Freya’s POV
It was after nine when Luna Victoria finally waved a hand, signaling it was ti for everyone to retire upstairs.
I guided Isabella to her bathroom for her evening routine, my movents chanical as I helped her bathe and blow-dried her hair afterward. The soft hum of the dryer filled the silence between us—silence that had beco increasingly common.
As I ran the brush through her damp locks, I caught Isabella watching through the mirror, her expression thoughtful, almost concerned.
"What is it?" I asked, our eyes eting in the reflection.
She quickly shook her head. "Nothing."
Perhaps I was imagining things, or maybe she simply noticed my recent quietness. There was a ti when bath ti ant stories and chatter about her day, questions about mine. When had that stopped? When had I stopped trying?
Once her hair was dry, Isabella rolled across her bed with childish abandon, then looked up at . "Mom, are you sleeping in here with tonight?"
I paused, my wolf Selene stirring with maternal instinct. "Would Bella like to stay with you?"
"I don’t mind either way," she replied with a casual shrug that didn’t quite match her hopeful eyes. "But, you haven’t spent much ti with Dad lately. Shouldn’t you be sleeping with him?"
"I’ll head back in a bit," I assured her.
The divorce papers remained unsigned, hidden in my personal files. If Isabella hadn’t invited to stay and Luna Victoria discovered I’d chosen to sleep separately from Silvano, it would only create more drama. Another lecture about duty and mate bonds I didn’t need.
When I returned to our bedroom, the lights were already on. Silvano sat at the desk, laptop open, fingers moving rapidly across the keyboard. The blue light illuminated the sharp angles of his face, highlighting his strong jaw and those eyes that once looked at with such intensity.
He glanced up briefly when I entered, but I averted my gaze, heading straight for the walk-in closet to gather my nightclothes before disappearing into the bathroom.
By the ti I erged freshly showered, Silvano remained exactly where I’d left him, still engrossed in whatever held his attention. The steady clicking of keys filled the otherwise silent room.
I settled on my side of the bed—a side that had felt increasingly like my only territory in this relationship—and applied my nightti skincare products. With sleep still distant, I reached for my book and began reading, trying to lose myself in soone else’s story since my own had beco so painful.
We existed like this, two strangers sharing space, neither acknowledging the other’s presence. The silence between us felt heavier than any argunt could have been.
Near midnight, fatigue finally won. I set my book aside, switched off my bedside lamp, and slid under the covers. Despite sharing a bed with my mate for the first ti in weeks, I didn’t expect to find sleep easily.
A bitter thought crossed my mind—Silvano would probably leave once he finished working. He’d likely slip out to be with Aurora, as he so often seed to these days.
Yet sohow, lulled by the rhythmic tapping of his keyboard and my own exhaustion, consciousness began slipping away, and I drifted into an unexpectedly deep sleep.
I awoke to warmth—delicious, encompassing warmth that made my wolf purr with contentnt. My body felt utterly relaxed, wrapped in security I hadn’t experienced in months. As consciousness gradually returned, I beca aware of soft breath tickling my ear and a solid form pressed against .
I was... in soone’s arms?
My body tensed as realization struck, eyes flying open to confirm what my senses already told : I was nestled against Silvano’s chest, his arms wrapped possessively around , our legs tangled together beneath the sheets. There wasn’t an inch of space between us.
The heat of his chest against my back, his large hands splayed across my stomach, the familiar scent of him surrounding —my traitorous body responded instantly, rembering how it once craved this closeness.
I’d always been a still sleeper, careful to maintain my position even in deepest slumber. Last night, I’d deliberately positioned myself at the edge of my side, ensuring we wouldn’t accidentally touch. There was no way I had gravitated toward him in my sleep.
Which could only an...
A painful thought crystalized: Silvano must have grown accustod to holding Aurora this way during our ti apart. In his half-conscious state, he’d reached for thinking I was her.
I shifted carefully, attempting to extract myself from his embrace without waking him.
His arms imdiately tightened, drawing even closer against the solid wall of his chest. "Stay," he murmured, his voice thick with sleep. Then, devastatingly, he pressed his lips to my forehead in a tender kiss. "Sleep a little longer."
My breath caught. Those words weren’t ant for —they were for Aurora. My eyes burned with unshed tears as I stared at his sleeping face, morizing features I would soon lose the right to claim as belonging to my mate.
