로그인Sera Winters
Privacy is the first thing captivity takes. Your body, your choices, your space. But when they take your thoughts too, there's nowhere left to hide. I wasn't leaving this room. Not today. Not tomorrow. Maybe not ever. I sat on the bathroom floor with my back against the door and my knees pulled up to my chest. I'd been here since last night. Since I ran from the library. Since I let Kieran touch me and liked it. My body still remembered. Every place his hands had been felt warmer. Different. Marked. I scrubbed at my skin in the shower until it hurt. Until the hot water ran cold. Until I couldn't feel his touch anymore. But I could still feel the pleasure. The way my body had responded to him. The way I'd begged him not to stop. What was wrong with me? Someone knocked on my bedroom door. I ignored it. They knocked again. Louder this time. "Sera." Kieran's voice. Soft. Worried. "Please talk to me." I didn't answer. "I brought you breakfast. I'll leave it outside the door." Footsteps walking away. The sound of something being set down. Then silence. I wasn't eating. Wasn't talking. Wasn't doing anything except sitting here hating myself. An hour passed. Maybe two. I lost track. Another knock. Different this time. Harder. "Sera. Open the door." Caelan. Cold and commanding like always. I stayed quiet. "You can't hide in there forever." Watch me. More footsteps. More silence. Then the third knock. This one didn't wait for an answer. The lock clicked. The door opened. I scrambled to my feet. "Get out." Daxen stood in the doorway. Arms crossed. That same hungry smile on his face. "No." "I said get out." "I heard you." He stepped inside. Closed the door behind him. "But we need to talk." "I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to talk to anyone." "Too bad." He walked further into the room. Looked around like he was seeing it for the first time. "Nice place. Bit small. But cozy." "Get. Out." "In a minute." He turned to face me. His gold eyes too bright. Too intense. "I need to tell you something first. And you're gonna hate me for it." "I already hate you." "Yeah. I know. I can hear it." He tapped his temple. "Loud and clear. Every day. Every hour. Every time you look at us." My stomach dropped. "What are you talking about?" "I'm talking about the fact that I hear your thoughts." He said it casually. Like it was nothing. Like he was commenting on the weather. "Have been since you got here. Can't turn it off. It's part of the curse." The room tilted. "You're lying." "I'm not." "You can't—that's not possible." "It is for me." He sat on the edge of my bed like he belonged there. "I hear everyone's thoughts. All the time. It's exhausting. But yours?" He smiled. "Yours are different." "Stop it." "You think really loud, you know that? Most people's thoughts are just background noise. But yours are clear. Specific. Brutally honest." "I said stop." "Yesterday in the library. When Kieran touched you. I heard every thought you had." My knees almost gave out. "No." "Yes." He leaned back on his hands. Relaxed. Comfortable. "I didn't mean to listen. I was in my room trying to block it out. But when you started feeling things, your thoughts got louder. Sharper. I couldn't not hear them." "You're sick." "Maybe. But I'm also honest." He tilted his head. "You wanna know what I heard?" "No." "Too bad. I'm telling you anyway." He stood up. Walked closer. "When he kissed you, you thought 'this is wrong.' When he touched you, you thought 'I shouldn't want this.' When you came—" "Stop!" My voice broke. "Stop talking." "Why? Because it's true? Because I'm right?" "Because you're violating me!" Tears burned behind my eyes. I blinked them back. "You've been in my head this whole time and you didn't tell me?" "Would you have believed me if I did?" "That's not the point!" "Then what is the point?" "The point is I have no privacy!" My hands were shaking. "The point is you've been listening to every thought I've had since I got here. Every fear. Every doubt. Every—" I couldn't finish. "Every moment you've thought about giving in?" he finished. "Every time you've wondered what it would feel like if you stopped fighting? Every time you've looked at one of us and felt something you didn't want to feel?" I backed away from him. Hit the wall. Had nowhere else to go. "I hate you," I whispered. "I know. I hear that one a lot." He stepped closer. Close enough that I could feel the heat coming off him. "But you know what else I hear?" "I don't care." "You're curious." He said it softly. Almost gently. "About the bond. About us. About what it would feel like if you stopped resisting." "That's