THE LOVE OF A LYCAN

235 RAINE'S REGRE

"No… Torak… That is not what I meant." Raine was afraid when Torak put down his hands and stood there, staring at her impassively.

Her heart was beating fast as she watched the way Torak looked at her. His blue eyes were filled with discontent.

Torak had never looked at her that way before and this scared Raine.?She stumbled forward and clutched onto his front shirt.

"No, Torak… I didn't mean to stand up for him…" Raine tried to explain herself, but in her panic state her words failed her.

On the other hand, Torak didn't reject her touch, but he didn't reciprocate with the same warmth that he always offered her before.

"You just arrived home.?You must be tired, rest first." Torak said in a flat tone.?The disappointment in his eyes had disappeared and Torak stared at Raine emotionlessly.

???No, I don't want to rest… please listen to me." Raine pleaded.?She felt her fear well up in her heart, seeing the way that Torak was treating her.

"Later Raine, we will talk about this later." Torak pried her fingers from his front shirt, and then he went back to his seat behind his working desk, busying himself with his paperwork.

Raine's body was trembling.?She bit her lips.

Later Raine…

Torak called her by her name instead of using endearment words such as my love or angel, like he always did.

Just how upset was he towards her?

Raine didn't dare approach Torak because he looked so distant.

She clutched the strap of her backpack tightly as she stood there at the same spot for more than fifteen minutes without getting his attention at all.

Torak ignored her.

Fighting back her tears, Raine finally gathered her courage to say in a voice that was barely a whisper, "I will cook something for us.?Let's have dinner together."

After saying that, Raine sprinted out from Torak's study room.?She was afraid to hear his rejection.

If he rejected her, she was pretty sure that she would cry, embarrass herself thoroughly and show him how weak she was.

The lycanthropes hated weak creatures.

That sentence kept repeating in her head as Raine headed to the kitchen and busied herself, preparing food for their dinner.

Would he hate her?

==============

Crack!

The glass in Torak's hand shattered into pieces under the pressure, along with drop after drop of blood that stained the carpet at his feet.

He was very disappointed to say the least.

After Raine went out of the room, he couldn't help but do something to release some steam.

What on earth was his mate thinking, begging for another man's life to him?

Torak couldn't stand it.?His blood boiled in anger.

And the worst part of it was that man was the same person who had been tied to Raine when she was at the village of angel.

Torak understood very well how atrocious that tradition that was rooted in that village was. He couldn't be more relieved and grateful when he learned that Raine had not united with that shadow warrior.

But that nasty creature kept pestering his mate and now he had appeared in front of her.

If it wasn't because Torak's man had stopped him in time, he probably would have taken Raine away.?After all, there was no way his mate could fight him.

Torak had been worn out enough thinking about Raine's safety while keeping her oblivious to how the world had been trying to attack her.

However, now she had asked him not to hurt that man who, obviously, would take her away at the first opportunity given him.

How could Torak stand hearing his mate speak for another man?

[Ralph, is Serefina's condition showing progress?] Torak mind linked his Beta.

[No, she is still unconscious.] Raphael replied almost immediately. [Belinda had checked on her this afternoon, but there is nothing much she could do.] He said regretfully.

Belinda wasn't as strong as her half-sister, thus it was out of her ability to fix Serefina's condition.

Torak opened his palm that was covered with blood, but his wound had healed.?He contemplated for a while before he spoke again.

[Meet me at the porch.]

==============

"Did you cook this for me?" Calleb entered the kitchen and watched as Raine meticulously prepared two plates of curry rice and a few side dishes.

Raine didn't answer Calleb's rhetorical question.?She just kept busying herself with preparing the food.

"Because if you prepared this for Torak, he will not eat it." Calleb said, biting his tongue while waiting for Raine's reaction.

Raine stopped abruptly and looked at Calleb without saying a word, asking for explanation with her anxious eyes.

"He went outside ten minutes ago." Calleb stated. "From what the Alpha and Raphael were discussing, they will not come back until tomorrow."

Raine dropped the bowl that was in her hands.?It clunked against the table with a loud noise before she dashed out of the kitchen and went to Torak's study room.

She pushed open the door forcefully and saw no one there.

Fifteen minutes ago, Torak was still sitting behind the desk, ignoring her while checking some documents, but now he was nowhere to be seen.

"Raine, what happened to both of you?" Calleb's worried voice sounded from behind her as he walked closer.

Raine stood rooted on the spot, trembling. "Where is he?"

"I don't know exactly where he went, but this is something related to Serefina." Calleb replied as he rubbed Raine's head. "Did both of you fight?"

Calleb's touch on her head reminded her of the way Torak always doted on her. It was similar, but also different because Calleb wasn't Torak.

"I disappointed him…" Raine whispered, hiding her teary eyes behind her hair that fell on the side of her face as she lowered her head.

