ARE YOU GOING?

SELENE

Five years later…

"Jeff, please talk to me." My voice cracked. I stood in the doorway of the bedroom, watching the man who once saved my life waste away in the shadows.

"I said I'm fine, Selene." He didn't look at me. He rarely did anymore.

I swallowed my emotions and left him in the dim room, retreating to the living room where tears welled up again. Every day was a war of silence and pain.

It had been five long years since the fire. Five years since Jeff went back into a burning building to retrieve the only possession I had left from my family, a charm bracelet. He saved it. But he didn't come out the same.

Jeff was severely burned. His once-beautiful face and chiseled body were scarred. His spirit is even more so. He avoided mirrors. Avoided people. He hid in his room, only emerging in the dead of night.

He pushed us all away, even me. Especially me.

"Mum! Mum!" The sweet voices of my children broke through the ache.

Triplets. Two boys, one girl. All four years old, beautiful and wild. They were the joy in my dark world.

I hugged them tightly as they ran into my arms, pressing kisses on their heads. "How's my little pack?"

"We're hungry!" my daughter giggled.

"Okay, okay," I laughed. "Go wash your hands. Dinner's soon."

Anna stepped inside. She was my rock. My midwife, my best friend, and my only connection to sanity. "They were angels today," she said.

"Thank you, Anna."

We sat together while the kids played in the next room.

"How's he?" she asked, gesturing toward the hallway.

"The same," I said, voice low.

"You have to try again, Selene. Tell him you love him."

I looked away. Jeff had confessed his love for me years ago, but I couldn't say it back. Not then. Maybe not even now. My heart was a war zone, burnt by betrayal, scarred by rejection. I didn't know how to love a man anymore. I only knew how to survive.

"I don't want to give him false hope," I said.

"Selene, he needs to know he's still worthy. Not just of living but of being loved."

Before I could answer, Anna handed me a sealed envelope.

"What's this?" I asked, tearing it open.

"An invitation," she said. "To cater a major pack event. Big money, big exposure."

I read it. My heart stopped.

Concave Moon Pack.

My old home.

"No," I whispered. "I can't go there."

Anna's eyes widened. "Why not?"

I couldn't tell her the truth. She didn't know my past. Didn't know that I had been humiliated and cast out of that pack.

"I just… I have kids. I can't travel."

"They said you could bring them. They'll accommodate everything. Even Jeff, if he wants to come."

"Jeff?" I laughed dryly. "He hasn't left this house in five years."

"Well, maybe it's time. Maybe it's what you all need."

Before I could reply, I heard Jeff's voice from down the hall.

"Are you going?"

He was standing there, leaning on the doorway, his scarred face partly hidden in shadow.

I froze. He'd heard everything.

"I asked if you're going back there," he repeated.

"I… I don't know."

The kids were asleep. Anna had gone home. It was just us.

I walked over to him, gently cupping his face. "You saved me, Jeff. You gave me life when I had nothing left."

Tears filled his eyes.

"I don't know if I can love again," I whispered, "but I know I can't walk away from the man who made me feel safe again."

I kissed him.

He froze. Then kissed me back. Desperate. Hopeful. Alive.

We didn't say anything else that night. Our bodies spoke for us. For the first time in five years, he didn't hide.

---

The royal house was even grander than I remembered. It hadn't changed much. Neither had the memories it held.

"Mom, look!" Jaycen, my firstborn, ran ahead, pointing at a giant portrait near the stairs.

I caught up to him, eyes widening.

It was a painting of a man.

Sharp features. Pale skin. Ocean-blue eyes. Curly black hair.

My sons looked just like him.

"That's Alpha Justin," a voice said behind me.

I turned and froze.

Jax.

And beside him… Tamara.

"It's quite the portrait," I said, voice barely stable.

"My father was a legend," Jax said. "Gone, but never forgotten."

Gone?

"I see. Well, excuse me." I grabbed Jaycen and rushed outside.

I found Anna still unloading our things. "We have to go."

"What?" she blinked. "Selene, we just got here."

"I can't be here," I whispered. "Please."

She frowned. "Selene, what is going on?"

Before I could answer, a voice came from behind the vehicle.

"Selene?"

Tamara.

Her eyes scanned me, recognition dawning.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, eyes narrowing.

And then Jax appeared beside her, staring at me.

His gaze dropped to the child in my arms.

Then to the twins behind Anna.

His eyes widened.

The same blue eyes as his father's.

He looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"Selene?" he asked.

And just like that, the past returned to claim me.

To be continued…