Seraphina’s POV
The training facility felt wrong.
I noticed it the second I walked through the doors. That usual buzz of energy—voices echoing, bodies moving, the constant rhythm of fists hitting bags—was gone.
Replaced by silence. Empty space. Like soone had sucked half the life out of the building.
I’d taken three days off. Three days of hiding in my apartnt. Three days of not answering calls or texts. Three days of pretending I could forget everything that had happened.
It hadn’t worked.
But I’d dragged myself back anyway. Because what else was I supposed to do? Sit in that apartnt and spiral? Wait for the divorce papers to process? Watch my life fall apart from a safe distance?
No. I needed this. Needed the distraction. Needed sothing to focus on that wasn’t Damien or Emma or that fucking baby.
I dropped my bag in my office. Changed into training clothes. Pulled my hair back tight.
When I walked into the main hall, I counted maybe ten people. Ten. Out of the usual forty.
Jessica was running drills with Riley and Sophie. Maya stretched in the corner. A few others I didn’t recognize worked on technique.
But that was it. Everyone else was just... gone.
I walked over to Jessica. She saw coming and stopped mid-punch.
"Sera!" Her face lit up. "You’re back!"
"Yeah." I looked around again. "Where is everyone?"
Her smile faded. "You didn’t hear?"
"Hear what?"
She glanced at the others. They’d all stopped training. All watching now.
"There was an attack." Jessica’s voice got quieter. "Three days ago. Rogue wolves. A lot of them. They hit the northern border."
My stomach dropped. "How many?"
"We don’t know exact numbers. But enough that Alpha Nightshadow called up almost everyone." She gestured to the empty hall. "All the advanced trainees. Half the interdiate ones. Anyone who could fight got sent to the front lines."
The front lines. Like this was a war.
"Is it that bad?" The question ca out thin.
"Bad enough." Riley stepped closer. "My brother’s out there. He texted last night. Said the rogues aren’t just attacking randomly. They’re organized. Strategic. Like soone’s leading them."
"Soone is." Sophie’s voice was grim. "Voss. That rogue Alpha from the eastern territories. Apparently he’s been building an army for months."
"Alpha’s going out there too." Jessica said it carefully. Watching my reaction.
My heart stopped. "What?"
"He mobilized yesterday. Took Lucas and the elite guard. They’re heading to the northern border to lead the defense."
Damien. On a battlefield. Fighting rogues.
My hands started shaking.
"Are you okay?" Jessica touched my arm. "You look pale."
"I’m fine." The lie was automatic.
But I wasn’t fine. My chest felt tight. My breathing shallow. My mind racing with images I didn’t want to see.
Damien injured. Damien bleeding. Damien not coming back.
"Hey." Sophie’s voice cut through the panic. "The Alpha’s the strongest fighter we have. He’ll be fine."
Would he? Voss wasn’t so random rogue. He was organized. Dangerous. The kind of threat that required the Alpha to personally intervene.
Which ant it was serious. Really serious.
"When did he leave?" I heard myself ask.
"Yesterday morning." Jessica hesitated. "I thought... I thought you’d know."
"I’ve been out of the loop." I forced my voice steady.
Jessica nodded. Didn’t push. But I saw the concern in her eyes.
*Do I still care about him?*
Yes. God, yes. Even after everything. Even after Emma and the baby and all the lies.
I still cared. Still worried. Still felt that stupid pull toward him that wouldn’t go away no matter how hard I tried to kill it.
"Right." I clapped my hands. Forced myself back into instructor mode. "Let’s get to work then. Just because everyone else is gone doesn’t an we slack off."
The trainees responded imdiately. Moving into position. Ready to train.
But my mind was miles away. At the northern border. Where Damien was fighting. Where he could be hurt. Where he might not co back.
---
Training dragged on forever.
Every minute felt like an hour. Every drill felt pointless. My body moved through the motions but my mind stayed stuck on one thought.
By the ti I finally dismissed everyone, my head was pounding. My hands still shaking. That tight feeling in my chest getting worse instead of better.
