I downed the first glass in one gulp before filling it again.
“Fine,” I bit out.
Ethan scoffed. “Paid her a visit about a week ago to check up on her.”
I winced. “And how did that go?”
His hand tightened around his glass of scotch. “She hates me.” Those three words sounded like they’d burned on their way out of his throat.
“She doesn’t-“
He shook his head. “You didn’t see the look in her eyes. It was like-“
“Ice,” we said simultaneously.
Ethan looked at me, his eyes heavy, and the smile I was going for came out as a grimace.
“She’s… different,” he said quietly. “The Sera I knew used to be…”
“Kind,” I added. “Demure.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know what changed.”
Gavin scoffed next to me, and both of us turned to him, brows raised in question.
He didn’t shrink under the weight of the stare of two Alphas, shrugging instead. “According to the law of elasticity, if a force greater than the elastic limit of an object is applied…”
He slipped a rubber band out of his pocket, hooked both thumbs at opposing edges, and, with a sharp jerk of his hand, pulled so hard that it snapped.
He raised a brow at both of us. “Call it the law of elasticity, call it self-preservation. Sera reached her limit and snapped. Simple.”
I stared at Gavin in stunned silence, his words settling inside me like an anchor. Ethan let out a low hiss, and when I turned to him, his face was tight.
“I called her a viper,” he groaned. “I threatened her right after our father died-fuck!” He buried his head in his hands, his whole body shuddering.
“I-“
Where would I start from? If I began to list all the altercations I’d committed towards Sera over the last ten years, we would be here forever.
I’d neglected her, treated her as less-than, pushed her away every time she attempted to get close. She’d always been reserved, quiet, but… maybe I had snuffed out her voice, choked her with silence and contempt, and now-
“There you two are,” a sultry voice broke through the uneasy silence.
I stiffened when a hand stroked my back, the scent of jasmine wrapping around me. The familiar comfort it should have brought eluded me, replaced instead by puzzling agitation.
Celeste leaned over, her long golden curls brushing the granite of the countertop. “Hi, babe.” She beamed, her hands stroking up my back to my neck.
The urge to shrug her hands off me hit me, and I frowned to myself. What the fuck was wrong with me? This was Celeste, the woman I loved. Her touch was welcome. She was-
She pressed her body against my side and leaned in, her lips brushing the shell of my ear as she whispered, “I’ve missed you.”
My control snapped, and just like in the hospital when she tried to kiss me, my reaction was completely instinctive-I was jerking back with a snarl before I could stop myself.
My eyes widened, three simultaneous sharp inhales resonating around me. I could feel
Gavin and Ethan’s astonishment behind me, but my eyes were fixed on Celeste, on the her face paled with shock and tightened with hurt.
“Kieran?” she whispered, her voice trembling.
Shit. way
I shot up from my stool and reached for Celeste, pulling her into my arms. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I muttered, laying my head on her crown.
She was rigid against me, her arms dangling by her side.
Could she feel my heart thundering against her? Could she sense the mortification that consumed me?
“I’m sorry,” I choked out again.
I gripped her shoulders and pulled away slightly so I could look her in the eyes. They were glassy, tears brimming in their depths, poised to spill over.
Fuck. I’d sworn to myself that I wouldn’t hurt Celeste when she came back to me, not after what had happened ten years ago.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
“I’m sorry,” I repeated. “I’ve had a long, shitty day, and I was on edge. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”
The words felt like sandpaper in my mouth.
I was on edge. I’d had a shitty day? Because I’d spent the entire fucking time thinking about my ex-wife.
What the hell was happening to me?
Celeste sniffed, furiously blinking. “It’s o-okay.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s not.” I cupped her face, my thumb catching a tear that escaped.
“Let me make it up to you.”
Her brows knit. “How?”
I smiled. “You always wanted to visit the rooftop garden here, but you couldn’t because we weren’t old enough, remember?”
She glanced towards the ceiling, and a faint smile ghosted her lips. “You promised to take me on my twenty-first birthday.”
But she was gone by then. Because of what I’d done.
I pushed that thought away and forced a smile as I slid my hand down her arm and intertwined our fingers. “I’ll take you now.”
Her smile broadened. “Okay.”
I nodded towards Ethan and Gavin before leading Celeste out.
The building that housed Luna Noire had three floors. The first two were the bar-the first floor for select humans, the second for werewolves. The third was a restaurant, and the roof was the Moon Garden.
It was a hidden sanctuary-walled with moon-silvered herbs and night-blooming jasmine.
Twinkling lights circled the perimeter, casting a soft glow over moongrass, rune-marked stones, and a central fire pit that glowed like molten gold.
As we stepped through the glass hatch into the moon-kissed night, Celeste took a deep breath, and her hand in mine tightened.
“Oh, it’s beautiful, Kieran,” she breathed.
But her voice sounded far away, muffled by the blood roaring in my ears as I glared at the fire pit, at the couple seated on the bench that curved around it.
She was enveloped by a gigantic jacket that had to belong to him, and she was smiling at him, her fingers twirling around the stem of an Evening Primrose.
For a second, I forgot everything and everyone. All my senses honed in on the two of them, and it was all I could do not to surge forward and rip him away from her-then rip him apart.
Sera and Lucian.
SERAPHINA’S POVED
“Stop-fuck!”
I doubled over, bracing my hands on my knees as I struggled to breathe through the burning in my lungs.
Someone must have connected a Bluetooth speaker to my heart, because it was thundering so loudly that I barely heard when Lucian came to my side and said, “That’s enough for today, Sera.”
I shook my head, immediately regretting it as the training field tilted. “No, I…” I swallowed against the dryness in my mouth. “I can keep going.”
Lucian, the sadistic bastard, was gone, and Lucian, my friend, said in a gentle, patient voice, “You’re done, Sera.”
I straightened and winced when I felt a stitch in my side. “I haven’t completed the course,” I panted, resisting the urge to rub at the ache in my chest.
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