Page 28

SERAPHINA

M y throat constricts as the weight of every gaze presses down on me from every angle. Mortification slams into me like a brick wall and I plant my feet into the ground to steady myself.

I haven't done anything wrong.

But why do they all look at me like that? With such judgment, I can almost smell the words. Cheat. Liar. Whore. Like I am guilty of something so despicable. Like I am guilty of something worse than falling in love and getting rejected.

"Y-your son?" Tova stammers, voice shaking as she shoves past the stunned crowd. She grabs Ronan's sleeve, yanking him around. "Landon is your son?" Her wide eyes snap to me. " She is that Seraphina?!"

When Ronan doesn't deny it, Tova lashes out, fists pounding into his chest and face.

He doesn't stop her. Doesn't even flinch.

Eric bands an arm around her waist, pulling her off him, but she doesn't stop trying to claw out his face.

"You lied to me!" she screams, the words shredding her throat like glass. "You lied to me!"

I flinch, stumbling back a step, and it shatters whatever spell held him still. Ronan turns to me, his expression screaming one thing: Fuck it. Fuck this.

He moves, like a man with a single mission.

I glance at Soren, though I don't know why.

His face gives nothing away, but if I had to guess?

Glee. This is what he wanted. To break Ronan.

Make him cave into his biddings. Ruin him.

And though I do not understand why they hate each other so much, why Ronan scarred him, I know that I do not deserve to be used by either of them.

And I hate Soren for what he's done. For making me believe this place could be a home for me and my son, only to orchestrate this entire mess and strip it away. Just how cruel is he?

Ronan's hand closes around my wrist. "Enough of this. You are coming back home with me."

I blink. Tova's falling apart and he's focused on taking me back with him?

I jerk my arm, but his grip holds firm. "I looked for you.

Everywhere. For months! You've made your point and I accept it.

I was a fool to reject you. I was bitter and angry and drunk and I wasn't thinking straight.

" His voice breaks. "I missed you. Come home. "

Tova sobs behind him, a second away from tearing out of Eric's grasp to hit Ronan or me, I can't tell. I have no idea what's happening or why Ronan is doing this, out here, in front of everyone. Maybe he thinks a public declaration would be more than enough to erase the past. "Ronan stop?—"

"I never stopped loving you."

His words drop inside like a stone into a pool and the impact feels like a whiplash. "You loved me? How—" I catch myself before I can reveal what I know. That I do remember.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hidden the truth, but I knew you would leave.

And I panicked. I locked you in," he breathes, remorse shining in his eyes and I don't buy it.

He must sense it because he shakes his head.

"I'll explain everything later, Fina, after you come with me.

You can't stay here, not with my son. He belongs with me, in my pack, like you do. "

The pressure climbs under my skin, higher and hotter. "I'm married. And mated. So are you. I belong here. Not with you. Not anymore."

His nostrils flare. His tone snaps. "He's using you! To him, you're just a pawn in a game that started long before you were ever in the picture. He doesn't give a damn about you or Landon. All he cares about is winning. Owning you!"

I already knew this, but hearing it screamed in my face results in a sharp cutting pain. "That's enough."

But he barrels on. "Did he touch you and tell you that all he cared about was you? Did he promise to wait for you? Tell you it was your choice to stay or go, then slowly wedge his way into your heart until your defenses crumbled? Until he was the only one you trusted?"

The horror and recognition must be written all over my face, because he steps closer, so close I can smell the sweet mint of his breath.

"It's all a game, Fina. It sounds familiar because I did those things. Once. When I was young and foolish. I took his woman. He never let it go. And now he's doing the same to you."

My gaze flicks to Soren again. And he looks the part perfectly. The unapologetic villain. His green eyes are blank, his poise flawless. No remorse. No shame. And I must say, it suits him.

He holds my stare and tilts his head slightly, studying me. He's waiting. Waiting for my reaction. For tears. For fury.

But he doesn't deserve either. And I won't give him the satisfaction of knowing just how deeply he's cut me. That this betrayal, this humiliation, weighs heavier than any judgmental gaze I may receive.

So I steady my breath, push down the chaos clawing at my throat, and I'm surprised by how firm my voice sounds when I say, "You forget yourself, Alpha Callahan."