I grabbed my bag. Started toward my car. Ready to go back to my apartnt. Back to being alone.
Then I stopped.
The apartnt was cold. Empty. A place to hide. Not a place to live.
And tonight? Tonight I couldn’t be there. Couldn’t sit in that silence wondering if Damien was okay. Couldn’t wait for news that might never co.
I needed to be sowhere else. Sowhere that felt less like giving up.
The house. His house. Our house.
Where the kids were.
My hands moved before my brain caught up. Starting the car. Pulling out of the parking lot. Heading toward a place I’d sworn I wouldn’t go back to.
But the kids needed . And maybe—maybe I needed them too.
---
The house looked the sa.
Big. Beautiful. Lit up against the evening sky like sothing out of a magazine.
I sat in my car for a long mont. Engine off. Hands gripping the steering wheel. Working up the courage to actually go inside.
This was stupid. I should turn around. Go back to my apartnt. Let Damien’s staff handle the kids like they’d been doing.
But then I saw movent in an upstairs window. Small. Quick. Lily’s room.
My daughter. Who probably missed . Who probably needed her mother even if her mother was a ss.
I got out of the car.
The front door was unlocked. Of course it was. Damien never locked it. Too confident in his security. Too used to being untouchable.
"Hello?" I called out. "Anyone ho?"
Footsteps thundered from upstairs. Then Lily’s voice. "Mama?"
She appeared at the top of the stairs. Her face lighting up like Christmas morning. "Mama! You’re here!"
Then she was running. Flying down the stairs. Launching herself at .
I caught her. Held her tight. Breathed in her shampoo. "Hi, baby girl."
"I missed you so much!" Her arms wrapped around my neck. Squeezing. "Are you staying? Please say you’re staying!"
"Just for tonight, sweetie."
"Yay!" She pulled back. Her smile huge. "Adrian! Mama’s here!"
Adrian appeared more slowly. Walking down the stairs carefully. His face guarded. Like he was afraid to hope.
"Hey, Mom." His voice was quiet.
"Hey, buddy." I set Lily down. Held out my arms.
He hesitated. Then walked over. Let hug him. His body stiff at first. Then gradually relaxing.
"Are you hungry?" I asked. Pulling back to look at them both. "Have you guys eaten?"
"Mrs. Chen made dinner." Adrian said. "But it’s not as good as yours."
"Then let’s make sothing together." I smiled. Forced myself to sound normal. "What do you want?"
"Pancakes!" Lily bounced. "With chocolate chips!"
"For dinner?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Why not?" Adrian shrugged. "Dad’s not here to say no."
The ntion of Damien made my chest tighten again. But I pushed it down. Focused on the kids.
"Pancakes it is."
---
We made a ss.
Flour everywhere. Chocolate chips scattered across the counter. Lily got batter in her hair. Adrian accidentally dropped an egg on the floor.
But they were laughing. Happy. Acting like kids instead of the worried, stressed versions they’d been lately.
And for a little while, I could pretend everything was fine. That we were just a normal family making dinner together. That their father wasn’t on a battlefield. That their mother wasn’t falling apart.
We ate at the kitchen table. Sticky syrup and chocolate sared on everyone’s faces. The conversation light. Safe.
---
The house felt too big once the kids were asleep.
Too quiet. Too empty. Every room holding mories I didn’t want to think about.
I walked downstairs slowly. Unsure what to do now. Go to my apartnt? Stay in the guest room? Sleep on the couch?
That’s when I saw it.
A piece of paper on the kitchen table. Folded once. My na written on the outside in Damien’s handwriting.
My heart stopped.
I walked over. Picked it up. The paper felt heavy. Important.
What had he written? An apology? An explanation? Final divorce papers?
My fingers traced over my na. That familiar scrawl. The way he’d written "Sera" a thousand tis over the years.
I should open it. Should read whatever he’d left for .
I set the note back down. Left it unopened on the table.
Then I walked upstairs. To the guest room. The one that had beco mine during those final weeks before I moved out.
Reviews
All reviews (0)