"Don't worry, he will be fine in a few days… just give him some time alone." Calleb knew about the shadow warrior who had come to meet Raine this afternoon and watched how his Alpha turned extremely mad at the news.

But the Gamma was clueless about why Torak fought with Raine. The Alpha treasured his mate the most and this abrupt change puzzled him.

Seeing Raine now, he wasn't sure if this was the right time to ask her about what had happened.

"Get some rest first.?I will ask someone to bring something for you to eat." Calleb suggested.?Raine had just returned.?She must be feeling tired.

"Hmm." Raine hummed.?She walked past Calleb without lifting her head, looking so dejected.

"Tsk, what happened to them?" Calleb clicked his tongue in annoyance when he heard the dull sound of a door being closed. He didn't like this kind of atmosphere.

==============

The time was already past midnight and the sound of the howling wind and rustling leaves could be heard from the balcony.

Raine couldn't close her eyes despite the tiredness that she felt.?The bed was so big and it was empty and cold without Torak.

Slowly, she pulled out her phone and slightly narrowed her eyes against the light from the screen.

All of her messages have not yet been delivered since she sent them six hours ago and when she tried to call Torak's number, she was notified that the number was out of reach.

Raine tried to call Raphael, but he didn't pick up her call no matter how many times she punched the redial button.

[Torak, where are you? I am sorry… can we talk?] Raine sent the message even though she knew it couldn't reach him for now.

She sat down and hugged her legs while resting her chin on her knees, staring at the dark starry night outside through the double doors to the balcony.

Raine felt sorrowful.

She had to admit that her words had offended him, but she didn't mean to stand against him and speak for Aeon, yet at the same time Raine didn't want Torak to hurt Aeon, too.

Aeon had saved her life more than twice already.?Of course Raine felt grateful to him because of that. That was what Raine wanted to tell Torak, but he didn't want to listen to her explanation.

Raine felt there was a hollow in her heart.

==============

Tonight Raine didn't sleep at all until the sun rose and the first ray of light gradually illuminated the room.

When it was eight in the morning, Raine lethargically walked towards the bathroom and freshened up, preparing to go to school.

She hoped that by this time, Torak's anger had faded and he would call her.?But even after she was ready to go, her messages still had not yet been delivered.

Maybe this afternoon.

Raine consoled herself, trying to cheer herself up, but failing miserably.

The way she dressed up today really represented her feeling.?She was wearing a black shirt under her zipped up black jacket and dark jeans. There was no vibrant color on her whatsoever.

With her face free from make-up and with her tired eyes as a result of her sleepless night, her looks was dull at best.?She looked and felt terrible.

The moment Calleb saw her, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. It took only a single night for Raine's condition to turn from worse to horrendous.

"Raine, are you alright?" Before the door closed, Calleb glanced at the room and caught a glimpse of a tray still filled with food which was sent last night. Apparently she didn't touch her food at all.

"Hmm." Raine nodded absentmindedly.

"Where are you going?" Calleb asked softly.

How could Torak make his mate suffer like this? Did Torak know Raine's current condition??Those questions flew from Calleb's mind.

"School…" Raine replied ever so softly.

Calleb had to take a deep breath when he heard that.?He hated this kind of situation and, moreover, Raine's retrogression.

"I am sorry Raine, but Torak didn't allow you to go anywhere today…" Calleb informed her carefully.

Raine lifted her head up and looked at Calleb with sorrowful eyes.?It took sometime before she could force a question out of her lips. "Why?"

Yet, before Calleb could answer her, Raine had already known the answer.

Torak had told her.

Torak didn't allow her to go to school until Serefina's condition got better so she could do something about the shadow warrior.

Or maybe, until Torak got his hand on Aeon and finish him off, so he wouldn't be a threat or an obstacle anymore.

It was only a matter of time until one of the two options occurred.?The second option bothered Raine the most.

"Torak called you?" The light on Raine's eyes dimmed when she asked this question. She had been trying to reach him the whole night, but Torak didn't return her call.

"No," Calleb shook his head immediately. "Raphael sent me a text message last night when you just went into your room. But afterwards, neither the Alpha nor Raphael could be reached." He said truthfully.

Raine sighed deeply and tiredly.?She thought that Torak particularly didn't want to be contacted by her.

"You do not look well.?Why don't you rest for today?" Calleb suggested as he opened Raine's bedroom door. "The Alpha's judgment now is clouded by his temper.?He will be back in due time, just give him a little bit more space and then he will come to you."

Raine bit her lips. "Really? He doesn't hate me?" She asked in a pitiful voice.

"Of course not.?His temper is not always good, but he definitely will not hate you." The sound of Calleb's voice was so convincing, but Raine had another theory.

"Because of the mate bond." Raine stated and this particular issue resurfaced again, shaking her to the core.

