Page 5

SOREN

I can still smell her.

Sweat, smoke and something feminine underneath. It pissed me off. Everything about the maid infuriated me. She was nothing at all like I expected.

Since the engagement was finalized months ago, to my fucking dismay, I had been keeping tabs on the woman.

It was my duty, after all, to know the woman who my cousin's fiancée was fucking on the side.

I had imagined her another of Ronan's many whores who only cared that they had an Alpha's affections.

And the benefits and wealth that came with bedding one.

But being in the same room with her, running an eye along the washed out black dress she wore, the worn boots with holes in them, the old, rusted necklace that hung from an elegant neck like it was a prized possession told me everything I needed to know. It definitely wasn't about the money.

It was...perplexing and my confusion only grew when I watched her smile at him, watched her look after him in confusion when he ignored her.

And it slapped me right in the face.

She loved him.

And then, I asked myself the very obvious question. Was she daft? Or possibly naive, falling in love with a betrothed man? Or did she just lack sense of self preservation?

Approaching her had been out of mere curiosity and it quickly rid me of every possible assumption I made of who I thought she was.

She was witty. And irritatingly arrogant in a way Omegas weren't. And somehow, it made me excited. It made Kaelin, my wolf, giddy. It was a rather terrible combination and before I knew it, I was touching her hair and talking shit.

And now, all I can think about is the devastation I'd caught on her face in the hallway, the rage that had been directed at me. Don't touch me . As if I wanted to. My body kept doing the weird shit around her.

One moment, she was falling, and it would have been satisfying watching her fall on her ass after talking to me like I was a fucking nobody—not even Eric talks to me like that. And the next, I was helping her. And what did I get in return? Screamed at.

Still, it didn't halt the realization that she hadn't known Tova and Ronan have been engaged for months, the union agreed upon by the council of Alphas. She was another victim of Ronan's, much like Tova.

"I swear I was patrolling and in the next I know, I'm in their dungeons..."

Eric is beginning to sound like a fucking drone these days, whining on and on, swearing that he had been kidnapped by the Alpha pup.

Had he not been my brother, I would have let Ronan kill him. It was after all, his lack of awareness that got us here.

That being said, I really need to sort through better choices for Betas. Eric has more penchant for trouble than a petulant kid. Still, I could count the number of people I trusted on three fingers and Eric fit into the three. It continues to remain his saving grace.

"We'll get her back," Eric promises, the weight of his guilt stealing the air in the car and my lips curl up in annoyance.

I had no choice. Trading Tova in marriage for Eric's life and the illusion of a truce was a necessary exchange.

But something about it chafes. Maybe it's the way her eyes lit up like a Solstice tree, or the way I could scent her arousal whenever Ronan was in the room.

She's in love with the fool, but I can't shake the feeling that I'm missing something crucial.

"She loves him," I state coolly, watching the trees blur past the window. "She'll despise us if we take her from him."

Eric's gaze burns into the side of my face, his green eyes a shade lighter than mine. "Since when has that ever stopped you?"

He's right. I've killed to protect what's mine. Kidnapping Tova and saving her from her own emotions would be far from the worst thing I've done. But she made me promise to respect her choice.

I exhale slowly. Parenting is fucking hard.

The car jolts to a stop, tires screeching. My gaze snaps to Ken in the rearview mirror. "What?"

He nods toward the sidewalk. "Someone's bleeding out."

"Unless it's one of ours, don't waste my time."

But Eric is already peering out the window, his voice edged with something like disgust.

"It's Ronan's bitch."

A face comes to mind. Small, heart shaped, violet-blue eyes that glared at me, kissable lips that seemed to be in a constant frown, untamed, frizzy black hair that hung wildly like it had lost a fight in a thunderstorm.

I'm out of the car before I can ponder on it.

My hands slip into my pocket as I walk the short distance and stop by the pool of blood, frowning. Her black hair is matted to her head with blood and there's so much blood leaking from there, I wonder if she's even alive.

Her eyes are swollen shut, lips burst in three places. Her nose is broken. Her arms are bent the wrong way, though they remain wrapped around her middle protectively.

Boots crunch against the gravel behind me. "Is she alive?"

I cock my head, observing. "Barely."

The wicked side to me considers turning around and leaving her for dead because she is none of my business. The cunning side, however, thinks this an opportunity like no other. Ronan has stolen something of mine, like always. Why not steal something of his?

Another part of me, a softer, more humane side I thought I had discarded many years ago has me crouching and pressing two fingers against her pulse point. It's too weak. She'll die before we find a doctor—two pulses?

My eyes dart to the other source of her bleeding, between her legs.

Ah, but this changes everything.

A claw flicks out from my pointer finger and I cut a deep gash along my palm.

"What are you doing?" Eric asks curiously, leaning over as I bring my blood to her lips.

"Finding leverage," I murmur as her lips part and latch onto the heel of my palm. The healing properties in my blood should keep her alive for long enough to get a physician to have a look at her.

Her eyelids crack open slightly, but the violet of her eyes are glazed over as she murmurs in a thick slur, "My baby..."

