Days had passed since I last felt any semblance of peace. Bertha, the council’s senior healer and Kael’s primary caregiver, called me into her quarters today. The look in her eyes as I entered told me everything I needed to know, yet I clung to a fragile sliver of hope.

“Sera, I wish I didn’t have to give you this news,” Bertha began, her voice trembling. “But as Kael’s mother, you deserve to know the truth.”

My heart raced, and the mug in my hand trembled, the hot tea forgotten. “Just tell me,” I whispered, bracing myself for the blow.

Bertha took a deep breath, her face etched with sorrow. “Kael’s condition is deteriorating. The disease… it’s spread throughout his body. At this point, it’s no longer a matter of if, but when.”

The words felt like a dagger, twisting deeper with every syllable. My throat tightened, and I struggled to find my voice.

“We’ve done everything we could,” Bertha continued, her tone heavy with regret. “If he stays longer, his suffering will only grow. I hate saying this, but you need to prepare yourself.”

My legs felt like they would give out beneath me. The world blurred as her words sank in.

I walked home alone, my mind spinning. Wolves greeted me as I passed, but I barely registered their presence. This morning, I was at the hospital with Kael, surrounded by healers and helpers. But now, I returned without him, a hollow shell of myself.

Every step felt like dragging boulders, my heart too heavy to bear. The image of Kael’s frail body flashed in my mind, and my knees nearly buckled.

When I arrived at the common den, Lucian was seated on the couch, casually flipping through papers. His calm, indifferent demeanor was a cruel contrast to the storm raging inside me. If he wasn't with my sister Talia, he was always working.

Summoning what little strength I had left, I crossed the room and sank into the couch opposite him. My shoulders slumped, tears threatening to spill.

“Lucian…” My voice wavered. “Kael’s health—”

Lucian cut me off, not even looking up. “Can’t you see I’m busy, Sera? I have enough on my plate without adding your worries to it.”

My chest tightened, but I pushed on. “But it’s Kael. Bertha said—”

“I heard you the first time,” he snapped, his tone laced with impatience. “Let the healers handle it. You’re overthinking again.”

Overthinking? My jaw dropped. His laziness, his apathy—it was suffocating. “How can you say that?” I shot back, my voice rising despite myself. “It’s your son we’re talking about, Lucian! For once in your life, act like you care!”

Lucian finally looked at me, his eyes cold and unyielding. “And what exactly do you expect me to do, Seraphine? Snap my fingers and fix everything? You’re being hysterical. Keep your voice down. We’re in the common den, and people are busy.”

My hands trembled with rage. “People are busy?” I hissed. “This is about your son, and you’re worried about interrupting people?”

“Don’t you dare raise your voice at me,” he growled, his tone sharper now. “You’re always looking for pity, Sera. Using Kael’s condition as your excuse to overreact.”

His words hit me like a slap. I stood, my body trembling with fury.

“I can’t do this anymore, Lucian,” I said, my voice breaking but resolute. “Let’s end this bond. I’m done.”

His eyes flashed with anger, a flicker of his wolf surfacing. “Unbelievable,” he snarled. “You’re always running away. Always the victim. You’d abandon our bond—abandon Kael—just to make yourself feel better?”

Before I could respond, Talia breezed into the room. Her presence, unwelcome as it was, felt like salt in a raw wound. She looked between us, her lips curling into a faint, smug smile.

“You need to calm down, Sera,” she said, her tone dripping with condescension. “Kael doesn’t need an overreacting mother. He needs someone strong.”

Her words ignited a fire in me. I turned on her, my voice shaking with suppressed rage. “You have no right to speak about my son,” I hissed, my wolf clawing beneath the surface, desperate to be unleashed.

Talia took a step back, startled by my tone, but Lucian stepped in, his hand raised in warning. “Enough, both of you,” he said coldly.

But I wasn’t finished. My pain, my anger—they wouldn’t be silenced anymore.

The room felt suffocating as tension swirled like a storm, thick and inescapable.

Talia stood smugly before me, her words still hanging in the air like poison. “I just said the truth. Kael needs strength, not a mother who loses her head over every little thing.”

My vision blurred with tears and rage, the weight of her condescension breaking something deep within me. Before I could think, my hand flew up and connected with her cheek. The sharp crack of the slap echoed through the den, freezing everyone in place.

Talia gasped, her hand flying to her reddening cheek. “Did you just—”

“Yes, I did,” I spat, my voice trembling with unbridled fury. “And I’ll do it again if you dare speak about my son like you know anything!”

Lucian was on his feet in an instant, his eyes blazing with anger. His wolf rippled beneath the surface, evident in the hard set of his jaw and the growl in his voice. “How dare you, Seraphina?”

