I smiled. “Nothing that intense-not yet, at least, but… yes.”
The pride that shone in his eyes made every sore muscle worth it.
“That’s amazing, Mom. I’m proud of you.” He beamed. “I wish I could grow up faster so we could train together and I could protect you.”
“Oh, baby.” I pulled him to me again, and this time, he was careful not to hold me too tightly.
He truly was the greatest thing that had ever happened to me. I swore then and there that no matter how hard it was, no matter how much my weak body ached afterward, I would keep training. I would grow stronger and be the kind of mother my son could be proud of.
***
A week later, the only thing keeping me from rescinding my vow was Daniel’s proud smile every time I came home bruised and aching.
Every day after dropping Daniel off at school, I headed straight to OTS headquarters, where Lucian, the sadistic bastard, devised innovative new ways to make me hate my life.
When Leona and Christian asked to take Daniel camping on Sunday, I agreed wholeheartedly. I canceled training for the day and spent the morning giving my poor, abused body the rest it deserved.
So you can imagine how utterly pissed I was when the insistent ringing of the doorbell interrupted my precious, delicious sleep and forced me to drag myself out of bed.
“I’m coming, fuck!” I muttered angrily as I trudged to the door, tying my robe haphazardly around my waist.
My hair looked like an abandoned raccoon’s nest, and my breath stank to high heaven. I was hunched over, wincing with every step. I didn’t mind, though.
Whatever asshole at the other side of the door deserved to have their eyes assaulted by my gruesome appearance as punishment for desecrating the sanctity of my rest day.
When I opened the door, however, I immediately regretted my decision. I should have taken a shower, waxed, blow-dried my hair, and put on a full face of makeup.
Because even on my best days, I already paled in comparison to her. I didn’t need to give her more of a leg up.
Celeste.
SERAPHINA’S POV
It took every ounce of dignity and self-respect I had not to cower and shrink under the cold disdain in Celeste’s eyes as they roamed over my body, her glossy lips twisting in disgust.
“Wow, Sera,” she sneered, shaking her head. “What the hell was I worried about?” she said, almost to herself.
I folded my arms, bracing them around me like they could shield me from the interaction to come.
“What can I do for you, Celeste?” I asked, my voice measured, flat.
She cocked her head. “You’re not going to invite your little sister into your new home? How is life as a divorc?e, by the way?”
I clenched my jaw, bracing my feet at the doorway. “It’s my rest day, Celeste. You interrupted a fabulous nap, and I’m sure you didn’t come all this way to sneer and wrinkle your nose. So, what do you want?”
“I wonder about it a lot, you know?” she said.
I frowned. “What?”
“What could you have possibly done to trick Kieran into bed with you that night? How did someone as fundamentally unattractive as you pull that off? How much did you fuck with his brain that he lost all common sense?”
I closed my eyes, breathing through my nose. I was so not in the fucking mood for this.
“Goodbye, Celeste.”
I grabbed the door and tried to close it, but Celeste braced her foot between the door and the frame.
“Stay away from him,” she hissed.
I looked up at her. “Who?”
“Kieran,” she spat. “Who else?”
I sighed. I was way too tired and sleepy for this bullshit. “In case you didn’t get the memo upon your return, Celeste, Kieran and I are divorced. Surely, he mentioned that to you.”
“And yet, you’re still going around, shamelessly seducing him like the slut you are.”
I froze, waking up a little. “Excuse me?”
Celeste’s face morphed into something ugly and vicious. “He came back to the training room covered in your stink. You thought I wouldn’t find out that you’re still thirsting after my man?”
The sheer absurdity of her accusation left me momentarily speechless. Kieran had tried to kiss me, and somehow, I was the villain?
“He left you, Sera,” Celeste continued, each word a sharp-edged blade designed to cut.
“He never wanted you ten years ago, and he doesn’t fucking want you now. Look at you and look at me-do you really think he’d choose an ugly, wolfless slut over me, the woman of his dreams?”
She stepped closer, and her jasmine perfume wrapped around me like a poisonous fog.
“You’re nothing, Seraphina,” she hissed. “Do you hear me? Nothing.”
“You have no wolf, no job, and now, no husband. You will never amount to anything.”
“Your destiny is to sit on the sidelines forever and watch me rightfully take my place-as
Kieran’s mate, his wife, his Luna”
I’d be lying if I said those words of hers didn’t sting me deeply. I’d spent a lifetime hearing these.
Wolfless. Weak. Unworthy.
Decades trying to outrun it. But after that night, I became a sinner forever. Never deserving of any mercy.
I’d groveled for scraps of their approval. Played the obedient wife. Swallowed all the accusations. Even voluntarily walked away from my marriage, thinking distance might dull the ache.
But none of it mattered.
Here stood my sister, on my doorstep, oozing that same venomous smile she’d worn when she’d “accidentally” exposed my lack of a wolf to the entire pack.
Memory fragments burned behind my eyelids:
*Mother turning away as the pack youths “tripped” me into mud;
*Father’s dismissive snort when I begged for training;
*Ethan’s indifferent eyes when his friends cornered me in the woods;
*Celeste’s laughter when her minions pulled my hair hard…
Leaning against the doorframe, I squeezed my eyes shut. The ugly darkness I’d kept caged for years rattled its chains.
Why was I always the one begging? What sick part of me kept letting them win?
Years of fury, humiliation, and swallowed pain erupted in a single breath. When my eyes snapped open, I gave a dark smirk at her.
“You’re right,” I said sweetly. “You’re his dream woman. And yet…” I let my smirk sharpen as I went in for the kill. “For ten years, it was my bed he came to, not yours.”
The effect was instantaneous. Celeste flinched like I’d slapped her-I considered doing that too, but my arms ached too damn much.
“The trick I played must have been a damn good one,” I continued, enjoying the way she seemed to crystallize on my doorstep. “I must have fucked with his brain so good, he couldn’t go a day without fucking me.”
The look in her eyes-horror and disgust-didn’t hold me back but stoked the darkness inside. I tilted my head. “Tell me, have you two even slept together yet?”
Her flawless porcelain features cracked. I smiled more evilly. “So that means you don’t know about the adorable little birthmark on his left butt cheek. Or the way his voice breaks when he-“
“You bitch!” Celeste seethed, and I could almost imagine steam coming out of her ears.
I cocked my head. “What’s wrong? Can’t handle the truth? Ten years is a long time, Celeste.
You’d be surprised what can happen in a decade-“
“Shut up, you vicious bitch!” She clapped her hands over her ears, tears spilling down her perfectly contoured cheeks. “How dare you?! You stole those ten years from us! This is all your fault!”
The way she sobbed-raw, ugly, childish-suddenly reminded me of her as a newborn. How she’d wailed until I rocked her to sleep in the nursery, her tiny fingers clutching mine. How I’d sneak her extra desserts when Mother wasn’t looking. There was a time I’d have burned the world for her.
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