Chapter 44

Cassian’s POV 

The ride was quiet.

Not tense. Not awkward. Just… quiet.

Selena sat beside me, legs crossed, one hand resting on her lap, the other gently stroking Sisi’s soft curls as the girl leaned against her shoulder, already half-asleep from the excitement of getting to attend a real royal event.

But I couldn’t look away from her.

The red dress. The curve of her neck. The way her lashes swept down when she glanced out the window. 

And now.

Even the sir in the car felt like it was charged

Like silence between us was awake just needing a small touch 

Needing to be touched

Confessed 

And broken

I cleared my throat. “You look…”

She didn’t turn.

Not at first.

Then—quietly—“I know.”

That made me smile. Just a little.

There she was. The edge. The fire. Not the hollow, haunted woman who had been walking past me all week like a ghost.

I leaned back against the seat, eyes still on her. “Sisi looks excited.”

“She is.” Selena nodded, her voice softening. “She said this would be her first formal gathering.”

“She’s not wrong. the treaty ball wasn’t formal ”

“Then she’ll remember this.”

I wanted to ask if she would, too. If this—tonight—would be something she remembered for good reasons. Or if I’d end up ruining it like I ruined everything else.

The driver slowed as we neared the gates of the Riverfall Estate, where the alpha of the neighboring pack

Alpha Marek, was holding his mating ceremony. The property was wide, historic, and old enough that the stones still smelled like dried blood from the last war. The kind of place nobles loved to parade through.

The guards waved us in immediately.

By the time the car came to a stop at the circular drive, the full scope of the event came into view.

Torches lined the marble path. Musicians were playing somewhere deeper in the courtyard. 

And wind carried his of conversations and laughter 

Selena opened her door before I could move.

She stepped out with quiet grace, her hand helping Sisi down gently. Her back was to me, but it didn’t take away how much of a beauty queen she was

There was no confrontation. No outburst.

But something in the air turned sharp.

Selena didn’t falter. She didn’t adjust her hair or fidget with her dress.

She simply stood straighter.

“I’ll take Sisi inside,” she  offered without looking at me . “She’s been asking to see the chandeliers.”

Without waiting, she took Sisi’s hand and walked up the steps.

Not rushed. Not defensive.

Just… powerful.

My eyes followed her the whole way.

That dress.

That confidence.

I exhaled slowly and stepped out after her, adjusting the cuffs of my jacket.

My focus was already locked on Selena

on the woman who walked through a gathering of wolves like she belonged in their stories.

Not their shadows.

And maybe… maybe this was what I needed.

Not grand declarations.

Not answers I couldn’t give.

Just the quiet storm of her presence, reclaiming space I never meant to give away.

.

I stood there longer than I should have

Looking at her and sisi like some spell-struck fool.

I felt like a teenager and his first crush Al over

. My daughter. Walking ahead of me like I was just another figure in the background of their lives.

It should’ve made me angry.

But all I felt… was hollow.

Conrad nudged me as he passed. “You planning to stand here all night?”

I blinked and followed, 

The room was filled with leaders of various noble holdings

Men who have fought time and time again to maintain relevance 

. They weren’t just here to celebrate a union. They were here to assess. To rank. To measure strength by the way a man carried himself, and the woman who stood beside him.

And for once, I wasn’t ashamed.

Because Selena—

Gods.

Even now, across the room, I could feel her.

She stood near a carved column, Sisi perched on her hip, 

She was talking to a couple women . One of them—a nosy councilor’s mate from the Stone Fang region….leaned in too close, whispering something with her eyes darting toward me.

Selena didn’t react.

Not with a shrug. Not with a glance.

She just smiled softly at Sisi and brushed a loose curl from her face, grounding herself in the only person in the room that really mattered.

The air shifted beside me.

Conrad again. “She’s the most impressive thing here tonight. And that’s saying something, because that chandelier alone costs more than my entire flat.”

I grunted.

He shot me a look. “Say something real, Cass.”

I downed the whiskey that had somehow appeared in my hand. “She caught me off guard.”

“She’s your mate.”

“Quit teasing me Conrad”

“You’ll see .”

“And she looks—” I couldn’t finish.

Conrad did it for me. “Like she belongs on your arm, not walking in two steps ahead of you.”

I rolled my jaw. “You think I don’t know that?”

He didn’t answer. Didn’t need to.

Because Selena finally looked at me.

From across the ballroom. Over a sea of silks and polished boots and predatory smiles.

Her gaze didn’t waver.

And neither did mine.

For a moment, there were no alphas. No politics. No Julia in the corner pretending to fit in.

Just her.

And me.

And a thread between us I hadn’t known how much I missed until now.

Sisi reached up to tug at her ear—something she did when she was tired—and Selena bent to whisper something in her ear before kissing her temple. Then she handed her off gently to Adeline, said a few words, and turned toward me.

My pulse jumped.

She was coming.

Not drifting.

Not approaching with the tentative stiffness of a guest.

She was walking toward me like she had a purpose.

I straightened as she neared, every cell in my body alert to the sound of her heels, the faint scent of jasmine and lemon balm trailing behind her.

She stopped beside me, not quite facing me, her eyes trained on the stage being set up across the room.

“Your ex looks uncomfortable.”

I blinked. “What?”

“Silver isn’t her color,” she said smoothly.

I huffed. “You didn’t have to come.”

“I wanted to,” she said. “For Sisi.”

I turned to her. “Just for Sisi?”

Her gaze didn’t move. “Do I need another reason?”

“Depends on whether you’re planning to make me suffer for the rest of the evening.”

She smiled. It wasn’t wide. It wasn’t kind.

But it was real.

And it was hers.

“I haven’t decided yet.”

Gods.

Every word out of her mouth made it harder to breathe.

“Where did you even get that dress?” I muttered.

Her eyes finally met mine. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

I almost laughed.

Almost.

But it got stuck somewhere behind the knot tightening in my chest.

“Julia will be staying the rest of the week,” I said after a moment, unsure why I told her. Maybe it was the guilt. Maybe it was the instinct to test her reaction.

She didn’t flinch.

Didn’t blink.

Just nodded once, slow and quiet. “Noted.”

“I already warned her to keep her distance from you. And from Sisi.”

Her brows rose slightly. “Protective, are we?”

“Careful.”

Her tone changed just enough. “Are you?”

A beat passed.

“I don’t know what I am when it comes to you.”

There it was.

Naked. Honest.

Dangerous.

Selena’s lips parted, like she might answer, but a bell rang in the far corner, signaling the start of the ceremony.

She stepped back.

“I’ll be with Sisi,” she said simply.

And then she was gone.

Different  alphas gave numerous speeches but I wasn’t listening to them

But all I could think about—through every toast and bow and whisper

was the curve of her jaw when she turned away. The tension in her spine when I mentioned Julia. The glimmer of something dangerous in her eyes when she smirked and said “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

I’d seen her at her lowest. Broken. Guarded. Small.

Tonight… she was none of those things.

Tonight, Selena was fire dressed in silk.

And I was the fool still learning how not to get burned.