"Raine, don't say something like that. You seem to resent the mate bond…" Calleb grimaced. He didn't quite understand this thing because he hadn't gone through it yet, thus he couldn't fathom the exact feeling of having a mate.

Yes, at this point, Raine disliked the fact that the mate bond between her and Torak was the only thing that kept him by her side. It almost feels like all of his kindness and overprotectiveness were not real.

It was as if Torak was only obliged to treat her well because of the mate bond.

Now the old issue came up again in this situation.?Raine couldn't lie to herself that she liked the idea that their relationship was based on the mate bond between them.

"I will take a rest." Raine didn't want to talk about this with Calleb nor did she want to talk about anything to anyone. She needed some time alone, too.

Raine closed the door, slid down and leaned her tired back against it.

Why did this happen so fast? The day before yesterday, Torak and she were still sharing stories about how their day went. Torak still teased her whenever he had a chance.

But now, because of her request last night, Torak got angry and ignored her completely. He didn't even want to listen to her explanation.

Raine wanted to say that she was not pleading for Aeon nor taking his side.?She just wanted Torak to know that Aeon had saved her life and it was against everything she believed to repay him by hurting him.

It was mere gratitude, yet Torak didn't want to understand that.

Raine believed him when Torak said he would kill him.?After all, he had tried to when Aeon came to meet her in this room, although it wasn't the real him that Torak had destroyed at that time.?But Torak wouldn???t bat his eyes to do it again, whether the Aeon that he would face was real or fake.

Raine was also irritated at Aeon.?If it wasn't because of him, she wouldn't have had this fight with Torak.

Why did he come to meet her?

Raine stayed in the same position for the entire afternoon and skipped her breakfast and lunch altogether, ignoring Calleb who tried to persuade her to open the door.

==============

"Torak, don't you want to call Raine before we leave?" Raphael's brows creased at the Alpha's stubbornness. "I know you are upset because Luna had pleaded for another man to you, but I think she didn't mean it that way."

Torak stared at Serefina who was still lying on the bed, unconscious, but in Belinda's care, the color of her skin had returned a bit. She didn't look as pale as sheet anymore.

"I don't like her pleading for others, especially for that man who harbored feelings for her." Torak's eyes turned black as he tried to keep his beast at bay.?Thinking about it made his blood boil in anger.

"Torak, you know Raine.?Unlike us, she has a soft heart. Even if it wasn't the shadow warrior and it was someone else, she would plead for the same thing." Raphael tried to make Torak see a different point of view.

Yet Raphael couldn't blame Torak for reacting that way.

No one knew except him and Calleb how hard Torak had tried to keep Raine safe and how far the extent of his effort was to make sure that Raine could have the normal life that she had always wanted, knowing that the last eight years of her life was nothing but miserable and filled with chaos.

Even now, when he was still disappointed at his mate, he still thought about how to keep her away from any possible harm no matter how insignificant it was.?Torak didn't slack off when it came to his mate and her safety.

"I don't like her to plead for anyone, not even for me. I don't want her to stoop that low.?She has to live with pride and never bow her head." Torak stated firmly.

Torak was coming from the point of view of a royal blood of Lycanthropes, hence, even after centuries, the way he lived his life and the pride he bears as a high- born still had not diminished.

Pleading was taboo for him, so it was no wonder that he expected the same thing of his mate.?But the situation was quite complicated.

"Torak, Raine still needs time to meet your expectation.?She just recovered from her trauma and had just started her new life." Raphael said. "Give her some time to adjust.?She is human and on top of that, she has the spirit of a guardian angel.?It is in her nature to go against any kind of violence."

Torak sighed deeply.?Maybe his reaction was out of proportion, but the mention of Aeon's name was enough to irritate him.?However, he didn't respond to Raphael's words and just walked out of the room after saying that they needed to go now.

"Torak, are you sure you don't want to call Raine?" Raphael held out his phone and was about to give it to Torak, since Torak's phone had ran out of battery since last night and he didn't even want to recharge it.

Torak halted his step and replied casually. "We will go back as soon as possible.?She will be fine, Calleb is there."

Raphael sighed.?He looked at the many messages and calls from Raine since last night.?Torak had told him not to reply to any of those, so Raphael could only oblige his Alpha's command regretfully.

But in the end, he texted a short message to Raine before he left to follow Torak.

[There is an important problem that had arisen.?Don't worry.?Torak will return soon.] Raphael thought that would be enough, and so he sent it.

==============

Raine was awakened by the sound of her phone's notification of a received massage.?She wrinkled her brows as she felt slightly lightheaded.

It was a text from Sunny, asking her where she was and why she wasn't at the campus.

Raine's body ached from staying in the same position for a long time.?She straightened her body and felt relieved at the cracking sound of her back.?Afterwards, she stood up clumsily and walked towards the sofa near the window.

