COLD AND EMPTY

SERAPHINA'S POV

The fragile silence was shattered as a piercing cry echoed down the sterile hallway.

"Papa! Where are you?"

Every head turned in unison. My stomach plummeted as Celeste came into view—her golden hair whipping behind her, cheeks flushed from running. Her eyes were rimmed with tears, but her beauty remained utterly breathtaking.

After ten years, my sister's sudden appearance struck me like a physical blow.

I almost instinctively turned to Kieran, whose mouth had fallen open, staring at Celeste like she was a dream he was scared to wake up from. The raw longing in his eyes was enough to answer the question that had haunted me for a decade: his heart had never been mine.

"Tell me I'm not too late," Celeste begged, her voice breaking. When no one answered immediately, her knees buckled.

Kieran moved faster than any werewolf had a right to. He caught her before she hit the ground, cradling her against his chest as my mother and brother descended into the huddle. Their tangled limbs and shared sobs painted the perfect family portrait—one I'd never been part of.

The thought clawed at my throat. I'd lost my father too. Didn't I deserve to mourn?

But this was Celeste's world. It always had been. From the moment she'd taken her first steps, everyone had watched her, admired her, loved her. As Celeste shone, I became a shadow.

And now, as her whimpers filled the room, I might as well have been invisible.

The exit beckoned. Better to leave with what little dignity remained than wait for their inevitable rejection.

Not a single head turned as I slipped away.

My tears had dried by the time I reached home, leaving salt tracks on my cheeks. But the hollow ache in my chest? That felt like it would linger forever.

My first stop was Daniel's room to check up on him.

I was surprised to see light under his door, and when I pushed it open, I found my nine-year-old curled into himself, knees drawn to his chest like a tiny fortress against the world.

"Mommy?" His voice was too small, too knowing.

I perched on the edge of his racecar bed. "Sweetheart, why are you up?"

He worried his lower lip between his teeth. "Something's wrong with Grandpa Edward, right?"

The air left my lungs. How did I tell this bright-eyed boy that the man who'd taught him to track deer just last summer was gone? I smoothed his pajama-covered knee. "Honey, there was... an incident tonight. Grandpa got hurt—"

"He died." Daniel's whisper held an eerie certainty. "Our bond... it broke."

My hand stilled. At nine, he shouldn't have been able to feel the pack bonds severing. Yet here he was, demonstrating the very wolf-sensitivity I'd spent his lifetime praying he'd inherit.

Relief warred with awe—he wouldn't be like me. Wouldn't bear the shame of being the Alpha's defective child, a werewolf whose wolf never manifested.

"Come here, my brave boy." I gathered him close, breathing in his scent of maple syrup and childish sweat. However much I regretted that disastrous Blood Moon Hunt, I'd never regret the miracle it gave me.

Daniel was the one pure thing in my life—the only heart that loved me without conditions.

As I tucked the spaceship-patterned blanket around his shoulders, he turned those soulful eyes on me—Kieran's eyes in miniature.

"You and Daddy will always be here, right?"

The question lanced through me. I feathered my fingers through his hair, just like I had when he was a baby fighting sleep. "Oh, my love..."

How could I explain that his father had never truly been mine to keep? That the way Kieran had looked at Celeste tonight—like the sun had risen after a decade of darkness—was a look he'd never once given me? That their embrace in the hospital corridor had been more intimate than any he and I had shared in ten years of marriage?

"Mommy's not going anywhere," I promised, pressing a kiss to his furrowed brow. "Your daddy and I love you more than anything," I whispered. "Nothing will ever change that."

His sleepy smile gutted me. "Night, Mommy."

"Sweet dreams, my heart." I kissed his forehead, lingering a moment too long before slipping out.

The kitchen's fluorescent lights buzzed as I rummaged through the fridge. Glass bottles clinked—then froze mid-reach at the sound of the front door.

Kieran. Home already.

I'd expected him to stay all night at the hospital, comforting her. Reconnecting with her.

He moved through the darkened house like a shadow, his broad shoulders filling the kitchen doorway. Moonlight caught the sharp angles of his face as his gaze swept over me—empty. Always empty.

