Chapter 507

Ariel doesn't come up once the dinner is served and Rafe scowls at her portion, growing cold on its plate.

God damn sisters. Why does she have to be so...willful, always pushing forward on her instincts, blurting things out or taking insane actions just because it "feels" right?

And what even is going on with her sudden complete trust of Tony? What the hell -

Inwardly, his wolf pauses Rafe's train of thoughts by giving his heart a lazy nudge with his snout. She's very rarely wrong, his wolf says, taking a deep, calm breath and letting his eyes drift shut. Just like mom. Stop getting so worked up about it and just trust her.

Even though he knows his wolf is right - that he should just trust Ariel and calm down - Rafe grits his teeth against this advice. Because...she's his little sister. If anything ever happened to her...

But he shakes the thought away, dismissing it, knowing it's not useful.

It just...it makes it so hard to protect her when Ariel's so chaotic - just flying by the seat of her pants. It was one thing last semester when Ari stuck close to him and Jesse, when they were able to take her under their wing a bit and make sure that she was safe. But now that she's getting more independence? In her own classes, with her own tutors - one of which an insane woman, at that – walking around the castle by herself?

Rafe exhales a deep sigh through his teeth, letting his head fall back against the chair.

"You all right, man?" Ben asks, looking at Rafe a little askance from his place on the couch as he works on some notes for a speech he has to give in a few days.

"What?" Rafe asks, opening his eyes, his word snappier than he means it to be.

“Oh, nothing,” Ben says, looking at him levelly. "I just noticed that you were grinding your teeth so hard that they might just crack. Or be worn down into a find sand. Not very useful, for a wolf."

Rafe stares at his friend for a second before huffing a laugh and dropping his forehead into his hand. "Am I that obvious?"

"Not to all. I am just...exceptionally perceptive and attuned to your every mood," Ben murmurs, smirking and turning back to his notebook.

Rafe laughs at this too, shaking his head, looking over at where Jesse and Luca are sitting on the floor with some books spread around them, Jesse teaching Luca some methods for using multiple sources in one research paper.

"Seriously, what's bugging you?" Ben murmurs, curious enough to invite conversation but passive enough to be brushed away if Rafe isn't in the mood for it. Rafe smiles a little, glancing over at Ben, appreciating again just how good he is at social situations.

"Just...worried about Ariel," Rafe replies on a sigh.

“Ah, your favorite hobby," Ben says, lifting his head. "She's good, Rafe. Seriously. You need to... let go a little bit. Relax. Try to calm down and concentrate instead of worrying about the thousand ways she could get murdered in the halls of this castle."

"You've only counted a thousand?" Rafe asks, dry, raising an eyebrow. "I'm up to twenty-five hundred."

Ben laughs and shakes his head, turning his attention back to the books. "You need to let off some steam, your highness," he murmurs. "Before you tear that armchair to pieces, the way you're clutching it."

Rafe looks down at his hands and sighs again when he sees that he is digging his fingers into the chair - way too tense after such a long day. And then, suddenly, he realizes that Ben is totally right.

That he does need to relax and take his mind off of things, and there is certainly one thing he'd rather be doing than sitting around worrying about his sister.

Rafe suddenly stands, grabbing Ariel's plate off the table and striding for the door with it in his hand.

“Wha-! Where are you going!?" Jesse's face is shocked as he calls after his cousin.

"I'll be back later," Rafe calls over his shoulder, not bothering to answer. "Don't wait up."

As the door slams behind him, Jesse's face falls, his skin going a little ashen.noveldrama

Because he's well aware that there's only one place that Rafe's likely to be heading at this hour, and it's not to the gym where Ariel is training with her new combat instructor.

The room is quiet for a long moment.

“Come on, man," Luca says, his voice kind and a little pitying as he reaches out and pats Jesse on the back. "Just...pay attention to this. You were really helping me."

Jesse scowls and takes a deep breath, glancing once into Luca's face before nodding and turning back to their studies. Downstairs in the bowls of the castle, Daphne tentatively peeks out of her door after hearing three smart raps on it.