Chapter 4
1104 Words
The wolf inside Seraphina had stopped clawing to be set free hours ago, but the ache in her chest remained — a constant, gnawing reminder that her mate had looked at her and chosen not to see her.
She sat at the edge of the moonlit stream, her knees pulled up to her chest, the breeze combing gentle fingers through her hair. The reflection of the full moon shimmered across the water’s surface, casting silvery light over the glade. It was a sacred space, a place she’d once shared with Darius, before everything between them had shattered.
Behind her, twigs snapped underfoot.
She didn't turn around.
“I figured I’d find you here.” The voice was rough silk. Familiar. Darius.
Her heart skipped. “You shouldn’t have come.”
“I didn’t come for you,” he said too quickly, though the edge in his tone told another story. “I’m here for pack business.”
She snorted softly, still not facing him. “Of course. Always about duty.”
The silence stretched, thick as fog.
Finally, he moved closer. “You left without telling anyone. Even Alpha Marcus is concerned.”
“I didn’t know I owed you or Marcus an explanation for my every move.” Her tone cut sharper than she intended. “I needed air. Solitude.”
“I can see that,” he muttered, stepping into her line of vision.
Seraphina finally looked up—and damn him, even under the pale moonlight, Darius was painfully beautiful. Shadowed jaw, dark lashes, storm-filled eyes. He knelt beside her, close but careful not to touch.
“Why did you reject me?”
The question exploded between them, unfiltered and raw.
Darius went still.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know,” she continued, her voice cracking. “You knew. The moment our eyes met that night under the blood moon—”
“I knew, yes.” He exhaled sharply, dragging a hand down his face. “But what you don’t understand, Seraphina, is that knowing doesn’t always mean accepting.”
“And rejecting me—was that easier?” Her voice trembled, but she held his gaze. “Than risking your title, your plans, your pride?”
Darius didn’t respond right away. Instead, he stared into the stream, as if the water held answers he couldn’t find in himself.
“I was scared,” he admitted finally, the words barely above a whisper. “Terrified of what being with you would mean for me, for the pack. I thought I could ignore it. That if I turned away fast enough, I could forget.”
“Did it work?” she asked bitterly.
He looked at her now. “No.”
Their gazes locked. Too long. Too heavy.
And then, as if the tension snapped something inside him, he surged forward and kissed her.
She didn’t stop him.
His lips were a storm, fierce and familiar, tasting of everything she’d mourned. Seraphina melted against him with a sound of surrender, her fingers curling into his jacket. His hand slid into her hair, anchoring her. It was desperate, breathless—two souls craving a connection they’d denied too long.
But just as quickly as it started, she pulled away, panting.
“No,” she whispered, her fingers touching her lips as if shocked they still burned from his kiss. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to kiss me like I’m yours when you threw me away.”
Darius's brows furrowed, but he didn’t try to touch her again.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I shouldn’t have—”
“No,” she repeated more firmly, rising to her feet. “You want to talk about the past? Then you’ll have to hear all of it.”
He blinked. “What do you mean?”
“There’s something I haven’t told anyone. Not my father. Not even Elara.”
A pause.
“I left the pack because I couldn’t stay after what you did. But I also left because I was… pregnant.”
Darius stared, lips parting in shock.
Seraphina’s throat tightened. “I lost the baby three weeks later.”
The words hit like a blade, leaving the air heavy with grief. Darius staggered back a step, as though the truth physically struck him.
“I—I didn’t know,” he said hoarsely.
“No,” she whispered. “Because you never asked.”
Tears welled in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She’d cried enough.
“I was alone. I mourned alone. And I built walls because I had no choice.”
He looked utterly broken. “If I had known…”
“You didn’t want to know.”
Silence fell again, brittle and breathless.
Eventually, Darius raked a trembling hand through his hair. “You have every right to hate me.”
“I don’t hate you,” she whispered. “I wish I did. It would be easier.”
He took a hesitant step forward. “Let me earn a second chance, Seraphina. Let me try.”
Her heart squeezed.
“I don’t know if I can let you in again. I don’t know if I’m strong enough to survive being rejected twice.”
“Then I’ll prove you won’t be.”
For the first time in a long time, something cracked through her guarded expression—a flicker of hope.
But just then, a low growl echoed from the trees.
Darius immediately stepped in front of her, shielding her with his body as his wolf surged to the surface.
“Who’s there?” he demanded, voice all Alpha command.
Another growl answered—closer this time. Three figures stepped out from the shadows, wolves in human form. Rogues.
“Well, well,” the leader sneered, a scar cutting across his cheek. “Looks like we stumbled on a lovers’ reunion.”
Darius didn’t flinch. “You’re not welcome here.”
The rogue’s smirk widened. “And yet, here we are.”
Seraphina shifted subtly, tension coiling in her limbs. She’d left this world behind, but it hadn’t left her.
Darius glanced back at her. “Can you shift?”
She nodded.
“Good. Stay behind me. If they lunge, we take them down—fast and together.”
Seraphina’s heart pounded. This was no longer about grief or second chances.
This was survival.
As the rogues closed in, baring their teeth, Darius and Seraphina stood side by side—two wolves with unfinished history, facing a threat that might just write their next chapter in blood.
- Writer