The refrigerator hummed between us as he reached past my shoulder. His cedar-and-rain scent enveloped me for one treacherous heartbeat before he withdrew, cracking open a water bottle.

"Did you... want something to eat?" My voice sounded too small in the silence. "You missed dinner."

Nothing. Just the working of his throat as he drank, the corded muscles flexing beneath stubble I'd never been allowed to touch. The crushed plastic hitting the recycling bin made me flinch.

He braced himself against the countertop, head bowed like Atlas bearing the world. I knew this dance by heart—ten years of speaking to a ghost.

"I'll just..." I edged toward the doorway.

"Seraphina."

My name in his mouth was always a shock. Like being doused in ice water.

I turned slowly. Moonlight carved hollows beneath his cheekbones, his expression unreadable as ever.

"We need to talk."

The quiet words sent a bolt of dread through me. His grip on the counter turned his knuckles bone-white.

No preamble. No softening. Just Kieran's brutal efficiency, as always.

"I want a divorce."

Ten years. Ten years I'd waited for this axe to fall.

Funny how it still cut like a surprise.

ALL I WANT

SERAPHINA'S POV

The words shouldn't have hurt—not after a decade of waiting for this moment. Yet they sliced through me like silver, the pain radiating from my shattered heart to every nerve ending.

I'd always known that Kieran would eventually ask for this. Especially now. Celeste. His first crush. His real love. Back.

It didn't matter that I'd loved him since we were children, long before Celeste ever noticed him. It didn't matter that I'd given him a son. The moment she returned, I became invisible—just as I'd always been in his eyes.

Celeste was the dazzling diamond, blinding everyone to the plain pebble at her feet. I knew this. So why did it still feel like my soul was being ripped in two?

"It's because of Celeste, isn't it?" My voice was eerily calm. I already knew the answer, but some masochistic part of me needed to hear him say it. Needed him to twist the knife deeper.

Kieran's eyes flashed—the first real emotion he'd shown me in years. "No," he snapped, jaw clenched. "Of course not."

Liar.

He dragged a hand through his dark hair, exhaling sharply. "Edward's death just... reminded me life's too short to waste on a mistake."

A mistake.

I would have preferred the knife. Would have rather he screamed Celeste's name than reduce our marriage—our son—to a regret.

I couldn't help but laugh out.

The sound was jagged, hysterical, tearing from my throat as Kieran stared at me like I'd lost my mind. Maybe I had.

I laughed because the alternative was screaming.

My gaze traced the lines of this man I knew yet didn't know at all, this stranger I'd loved for eighteen years who had never truly seen me.

Who was more pitiable—him or me?

He loved Celeste, yet honor and a single mistake had chained him to a marriage he never wanted. What had these ten years given us? If not for that night, if we hadn't been forced into this loveless union, would his eyes have held even a flicker of warmth for me?

We were never meant to be like this.

Even though I could never regret Daniel, I'd meant it that night—I'd been ready to vanish. I should have run farther. Should never have stepped into that clinic, never let them know about the pregnancy.

I'd told myself staying, enduring, was for Daniel's sake. But now, I couldn't lie to myself anymore. What kind of life had I given him, with parents whose hearts were oceans apart? While Celeste was gone, Kieran had played the part of a dutiful father. But now she was back, and the fragile facade of our marriage would shatter.

I won't let my son watch his mother become a laughingstock.

"Fine," I said at last, the laughter dying on my lips.

Kieran's brows lifted. Had he expected tears? Begging? Had he wanted to see me break?

Too bad.

My entire life, people had hungered for my surrender. But I refused to give them another ounce of my pain.

When I walked away from this marriage, I would take only two things:

My dignity.

And my son.

"I want full custody of Daniel."

His shock morphed into fury. "The hell you will! He's my son!"

"And mine!" I snarled back.

"You can't take the pack's heir from his Alpha!" Kieran's voice shook with barely leashed rage.

"And you can't take a mother's heart from her chest!" My hands trembled, but my voice didn't waver. "I don't want your money. Your property. Anything. Just my son."

Daniel was my only light in this wretched world. If Kieran took him from me...

I wouldn't survive it.

"And most importantly... You and Celeste will have new children."

