Page 7

Ever since seeing Seraphina come out of that SUV, my hands have been in tight fists. First, at the sight of Dallas’s hands on her, and once I had her, with the effort of keeping my fucking hands to myself.

It took everything in my power not to touch her once we were alone in the truck. While she was accusing me of kidnapping her.

It’s not kidnapping. It’s witness protection.

If I drop her off now, leave her on the side of the road, it’s only a matter of time before Declan catches her scent and scoops her up again. Something about the look on his face told me that he wanted to hurt her. He thought, for some reason, I might help in doing that.

I would never hurt her.

Well, not more than I already have.

Everything about her is just the same. Everything about her is entirely different.

That blond hair is the exact same shade, but flows down her back.

Long enough that when she pushes it over her shoulder, it rests on her chest, rising and falling with her breath.

I want to twist it around my fingers, grip it in the palm of my hand.

Her scent is exactly what I remember—sweet, subtle, light. Something you have to chase, to immerse yourself in. I remember wrapping it around my body back then, when we were in the secret, quiet glow of one another.

As I could see in the video, she’s not quite as skinny as she used to be. Her form is more filled out, her hips and chest fuller. There’s a supple quality to her skin that makes me want to take a bite out of her, swallow her whole.

If she were any other woman, and if I were any other man, I would be picking her up right now, begging her to let me take her to bed.

But she’s not just any woman. And apparently, she’s moved on.

Of course, I know the way we left things wasn’t right. But with the way my mind lingered on her, with the way she’s filled my thoughts, I’d assumed she wouldn’t be able to think about another man, much the same way I haven’t been able to really think about another woman.

But clearly, she has. She moved on with someone else. Had his child.

That makes a thought occur to me for the first time: if she was with another shifter—with another alpha, especially—then where the hell is he? Why wasn’t he protecting her? How the fuck did he allow Declan to get his hands on her?

Glancing at her again, I wonder if her partner may have died in the fire that took her home. But I don’t see the etchings of grief on her face. Only determination.

So, I ask again, “Where is your daughter, Seraphina?”

“I can bring her here,” she says, eyes flicking up to mine. A challenge there, and I realize why. She means she can bring her here using magic .

“Absolutely not,” I snap, shaking my head and turning on my heel back toward the truck. Curiosity and jealousy are raging inside me, but more than that, I just want to make sure her daughter is okay. “Just tell me where she is.”

“I’m not exactly sure where she is,” Seraphina says, crossing her arms and popping out a hip in a way that reminds me of what she was like in high school, so flippant all the time. “And if we take your truck, it will take days to find her. Days to bring her back.”

My mouth goes dry at the sound of that—the realization of just how powerful Seraphina is with her magic. I’d pushed it out of my mind, not wanting to think about it, and everything that happened all those years ago.

But of course, the moment I’m back in Silverville, the town just has to shove it right back into my face.

I clench my jaw hard enough that pain shoots up into my temple, giving me an instant headache. “Fine,” I relent, stepping back from her and holding my hands up. “This is the only time, Seraphina. And don’t start any fucking fires.”

Her gaze blares, and she raises her hands at me. It’s not even threatening, but for some reason, it makes a thrill run up my spine. Half adrenaline, half morbid curiosity.

Magic is not allowed. My father—and my grandfather—made that perfectly clear in their tenets for the pack. And what happened nearly more than a decade ago with Seraphina and the other girls is a perfect example of why banning it was the right call.

Seraphina glowers at me, then turns and takes a deep breath, looking out into the driveway and raising her hands as though she’s conducting an orchestra only she can see.

Then a car blinks into the driveway. Gone one second, and there the next. Summoned into being as though it has always existed in that space.

I try not to show on my face how impressed I am, how much her show of power affects me. I’d only seen it once, back when we were kids, and it was enough to make me feel small and powerless beside her.

Something I am definitely not used to feeling.

“Mom!”

A little form pops open the passenger seat and comes running toward Seraphina, who is already moving in the direction of the car. They collide in the middle, throwing their arms around each other.

The girl is older than I thought, or maybe just big for her age. She’s wearing a pair of dark denim shorts and a striped shirt, her sneakers smudged with what I recognize as daemonic ash—all that’s left after a daemonic fire. Her blond hair is a mirror of Seraphina’s.

In fact, everything about her is a mirror of Seraphina, from her posture to the way her eyes slide suspiciously over her mother’s shoulder and onto me. Her assessment begins immediately, and I feel her scrutiny like something palpable. Something I try to swat away.