I lift the broken, little woman into my arms and I don't know why I bother whispering to her soothingly, "You're okay. I've got you."

Twenty years ago, I was hunting along with my father and his Beta. Security had been breached, rogues from the South killing off the weaker packs on the outskirts.

Ten years old and I was already a well-bred killer. A hunter in every respect. Father took the path down the creek while I followed the trail of a pup that smelled foreign.

I found him not too far, hiding in the shrubs. Ronan Callahan. It marked the beginning of our friendship, from his end at least.

He was a pesky little thing that latched on until he began to grow on me. I didn't have friends, so on the days he snuck into my pack, I was more than happy for the company. I taught him to fight, fixed up his injuries, introduced him to my family and called him brother.

Only to have him stab me in the back a few years later.

I scowl at the trip down memory lane, rubbing at the scar that runs down my right eye. On some days, it still hurts. "What am I looking at?"

Dr. Rayne taps the pre-surgery scan. "This is where the impact was the worst. The force of it caused a fracture right here," she circles a jagged crack near the ear, just above the jawline, "which led to swelling and the brain bleed."

She moves to the post-surgery scan. "Structurally, she's healing faster thanks to your blood, but the residual trauma to the hippocampus and surrounding structures is why she's experiencing retrograde amnesia and thinks we're in the year 2021.

Memory loss isn't something we can just stitch back together.

That part... we'll have to wait and see. "

I nod, fingers flexing. Things are getting more tedious by the second. "And the babe?"

Rayne tucks her hair behind her ear as she leans back in her seat. "In perfect condition, which is surprising, considering the condition she was found in."

I am beginning to think everything about Seraphina Everly will surprise me at every turn.

What will I do with her? Hold her hostage?

Send parts of her back to Ronan in the same fashion he had sent me Eric's middle finger?

No. I was hardly one to be used as a moral compass, but even I have a strong aversion to hurting females and children.

"You can see her now. Fiona is seeing to her medications, but she is awake," Rayne tells me, but there's a hint of sharpness in her tone when she refers to Seraphina.

Rayne may be my ex, but she still happens to be the best doctor across all packs, and she knows how to keep her mouth shut when need be. Interacting with her, even after many years have passed since our messy break up, proved just as difficult, but I had no other choice.

My hand grazes the doorknob when she says, "You never fussed about me like that. You must not have cared enough."

I look back. Stunning gray eyes hold mine and her light blonde hair that I had once plaited into braids after fucking her falls into beautiful waves. "You know that isn't true."

Tears line her eyes. "You haven't forgiven me, yet."

"I have." My words are as empty as my heart. I cared for her once, enough to contemplate making her my Luna, and even after she fucked Ronan, I still cared. But that was eight years ago and sentimentalities have no place in my life anymore.

Her lips purse. "Who is she to you? You've looked after her for three days without rest. Is it your child she carries?"

I stare at her and though I know I owe her nothing, I say, "Yes."

It isn't to hurt her feelings, but because it is soon to become reality. Three days ago, as I watched them stitch her up, a plan formulated. All that is left is to bring it to fruition, and for that, I need Seraphina's unwitting approval.

Rayne's face crumples and I leave, because it is not my place to wipe her tears anymore.

Rapid chatter teases my ears as I reach the ward and Eric pushes off the wall he had been leaning against. He rubs a hand down his face. "She's panicking. Has been demanding to see you. She thinks you're her husband."

My brows quirk up at that. "Alert Gunnar. We head out in thirty minutes."

There are questions in his eyes, but he doesn't ask them. I informed him at the night of the engagement of my plans to use Seraphina against Ronan to get Tova back, though, it wasn't a sordid plan, yet. It still isn't sordid , but I need to get her back to the pack first.

Everything, however, changes drastically the moment I step into the ward. The Goddess must really have quite the sense of humor and I imagine that wherever she is, she must be cackling at the turn of events.

Because the moment my eyes meet Seraphina's, I jerk at the force of something familiar snapping into place. I felt it on the night of the engagement when I touched her. Now, it is stronger, like an unbreakable force tugging me forward.

I cuss under my breath as Kaelin yowls excitedly inside me. Mate .

A shoe hits the door beside my head as I wrestle for control and when Fiona and Seraphina sight me, they both stiffen.

The hospital gown hangs awkwardly on Seraphina's small frame, tightening on her wide hips and flowing further down to cover her feet.

Her hair, partly shaved off for surgery, sticks up in different places, half covering most of her face.

That coupled with her rather pale complexion, she could pass off as a ghost.

I scowl.

She frowns, eyes narrowing skeptically. "That is he? My husband?"

Fiona nods, pulling the other shoe from Seraphina's grasp. "He never left your side."

That only makes her eyes darken with suspicion and she takes me in, inch by fucking inch, oblivious to the turmoil growing inside me or the bond that urges me to take a step forward. Feel her. Smell her. Touch her.

As if hearing my thoughts, she takes a step back and there is something solid and unyielding behind her blazing blue gaze. Like reinforced steel. "This can't be real."