“Celeste-“
“Get the fuck away from me!” she hissed, shoving me with more force than she should have been able to muster. “You stink of her.”
Shit. Throwing my arms around Sera on the road; pressing her into the wall at her house.
Of course, I now smelled like her.
Was there no end to all the ways I kept fucking up?
“Celeste-
“If you’ve made your decision, Kieran-if you’ve chosen her, chosen to believe her lies, to throw me away-then don’t waste any more of your time. Just go. Let me die in peace.”
Her words sliced through me, cutting me in places I didn’t even know existed. It was one thing to watch the woman I was sure I loved wish for death; it was another thing to watch her wish for death because of me.
I didn’t notice when he moved, but the soft click of the door told me Ethan had left the room.
“Stop,” I said, hoarsely. “Please don’t talk like that, Celeste.”
“I mean it. I meant it when I drank that damn bottle!”
I shook my head, her words carving a hole inside me. “No, please. I…I’ve never once considered throwing you away, Celeste.”
She sobbed, angry tears welling up in her eyes. “Then why, Kieran? Why do you keep going back to her? Why does every-fucking-thing keep leading you back to her!”
I gritted my teeth as the wolf in her flared and shuddered beneath the surface. Her aura was flickering, jagged, and unstable.
I grappled for words to say, anything to make this all right, and I got nothing.
“I will not play second fiddle to my sister, Kieran,” Celeste spat. “I never once did it whole life, and I sure as hell won’t start now.” my
I sat back down on her bed, and this time, she let me take her hand. “You’re not second to anyone, Celeste,” I said earnestly. “There’s only you.”
“I don’t believe you,” she whispered.
I didn’t blame her. I could hardly believe myself.
I swallowed. “I’ve already proven it to your friends; what more can I do?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Let me move into your pack. Into your home.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“I’m your future Luna, am I not?” she asked. “Sera is gone from your home; it is only right that I take my place.”
A sour pit yawned open in my stomach, and I could feel myself recoiling. I could feel Ashar, too, curling back inside me like he couldn’t bear the thought of what Celeste was suggesting.
But the doctor’s warning pulsed like a brand against my conscience. She needed stability.
She needed something to live for. I couldn’t push her more than I’d already done.
My hesitation, my confusion, and guilt didn’t matter right now.
All that mattered was keeping Celeste happy. Keeping her alive.
“Alright,” I said softly, nodding once. “Let’s do it.”
Her fingers tightened around mine. A bright smile cut across her face like a shooting star.
Ashar howled inside me in protest, but I silenced him. I silenced everything.
SERAPHINA’S POV
The soreness in my limbs was nothing compared to the ache in my chest.
OTS training had never felt so long.
Every movement, every technique Maya corrected, echoed with fragments of this morning’s altercation-Kieran’s furious eyes, the way his body pressed mine against the wall, the pure unhinged rage in his voice when he warned me never to hit him again.
Even now, I felt his imprint like fingerprints on my skin.
I didn’t tell Maya everything. Just enough. She noticed the way my strikes were off, how my breath kept catching, how my focus kept wavering.
“You’re in your head, Sera,” Maya said gently during a sparring break. “Come back to your body.”
I nodded, swallowing hard.
“I know things have been messy lately. But you’re not alone in this, babe. You never were.”
Something about the way she said it, like she meant it down to the marrow, made my throat go tight.
After training, she flung a towel over her shoulder and nudged me with a grin. “Dinner? My place. I don’t want you going back to that empty house with your thoughts.”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “Neither do I.”
But it wasn’t even the empty house I was avoiding; it was the memory I knew still lingered in my foyer.
She looped her arm through mine. “Come on, I’m making grilled salmon. You can rant, cry, or collapse-dealer’s choice.”
I gave her a small smile, grateful that there was someone who existed who cared this much about me.
Seeing as Lucian drove me to OTS after Kieran stormed out of my house in the morning, I carpooled with Maya to her house.
By the time we arrived, I felt lighter and was laughing at some hilarious story she was telling me about her college days.
But then, every ounce of mirth and amusement drained from my body as we stepped into her kitchen, and I saw Ethan setting the table like he belonged there.
I froze.
He glanced up and smiled. “Hey.”
“Hey?” I replied carefully, turning to Maya in question.
She gave me a sheepish smile that looked more like a grimace. “I did promise you a dinner date with my mate.”
SERAPHINA’S POV
The tension in the kitchen had teeth.
Maya still had her arm looped through mine, her body warm and grounding. But every inch of me had gone cold as I stared at my brother, his shirt sleeves rolled to the elbows, oozing polished calm as he set down silverware like this was any normal night.
Like we weren’t estranged, and he wasn’t one of the chief orchestrators of my misery.
“Hey,” he repeated.
I blinked. My throat felt suddenly too tight. “You…you live here now?”
Maya nudged me lightly. “I invited him for dinner. He wanted to see you. Talk.”
I turned to her slowly and tried to keep the accusation out of my voice, but I couldn’t help feeling ambushed. “Why?”
Maya shifted, suddenly uncharacteristically nervous. “Because he has regrets, Sera. He wants to apologize to you, make things right.” She leaned in. “I don’t want my mate and my best friend at loggerheads.”
I pressed my lips tightly, looking away. It was hard not to feel like Maya had overstepped, but I guess if I squinted and turned my head to the side, I could see where she was coming from.
She only ever knew the extent of what I told her; she could never know how it truly felt to have your big brother, who was supposed to be a protector, stand with the rest of the world against you.
I inhaled through my nose and forced my limbs to move, to sit at the modest kitchen table from where I could watch Maya set to work on making dinner.
“Here,” Ethan said quietly, pushing a glass of red wine towards me. I accepted it without looking up at him.
“Sera?”
I stared at the dark red liquid. “Hmm?”
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