Alike
644 Words
Seraphina’s POV
I wasn’t in a rush.
The coffee was lukewarm, the toast too crisp, and the eggs bland at best — but somehow it was the most peaceful breakfast I’d had in years.
No polished silver. No early morning briefings from Karl’s pack house. No forced smiles.
Just me, alone in a modest hotel room on the edge of nowhere.
I sat cross-legged on the armchair, wrapped in a hotel robe that was two sizes too big, chewing slowly and staring out the window like the clouds might offer wisdom.
Today, there was no pressure. But tomorrow…
I reached for my phone.
The number was already saved, never deleted, though unused.
It rang once.
“Seraphina.”
His voice hadn’t changed. Calm. Sharp. Heavy with authority. Just like I remembered.
“I’m coming home, Father.”
A pause followed, not of surprise but of confirmation. Then—
“It’s about time.”
I nodded to myself.
Because it was.
“I’ll arrive tomorrow,” I said. “My flight’s booked.”
“Good.”
The call ended there — no sentiment, no curiosity.
But I knew that silence meant he’d been waiting for this. For me. And I was ready. Whatever lay ahead back home — politics, duty, old wounds — I would face them.
I had Nyra.
And I wasn’t that quiet girl anymore.
⸻
Lucien’s POV
Power didn’t always come from noise.
It came from silence. From control. From stillness.
I was all of those things.
And I had built this house — this estate — to reflect that truth. Clean lines. Perfect structure. Every detail in its place.
For eight years, this life had been exactly how I wanted it.
Disciplined. Focused. Untouched.
Because after what happened with my former mate — the betrayal, the fire, the politics that followed — I had shut the world out.
I didn’t need a Luna. Didn’t need softness. Didn’t need anyone.
Or so I thought.
But last night…
She didn’t flinch.
When Karl rejected Seraphina in front of that entire room, she didn’t scream or collapse or beg. She didn’t even blink.
She accepted it like it was beneath her.
My inner wolf — usually buried deep — had surged forward in that moment. Silent, but alert.
And when our eyes met?
He whispered something I hadn’t heard in nearly a decade:
“Ours.”
That single word echoed louder than any war cry.
Because my wolf — my ruthless, quiet, calculating wolf — had seen something in her that he hadn’t seen in anyone else since her.
“She’s strong,” I muttered under my breath.
More than strong.
She didn’t bend.
Not to shame. Not to rejection. Not to heartbreak.
She was like me.
And that’s what I needed — not a shadow of a woman, not a delicate flower to decorate the throne beside mine — but a flame that refused to go out, even when drowned in ice.
Darius entered my office as I leaned back in my chair, fingers steepled.
He stopped mid-step and narrowed his eyes. “Oh no. You’ve got that face.”
“What face?”
“The dangerous one. The ‘I’ve found something worth ruining my peace for’ face.”
I gave a short laugh — low and amused.
“She’s going home,” I said.
“Already?”
“She’ll be on a flight tomorrow. And no, I’m not following her.”
Darius looked skeptical. “You’re not?”
“I’ll make her need me to.”
There was a beat of silence. Then, reluctantly, Darius grinned. “So… she is the one making you smile now.”
I didn’t deny it.
Because for the first time in eight years, my wolf wasn’t silent.
He was wide awake.
And we both knew—
Seraphina Vale wasn’t an accident.
She was a beginning.
- Writer
