A humorless laugh escaped me. “I was…overconfident.”
Sera’s lips curved slightly. “Let me guess. It didn’t go according to plan.”
“Not remotely.” I smiled despite myself. “I barely got two steps past the border before she pounced on me.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Pounced?”
“Quite literally.” I could still feel the shock of that moment-her weight, her speed, her ferocity. “She thought I was a trespasser. One second, I was explaining my credentials, the next, I was flat on my back with her knee on my chest.”
Sera stifled a laugh. “That’s one way to make an introduction.”
And what an introduction it was.
I could still summon the image when I closed my eyes.
The sun had been setting, and the orange and peach hues of the sunset haloed her face, making her look more mythical than human.
It had been a shot of lightning straight to my heart.
“She wasn’t sorry, either,” I said. “When I told her who I was, she looked me dead in the eye and said. Then maybe don’t sneak into someone else’s training grounds, professor.”
Sera’s laughter came soft and warm, and for a moment, the tension between us loosened just a little.
“Sounds like she wasn’t easily impressed.”
“She wasn’t,” I said, my smile fading into something more tender. “And that’s what drew me to her-even before the bond clicked. She was bold. Fearless. The kind of person who didn’t wait for the world to make room for her. She made her own.”
My voice wavered when I spoke again. “She extended a formal invite to her pack. Her father was Alpha, and she was the youngest of seven. Always had something to prove.”
“She must’ve related to your vision,” Sera murmured.
“She did. She was used to being overshadowed, so the idea of an organization where merit and skill took precedence over birthright was a dream come true for her. We clashed constantly-training methods, strategy, philosophy-but beneath it all, we were mirrors of each other. For every argument we had, we found twice as many things we agreed on. She believed strength wasn’t inherited-it was cultivated. That power was earned. That’s what sparked the idea for OTS.”
Sera inhaled softly. “It was her idea?”
“She used to call it a sanctuary for strays,” I said, smiling faintly. “A place where wolves without packs could rebuild themselves. Where talent wouldn’t be wasted just because of bloodline.”
Talking about our dream aloud hurt more than I expected.
“She left her pack; I’d already left mine. Together, we built the first version of Shadowveil.” My throat tightened. “We thought we had time. We thought the future stretched ahead of us, bright and glorious.”
“What happened to her?” Sera asked quietly.
“Till today, I don’t remember what it was about. But we…” I drew in a breath that didn’t quite reach my lungs. “Fuck, it wasn’t even a fight. It was just a silly disagreement, and she stormed out.”
The weight of memory descended on me. I wish I could at least remember what had made us so mad. So angry that she’d stormed out, and I’d been too miffed to go after her.
If I’d known…
Gods, if I’d known.
“She was-” The words lodged like stones in my throat, but I pushed through and pushed them out. “She was ambushed by a group of traffickers who hunted wolves for sport. I sensed her peril instantly, and Zara held her own long enough for me to reach her and fight them off. But…” I stopped, agony winding through me, turning my blood into ice.
“I reached her just in time to hold her as she died,” I said quietly. “And she-she didn’t even think about herself. She made me promise to finish what we started.”
I closed my eyes, and I was back in that cold, dark alley, The warmth of my mate against me, the sound of her heartbeat slowing down with each shallow breath. The sticky warmth of her blood as it pooled around us.
The rasp in her voice as she weakly held out her fist. “Promise me,” she’d whispered, using the last of her breath. “Promise me you’ll keep our dream alive. You’ll see it become something…”
And she’d stopped breathing.
The room felt smaller then. The air denser. The faint hum of the lights above was the only sound left. That, and the sound of my heart breaking all over again.
“I blamed myself,” I found the strength to continue. “For months afterward, I couldn’t function. I wanted to burn it all down. But-I shook my head-“I’d made her a promise. So I built OTS from her ashes. With Maya’s help. With the help of others who believed in the dream. And eventually…it wasn’t about me anymore. Or even her. It became about everyone who walked through those doors.”
I turned toward Sera. She looked like she was holding her breath.
“It took ten years,” I said. “Ten years to build something worthy of her name. But it’s no longer just mine or hers-it’s ours. Every trainer, every student. Every person who refuses to be defined by where they started.”
I hesitated, then added quietly, “Including you.”
“You mean that?” she asked softly.
I nodded. “You’ve become one of the pillars of OTS, Sera,” I said. “Everything you’ve achieved-it’s what Zara would’ve wanted to see. She would be so proud.”
Sera didn’t reply, but I could see it-the flicker in her eyes. Understanding. Ache. Compassion.
But something else too.
Distance.
It was subtle, the way her shoulders drew in, the way her gaze softened but didn’t quite reach me anymore. Like a door was closing, slowly, silently, and I was standing on the wrong side of it.
And there, in the hall built on ghosts and dreams, I realized something quietly terrifying: The truth had done the opposite of what I had needed it to do.
It had pushed Sera away.
SERAPHINA’S POV
‘It’s what Zara would’ve wanted to see. She would be so proud.’
Gods, it was worse than I’d thought.
I had braced myself for something difficult, but this-this tragic tale of love and loss-shook me in a way I hadn’t anticipated.
I stared at the portrait, something cold twisting along my spine.
Zara-gods, even her name was beautiful-had fierce, intelligent blue eyes and a defiant smile. Pale blonde hair framed her face in a braid crown, and her hand rested on the hilt of a blade.
I could envision her from the stories Lucian had told. Fierce. Dauntless. Radiant in every sense of the word. The kind of woman who drew every eye when she entered a room without even trying. Whose light outshone everything around her.
Kind of like Celeste, but…worthy.
And even as Lucian spoke of Zara-softly, reverently-I could see that same light still reflected in him. Like a candle that refused to go out, no matter how much time passed.
He didn’t cry-Lucian wasn’t the kind of man who broke easily. But the way his breaths shuddered, the way his frame stiffened like it was taking all his willpower to hold himself together, the way his voice faltered around her name, told me everything.
Zara wasn’t gone from him. Not really. She was the echo between his heartbeats, the ghost haunting every silence.
And somehow, I was supposed to live with that.
I tried to smile, but it felt like pressing cracked glass together and pretending it would hold. “She sounds…” Unreal. Daunting.
“…remarkable.” My voice came out smaller than I intended.
“She was,” Lucian agreed.
“You must have loved her a lot.”
“More than anything in the world-” Lucian’s gaze softened, the faintest flicker of guilt flashing through it.
“Sera…” He exhaled slowly. “I never meant to hide her from you.”
There was no hiding the accusation in my tone. “Then why did you?”
A muscle in his jaw ticked, and his eyes darted back and forth like he was searching for the answer.
“You didn’t trust me to handle the truth,” I answered for him when nothing was forthcoming. “You didn’t think I could have respected your love for her.”
“No-Sera, I didn’t…” He shook his head. “I just didn’t want her shadow to color how you saw me. I didn’t want you to see yourself as a replacement.”
The word hung between us, as heavy and imposing as Zara’s portrait.
I turned back to the picture, taking in her pale hair-the same color as mine. The blue in her eyes-same shade as mine.
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