Seraphina’s POV
After the Healing Hall checked her over, I took my pup home.
Once I’d settled her in, I went upstairs to start gathering our documents.
That was when I suddenly heard a voice behind me.
“Seraphina, what are you doing?”
I paused for a heartbeat, forcing down the wave of hatred in my chest, and answered evenly, “I’m packing our papers.”
Roderick didn’t sense anything amiss.
As always, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me from behind.
I hadn’t expected it and couldn’t dodge in time. His embrace closed around me completely. But the moment Calla’s scent reached me, that sweet jasmine curdling over decay so distinctly hers, clinging to his skin where another wolf had no right to leave it, I nearly gagged. My own wolf recoiled inside me, lips peeling back from teeth I couldn’t show him.
He didn’t notice my stiff reaction and went on speaking as if nothing were wrong.
“Seraphina, I’m just so relieved you and our pup are safe. I never imagined something would happen at the festival grounds. If I had known, no matter how urgent pack business was, I would never have left you two behind.”
His tone carried lingering fear, his words spoken with such conviction.
But knowing the truth, I felt nothing at all.
I lifted my gaze to him. Roderick’s expression was as gentle as ever.
These arms had once been a safe harbor for me and my pup.
Now, they were the very weapon poised to destroy us.
The thought made me lower my eyes. Without a trace of emotion, I slipped his arm away from my waist.
“It’s fine. Your pack matters. My pup and I are safe.”
Roderick, long accustomed to my understanding nature, frowned slightly and put on a show of pained sincerity.
“How could the pack ever matter more than you and our pup? I honestly don’t know… If, after losing our son, I were to lose you two as well, how could I go on living?”
At the mention of our dead cub, I couldn’t stop the flash of hatred that passed through my eyes. Somewhere deep inside me, my wolf made a low, broken sound at the word son, a grief that had no bottom.
Before I could speak, his communicator chimed.
He pulled the crystal from his pocket, glanced at it, and gave me a smile.
“It’s someone from the pack. I’ll step outside to take this.”
I nodded calmly, though my claws pressed so deep into my palm that they drew blood.
When he raised the crystal, I caught the name glowing across its surface, exactly as I expected. It was Calla.
From outside came his hurried, anxious voice. For some reason, my stomach tightened with unease, and my wolf went still and watchful beneath my skin.
A moment later, he stormed back in, eyes flashing gold, and without warning, he struck me hard across the face.
“Why did you lay a hand on Calla? She’s carrying a pup right now! If anything happens to her, I’ll make you pay with your life!”
I clutched my cheek, staring at him in utter disbelief.
The moment he saw the mark blooming across my skin, he froze.
Something flickered in his eyes, something complicated. He reached out, as if to touch my face.
But before his fingers could graze my skin, the crystal chimed again.
He gave me one long, heavy look, and then he turned and walked out.
I bolted downstairs, intent on grabbing my pup and leaving this hell.
But I hadn’t even reached the front door before Roderick caught me, his grip on my arm like iron, his Alpha aura crashing down over the hall until the air itself thickened and pushed at my shoulders.
Without a word, he dragged me and Wrenna toward the carriage. No matter how hard she cried, he refused to let go.
By the time I snapped out of my daze, we had already arrived at the same festival grounds we visited on our mating anniversary.
The high coaster, still hanging midair from the earlier accident, remained unmended. In one swift motion, Roderick wrenched my pup out of my arms.
“Tell me where Calla is,” he growled, the sound rolling up from his chest, “or you’ll regret it!”
Clutching my pup tightly, he climbed into the storm-hawk. As it rose higher and higher, my heart lurched. And then, without a shred of hesitation, he placed Wrenna back into that same faulty coaster.
She had already been traumatized by it once.
Now, she wailed uncontrollably.
Her cries tore through me, each sob shredding my chest. My wolf was screaming, throwing herself against the cage of my ribs to reach the pup we could not touch. Watching the coaster sway under his hand, I could barely breathe.
“I don’t know anything, Roderick!” I screamed hoarsely. “I don’t care who took Calla. Just put my pup down now!”
