Chapter 15

Aurora’s POV

As I walked past the reception I could hear whispers and feel stares on my back. I paused in my tracks and turned to the two ladies seated at the desk, my eyes cold.

“I believe your duties don't involve gossiping about your Alpha and Luna,”  I stated.

They both flushed with embarrassment and at least had the grace to look ashamed.

“Sorry, Luna,”  one of them whispered.

“You can apologize all you want,”  I replied. “But if I hear whispers behind my back again, or hear rumors about what happened today, then I will make sure you receive the due consequences.”

I wasn't speaking as a doctor, but as Luna, and they understood it.

TTheir faces went pale, and I rolled my eyes internally, returning to my work station.

That evening, I returned from work back to my home, not to stay, but to pay a brief visit. Elder Miriam and Lyra were still waiting for me, but I had something I wanted to do first.

The moment I stepped through the door I heard sniffles coming from the living room. I paused, glancing to see that Seraphina was sobbing. She was wrapped tightly in Alaric’s arms, their bodies close and pressing against each other.

“She hates me,” It was Seraphina, her voice watery with pain and grievance. “But why? I have never done anything to hurt her. I only wanted to help Asher. Is that such a bad thing?”

My ire was ignited, and it took everything in me to stay calm. She was playing this trick again.

I shut the front door behind me with a loud bang.

Instantly, they jolted, separating. Alaric had the look of someone guilty and alarmed as soon as he saw me. However Seraphina, she donned a deeper look of pain and hurt, practically overflowing from her pores.

“A-Aurora–I mean, Luna,” She lowered her head guiltily.

“I see I was interrupting something,”  I stated without emotion. Alaric rose to his feet, about to speak when I turned to get back to my bedroom, the guest bedroom that had become my only quiet space in this house.

“Oh, no, is she upset? I didn't mean for her to misunderstand, Ric,”  Seraphina’s fake tears continued, fading into the distance.

I returned to my bedroom, and locked the door. Opening my work bag, I pulled out the bag containing four silvery silk sachets. These ones I had specially asked Elder Miriam to help me make for my home. It wasn't a lot, but it should be enough to push against Seraphina’s actions.

I had to find a way to place them without her knowing, and for now, Elder Miriam had warned me to not go too far. Knowing that Seraphina was in my home, cooking meals at will and close to my son and husband, it would put them in danger if I destroyed all her work in one sitting. I wasn't strong enough to face that.

Thinking about that, I resolved to locate each source of dark energy in this house, but not touch them. I would leave them alone for now, simply for the sake of keeping her blind to the fact that I was working against her.

With that thought I chose to hide the first pouch in my hands under my bed. After all, here was where I slept.

Thinking of the master bedroom where I had vacated and left Alaric behind, I left the guest bedroom and went in that direction. I hid the sachets in my jacket pockets, quietly entering the bedroom. Instantly I could feel it, my heart clenching with discomfort. It felt like a dozen ants were crawling around my body without ceasing.

Glancing around I realized something had changed. In just a few days, the bedroom had been redecorated. I saw flowers on the desk. Alaric never cared for flowers.

My lips pressed tightly together and I crossed the space and opened the walk-in closet.

Seraphina’s things lay there, in the empty spots that had once held my own.

My body went rigid as I ruefully smiled.

She didn't even wait like in my last life. Already she had begun to take my place more openly, moving her things where mine used to be. And yet she still played the innocent. Did she think she could do so forever?

I shook my head, trying to dispel the thoughts, the pain, the fears and the memories of my previous life/

Now wasn't the time to reminisce. I had to take action. I went over to Alaric’s side of the closet and opened a drawer. It was out of the way and inconspicuous, right to the center where no one would notice. And I hid the sachet there.

As I stepped out of the closet and back into the bedroom, the bedroom door opened. Alaric walked in holding Seraphina gently by the shoulder and pulling her inside.

They froze as soon as they saw me, and Seraphina took a step back.

“Aurora, this isn't what it looks like,” Alaric spoke before I could even do or say anything. He was so damn defensive, because he knew EXACTLY what this looked like.

“Oh? Is that so?”  I glanced between him and Seraphina, my lips curled into a small, barely-there smile. “I like what you’ve done with the place, Seraphina. Looks… quaint.”

I glanced around once more, as if gesturing to both of their guilty faces, that I already knew what was up.

Alaric stepped forward, removing his arm from Seraphina’s shoulder.

“Aurora, please. This isn’t–”

“It’s fine, Alaric,”  My tone remained calm even though deep down, I wasn't. At least in my last life they hid their affair. At least in the last life they respected me until I was killed. At least in my last life, i didnt have to see them playing the fated couple in broad daylight.

I caught the look of triumph flashing in Seraphina’s eyes but she hid it, lowering her gaze as she clung to Alaric's back.

“Ric, maybe I should move my things out. I don't mean for her to get the wrong idea, i–”

Ric?

“What idea, Seraphina? That you’re sleeping with my husband?”  I asked, cutting her off.