs felt too big for his chest, his heartbeat no longer thunderous but uneven, dragging.
The victory was real. He had chased Siluren off. That mattered. Siluren would not return to harass them, not now, not openly.
It should have been enough.
But the ecstasy he had felt when the challenge ended when the forest had echoed with his howl, when the pack had roared his name was thinning, bleeding away like warmth from cooling metal.
In its place came exhaustion, and something quieter. Something heavier and unpleasant.
So he clung to Julian.
They lay together on the bed in their bedroom,