not true." "It is true. You think it almost every night before you fall asleep. You wonder what would happen if you just said yes. If you just let the bond form. If you just—" "Shut up." My voice was barely a whisper. "Please just shut up." He was quiet for a second. Then he said, "I didn't want to tell you. I knew it would hurt. But you deserve to know the truth." "Why? Why tell me now?" "Because you're spiraling. Because you think what happened with Kieran makes you weak. And I can hear you tearing yourself apart over it." His jaw tightened. "And I'm tired of listening to you hate yourself for wanting things." "I don't want things from you." "Yes you do. You just won't admit it." "Get out of my head." "I can't. Believe me, I've tried." He ran a hand through his hair. "You think I want to hear every thought you have? You think I want to know how much you hate us? How scared you are? How lonely?" "Then why are you telling me this?" "Because hiding from it won't make it go away. Because you need to know that there's no privacy here. Not anymore. Not when the bond's already started forming." He stepped back. Gave me space. "I hear you, Sera. All of you. The parts you show us and the parts you hide. And I'm telling you now so you can stop pretending." "Pretending what?" "That you're not already breaking." The words hit me like a fist. Because he was right. I was breaking. Had been breaking since I got here. Since my mother sold me. Since I realized no one was coming to save me. "What do you want from me?" I asked. My voice was shaking. "I want you to stop fighting so hard that you destroy yourself in the process." "I don't know how to do that." "Then learn." He moved toward the door. "Because we're not letting you go. And you're not dying on us. Which means you're gonna have to figure out how to survive this. Even if survival means surrendering." He opened the door. Started to leave. "Wait," I said. He stopped. Looked back. "What exactly did you hear?" I needed to know. Needed to understand how much he knew. How violated I really was. He hesitated. I saw it in his eyes. The debate. Tell her the truth or lie to spare her feelings. He chose truth. "Everything," he said. "When Kieran touched you, I heard you thinking 'I shouldn't want this.' When you kissed him, I heard 'this feels too good to be wrong.' When you came—" He paused. "I heard you think 'this feels like home.'" The room spun. My breath caught in my throat. No. That wasn't—I didn't— "And after," he continued. Relentless. Honest. "When you ran to your room. I heard you wonder if hating yourself for wanting us makes you weak or smart." I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Couldn't do anything except stand there while he dismantled every wall I'd tried to build. He heard the thought I couldn't even admit to myself. That pleasure with Kieran had felt like home. "Get out," I whispered. "Sera—" "I said get out!" My voice was too loud. Too desperate. "Just leave me alone!" He looked at me for a second longer. Then he nodded. "Okay." He walked to the door. Opened it. Then stopped. "You can't hide from us, Sera," he said without turning around. "Not when we're already inside you." The door closed behind him. I stood there shaking. Staring at the closed door. At the lock that didn't matter. At the room that wasn't really mine because nothing here was mine. Not my body. Not my choices. Not even my thoughts. If I couldn't trust my own mind to keep secrets, how was I supposed to fight this? How was I supposed to protect myself when there was nowhere left to hide? I sank to the floor. Pressed my hands to my face. And tried not to think. Because thinking meant he could hear me. And I had nothing left that was just mine.POV: Sera Winters“Show me everything.”The brothers looked at each other. That silent communication thing they did.“Sera—” Caelan started.“No.” I cut him off. “No more protecting me. Helena said my mother contacted the Council about reincarnation. You said you’ve been investigating her. Show me.”Kieran moved to his laptop. Opened files. Turned the screen toward me.“We started digging after you arrived,” he said. “Your mother’s background. Where she came from. Who she really was.”I leaned forward. Birth certificate on screen. Driver’s license. Marriage certificate to my stepfather.“This says she was born thirty-eight years ago,” I said. “That’s normal.”“Keep looking.”I scrolled. School records. Elementary. Middle school. High school graduation.Then nothing.“Where’s the rest?” I asked. “College? Work history?”“Doesn’t exist,” Daxen said. “No college records. No employment before twenty-five.
