Chapter 9 - You're here
1197 Words
Seraphine’s POV
I didn’t go straight to my room after leaving Darius.
I couldn’t.
I was out of breath.. I needed fresh air.
My feet carried me down the quiet corridor, past the stone walls that had seen too much history, too many wars, until I found myself beneath the open sky.
The night air was cold and sharp enough to sting but it did nothing to cool the fire that burned deep inside me.
My lips still tingled and felt warmer than it should have.
I pressed my fingers to them, my breath unsteady.
Moon Goddess, I thought bitterly, if You’re listening.. this is cruel, this pure torture.
I slowly leaned against the balustrade and tilted my face upward to stare at the clouds.
The moon hung full and luminous, beautiful in all her perfection.
“I didn’t want him to stop.. I needed him to continue, to make me feel like a woman,” I whispered to myself.
The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them.
I hadn’t meant to say them aloud.
I closed my eyes, shame and longing twisting together in my chest.
Six years of restraint.. Six years of pretending that the ache beneath my ribs was nothing more than gratitude. That the way my pulse responded to Darius’s presence was loyalty and appreciation.
Not want.
Not need.
Yet my body betrayed me, heat pooled low between my thighs, an unmistakable awareness of desire settled between my thighs.
I slightly shifted, startled by the sensation.. by how immediate it was, how honest, how raw.
I exhaled shakily.
This was dangerous.
I was dangerous.
I straightened, forcing my breathing to slow and my thoughts to line themselves into something manageable.
Tomorrow we would ride to Grimfang.
Tomorrow I would need steel in my spine, not softness and muchiness in my veins.
Still, as I went back to my room sleep came slowly all I could hear was how softly he whispered my name “Sera”
And when sleep finally came, it was restless and uncomfortable as each time my thighs grazed each other my breathing seized and I ached all the more for him.
x
Dawn slowly broke in a pale and cold way and I dressed in silence, pulling on riding leathers beneath a dark cloak, the hood heavy enough to make shadows on my face.
When I stepped into the courtyard, Darius was already there.
Waiting..
Of course he was.
He stood beside his horse, calm, composed, fastening a strap with methodical precision.
He looked… normal.
Too normal..
As though the night before had never happened.
As though he hadn’t kissed me and stopped halfway making me clench my thighs all night as I ached for his bloody touch.
Isshhh… Something in my chest tightened.
“Good morning,” he said when he finally noticed me.
His voice, as usual, was even and polite and I mirrored it.
“Good morning.”
Our eyes met briefly.. nothing more. No flicker.. No hesitation.. No ‘oh my dear goddess I couldn’t sleep last night cause I needed your warmth’
Oh well..
I told myself that was for the best.
Still, as he swung up onto his horse, his muscles shifting beneath his tunic, I couldn’t stop my gaze from following the movement and heat stirred again, unwelcome and insistent, from my abdomen downwards.
If I wasn’t careful everyone might smell my arousal and that was the last thing I wanted.
I looked away quickly.
‘Get yourself together.’ I thought to myself.
Kade arrived moments later with Aurelian bundled in a thick cloak, his small boyish hands gripping Kade’s collar as he chattered about the horses and his wooden swords.
My heart squeezed.
I stood in front of my son and brushed a kiss to his forehead.
“Be good my little munchkin, Do not trouble your uncle.,” I murmured.
“I always am,” he said solemnly, then grinned.
I turned to Kade. “Keep him safe.”
Kade’s expression softened, just a fraction.
“With my life,” he said. “Nothing will touch my mini Alpha.”
I nodded, trusting him completely.
Then I rose, and the moment was over.
We rode out shortly after.. Darius at the front while I was in the middle with men flanking us, the path winding downward toward the valley and beyond, toward that gods forsaken place.. Grimfang.
I kept my eyes forward.
‘Everything Fael said is a lie,’ I told myself.
Again.
And again.
The land changed as we drew closer. The air grew heavier, the trees thinner, the stone beneath us became darker.
Grimfang rose ahead, jagged and annoyingly imposing, its gates carved with symbols that once meant and spelt home for mr.
My pulse quickened.
‘No.’
I swallowed.
‘I am not that girl anymore.’
The gates loomed.
And then.. Memory struck.
Hard.
Hands gripping me too tightly. A voice raised in anger.
My own pleading echoing back at me, thin and desperate.
“Please.. Fael, please..”
I gasped, breath hitching as the past surged without warning. The world tilted.
“Sera!.” Darius’s voice cut through the haze of my memories.
I forced myself to straighten in the saddle. “I’m fine,” I said quickly.
He studied me, his eyes as sharp as an eagle, but he didn’t press the matter further.
The gates of Grimfang opened up to us and I lowered my head as well as my hood.
As we rode through the pack, the weight of the people’s attention pressed in from all sides. I felt it like a physical thing.. eyes lingering, whispers trailing in our wake.
“Who are they?.”
“They smell different ?”
“Something about the one in the middle feels oddly familiar but I just can’t fix it …” I heard someone say as she pointed to me.
Even beneath the hood, I felt exposed.
We stopped before the pack house and the moment my boot touched the ground, the past crashed over me completely.
Stone cold beneath my knees. My voice breaking as I pleaded for mercy.
“Fael… the pup is yours.. Fael pleaseee.. Don’t hurt me.”
My body swayed and strong hands caught me instantly.
Darius pulled me against him, solid and warm, his arm firm around my shoulders.
“Sera,” he murmured, low enough that only I could hear. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
His scent grounded me.. Safety.. my safe haven.
I breathed him in, my face pressed briefly to his chest, and for one dangerous second, the world narrowed to just the two of us.
I nodded.
“Yes,” I said, though my cheeks warmed beneath the hood. “I’m...”
Before I could finish my sentence and step back..
“You’re here.”
Fael’s voice cut through the air and I stiffened.
Slowly, I lifted my head.
He stood at the top of the steps, eyes fixed on me with something like awe.. and something darker beneath it.
The past and present collided.
And I knew..
Nothing about this little trip would be easy.
- Writer
