Seraphina’s POV
My hands curled into fists at my sides as rage built in my chest like molten lava. "Where is my son, Valerie?"
"Oh, Adrian?" She examined her perfectly manicured nails with theatrical indifference. "I’m sure he’s around sowhere. Children are so adventurous at that age, aren’t they? Always wandering off, getting into places they shouldn’t."
The casual cruelty in her voice made sothing snap inside . I lunged forward, my hands reaching for her throat, but Valerie was ready for . Her fist connected with my cheek with enough force to send stumbling backward into the wall, stars exploding across my vision.
"Now, now," she said conversationally, shaking out her hand as if hitting had been nothing more than swatting a fly. "Let’s not make this harder than it needs to be. You know what Mother wants. Just co ho, marry Harold like a good little oga, and I’ll tell you exactly where to find your precious bastard."
"Never," I spat, tasting blood on my lip.
Valerie’s laugh was like breaking glass. "Oh, but you will. Because the alternative is so much worse." She moved closer, her voice dropping to a whisper that sohow made it ten tis more terrifying. "Do you know what happens to little boys lost in the forest, Sera? The border territories are crawling with rogues these days. Hungry, desperate wolves who wouldn’t hesitate to tear apart anything weak and helpless they happened to find."
She grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back with vicious force, making my scalp burn with pain. "Your little boy is sowhere in rogue territory right now, Sera. Probably scared, probably crying for his mommy. And every minute you waste here arguing with is another minute he’s alone out there with the monsters."
"Let go of !" I tried to wrench free, but her grip was like iron.
"Here’s what’s going to happen," she hissed in my ear, her breath hot against my skin. "You’re going to co with right now. You’re going to drive to Mother’s house, get on your knees, and beg Harold’s forgiveness for your earlier tantrum. You’re going to marry him tonight, right there in Mother’s living room, and you’re going to be grateful for the opportunity."
The images her words conjured made physically sick. "You win," I whispered. "I’ll do whatever you want. Just tell where he is."
"That’s better." Valerie said with satisfaction, finally releasing her brutal grip on my hair.
*Fight!* Ayla’s voice was sharp with desperation. *We can’t let them win! Not when Adrian needs us!*
She turned to get the car, but paused at the doorway to deliver one final blow. "Oh, and Sera? When you’re lying under Harold tonight, when he’s grunting and sweating on top of you, just rember—this is exactly what you deserve. This is what happens to ogas who forget their place."
I pushed away from the wall, ignoring the pain in my ribs and the throbbing in my head. My wolf was stirring with a strength I’d never felt before, her presence growing more solid and fierce with each passing second.
*She threatened our pup,* Ayla’s voice was a growl of pure nace.
She moved faster than I expected, her hand shooting out to grab my wrist with bruising force. "You don’t have a choice, you pathetic little—"
That’s when it happened.
The rage that had been building in my chest exploded outward like a dam bursting, and suddenly there was sothing else sharing space in my body. Not just Ayla’s voice in my mind, but her actual presence, her wild strength flooding through my muscles like liquid fire.
"You threatened my son." I said, and my voice was different now—deeper, carrying an undertone that made Valerie’s eyes widen with alarm.
I looked down at my hands and gasped. My fingernails were elongating into claws, sharp and deadly, while my canine teeth felt longer and more prominent in my mouth.
"What the hell—" Valerie started to say, but I was already moving.
My hand closed around her throat with superhuman strength, lifting her off the ground as if she weighed nothing. Her eyes bulged with shock and terror as her feet kicked uselessly in the air.
"Where. Is. My. Son." Each word ca out as a growl, my voice distorted by the changes happening to my vocal cords.
"The... the border forests!" she gasped, clawing at my hand with her manicured nails.
I threw her across the hallway with enough force to send her crashing into the trophy case, glass exploding in all directions as she crumpled to the floor. Blood trickled from nurous cuts where the shards had found their mark.
Valerie tried to crawl away, leaving a trail of blood on the polished floor, but I was on her before she could make it more than a few feet. I grabbed her ankle and dragged her back, ignoring her screams of pain and terror.
"You want to play gas with my child?" I snarled, my elongated claws digging into her leg hard enough to draw blood. "Let show you what happens to bitches who threaten wolf pups."
I flipped her onto her back and wrapped both hands around her throat, my newfound strength making it absurdly easy to pin her struggling form. Her face was turning purple, her eyes rolling back as she fought for air.
*Kill her,* Ayla’s voice urged in my mind, wild with bloodlust. *She threatened our pup. End this.*
Part of wanted to. Part of wanted to squeeze until her struggles stopped, until she paid the ultimate price for endangering my son.
But sowhere in the red haze of rage, a smaller voice whispered that Adrian needed alive and free, not locked away for murder.
I released her throat and she gasped desperately for air, her chest heaving as she tried to fill her lungs. Before she could recover enough to fight back, I grabbed her head and slamd it against the floor.
"If I ever see you near my son again," I whispered, my face inches from hers, "I will finish what I started here. Do you understand ?"
Valerie managed a weak nod, blood trickling from her nose and mouth. Her perfect makeup was ruined, her designer dress torn and stained with her own blood.
The changes to my body were already beginning to reverseā€"my claws retracting, my teeth returning to normal, the supernatural strength ebbing away like a tide.
As I took a step toward my car, the adrenaline that had been holding upright suddenly abandoned completely. The pain from Valerie’s blows hit all at once—my ribs screaming from where she’d punched , my head throbbing from where it had connected with the wall, countless cuts and bruises from our violent struggle.
"I need..." I started to say, but the words dissolved into nothing as my legs gave out beneath .
The last thing I rembered was hitting the cold floor of the school hallway, Ophelia’s figure and her voice calling my na as everything faded to black.
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