POV: Sera Winters“So did you,” I said. “All of you.”Caelan stepped closer. I could feel the heat coming off his body“We’re trained for it. You’re not.” His hands went to my face. Palms rough against my skin. “You’re pregnant. You should have stayed back. Instead you stepped between wolves and attackers.”“I’m Luna. I can’t just hide while—”“I know.” His thumb moved across my cheek. “I know you can’t. That’s what scares me. Watching you put yourself in danger and knowing I can’t stop you.”He looked at me like he was memorizing my face.“You’re brave. Too brave. And I don’t know if I want to lock you somewhere safe or—”He kissed me instead of finishing.His mouth was hard against mine. Hungry. Like he’d been holding himself back all day and finally snapped.I grabbed his shirt. Pulled him closer. Needed to feel him. Needed proof we were both here and alive.When he pulled away we were both breathing too fast.“Sorry
POV: Sera WintersThe healing halls smelled like blood and antiseptic.Pack members lined the cots some shifted back to human form, nursing wounds, while others remained wolves, too injured to manage the transformation. Miriam moved between them with practiced efficiency, checking wounds, adjusting bandages, prioritizing who needed immediate attention and who could wait.I stood near the entrance, watching and feeling useless.“Don’t just stand there,” Miriam called without looking up. “Come help.”I walked over. “I don’t know what to do.”“You’ll learn.” She gestured to a young wolf on the nearest cot male, maybe early twenties, with deep claw marks across his ribs and blood matting the gray fur. “Place your hands on the wound, right here.”I knelt beside the cot. The wolf’s eyes tracked me, glazed with pain, his breathing shallow and rapid.“I don’t know how to heal,” I said.“You do. Luna healing is
POV: Sera WintersThe battle erupted around me.Enemy wolves crashed through every opening. More kept coming. The chamber filled with snarls and screams and the wet sound of teeth meeting flesh.Dominic's pack wasn't just attacking. They were targeting. Moving with coordinated precision toward the Elders. Toward Helena. Toward anyone who represented pack leadership.This was an assassination attempt disguised as a raid.The brothers shifted in unison. Caelan's massive silver-gray form positioned between me and the main surge of attackers. Daxen's huge gold wolf took the left flank, all raw power and savage grace. Kieran's leaner russet-brown form moved right, faster and more agile.Thea's rust-red wolf was already coordinating with Finn's stocky charcoal-black form. Organizing enforcer response. Creating defensive lines. Trying to impose order on chaos.I stood frozen. Watching it happen. My body locked down by
POV: Sera WintersThe council chamber couldn't hold everyone.Wolves packed the space. Standing along walls. Seated on the floor. Spilling into the hallway. Five hundred faces turned toward the front where I sat alone at a small table.The brothers sat in the front row. Close enough to see but not close enough to help. Their expressions were carefully controlled. But I could feel their tension through the bond. Thrumming. Electric.Elder Tobias sat at the high table with other council members. Ronan to his right. Miriam to his left. And at the center, Helena Vance. Silver-streaked hair. Sharp eyes. Radiating authority that made even the Alphas seem diminished.She stood. The room went silent immediately."This hearing is convened under ancient pack law," Helena said. Her voice carried without effort. "To examine the legitimacy of the bond between Luna Sera Winters and Alphas Caelan, Daxen, and Kieran Thorn. Truth spel
POV: Sera WintersRonan spread documents across the study table.Pack law. Council precedents. Hearing procedures. Pages and pages of rules I'd never heard of governing bonds I didn't understand."The hearing follows ancient protocol," he said. His finger traced a passage in faded text. "Elder Council questions you under truth spell. They ask about bond formation. Origins. Consent.""And if they determine the bond isn't legitimate?""They can dissolve it. Remove you from pack territory. In extreme cases, bring charges against the Alphas for coercion." He looked up. "The truth spell makes lying impossible. You'll answer honestly whether you want to or not."My nails dug into my palms. "So they'll learn I was sold. That I came here against my will.""Yes. Which is why we need to frame the narrative carefully. Truth doesn't have to be complete. Just accurate."A knock interrupted us. Isla entered wi
Sera WintersIdentity is just a story we tell ourselves until someone shows us the truth we've been hiding from.I sat in Caelan's study.All three of them were there. Waiting. Like they'd known I'd demand this conversation eventually."I want to know everything," I sai
Sera WintersSometimes the people who hurt you least become the people you need most.I didn't leave my room for hours.Just lay there. Staring at nothing. Crying until my eyes burned and my throat was raw and I had nothing left.Eventually I heard a soft knock."Sera?" Kie
Sera WintersPrivacy is a luxury. Intimacy is a weapon. And sometimes you can't tell the difference until it's too late.The door closed.We stood there. Me with my back against it. Him three feet away. Not moving.The silence was deafening. My pulse hammered so loud
Sera WintersSurrender isn't always defeat. Sometimes it's the only honest thing left.The day lasted forever.Every hour dragged. Every minute felt like ten. I couldn't eat breakfast. Couldn't focus on reading. Couldn't do anything except sit in the common room and watch th