I turned to him, chest heaving, expecting—hoping—for him to finally stand beside me, to defend us. But his next words shattered me.

“How dare you lay a hand on your sister?”

His words struck like a whip, leaving me momentarily stunned. “Sister?” I repeated, my voice cracking. “That’s all you see her as? Not the woman who’s been undermining your mate and disrespecting your family at every turn?”

“Sera—”

“No,” I cut him off, stepping closer, desperate to make him see reason. “I’m your mate, Lucian. Your mate. The woman who bore your child, who has fought for this family every single day. Why are you defending her over me? Over us?”

He glared at me, his expression as cold and distant as it had been for months. When he finally spoke, his words sliced deeper than any blade.

“Because you’ve always been the problem, Sera. You lash out, you overreact, and you expect everyone else to clean up the mess. Maybe this bond was never real.”

The air left my lungs as if I’d been struck. “You… you don’t mean that,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.

Lucian’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing more, his silence screaming louder than any words.

Talia, still holding her cheek, let out a humorless laugh. “This is exactly what I mean, Sera. Always making everything about you. You’re exhausting.”

Something inside me snapped, the tether of restraint fraying to nothing. “Get out,” I said, my voice low and deadly calm.

Talia raised a brow. “Excuse me?”

“I said get out! Before I do something we’ll both regret,” I growled, my wolf surfacing, teeth bared in warning.

Lucian stepped between us, his hand raised in a pathetic gesture of control. “Enough, Seraphina. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

I stared at him, my mate, the man who was supposed to protect me, to stand with me. But there was nothing left to fight for in his eyes—only disappointment, as though I was the weight dragging him down.

Tears threatened to spill, but I refused to let them fall in front of him. “No, Lucian,” I said, my voice cracking. “You’re the embarrassment. To our bond, to our son, to everything we’ve built. And you don’t even care.”

"And you, Talia, shame on you for being an attention seeker whore!"

The tension strengthened as the argument spilled from the den into the common room, the space now filled with curious eyes and murmurs. I could feel every gaze fixed on me, their whispers crawling under my skin.

Lucian stood tall in the center, his commanding presence amplified by the weight of his words. “Apologize to Talia, Seraphina.”

His demand angered me. My chest tightened, my heart pounding in my ears. “Apologize?” I echoed, my voice trembling. “For what, Lucian? For standing up for myself? For defending our son? I’m your mate, yet you treat me like I’m nothing. Why can’t you see how much you’re hurting me?”

I looked at him, desperate for a flicker of warmth, a sign that he still cared. But his eyes were cold, distant, and unyielding. I wanted to laugh, I shouldn't have hope. This is already hopeless.

Talia stepped forward, her smirk slicing through the air like a blade. “Bark whatever you want to bark. But just to tell you, you’re nothing but a burden to him, Sera. Always whining, always seeking attention.”

The pack gasped at her audacity, but no one dared to intervene. The room was heavy with unspoken judgment.

Anger bubbled inside me, but before I could respond, Talia’s hand flew up against my cheek. The sharp sting radiated across my skin as gasps rippled through the room.

My ears rang, the humiliation settling deep in my chest. The pack—my pack—had just witnessed the Alpha’s mate slapped, disgraced in the very place I was meant to feel secure.

I straightened, ignoring the burning sensation on my cheek and the tears threatening to spill. My voice was low but sharp, each word laced with barely contained fury. “You dare to strike me, huh?”

Talia’s smirk didn’t falter. “Someone had to knock some sense into you.”

I took a step closer to her, my wolf howling just beneath the surface, desperate to be unleashed. “You’re lucky I have enough control not to end this here and now. But make no mistake, Talia—mate or not, family or not—you ever touch me again, and I’ll show you exactly why I’m the Alpha’s mate and not you.”

I could see the annoyance written on Talia's face.

Lucian moved between us, his expression one of anger—not at Talia, but at me. “That’s enough, Seraphina. You’ve embarrassed yourself and this pack enough for one night.”

The pack’s murmurs grew louder, their judgment cutting into me like shards of glass. I turned to him, my mate, my supposed partner, and stared into the eyes of a man who no longer saw me as his equal.

“I’ve embarrassed myself?” I said, my voice trembling. “You’ve humiliated me, Lucian. You’ve let her humiliate me. In front of everyone.”

He crossed his arms, his jaw set in that infuriatingly dismissive way. “Just apologize, and we’ll end this. Stop making everything a spectacle.”

I took a shaky breath, my hands curling into fists at my sides. “You want me to apologize? Fine.” I turned to Talia, my voice dripping with venom. “I’m sorry, Talia. Sorry that you’ll never be anything more than a pathetic shadow, clinging to someone else’s mate to feel important.”