Page 35

SERAPHINA

M y molars grind. "I'm not a child. I don't need so many guards or even Eric following me around for that matter."

Soren grins, sharp canines flashing in the sunlight.

He is back to being his most amazing, disgustingly perfect self, without an inch of remorse about him.

He hardly looks like the man who had lain drunk by my door and whimpered when I tried to leave him there.

"You are my Luna. Your safety is top priority.

Since you won't let me come along, I'll have Eric and Ruslan accompany you until you are well into the West."

I glare at both SUVs. "You don't think ten guards is overdoing it?"

He shakes his head, his smarmy grin widening. "Never with you, Sera." He leans in to kiss my cheek and I pull back at the last second, causing him to tip over and nearly fall into the snow.

His men laugh as they arrange the rest of my luggage into the car. Soren scowls, muttering something under his breath and despite myself, my lips twitch.

"All done," Eric says, shutting the rear.

"You're sure I can't come along?" Lilia complains, her fingers rubbing along my arm. "I've always wanted to visit Alpha Baldwin's glass castle. You think if I throw a stone at it, it'll all collapse?"

I snort. "Not sure it works that way, Lily." I brush off the snow from Landon's blonde hair. He stirs in his sleep, lips parting.

Eric lifts Lilia off the ground in a firm hug, even if he will only be gone for a day.

And I try not to barf when he kisses her long, slow and hard.

It takes a whole damn minute. Maybe even five, watching them eat each other's faces, and I struggle not to meet Soren's gaze.

It's so hot, I can practically feel my pants on fire.

Unfortunately, being mad doesn't mean you stop being needy and 'ready to fuck' when your mate is around. If I am feeling generous enough to admit, I have thought about sex more times in the last twenty-four hours than I have in my entire life.

My body is tense with urges I sadly can't even give in to. Usually, after the first mating and marking, mates tend to spend the next few weeks with each other, never apart, joined at the hip. Literally.

That Soren is letting me go on this trip is a testament to his patience and restraint. And mine. Because seeing him this morning at breakfast, licking the butter off the spoon had been enough to make my pussy sing.

Soren's lips curve and his whisper flits into my mind. " Keep thinking things like that and you'll spend the next month in my bedroom. Not that you would object to it. "

My cheeks flush and I look away swiftly, cursing my lack of shame under my breath because no. I really wouldn't object to it.

And this is why I decided to make the trip. To understand if I am feeling this way because we are mates or if I truly have feelings for Soren.

Soren growls at Eric and Lilia and they pull apart awkwardly. Eric's shirt is rumpled and Lilia's left breast is almost sticking out of her top.

Really ?

She adjusts her clothes and hugs me briefly, her soft scent of vanilla teasing my nostrils. "I'll miss you so much. Don't you dare forget to call me."

I don't bother with the goodbyes with Soren. One look says everything. *Longing.* I watch him through the tinted window as the car pulls away from the driveway and though he can't see me, he stands there in his sweats until we are out of sight.

Just then, I feel him in my head, caressing my mental walls seductively, a request to let him in. I lower my defenses for just a few seconds. But it is all the time he needs for the words to float in. Come back to me, Seraphina.

"It was my idea."

My eyes water from staring at one spot for too long. I turn to Eric, whose eyes are trained at where I was staring outside the window. "What?"

"Using you was originally my idea. If you're going to be mad at Soren, you should be mad at me, too."

I shift my arm, shielding my breast from Eric as Landon sucks slowly. He's been quiet for most of the ride, thank the goddess. "Who says I'm not?"

"You have a pretty fun way of showing it," he murmurs. "He didn't want to. He was reluctant at first, didn't want to admit it either that it disturbed him, but I pushed for it. I truly believed it to be the only way out and in my defense, I assumed you would be just as vile as Callahan."

I raised my gaze. "And I'm not?"

"Only when you're in a foul mood. But you're the necessary evil," he says, lips quirking up.

I laugh, narrowing my gaze at him. "You wouldn't mind having me as your sister-in-law in the long run? I must not have been annoying enough."

