Lahat ng Kabanata ng Ex-Mate Wants Me Back: Kabanata 171 - Kabanata 180

Third Person's POVThe elevator was completely empty except for the two of them. On a weekend morning, the entire apartment building was suffocatingly quiet.The mirrored doors reflected their figures standing side by side. Seraphina stared at the reflection, suddenly feeling a sharp, bitter sense of déjà vu.Shortly after she and Mortimer first got married, there had been a few times when they shared an elevator ride just like this.Back then, it was their first mating anniversary. She had spent hours baking his favorite dessert from scratch, bringing it to him in the elevator with a heart full of nervous joy.But Mortimer had merely given it a freezing, dismissive glance. Without missing a beat, he answered an international call from Vivian, casually pushing the carefully wrapped box right back into her hands.Another time, harboring a secret, unspeakable affection, she had cautiously inched closer to him. Looking at their reflections standing shoulder-to-shoulder, she had desperate

Third Person's POVLong before Mortimer had actually agreed to go to Alaska with her, Seraphina had secretly practiced skiing countless times in private.She had desperately wanted to make sure she wouldn't hold him back when they finally hit the slopes together.Hearing her confident answer, Mortimer's expression froze for a fraction of a second. "You know how to ski?"Seraphina gave a short, affirmative "Mhm," and immediately grabbed her snowboard, walking straight toward the lifts without looking back.Mortimer stood behind her, his chest completely overflowing with frustration.Sometimes, having an incredibly capable wife wasn't a good thing—he didn't even get the chance to show off or act like a protective Alpha.He sighed heavily and followed her up the slope. "Then let's ski together."Seraphina didn't refuse.She pulled her goggles down over her eyes and took a deep breath. Behind the tinted lenses, that suffocating sense of dread seemed to lessen just a fraction.After comple

Third Person's POV"Mortimer, during that half-month you were out traveling with Vivian, Sera almost died out there. If you had paid even a fraction of attention to her, if you had just checked her status through the mating bond, or even bothered to glance at the news from Alaska, you would have known exactly what she went through.""But all your attention was entirely consumed by your precious Vivi! You didn't know that the avalanche left her with severe PTSD. You didn't know she was waking up in cold sweats from nightmares every single night. You had no idea she's been seeing a therapist and swallowing anti-anxiety meds just to suppress her traumatized, terrified wolf!""Now that she has Dash, she finally started to heal just a little bit. And what do you do? You drag her right back into hell! Mortimer, come on!"Trista's anger violently surged again, her jaw locked tight as she spat the curses through gritted teeth.Mortimer's face was terrifyingly pale.Avalanche... PTSD... almost

Third Person's POVSeraphina didn't utter a single word of blame. She simply thanked him with absolute calm. "Thank you."She gave him a polite nod, picked up the spoon, and took small, slow sips of the soup.As the warm liquid slid down her throat, her pale complexion finally regained a bit of color."I'm sorry," Mortimer spoke, his voice completely hoarse.Seraphina paused her movements, looked up at him, and smiled gently. "It's fine. It was my own choice to go skiing."She had thought she could overcome that psychological barrier, not realizing she had severely overestimated herself.Mortimer looked at her, his eyes growing red all over again. "I'm the one who did this to you."His eyes were entirely filled with wretchedness, self-blame, and the massive, suffocating panic of a predator on the verge of losing its mate.The calmer Seraphina was—not complaining, not scolding, not even showing a hint of anger toward him—the heavier Mortimer's anxiety became.Seraphina, however, just s

Third Person's POVSeraphina looked straight into Mortimer's panicked eyes, trying to get him to see reality."You're confusing habit with love, and that's the problem. If we keep going based on that mistake, you're just going to regret it later.""'Habit' and 'love' mean two completely different things. Once you mix them up, it changes everything."While Mortimer looked completely lost, Seraphina broke it down for him with total calm."We started off with dignity. For the past three years, I've compromised over and over just to keep things decent. So, when this ends, I really hope we don't turn all my hard work into an ugly mess."She gave him a gentle, friendly smile. "Don't you agree?"Mortimer's lips trembled, but he couldn't get a single word out.It was true. Over the past three years, she had covered up every single one of his awful moves, making their life look picture-perfect to the outside world.He thought they had a happy mating, but it was actually held together entirely