Serena’s chest ached, not just from the fever that burned through her, but from the raw wound of rejecting Gary and Jack at the pack gathering. Their hurt expressions—Gary’s glistening eyes, Jack’s clenched jaw—haunted her as she stumbled back to her room in the Sloan mansion, Mia’s arm steadying her. Hart’s smirk of triumph and the cloaked figure’s fleeting presence in the courtyard had left her reeling. Her fire witch secret was safe for now, but at the cost of fracturing the mate bond and her own strength. The illness sapping her energy felt like a betrayal of her body, tied to her volatile powers or something far darker.
Mia shut the door behind them, her face a mix of worry and determination. “Serena, you’re shaking,” she said, guiding her to the bed. “That rejection… I know you didn