He playfully punches my arm, but it jostles my entire body and I hide my wince behind a smile. It falls, however, when I see the sleeve of his crisp white shirt ride up his arm and the burned skin underneath. Like the skin couldn't heal right after the incident.

Eric catches me stare and pulls down his sleeve, his expression suddenly dark and haunted.

"Soren told me," I say softly. Ruslan, goddess bless his soul, cranks up the music slightly, not too loud to wake Landon and his sensitive ears, but not too low that everyone else can eavesdrop on my conversation with Eric.

Eric only grunts in response.

"I'm sorry about what happened."

"Not your fault," he grunts again, clearly not quite there yet when it comes to talking about it, and I drop it, because I know what trauma looks and feels like.

And I wonder if Eric's sunny personality is to cover for the demons that chase him.

Much like mine. His is a scar that is visible, one that he'll be reminded of every passing day.

Mine is like a scourge on my mind and soul, and shutting my eyes doesn't wash away the stickiness of it.

"You could stay for a couple of days--"

Boom .

The car jerks abruptly, veering off the path so suddenly, my body collides with the door.

The vehicle ahead of us, the one with my guard detail explodes in a monstrous roar, flames erupting into the sky like a vengeful god had struck it down.

I scream in horror as the shockwave rips through the air and slams into us.

Burning debris rains back down onto the road, the car somersaulting twice.

There were eight of Soren's most trusted men in there. Eight of them. *Gone.*

Ruslan's shouting something I can't hear over the ringing in my ears. Smoke blurs the view and we can't make out a thing. Ruslan reaches over to crack the window--

And his head snaps forward in an instant.

A sickening crack, and then silence.

Blood spatters the glass.

"Ruslan!" I scream, but he's already slumped over the wheel, lifeless. A single bullet that misses Mikhail by a fraction, splitting the glass beside his head.

Eric reacts before I can, barking an order I don't hear over my screaming. The guard in the front passenger seat lunges across Ruslan's body, grabs the wheel, tries to steady us, but the car's too fast, too wild and we're completely off the road, tearing down into the woods.

Eric throws himself over us just before we crash.

Metal crunches, the front crumpling like paper. The impact jolts me forward and I twist, clutching Landon tighter to my chest, shielding his tiny body with everything I have.

Glass shatters, spraying us. My cheek stings, pain radiating up my arms. Landon wails—sharp, shrill, terrified—his small body pressed to mine in the carrier.

My body aches. My ears are ringing. I can taste blood. I can smell it.

"We need to get out. Now!" Eric's voice cuts through the noise, ragged and urgent. He leans across the wreckage of the car to shove the door. Once. Twice. The third push finally gives.

I half stumble out of the car, legs trembling as I clutch Landon tightly, even if he is strapped to me, stroking him with trembling hands. I spare a glance at the guard in the passenger seat who saved us. There is a huge shard of glass dividing his center.

Bile rises in my gut at his unseeing eyes and...gods, so much blood. Gods, no. Not again. I feel the crippling sensation in my legs, the stickiness of blood running down my arms, and before I can give into the despair, Eric snatches my arm and shoves me forward, forcing me to look in his eyes.

"Not now, Seraphina. We need to get out of sight," he breathes. "It's an ambush and we're prey if we stay here."

My eyes travel back to the dead men in the car. "Ruslan...his daughters..."

Eric cups my cheeks, eyes piercing mine.

"I know. I know." His face is covered in cuts and there's a shard in his shoulder.

He doesn't look like he even notices that he has a severe injury.

"We're too far from the pack to receive help immediately.

Until Soren arrives, we need to stay out of sight and bide our time.

I need you to stay calm and get Landon to stop crying. They'll find us faster if he doesn't."

I nod, body trembling. I might be going into shock.

Eric heaves a breath, letting go of my face as he scans the treeline. He takes one step away from me and he jerks, right before I hear the crack of a gunshot. His eyes widen with confusion. He looks down at the blood blooming on his shirt, his hand reaching for it like he can undo it.

