5. SIENNA

My heart and mind are in shambles, but my body does not betray me. I do not run. I do not turn. I walk out of the council chamber with steady steps because I have learned that panic feeds fate. If I let it see me crack, it will pry me open further. I knew this day would come. I just didn’t expect it to arrive wrapped in protocol and politics.

The council agrees to supply Vineclaw to the Blood Moon pack. I vote with the rest of them. I outline terms, conditions, timelines. My voice remains even. My hands do not shake. When the decision is finalized, the room exhales. He is granted temporary stay until his pack learns the process. Long enough for him to linger. Long enough for old wounds to breathe again. I leave before anyone can look too closely at me.

I feel him behind me before he speaks. Some presences never truly disappear. They wait.

“Sienna.”

I keep walking. Not because I am afraid, but because stopping too soon would give him power.

“Please,” he says. “Just a moment.”

I stop at the corner of my street, far enough that my house remains hidden. He does not need to know where I live. I turn slowly, measured, like this encounter was always scheduled.

He looks relieved when I face him. That alone irritates me.

“I didn’t know you were here,” he says. “If I had known—”

“You know now,” I reply. His expression falters. As if he didn’t expect me to be so blunt.

“You’re on the council,” he says.

“Yes.”

“You seem… different.”

“I am.”

The silence between us thickens. He searches my face like he is looking for permission. I give him none.

“How have you been?” he asks. 

“I have been good.”

“That’s all you’ll say?”

“That’s all there is.”

His jaw tightens. The man in front of me is older, broader, heavier with responsibility, but his eyes still betray him. He is desperate, his wolf trying to take charge.

“It’s your birthday today,” he says quietly. “I remembered.”

“Good. Thank you.” It has been the same it has always been.

“Can we talk?,” he says. “We could catch up on each other’s lives.”

“I don’t get back to my ex-mates. Nor do I catch up with married men.” Marriage was a human thing, but for me it was the most romantic thing ever. That lands. He flinches because it is true. Out of all the choices he had, he chose the one that cut deepest.

He takes a step closer. I do not step back. I simply raise my chin.

“How is your Luna?” I ask. Courtesy. Nothing more.

The word unsettles him.

“She’s gone,” he says. “She betrayed the pack.”

I nod once. “I see.”

“Sienna,” he says, voice lower now. “Please.” What is her begging for?

I turn toward the direction of my house, stopping myself before my feet carry me too far. He does not need to see where my life is built. He does not get access to it.

That is when I hear them.

“Mummy!”

The sound splits the moment open. Two voices. Selena and Kane come running toward me, small feet pounding the path, laughter trailing behind them. Austin follows, holding a bouquet that is clearly uneven and overfilled. The children crash into me, arms wrapping tight around my legs, careless with their love. I bend instinctively, hands in their hair, grounding myself in the weight of them.

“We made cards!” Selena announces. 

“And bokie.” Kane adds, his excitement for a bouquet.

“It’s so pretty. Thank you.” I say, kissing the tops of their heads. It is the softest my voice has been all day.

Behind me, the air shifts.

I don’t need to look to know what he sees. The dark hair. The eyes. Kane’s posture, already protective. Selena’s gaze, observant and calm. Pieces he recognizes because they once belonged to him. When I finally turn, his eyes have gone red. Anger. Shock. Fear. Hope. All at once.

He looks at me like the world has tilted.

His voice barely holds when he asks, “Are they mine?”

And for the first time since he arrived, I let him feel the full weight of what he lost.