Raphael’s POV
I couldn’t stand the smell of my own room anymore.
It was wrong.
Everything was wrong.
The walls were too close. The air was stale, like wet fur left to rot in the sun. My wolf kept pacing under my skin, claws dragging down my bones. I felt it in my teeth, that itch to bite, tear, crush. But I didn’t move. My body felt like it was made of stone and sickness.
The fever came and went. One hour I was burning, the next I was shivering so bad my teeth knocked together. The healers said it was just exhaustion. I knew it wasn’t.
It was her.
I kept seeing her in my sleep, except it wasn’t her. No face. Just a woman standing in the dark, crying like her whole world had been gutted. Her hair hung in wet ropes. Her hands shook. I tried to step closer, but the air turned thick as
