The kind that rings louder than any scream.
My pulse roared in my ears, adrenaline still coursing through my veins. The sting in my palm should have felt satisfying-justice for her vile threats-but it only left me feeling… empty.
Each encounter with Celeste since her return had been worse than the last. A disturbing escalation from petty jabs to outright warfare. And now she’d crossed the one line I’d never allowed anyone to cross-threatening to harm my son.
The realization hit me like a physical blow: Kieran chose this. He chose her. Either he was willfully blind to the monster she’d become, or worse-he simply didn’t care.
My good mood had dissipated, and I abandoned my baking project, instead grabbing a tub of ice cream and curling up in front of the couch.
I hoped mindless TV and sugar would take my mind off the altercation with Celeste, but half an hour later, my door burst open, and I knew that was a pipe dream.
Kieran stormed into the living room like a thundercloud, and I fought the urge to scream.
Why wouldn’t these two just leave me alone?
GIR
“You struck her?” His voice was dangerously quiet, the kind of calm that comes before a hurricane.
I set the melting carton aside with deliberate slowness, pausing Chandler’s sarcastic quip mid-sentence.
“Going to ask for my side?” I kept my voice level, though my fingers dug into the couch cushions.
His lip curled. “I know exactly what happened. Celeste came to you in good faith, seeking advice about Daniel-“
A bark of laughter escaped me. “Seeking advice? Is that what we’re calling threats now?”
“Enough!” His roar shook the windows. “Just admit the truth-you can’t stand the thought of her being his stepmother!”
I couldn’t believe my ears. The ice cream in my stomach curdled into acid.
“Marry her if you fucking want,” I hissed. “But if you or that bitch lay one finger on my son…” My voice dropped to a deadly whisper. “I will burn your entire world down, Kieran.”
He scoffed, advancing like a predator cornering prey. “You still don’t understand. You have no say. Because you…” His lips twisted. “You never mattered.”
My breath hitched, his words landing like a blow.
“You never did. Not when we got married, not when we lived together…” His gaze flicked to my lips, darkening. “Not even when we fucked.
“You were a mistake, Sera.” Venom dripped from every syllable. “If you hadn’t slithered into my room that night-if you hadn’t trapped me-Celeste would be Daniel’s mother. As she should have been.”
I searched his eyes desperately-for remorse, for the man I’d loved. Found only a void.
“It’s always been Celeste. Every time I touched you, I closed my eyes and pretended you were her. You were just… convenient.”
My palm cracked across his face before he finished, sending his face to the left. If I owned my wolf, his throat would have been torn out.
“You don’t get to rewrite history,” I rasped, hands shaking. “Not like this.”
Kieran’s head snapped back, but his expression hardened into something inhuman.
“Don’t I?” A cruel smirk. “You played the whore to get this marriage. Flaunted our sex life in
Celeste’s face. Did you think there wouldn’t be consequences?”
My palm cracked across his other cheek, the impact vibrating up my arm. The sting in my hand was nothing compared to the agony shredding my chest. Hot tears threatened, but I clenched my jaw-I’d be damned if I let him see me break.
“Out.” The word tore from my throat like shrapnel. “Now.”
Something flickered in his expression-too little, too late. With strength I didn’t know I had, I shoved him toward the door.
“Listen well, Kieran Blackthorne.” My voice was steel wrapped in shattered glass. “My only regret is ever loving you. That night with you? I’d have rather fucked a stranger.”
The door slammed on his stunned face.
When I was finally alone in the room, I unraveled.
I collapsed onto the carpet, banging my left knee on the coffee table on the way down. The pain that exploded was nothing compared to the agony piercing my heart.
Sobs ripped through me like bullets from a machine gun-rapid-fire, loud, ugly. I pressed my hands to my ears, trying to drown out Kieran’s words, but it was like applying a tourniquet to an arm after the poison had already reached the heart.
Why?
Every time I clawed my way forward-every time I tried to move on-they ripped me open again.
SERAPHINA’S POV
The training room clock had long since blurred into meaningless numbers. Hours?
Minutes? Time didn’t matter-only the burn in my muscles, the raw ache of my knuckles, the way my lungs screamed for air but got none.
Each jab carried Celeste’s sneer: “You’re not worth the effort.”
Every hook bore Kieran’s venom: “You never mattered.”
I hit harder. Faster. Letting the pain overwrite them like a virus corrupting old files.
If I stopped, even for a second, I’d hear them. I’d feel the stabbing agony of their words.
I couldn’t afford that. If I let the words sink in, they would take root. Grow branches. Vines.
Wrap around me and choke me from within-
“Damn, what did that poor dummy ever do to you?”
I startled, whipping around to find Maya by the door, just like she’d been the first day we met.
I was panting so hard, I couldn’t answer her, and that split second of distraction brought the venom back.
‘You were a mistake, Sera.’
I spun back around and continued to attack the sparring dummy. It didn’t have a face, but
Celeste’s and Kieran’s kept flashing on the blank canvas, and I hit even harder.
I didn’t know when Maya moved, but the next thing I knew, she had a firm grip on my wrist, pausing my swing.
“You’re going to break your wrists if you keep going like that,” she said. “And you’ll burn out.”
For a moment, I just stood there, fighting to catch my breath, debating whether struggling against her when I knew I was going to lose was worth it.
Finally, I staggered back, and Maya released me as I slumped down to the mat.
She sank, too, with a lot more grace than I could ever muster. She wordlessly handed me a water bottle.
The sound of me greedily chugging the contents of the bottle filled the room, and when I was done, I felt slightly better.
‘Every time I touched you, I pretended you were her.’
I closed my eyes, fighting the urge to scream. Anything to drown out the fucking noise.
“Come on.” I looked up to see that Maya was standing again. She had a hand stretched out to me. “We’re getting a drink.”
I shook my head. “I’m not in the mood.”
She crouched, her brown eyes pinning me. “When your trainer tells you to do something, what is your reply?”
I rolled my eyes, remembering the first rule she drilled into me during our first session.
“Maya, this isn’t-“
“What. Is. Your. Reply?”
I sighed. “Yes, Miss Cartridge.”
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