Chapter Two

"You're so beautiful," Caelum said to me.

I squealed. "Thank you, my Alpha."

I walked up to our baby and touched his head softly.

"You know, he really looks like you.” Caelum said, smirking.

"He looks more like…."

"SERA. Sera. S...e...r...a."

I blinked.

Nell was standing in front of me, waving her hand in my face.

I put my hands on my stomach. I had been daydreaming. None of it was real. I was already envisioning a future. Him, me, and the baby he would never know about.

"You look dull." Nell said, setting a cup of coffee down in front of me.

Nell had been looking after me since the rejection. I hadn't wanted to talk to anyone, and my father and Aiden understood. They gave me my space, only coming by sometimes to check on me, staying long enough to make sure I was still breathing before quietly letting themselves out again.

I pressed both hands flat against my stomach. "Yeah. I'm heartbroken. I haven't bathed in two days or eaten properly in weeks."

"That's not it." she said.

She moved closer and pressed the back of her hand to my forehead. Her expression change like she had already knew what was going on.

"Your temperature is high."

"I'll start eating better." I said.

"Uh huh." She gave me a look. The kind that meant she already knew.

She sat down beside me and was quiet for a moment.

"Take care of yourself, Sera." She paused. "The baby needs to be healthy."

"What baby?" I protested.

"You know I have two boys, right?" She said it while looking up with a knowing expression.

I looked away. There was no point pretending with Nell. There never had been.

"I don't want anyone to know about it yet.” I said quietly.

"Your secret is safe with me." She said it calmly, with a small wink. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know yet," I said simply, because I didn't want to tell her my plans. I had already made up my mind to leave and never return. I just wasn't ready to say it out loud yet.

She looked at me with uncertainty. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," I said, with a smile I didn't mean, hoping it would be enough to make her drop it.

"Will you tell him?"

"Oh….! Stop with the questions." I said it sharper than I intended, stood up, and walked away before she could see my face.

I found my way to the balcony.

I didn't want someone like him to father my child. I would never allow it. If I told him, he would stay only because I was carrying his heir and that was pity. That was an obligation dressed up as love. I had already fallen for that once.

It was clear he had been playing me. Playing with my feelings. And I had been blind to it because I had wanted so badly to believe that someone like him could actually want someone like me.

A memory surfaced before I could stop it.

"You know, I've always seen everyone equally," Caelum had said once, his thumb brushing softly along my jaw.

"For real?" I had asked. "Because everyone sees us lowborns as outcasts."

"Yeah. For real. Everyone is equal to me." He said as he leaned in even more.

I had smiled and looked into his eyes and believed every single word.

"You'll be a great Alpha," I had told him.

Our hands hovered "And you'll be my beautiful Luna," he had said.

Then he kissed me. He ran his fingers through my hair and I felt a shiver run down my spine.

"You matter to me, Seraphina," he whispered softly.

I smiled. Heavy silence fell between us. Just then, I kissed him back. He picked me up and laid me flat on the bed.

“You are so….”

I snapped back.

What was I doing? What exactly was I doing?

I was torturing myself and it wasn't fair. But the memories kept coming back, uninvited, settling into quiet moments like this one and refusing to leave.

I was still standing there, trying to push them back down, when I heard footsteps behind me.

"You're here," Aiden said. I turned to find him leaning in the doorway, watching me. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. I promise," I said.

He didn't look convinced. "It's time for dinner."

I didn't say anything.

"Dad made your favourite."

Something in my chest loosened slightly. "Thank you, Aiden."

---

I found my way to the dinner table. My father was already seated, his hands folded in front of him, his eyes going soft the moment he saw me.

"How are you doing?" he said.

"I'm fine."

He studied my face for a moment. "When Nell said you'd gone out to the balcony, I was so happy." He smiled a small, careful smile. "My daughter is coming back to herself."

"Yes, Dad. I am." I sat down across from him. "I can't spend my whole life sulking."

He reached across the table and put his hand over mine, rubbing it softly.

"Your favourite," he said, nodding at the plate in front of me.

"Thank you, Dad." My throat tightened. "I love you."

He got up, kissed my forehead the way he had since I was a child, and went to the kitchen to get water.

For a split second, I saw Caelum standing in the kitchen doorway.

I froze.

"What are you doing here?" I said out loud, before I could stop myself. "Why are you here?"

My father came rushing back. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Aiden said, already on his feet.

And then I was crying. Aiden crossed the room and put his hand on my head, and my father's arms came around me, and together they carried me back to my room the way they had when I was small.

I lay there afterward in the dark, staring at the ceiling.

I had thought about leaving. I had decided to leave. But I had never let myself actually feel what that meant until right now. Lyng in my childhood bed, surrounded by the two people who had held me together for weeks, knowing I was about to walk away from them too.

But as long as I stayed here, I would always remember him. Every corner of this house, every tree on the border path, every quiet evening. He was in all of it.

He didn't deserve this baby. And he didn't deserve me.

I pressed both hands against my stomach and made a promise, quiet and absolute.

"You will never know his name. And he will never know about you."

I had made my decision.

I was leaving. I would start over somewhere far away. Somewhere my child would never have to see or know the face of the man who had looked me in the eye and rejected me in front of five hundred wolves.

I was never coming back.