When she glanced at the clock, it was already one thirty in the afternoon.?It meant that she had been sitting on the floor behind the closed door for more than four hours.?No wonder her body felt like it would split into two the moment she moved.

Raine didn't reply to Sunny's text.?It wasn't her message that she wanted to receive.

Once again, Raine checked on her messages for Torak and in dismay, noted that it was still undelivered.

But then her screen flashed, displaying a notification that she received another message.?It was from Raphael.?Raine abruptly sat down and opened the message eagerly.

It was only a short text that said there was another matter that Torak needed to handle and he would return soon.

But the text didn't explain why Torak's phone was shut down or why Raphael didn't pick up her call.

Almost immediately after she read the message, Raine called Raphael's number, but the number that she called could not be reached.

What happened to both of them? Why were their phones shut down?

"Raine, are you there? Let's have lunch together." Calleb knocked at the door noisily. "Come out, it is very boring here without you!" He tried to cheer her up by joking around as if nothing happened.

Raine appreciated his effort and stood up from the sofa to open the door.

"You scared me with your look!!!" Calleb exclaimed, teasing her. "Let's get some food, so you can replenish all the tears that you had squeezed out."

Calleb grabbed her shoulder and pushed her out of her room and towards the kitchen to get some food.

Once they were inside the kitchen, Calleb immediately served Raine sumptuous seafood dishes and made sure to put each one of them into Raine's plate, regardless of whether she would eat it or not.

"Raphael texted me…" Raine said as she put a spoonful of rice into her mouth.?It tasted like sand though.

"See? I told you.?Torak will inform you about his whereabouts." Calleb took this opportunity to soothe her.

"It was Raphael, not Torak." Raine frowned.

"It's the same.?The Alpha has his temper too, but he still cares about you." Calleb said rightfully, without knowing the truth.

Torak indeed cared about Raine, but he didn't ask Raphael to send that message.

Raine sighed.?Her head throbbed painfully. She didn't know that Torak's rejection could affect her so much like this.

She was used to relying on him and being pampered by him, hence when he didn't even want to be touched by her, it shook Raine deeply.

"He doesn't care about me…" Raine said sullenly.?A tear escaped her eyes as she tried to swallow her food.

"Easy there…" Calleb gave Raine a glass of water and patted her head. "Now tell me, what did you say that angered him?"

Raine bit her lips and sniffled. "He misunderstood me…" Raine rubbed her face harshly to fight back the tears. "He thought I was defending Aeon… but I wasn't." She shook her head to emphasize her words.

"And then?" Calleb prodded.

"I asked him not to harm Aeon because he had saved my life more than twice.?Of course I can't repay him by having Torak kill him…" Raine said between her sobs. "But, Torak misunderstood me…"

Calleb sighed again.?Knowing his Alpha for years, that would most likely be his reaction when he hears his mate mention another man's name.

"Well, Torak indeed has misunderstood you." Calleb patted Raine's head. "He is throwing his temper now. You are not to be blamed for this."

Raine lifted her head and looked at Calleb with teary eyes, her pale face and her red eyes were evidences that this matter not only bothered her, but also aggravated her doubt of the mate bond between them.

Calleb had heard that the mate bond only affected Torak, so Raine didn't feel its pull.?But seeing how she cried her eyes out now, Calleb didn't think she would need the mate bond at all.?She had fallen helplessly for Torak.

It was understandable.?After all, humans were creatures filled with emotions and once you touched their soft spot, most of the time, they would use their heart over their head.

Meanwhile Lycanthropes and the other supernatural creatures have their own nature and unique trait too.

"But, Raine… Lycanthropes are the most territorial among all of the supernatural creatures.?We will defend what belongs to us until our last breath and this trait is felt most when it comes to our mate. Not to mention you were talking about another man, even if someone from our pack stares at you and harbors an ill intent, the Alpha wouldn't think twice before ending his life."

Calleb wanted Raine to know and understand their nature too, otherwise it would be hard for her to keep up with them, especially as she would be the Luna of the pack.

Though Calleb didn't put his concern on this, at the very least, he wanted Raine to know her position in the largest pack, where Torak leads thousands of lycanthropes and werewolves along with some other creatures.

"You knew this." Calleb held Raine's eyes as he spoke seriously. "It happened when a lycan harassed you months ago."

Raine remembered that, how could she not? The first moment when she witnessed with her own eyes how ferocious Torak's beast was and how he wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone that got in his way.

"But Raine… you have to know also that the Alpha always has a soft spot for you." Calleb pursed his lips playfully as if he didn't agree with what he was going to say. "Torak has moved out of his territory for you.?He didn't kill the witch despite all that she had said and done because she is still useful to you."

Calleb then leaned his back against the backrest of the chair.

"Whether it is because of the mate bond or not, his love for you is real."