After taking a steadying breath, I slowly began creating distance between us, carefully unwinding his arms from my waist. No matter how gently I moved, there was no way to separate completely without disturbing him.
Sure enough, just as I’d managed to sit up and was about to swing my legs over the side of the bed, Silvano’s eyes opened. Our gazes locked.
Recognition and awareness dawned in his expression. He seed to realize his mistake—that he’d been holding the wrong woman—and imdiately released the grip his legs had maintained on mine.
Without a word or backward glance, I retrieved my slippers and escaped to the bathroom, desperate to hide the emotions threatening to overwhelm .
When I finished my morning routine and returned to the bedroom, Silvano was gone. Stepping into the hallway, I spotted him at the far end, still wearing his sleep clothes, deep in conversation on his phone. I allowed myself just one glance before turning away and heading downstairs.
Luna Victoria was already awake, seated at the dining table with her morning tea. Soon after, Isabella joined us, her hair slightly mussed from sleep.
"Now that everyone’s up, let’s have breakfast," Luna Victoria announced with a warm smile.
"Yes!" Isabella enthusiastically agreed, sliding into her chair.
Just as we were about to begin, Silvano descended the stairs and, to my surprise, took his customary seat beside . mories of waking in his arms flashed unbidden through my mind, causing to shift subtly away, creating a small but deliberate gap between us.
Isabella, halfway through slurping her noodles, looked up at Silvano with innocent curiosity in her eyes. "Daddy, do you like to cuddle Mom when you sleep too?"
I nearly choked on my soup, coughing as heat rushed to my face that had nothing to do with the temperature of my food.
Silvano remained conspicuously silent, his face unreadable.
My embarrassnt intensified, my cheeks burning even hotter under Luna Victoria’s sudden scrutiny.
"Oh?" The elder Luna’s eyes lit up with interest. "Why would you ask such a thing, Bella?"
"Because when I went to find Mom this morning, Dad was hugging her really tight in bed," Isabella explained matter-of-factly, completely unaware of the tension her words created.
Luna Victoria let out a delighted "Ohhhh," her knowing gaze darting between Silvano and with undisguised satisfaction.
Silvano continued eating as though he hadn’t heard, while I wished the floor would open and swallow whole. The awkwardness was unbearable, made worse by my certainty that Silvano’s embrace hadn’t been ant for at all.
Later that day, I took Isabella to the amusent park as planned. Despite Luna Victoria’s attempts to persuade him, Silvano declined to join us, citing pressing pack business. I hadn’t expected otherwise.
Thankfully, Bella was an easy child to please. Even without her father’s presence, she bounded from ride to ride with infectious enthusiasm. Watching her excitent—the way her eyes widened at the colorful attractions and her delighted squeals on the carousel—softened sothing within that had grown hard and brittle over recent months.
For those few hours, I could almost forget the pain that awaited at ho.
Evening ca too quickly. As I pulled up to the pack house after our day out, I remained seated behind the wheel, turning to Isabella.
"Go on inside and get ready for bed, sweetheart. Mom has so things to take care of tonight, so I won’t be coming up."
Isabella’s smile faltered imdiately. "What? Again?"
She leaned back into the car window, her small brows furrowed with disappointnt. "Do you really have to work tonight too, Mom?"
"Yes," I lied smoothly, my face a practiced mask. "Study hard and call if you need anything."
Her lower lip jutted out slightly, but she nodded. "Okay, I guess."
Silvano frequently worked late or stayed away overnight on pack business, so Isabella easily accepted my similar absences as work-related. She had no reason to suspect I was deliberately avoiding their father—avoiding the pain of being near soone whose love had shifted elsewhere.
Emma erged to greet us, her expression welcoming.
"Is Dad ho?" Isabella asked him hopefully.
Emma smiled. "Yes, he returned earlier."
My expression didn’t change at this news, though my wolf growled softly within . I turned to Isabella with forced cheerfulness. "Mom’s leaving now, sweetie."
"Oh..." She stepped back reluctantly, making space for to drive away.
Emma looked confused. "It’s quite late, Freya. Are you certain you need to go out?"
I offered no explanation beyond, "I have matters to attend to."
Then to Isabella, I added, "It’s cold outside. Hurry in."
"I know," she replied, giving a small wave before following Emma inside.
I watched until the door closed behind them, then turned the car around and drove away from the ho that no longer felt like mine, from the mate who no longer wanted , and from the life I was slowly learning to leave behind.
Reviews
All reviews (0)