Chapter 4

Sera's Point of View

"Get out."

My voice came out flat. Dead. Not the broken I used to be, begging for scraps of comfort. No. That’s gone.

Kade blinked, sat up a little straighter, like maybe he thought posture would save him. “Sera—”

“Get. Out.” I couldn’t even look at him. Wall was more interesting. “I don’t want you here.”

“Just let me—”

“No.” Cold as a snowstorm. “You said enough. You made yourself clear. Go.”

Silence. I could feel his eyes boring into me, waiting to drop some new disaster on my head.

I didn’t want to hear it. Didn’t even want to guess what fresh hell he’d cooked up.

“I lied,” he mumbled, voice so low I almost missed it.

My hands knotted up in the sheets. Still refused to glance his way. He’d get nothing from me.

“Earlier. In the bathroom. I lied about—not loving you.”

A bitter, ugly laugh scraped out of me. “Yeah. Sure you did.”

“I mean it.” He leaned in, voice getting all desperate. “I do love you, Sera. I—”

“Stop.” My eyes were burning, but I’d die before I cried for him. Not now. Not anymore. “Just... stop.”

“It’s complicated—”

“You keep trotting that out.” I finally looked at him, and honestly, I wish I hadn’t. The guilt on his face, the regret. Like that helped. “Like saying ‘it’s complicated’ just wipes away what you did.”

“It doesn’t.” He raked a hand through his hair, and I hated how familiar that was. “I know. But you have to understand—”

“Understand what?” My voice cracked, traitor that it is. “That you love me but you still slept with my sister? That you love me but you let her trash me? That you love me but you called me nothing?”

“I was angry. Cornered. I didn’t—”

“You meant those words.” I watched him. Didn’t flinch. “Don’t insult me by pretending you didn’t.”

His jaw clenched. “Sera, please. Listen.”

“Why should I?” My voice broke, sharp and raw. “All you do is lie.”

He got up, moved closer, and I pressed back into the headboard like it could save me. “Because you need to know. I do love you. That part’s true. But Lydia—she’s got a wolf. She’s got status. She’s got everything you—”

“Don’t have.” The words tasted like poison. “Go on, say it. Everything I’ll never be.”

He closed his eyes, like that made it easier. “You don’t have a wolf, Sera. We’re not... I mean, no mate bond. No future.”

“So it’s ‘destiny’ now?” I laughed, and it sounded like glass breaking. “Not love. Not loyalty. Just... convenience.”

“I deserve a better life.” His voice turned hard, almost rehearsed. “A stronger mate. A future that actually fits what I’m supposed to be.”

Better life. Stronger mate. Like I was some bad bet.

I looked at him—really looked, for once. The jaw, the eyes, the mouth that used to tell me I was enough. All of it. The same face that, once upon a time, looked at me like I mattered.

And something inside me snapped, but not the old way. This time it didn’t break—it calcified.

Because I remembered.

Six years back. The pack gardens. I was sixteen, and Lydia pushed me into the pond ‘cause she wanted my dress. She laughed with her friends. I flailed around, shoes full of muck, hair dripping green slime.

And Kade was there.

He hauled me out. Gave me his jacket. Stared Lydia down with that fire in his eyes.

“That’s enough,” he’d said. Serious as death. “She’s your sister. You don’t treat family like that.”

Lydia rolled her eyes but she backed off. Kade had defended me. Protected me.

“You okay?” he’d asked, all soft edges and gentle hands.

That was it. That was the moment I fell for him.

And now? Now that guy was standing by my bed, making excuses for loving my bully. For picking her, always her, over me.

The irony tasted like blood in my mouth.

“I remember when you gave a damn,” I whispered, tears finally just rolling down my face. “When you cared about right and wrong.”

“Sera—”

“You stood up for me. Against her. Now you’re with her. You chose her.” My voice was a ghost. “What happened to you?”

He didn’t answer. Hell, he couldn’t.

“Get out.” I closed my eyes. “Please. Just leave.”

“I never wanted to hurt you.”

“But you did.” I didn’t bother hiding the tears anymore. “Worse than anyone ever has. Worse than all of them together.”

I heard him moving. Each step heavy, dragging. Then the door opened. Closed.

He was gone.

I buried my face in the pillow and let the pieces fall where they wanted.

*****

Kade's Point of View

Damn it!

The hallway was blinding. Like, seriously, who put that many bulbs in one place? And the noise—still echoing from the party somewhere behind me—just made everything worse.

I wandered, not really sure where I was going. Anger and guilt sat in my stomach like I’d swallowed broken glass. Her face kept flashing in my head, the hurt look she’d given me—yeah, that one stung.

I needed Lydia. She always got it, or at least pretended to. I just wanted someone who didn’t make me feel like utter trash.

Then I heard her voice, floating out from her dad’s study. The door was barely open, leaking this warm golden light. I was about to knock—hand halfway up—when Alpha Thorne’s voice cut through the air.

“—have to keep it up. Just a bit longer.”

Lydia sounded bratty as hell. “How much longer? I’m so over pretending. And hiding the herbs is a pain.”

Wait. Herbs? What the hell?

I froze, hand hovering like a total idiot.

“Until her wolf is completely suppressed,” Thorne snapped. “We can’t let her shift. Not now. Not after all we’ve sacrificed.”

My whole body went cold.

“And the dosage?” Lydia again, bored.

“Same as always. Every meal, every drink. The wolfsbane keeps her weak. Keeps her broken.”

I literally forgot to breathe.

“And if she figures it out?”

“She won’t,” Thorne said, like he couldn’t imagine anything dumber. “She’s too pathetic to notice. Too grateful for scraps to care what we’re feeding her.”

Lydia laughed—mean, sharp. “She really is pathetic, huh? Actually believes she was just born wrong.”

“Keep her like that. The weaker she is, the better your chances.”

Wolfsbane.

They’d been poisoning her. Sera. Every damn day. Every bite, every sip.

My hand dropped from the door like it weighed a ton.

All the crap I’d just thrown at her. All the excuses I’d made. Goddess. She never even had a shot.

They stole it from her.