Ronan blinks. Even Soren looks momentarily surprised, but I ignore them both and straighten.

"You stand in my home. The home of the man I chose.

And you insult us both. Our relationship ended, and we've gone our separate ways.

I chose Soren. And I still choose him. He is my husband.

I am his wife. His Luna. Landon is our son and the heir to the Glacial Pack.

If you believe otherwise, take it up with the Head Alpha later.

Not here. Not like this. Not by disrupting this gathering. "

Ronan looks at me like he's never seen me before. Then he laughs, sharp and bitter, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "Of course. You don't remember who I am."

His gaze burns into mine, pupils expanding. "You called me Ron. You loved me." His grip tightens desperately. "You still do. You've changed, I'll admit, but this isn't the life you wanted. You never would've chosen this if you had your memories. If you weren't so... helpless."

Helpless. The word cuts too close to home, too close to the wounds I've tried to forget. My control begins to slip.

But before I can fall into the spiral, a voice comes from behind me, warm, yet stern. "Unhand my daughter, Callahan."

I might have hugged Alpha Baldwin in a different life, because his words throw everyone into quiet disbelief. Ronan's gaze travels from my face to Alpha Baldwin's and with a clenched jaw, he lets me go.

And the worst part? The truly absurd part? Isn't that Ronan, the Head Alpha of the Southern Territories, is Landon's biological father. It's that somehow, I've found myself entangled with not one, but three Head Alphas, all fighting to claim some part of me.

Daughter? Alpha Baldwin has an illegitimate child?

The murmurs ripple. I spot Kaida in my peripheral vision, and I've never seen her look so pale. Her fingers clutch her coat like a lifeline, white-knuckled. Her face is as bloodless as mine must have been the day I woke from the accident she caused.

And she knows. I see it in her eyes—the recognition. The guilt. She cringes and slowly backs away.

Before I can dwell on it, my wrist is pulled back by Quinn, who places himself forward protectively, shielding me, even if his glare is one of pure annoyance. "Now is as good a time as any to change your mind, sister. This is rather disgraceful."

"I didn't need your help," I snap.

His brows lift. "You sure? You looked like you had everything completely under control," he says, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

From somewhere ahead, I hear a low chuckle. Axel. "A truly interesting turn of events," he mutters.

Alpha Baldwin's gaze cuts back to Soren. "Is it true, then?" His tone is hard as steel, aura stormy enough to raise goosebumps on my flesh. "You have tricked my daughter into marrying you?"

"Tricked?" Soren repeats, cold amusement lacing his words. And it hurts. It hurts that he sounds so detached. "I find it rather insulting that you believe my wife naive enough to be tricked by petty words. Seraphina is an intelligent woman. Perfectly capable of making her own decisions."

Somehow, he's defended me and insulted me at the same time, because I did, in fact, get tricked by him.

Baldwin turns to me, eyes of brilliant blue piercing mine.

"Tell me, then. Do you want to stay here?

Or return with Callahan? Or will you come with your father and finally be with family?

I will have everything prepared as you like it.

You and Landon will be protected. No one will drag your name through the mud again. "

He brushes a strand of hair from my face, and his touch makes me realize just how exhausted I am. Tired of keeping it together. Tired of being a fool. Tired of holding my head high when I feel like I'm crumbling inside. "Whether or not you accept it, you are a Blackwood, and we protect our own."

It would be easy. Running to the West with him. Running from Soren and Ronan. Starting over with neither of their shadows looming over me. It would be a better environment to raise Landon, away from judging eyes and the South where he will be scorned for having Omega blood in him.

But I know I cannot truly leave. The contract doesn't let me. And while I feel angry enough to be adventurous and find out just how far Soren is willing to go to make me bend to his will, something in me tells me not to test that theory.

And then there's the other part of me—the one that panics at the thought of leaving him. Of taking Landon from him.

Because even if Soren has been deceiving me the whole time, there are things that cannot be faked. The smile he reserves for Landon. The care with which he attends him. The garbled nonsense he sings to Landon in that baby language that makes my son giggle. Soren adores Landon.

Internally, I scold myself. I, too, could have sworn before I overheard that conversation that Soren adored me. But this has never even been about me. And I have thrown myself into the deep end with nothing to pull me out.