The words stole the breath from my lungs. Just the thought of it—of her giving him the pups I never could—made my chest ache like a fresh wound. But for Daniel, I would endure anything. Even this.

I watched Kieran closely, his expression unreadable in the dim kitchen light. Finally, he gave a single stiff nod.

"Fine. You can have full custody."

The catch. He agreed so easily.

Not a single denial. Not one word to contradict what I'd said about him and Celeste. He still preferred a family with her, didn't he?

And the most pathetic part? Some foolish, desperate corner of my heart had still hoped. Still waited for him to say something—anything—to prove our marriage hadn't been just a prison sentence to him.

I pressed my palms to my stinging eyes. Gods, what was wrong with me?

I couldn't afford to hope anymore. Not tonight. If I didn't leave here soon, I'd collapse right here on the cold tiles—

Then Kieran caught my wrist.

He cleared his throat awkwardly, his grip warm against my skin. "We can wait until after the funeral to finalize everything, if you prefer."

For one dangerous moment, I almost believed him. Almost thought this was kindness.

If only he'd shown me this consideration once in ten years.

I wrenched my arm free. "No need to delay. It's not like there's much to dissolve—you never even gave me a mating mark."

The one thing he'd refused when we married. That, and loving me.

"Your wolf never came," he'd said that night we got married, his voice carefully blank. "A mating bond would only cause you pain when..."

When we inevitably divorced.

He hadn't finished the sentence, but we both knew. Just like we both knew the real reason—the mark belonged to Celeste in his mind. Always had.

The bitter truth settled in my chest: he'd planned for this ending from the very beginning.

What difference did it make now? Whether it was pity or premeditation, the result was the same—my neck remained unmarked, my heart remained broken, and Kieran would walk away free.

Kieran's brow furrowed deeper.

"Seraphina, there's no need for bitterness. Our marriage was a mistake—I only hope we can both move on." His voice softened, that hint of pity making my stomach churn. "You deserve—"

"Oh, spare me." I turned away before he could see how his pity cut me deeper than his anger ever could. "Don't worry—I've saved enough to support myself and Daniel. You'll be free by tomorrow."

The shock on his face was almost comical. Had he truly expected me to fight for him? To beg?

Yes, I loved him. I still do.

But ten years of trying to thaw his heart had taught me this: no amount of warmth could melt a glacier that didn't want to be moved.

And now that Celeste was back? Did he think I'd delude myself into believing I ever stood a chance?

Why crush what's left of my pride just to feed an Alpha's ego?

I'd learned my lesson. A decade in this loveless marriage had been enough. I was done fighting for people who never wanted me.

My steps were numb as I climbed the stairs, memories of Kieran flashing like ghosts behind my eyes:

*The bright smile he'd given me when we first met as children.

*Me watching from the shadows when he won his first Hunt.

*The way my heart shattered as he placed the victory garland on Celeste's head, her lips meeting his in a sweet kiss.

*The blur of liquor glasses when their engagement was announced.

*That catastrophic night that started it all.

*Then—Daniel's birth, his first steps, every milestone since...

Halfway up the staircase, Daniel's sleepy voice echoed in my mind:

"You and Dad will always be here, right?"

My heart lurched. Gods. How do we tell him?

I whirled around, my earlier resolve cracking. "How... how do we explain this to Daniel?"

Kieran paused mid-sip of water. "I'll handle it."

Of course. He's already planned for this, too. My fists clenched.

"And you needn't worry about finances," he added stiffly. "Daniel is still my son. I'll cover his expenses—and yours."

I couldn't read his expression. After ten years, the view I knew best was still his poker face. But this time, I refused to waste energy deciphering him.

Tomorrow, once the papers were signed, we'd be strangers. As he wished.

I turned without answering.

The bedroom door clicked shut behind me—then the dam broke.

Silent sobs wracked my body as I slid to the floor, the day's grief finally overwhelming me. Somewhere downstairs, the floorboards creaked.

Kieran was probably already packing. Probably already picturing Celeste in this house, raising my son.

My hand flew to my unmarked throat—where his teeth should have been. Where a mating bond should have sealed us together.

"It's okay, Sera," I whispered into the hollow dark, arms wrapped tight around my shaking ribs. "You'll survive this."

For my son—I'll survive anything.