Release

Seraphina Vale had stopped believing she would ever leave prison.

Not because her sentence was supposed to last forever, but because every day behind its walls made freedom feel more like a story she had once heard and long forgotten.

Two years ago, when the guards first dragged her through the iron gates of Blackthorn Labor Prison, she had cried until her throat burned.

She had begged them to let her speak to her family.

She had begged them to contact her adoptive brother, Adrian.

She had even begged them to deliver a letter to her mother, whose fragile health had always worried her.

Nobody had listened.

No visits came.

No letters arrived. She had been sitting on the edge of her narrow bed, staring at the strip of sunlight slipping through the barred window. Her body ached from the previous day's labor, and the bruising along her ribs still hurt whenever she breathed too deeply.

“Yes, sir.”

“Move.”

She rose immediately. The guard unlocked the cell and motioned for her to follow him. Seraphina stepped into the corridor, keeping her eyes lowered as she passed the other prisoners.

Something was different today. She couldn't explain what, but the guards were unusually impatient, and the whispers following her down the corridor made the hair at the back of her neck rise.

“That's the Alpha family's girl, isn't it?”

“Heard she's finally getting what she deserves.”

“Wonder how long she'll last today.”

Seraphina kept walking.

She had learned that listening to other prisoners only made the days harder.

At the end of the corridor, a woman stepped into her path.

Mara.

The woman had been making Seraphina's life miserable for months, seemingly taking personal satisfaction in reminding her that no amount of noble blood could protect her in prison.

Pain shot through Seraphina's shoulder.

“Look at me when I'm speaking to you!”

Seraphina raised her eyes, but before she could respond, Mara struck her across the face.

Her head snapped sideways.

A sharp ringing filled her ears.

“What's the matter?” Mara sneered.

“Nobody coming to rescue you?”

Seraphina's fingers curled tightly at her sides. She could still remember the day Adrian had asked her to take the blame for Lillian's crime. “ You're the only one who can help us, Sera." Father will find a way to get you out. I promise.

The first blow to her stomach forced the breath from her lungs. She bent forward instinctively, but a hand caught her hair and pulled her upright.

“Pathetic,” Mara muttered.

Seraphina squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't fight back. She had learned that fighting only prolonged the punishment.

Then a whistle shrilled through the corridor.

“Enough! What the hell is going on here?”

The prisoners immediately stepped away. A guard marched toward them, his expression furious. Mara released Seraphina's hair and stepped back, muttering something under her breath.

The guard glanced at Seraphina's swollen cheek. Her heart began to beat faster. Had someone complained about her?. Had she done something wrong without realizing it?. She tried to remember every task she had completed that morning, searching for a mistake that might explain why she was being summoned.

The guard stopped outside an office and opened the door.

“Get inside.”

Seraphina obeyed.

A man behind the desk barely glanced up from his paperwork.

“Seraphina Vale?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Your release has been approved. Your sentence is being terminated effective immediately.”

Seraphina stared at the paper placed before her.

Her name was printed across the top.

Below it were the words she had once dreamed of seeing.

RELEASE AUTHORIZATION.

She waited for happiness to come. For relief.For the overwhelming joy she had imagined feeling when she finally walked out of Blackthorn.

But all she felt was a strange, hollow disbelief. Someone was coming to collect her. For the first time in two years, her family had remembered she existed.

Seraphina lowered her eyes and signed her name.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Next.”

She walked out of the office with her release papers clutched between trembling fingers. She was free. She was finally free. And yet, as the guards led her toward the prison gates, Seraphina couldn't stop wondering whether freedom would hurt less than the life she was leaving behind.

He could already imagine what would happen when she saw him.

She would run into his arms.

She would cry.

She would probably hit his chest and demand to know why he had taken so long to bring her home.

And then she would complain about everything she had endured, expecting him to listen to every word. The last two years had been complicated. Their father had been dealing with pack affairs, their mother had suffered several health scares, and Lillian had needed time to adjust to her new life as the family's biological daughter.

There had always been something demanding his attention. He had told himself Seraphina was strong. She had always been the stubborn one, the girl who could turn a minor inconvenience into a dramatic performance and then recover as though nothing had happened; she would understand eventually.

At least, that was what he had told himself whenever guilt crept into his thoughts.

Then a prison guard emerged with a thin figure walking several steps behind him.

Adrian straightened.

“Seraphina?”The woman stopped.

She lowered her head.

“Alpha Adrian.”

He stopped.

“What?”

“Thank you for coming to collect me, Alpha.”

The words were polite. Her tone was respectful.There was no accusation in her voice.No tears.No attempt to reach for him.

Adrian stared at her, waiting for the rest. She didn't complain about the uncomfortable position or ask him to help with her belongings.

She simply fastened her seat belt and folded her hands in her lap. Adrian watched her for another second before closing the door.

Something about the way she sat there bothered him; he couldn't explain it.

So he got behind the wheel and drove away.

The first thirty minutes of the journey passed in silence. Adrian had tried twice to start a conversation.

Both times, Seraphina had answered with a few quiet words before returning her attention to the window. Eventually, he gave up.

He turned on the radio, hoping the music would ease the uncomfortable atmosphere, but Seraphina didn't seem to notice.

She watched the trees pass by.

The roads were familiar. She recognized the bend wheeand removedhad once taught her to drive, the little village where their mother used to stop for pastries, and the river that marked the boundary of their territory.

Everything looked almost exactly as she remembered it. A life in which she had believed that being loved meant being safe.

“There's something you should know,” Adrian said.