He coughs, a trickle of blood running down his lips and I might have been screaming. His eyes meet mine. "Go."

Another shot, this one lower, and he drops to his knees.

"No, no, no—" I drop down with him, one hand trying to keep Landon secure while the other presses hard to Eric's chest.

"Why isn't it healing? You're supposed to heal!"

"Wolfsbane," he chokes out. "Can't shift."

He falls forward and I cry out, reaching for him. His skin is pale, the shot too close to his heart. If the wolfsbane gets there, he'll die. I need to get the bullet out.

I scamper around me, searching for a shard clean enough, sharp enough, hoping that the few lessons I took on basic first aid for wolves will be enough to save Eric's life. If not...no. I can't let myself think otherwise. Soren would die if something happened to his brother.

My hand closes around a shard, just as leaves rustle behind me. I look back and freeze.

There's six of them, all dressed in varying shades of red and black, their faces shielded with scarves.

I crouch in front of Eric, shielding him, while my arm tightens around the carrier, holding Landon closer.

I hold the shard in front of me like a weapon, sparing a glance back at Eric to see if he has a better weapon.

"There's a gun in the back of my pants," he says tiredly. "Can't move."

The odds that they'll let me roll Eric over to grab his gun are zero. But I try anyway, only to have a bullet hit the ground an inch away from my boots.

"I wouldn't do that, High Luna," one of them says, his voice thick with an accent. He raises his armed hand high in false surrender, his dark brown eyes practically mocking me. "We come in peace."

"Peace?" I echo, surprised at the rage and lack of fear in my voice. "You killed my men!"

"Sacrifices," he shrugs. His eyes land on Landon, who hasn't stopped wailing, and I hold him tighter on instinct. "Hand him to us and we won't harm you."

My lips peel back from my teeth. "You'll have to kill me first." Who are they?

They didn't have the accent most of the rogues on our lands do.

Southerners? Perhaps they heard of Ronan's claim on Landon and they plan to use him to blackmail him?

Either way, none of my options are great. I can't beat six men with purely rage.

I might have trained with Soren but that doesn't make me an Alpha, and whatever genes I got from Baldwin seem recessive, seeing as I don't have any reflexes that could be to my advantage.

The rogue leader snorts, nodding to the man on his left. "Get the boy."

When he lunges for me with that preternatural swiftness, I don't rely on my sight like Soren taught me, I listen for his feet hitting the snow and then I drive the glass into the bastard's chest with as much strength as I can muster.

He roars, thrashing, but I twist deeper until he gurgles, spraying blood on my face and Landon's. And then, he falls silent, dropping like a stone.

I don't have time to ponder on the fact that I have just killed another person because they come at me, angrier than they had been seconds ago.

Fighting, while keeping Landon strapped to me wasn't part of my training, but adrenaline and fear keep me alert. The glass rips into my palm as I bury it in another's left eye.

They all deserve to die.

Eight. Plus Ruslan. And Mikhail. Ten men. With families waiting for them. They hurt Eric, and by extension, they have hurt Soren. They deserve to die. Painfully. Slowly.

I lose grip of the shard but abandon it, using my fist. It smacks into the face of a man nearly twice my size and my wrist snaps.

The man growls and white-hot pain blooms behind my eyes, the world tilting sideways as I hit the ground hard. My grip on Landon falters for a heartbeat, and that is all they need.

Landon is ripped from my carrier by the leader, and I am still clutching tightly onto air, shrieking and screaming as he steps back with a scowl. "He said not to touch her, you fool."

"She punched me."

I scramble to my feet but the world sways dangerously.

Still, I stumble forward, reaching for him desperately.

The remaining three block him off, pushing me back.

I beg. I apologize. I follow them. Claw at them, rip the fabric off their clothes, swing my fists, kick at their shins until they decide that knocking me out would be the best option.

I don't see the blow coming or remember hitting the ground. But I remember Landon's cries long after, the call between each breathless screech. His call for his mother.