What made him special was that he didn’t give up. Even when he didn’t have a pack, even when everyone thought he was nothing, he proved them wrong.”
His little hand came up, pressing to his chest. “You always tell me that heroes aren’t the strongest ones- they’re the ones who refuse to quit. And, Mom…” His voice cracked with emotion. “That’s you. You’re already my hero.”
My breath caught.
The screen shimmered as tears spilled freely down my checks, but I didn’t bother wiping them away. My son, my Daniel-he was so much stronger, wiser, than I had ever been at his age.
I forced a smile through the sob lodged in my throat. “Oh, my sweet boy…”
“Don’t cry, Mom!” He scrambled, panicked by my tears. “I didn’t mean to make you sad-“
“I’m not sad,” I interrupted gently, shaking my head. “These are happy tears. You just…you don’t know how much your words mean to me.”
Daniel relaxed, giving me a sheepish grin. “Well, good. Because it’s true. You’re the one teaching me what it means to never give up. You’re already stronger than most wolves, even if they don’t see it.”
I touched the screen, as though I could reach through and hold his face. “I love you, Daniel. More than anything in this world.”
“I love you too, Mom,” he said without hesitation.
When the call ended, I sat for a long moment in silence, the tears drying on my cheeks.
Daniel’s words lingered, wrapping around me like armor. ‘You’re already my hero.’
I realized then that I had let one man’s rejection, one pack’s scorn, define me for far too long.
I wasn’t worthless.
I wasn’t weak.
And I would not let anyone-rogues, packs, or even my own self-doubt-steal from me the truth that my son had already seen.
By the next morning, the fire in me had reignited.
When I stepped back onto the sparring mats with Maya, I wasn’t the same Sera who had hesitated, who had pulled her punches for fear of being inadequate.
Maya circled me, her smirk sharp, eyes glittering with challenge. “Come on, Sera. You’re still moving like you’re afraid to break something. You want to survive the trial? You want to stand up to Jessica? You’ll need more than careful footwork.”
Her words stung, but I knew she wasn’t wrong. My stance was tight, cautious, as though every shift in balance might send me crashing down.
Sweat dampened my hairline, trickling into my eyes. We were in the Arena today, and the cold walls echoed with the scuff of our boots and the dull thud of bodies sparring in the nearby mats.
“Loosen up,” Maya barked, darting in with a quick feint toward my ribs. I flinched, raising my guard too high, and she chuckled under her breath. “Predictable.”
Heat flared in my cheeks-gods, she was annoying as my trainer.
I pivoted on my heel, trying to anticipate her next strike, but she was faster-always faster.
She ducked low, sweeping at my legs. I stumbled back, barely catching my balance before she pressed forward again, jabbing lightly at my shoulder. Not enough to hurt, but enough to humiliate.
Gods, I wished we were training in private.
“What did I say about silencing that voice, Sera? You’re thinking too much,” she taunted, her movements light, predatory. “Every step, every swing-you hesitate. You gonna hesitate when someone’s trying to tear your throat out?”
My chest heaved as I adjusted my footing, anger pushing at the edges of my restraint. She wanted me to snap, I realized. She wanted me to stop holding back.
Maya lunged again, this time aiming for my midsection.
Instinct overrode doubt-I twisted sideways, her strike grazing past me, and brought my arm up in a block that jarred my entire shoulder.
My breath caught, but for the first time, I hadn’t flinched.
“Better,” she muttered, circling again. Her grin widened, feral and approving. “But not enough.”
EIT
Something in me shifted. I stopped hearing the shuffle of others training, stopped caring about whether I looked clumsy or too slow.
All that existed was Maya, the rhythm of her feet, the fire in her eyes daring me to rise higher.
I gritted my teeth, stepped in hard, and for once, I didn’t second-guess the motion. My fist drove forward, cutting through the space between us and connecting squarely with her jaw. A solid thud reverberated through my knuckles, sharp and satisfying, like striking through stone that had long blocked my path.
Maya staggered back, eyes wide with shock.
For a heartbeat, I froze, horrified. “Shit. Maya, I-I didn’t mean-“
But then she laughed. A full, throaty laugh that I’m sure everyone in the Arena heard.
“Well, well!” she said, rubbing her jaw with a grin. “That’s what I’m fucking talking about!”
Heat flared in my cheeks, but pride curled in my chest.
She hopped giddily and pulled me into a hug, instantly switching to best friend mode. “Yes, babe, yes!”
She pulled away, holding me at arm’s length. “If you keep this up, Sera, you’re going to crush the trial-and
Jessica’s stupid face. What have I been telling you? You’ve got more in you than you realize.”
Her words struck a chord, not unlike Daniel’s.
And the more I heard them, the more I believed them.
LUCIAN’S POV
I’d never been one for peace and quiet.
The clang of bodies hitting mats, the hiss of breath, the sharp bark of instructors ringing above the din-that was my happy place.
I lingered at the edge of the Arena, half-distracted by the countless emails and reports I had to sort through, half-attuned to the rhythms of the OTS.
Normally, nothing here surprised me. I had built this place from nothing, watched countless wolves arrive broken and claw their way toward something sharper.
But when Maya strode toward me, her grin practically splitting her face, I knew something unusual had happened.
Maya never smiled during training-smirks, maybe. Smug little twists of her lips when she dismantled an opponent. But this…this was different.
“You won’t believe what just happened!” Her dark eyes gleamed, sweat glistening on her caramel skin.
I arched a brow. “Uh-oh. If you killed someone, I don’t want to hear it. Plausible deniability.”
She rolled her eyes. “Trust me, you want to hear this-Sera landed a clean hit. On me.”
For a heartbeat, I thought I misheard. “On you?”
Maya was the strongest Beta female I’d ever trained, perhaps the strongest I’d ever seen anywhere.
I’d watched her reduce males, Alphas and Betas alike, to quivering wrecks, her speed and instincts honed like a blade forged in fire. There were very few warriors I knew who could match Maya Cartridge at full strength.
“Yes” She rubbed her jaw proudly. “Square hit. She didn’t hold back this time. Surprised the hell out of me. I’m going to bruise!” she declared happily.
I glanced instinctively toward the mats, where Sera stood off to the side, clutching a water bottle.
She looked flushed, sweat plastering strands of hair to her temples, her chest rising and falling in quick, unsteady breaths.
Her eyes lifted just then, catching mine, and she quickly looked away-as though uncertain she deserved any recognition.
Maya leaned closer. “Don’t let her fool you with that humble act. She tried to tell me it only happened because I was distracted.” Maya let out a sharp laugh. “I’ve never once lost focus in training, and she knows it.
That strike was hers, fair and square.”
I swallowed down a flicker of astonishment.
It wasn’t the strike itself that caught me off guard. It was what it meant. I’d seen too many wolves stagnate, too many buckle under the weight of their missing halves, resigned to mediocrity. But Sera…
She was clawing her way upward.
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