When he pulled back, his forehead resting gently against mine, I breathed shakily. “Even if my wolf…even if she chooses someone else?” I asked, voice trembling slightly.
He shook his head, firm but soft. “Not if you don’t. You’re mine, Sera. But I won’t force your heart. Only you decide.”
A quiet, almost dizzying relief washed over me.
“I don’t know what the future holds,” I admitted, leaning against him. “But…right now, this is enough.”
“It is,” he said. “And you’ll have time. Time to awaken, to grow, to decide. I’ll be here.”
The soft scrape of rain against the glass, the gentle thrum of life outside, the warmth of Lucian beside me-it was a small, perfect world.
And for now, it was mine.
SERAPHINA’S POV
The next morning, I woke with a heaviness I couldn’t explain.
The light filtering through my curtains felt duller somehow, the colors washed out, as though someone had drawn a gray veil over the world.
At first, I thought it was exhaustion from the day before, or maybe I’d slept wrong.
But when I reached inward-the way I had done the night before, the way that had sparked everything into brilliance-I found nothing.
No heightened clarity.
No hum of connection.
No whisper of her.
My wolf was…gone.
A sick panic shot through me, cold and metallic. I sat up too quickly, breath shuddering in my throat.
“No, no, no,” I muttered, pressing my palms to my temples.
“This can’t be real, I thought frantically. ‘Maybe I’m not awake yet. Maybe this is the dream.
But the silence inside me was too absolute.
Yesterday the world had sharpened into crystalline detail, sounds layering like a hidden symphony.
Now, all I heard was the drone of a distant lawnmower and the ticking of the old clock by my bed.
It was as if someone had switched me back to human.
By the time I got to OTS, my hands wouldn’t stop trembling.
I went straight to the Moon Hall and demanded a meditation session with Ilsa.
She tried to guide me through breathing exercises, postures meant to center the wolf.
She called in one of the healers, Laurel, who set out herbs, their pungent scents crowding the small chamber
-sage, rosemary, crushed juniper.
Those fragrances were supposed to calm me, ease me into the state of mind to make the connection that had come so easily the day before.
They just stung my throat and eyes.
I closed my eyes and tried. Again and again.
I pulled air in and out of my lungs until I was dizzy, waiting for that shimmer of heightened sight, that delicate pull on my hearing. But each time I reached inward, I found only emptiness.
“Breathe slower, Sera,” Ilsa urged softly, her hand hovering near my shoulder but never quite touching. “Don’t chase it. Let it come.”
My voice cracked, frustration simmering through. “I did let it come. It was there yesterday. Why not now?”
Laurel added gently, “Sometimes the wolf stirs in fragments. A glimpse before the true awakening. Don’t despair. This isn’t uncommon.”
But I heard the hesitation in her voice. The pause between her words was too long, her smile stretched too thin. I snapped my eyes open and met her gaze. “You’ve never seen a case like mine before, have you?”
The silence was answer enough.
The frustration boiled up. I shot to my feet, the cushion I’d been sitting on toppling to the side.
“So it was just a dream? A cruel trick?” My throat tightened, despair bleeding into anger. “You don’t understand. I felt her. I know she was real.”
Lucian, who had been waiting outside the chamber, came in at the sound of my raised voice.
His presence usually steadied me, but today I only felt the weight of his disappointment-at them, at me, maybe at fate itself.
“Hey, Sera.” He came to stand beside me, his shoulder brushing mine. But the warmth and comfort I expected didn’t come, and it was all I could do not to move away from him.
“Ilsa, you promised progress,” he said flatly, disapproval clear as his gaze swept between Ilsa and Laurel.
DR an
“It’s not their fault,” I snapped, though part of me knew my anger wasn’t really for him. If anything, I was embarrassed.
He’d told me yesterday that what I felt was evidence of my wolf awakening. What did this mean now?
Evidence of her disappearance?
“At the end of the day, this is my battle to fight.” Even though it felt like I was already losing.
Lucian’s jaw tightened, but he held his tongue. He reached for my hand, but I pulled it back, shaking my head.”
I need air.”
“Then I’ll take you-“
“No,” I interrupted. “I need to be alone.”
Before he could protest, I slipped past him and out the door.
***
The forest welcomed me with its hushed canopy. Damp earth squelched beneath my sneakers, leaves whispering overhead.
I ran, half-blind with desperation, until my lungs burned. And then I screamed into the trees.
“Where are you?” My voice cracked, swallowed by the shadows. “Why did you come only to leave?”
Silence.
I tried again, softer this time, hands pressed against my ribcage as if I could coax her out. ‘Please. Please, I need you. Just one sign. A breath. Anything!’
But all I heard was the mocking echo of my own voice.
A sick thought slithered through me: ‘Maybe it was never real at all. Maybe it was nothing but my own wishful thinking!
I sank to the ground, knees digging into damp moss. My chest felt hollow, scraped raw.
I could train as hard as I could, but was it even worth it if I couldn’t reach the one part of me I so desperately longed for?
Maybe it was better when I’d been completely detached. At least then, I hadn’t known what I was missing.
But now…
Now, I knew what it was like. I knew how wonderful and fantastic and fucking amazing the connection could be.
And the idea of never achieving that in its fullness was like a knife carving at my heart.
A faint cry sliced through my haze of self-loathing and pity.
More Kickass Werewolf Reads
Dive into our collection of free werewolf romance novels—where fierce Alphas, daring heroines, and heart-stopping twists await. Every story burns with forbidden desire, loyalty, and destiny. Don’t wait—here’s a world where love bites hard and nothing is stronger than the call of the mate.
Leave a Reply