Rafe’s fierce protectiveness of what was his was innate. He didn’t second-guess himself any more than a wild stallion second-guesses himself about his actions in defense of his herd. He didn’t suffer doubts any more than an alpha wolf suffers doubts about decisions made regarding the safety of his pack. Neither did he consider himself heroic for behavior that was simply as natural to him as breathing. Regardless of what Miss Dee thought of him, being responsible for his followers had been the central fact of his existence since he was a small child when his kingdom only consisted of his sister, Lane, and his German Shepherd, Raven.
Cam had asked him once if he ever got tired of always being the sentry? Didn’t being perpetually on the alert for danger sometimes become exhausting?
“No,” his father answered, “that’s not the way it is. The rooster never asks one of the hens to crow in the morning so he can sleep late because crowing at dawn isn’t what a rooster does, it’s who he is.”