As I stared blankly into the shifting shadows of the forest, the fragile, angelic face of Seraphina flashed briefly in my mind's eye. I saw the calculated, victorious twitch of her lips just before she buried her face in Marcus’s chest. She had played the entire pack for absolute fools, manipulating traditional ideals of delicate purity to seize power without ever lifting a single finger in true defense of her people. She would undoubtedly scheme to use my violent abduction to her absolute advantage, twisting the narrative to paint Marcus as the tragic, deeply wounded hero and the Lycan King as a mindless monster.
But as Callum’s massive arms tightened fiercely and protectively around my trembling frame, adjusting my weight so I wouldn't slip, I knew the absolute truth. They were the cowa