“Who is that?” she whispers, pulling back from her mother.

“He’s… an old friend of mine.” Seraphina turns and looks over her shoulder at me, and I see the lie settle there. She and I were a lot of things, but I’m not sure friend ever quite fit. “And we’re going to stay here for a while.”

Her daughter looks skeptical, glancing back at the car like it might be a better place to sleep than a stranger’s house. Seraphina reaches out and touches her daughter’s shoulder in a way that feels like a signal. She pulls her closer to her side.

For a moment, we just stand there, looking at one another.

“Come inside.” The words are gruff as they come out of me, landing with the grace of a belly flop. But it’s too late to draw them back in now, so I just turn and walk up the porch, relieved when I hear them following along behind me.

From her scent, I can tell that Seraphina’s daughter isn’t an omega, like her, but an alpha. The curiosity and jealousy rise up in me again—that means Seraphina has been with an alpha. But who? Do I know him? And what happened to him? Where the hell is he now?

“Wow,” the daughter says, walking into the foyer ahead of me. “This place is massive!”

“Seraphina, wait.” I grab her arm and tug her back, keeping her from following her daughter into the house. I mean to ask her about this whole situation—her daughter’s name, her age, her paternity.

Instead, I hear myself asking, “Seraphina… what happened ?”

“What do you mean?” Her eyes dart between me and the house, where her daughter has stopped, watching us.

Staring at Seraphina, I realize that, for some reason, I want the answer to this right now. “What exactly happened back in high school? With the fire?”

She blinks at me in surprise. Then, just as quickly, a laugh bubbles up from her throat, and she leans in close. So close, that flighty scent of hers dances around me.

“Let’s get this straight, Xeran,” she whispers. “No matter what lie we make up to my daughter, you and I are not friends.”

With that, she turns on her heel and walks into the house, and I wonder what the hell I’m getting myself into.

***

The house is a real fucking mess.

Embarrassed by the state of it, I spent the next hour making sure one of the bedrooms is in good shape for them to stay in.

Seraphina tells me multiple times that she can clean it herself, that she doesn’t need the help, but I ignore her, shoving boxes out of the way, pushing a broom along the floors, and scalding my hands with boiling water to mop them.

When it’s up to my standards and the girls are both inside, I step into the hallway, heart hammering in my chest.

What the hell am I doing?

Asking—or more accurately, telling —Seraphina and her kid to stay with me? I’m only here to deal with the house. And yet here I am, willingly taking on roommates.

But the idea of turning her out, of just waiting for Declan to get his hands on her again? Not an option.

I’ll have to figure out what to do with her. What to do about that entire situation.

But while cleaning, I couldn’t stop my eyes from drifting to the shimmering, almost silver ash on the girl’s—Nora, I’ve learned—shoes.

Couldn’t stop thinking about what the two of them must have gone through to get out of a fire that size.

What it must have been like to lose everything in one fell swoop.

The town felt that grief once more than a decade ago, when the first of the daemonic fires swept through the western portion, taking out everything in its path.

It wasn’t like other fires, leaving chunks and frames, the skeletons of what used to be.

That fire crushed Silverville in the palm of its hand, ground it beneath its heel, until the only thing left was that fine, shifting ash.

The stuff clogged up our throats and swirled through the air, making you feel stuck in a hellish snow globe until it eventually drifted into the forest, dusting itself over the trees and turning the leaves yellow from lack of sunlight.

I pull my phone from my pocket, turning it over in my hand and thinking.

I’m only here to deal with the house.

But what if another fire comes through, and there was something I could do to stop it? What if the other guys are ready to get back on a squad?

As though he’s sensed my thoughts, my phone lights up with a call from Kalen.

“Hey,” he says the second I answer. “Why didn’t you text me back? You’re back in town? Someone said they saw you at the gas station.”

“Yeah,” I say, voice low so the girls won’t hear me. “Long story. You think the other guys would want to get the squad back together?”

Kalen laughs. “I think the other guys are going to shit bricks when they hear you’re back in town.”

I should laugh, but something in my stomach turns over at the thought of it.

I’m not staying. I should tell him that, and I’ll have to be clear with the guys about it, too.

We’re just getting the squad together to fight fires if they happen.

There’s no way in hell I’ll be able to sit idly by while they sweep through and destroy the town.

“I’ll let them know,” Kalen says, already sounding like he’s dressing, getting to his feet, taking action. “What time should we be at your place?”