I slam my chamber door shut and press my back against it, breath trembling. My hands won’t stop shaking.
I can still see it—every impossible detail of him burned into my mind like the imprint of a brand.
His wolf.
His shift.
His body.
Heat rushes through me again, humiliating in its intensity.
“Stop,” I mutter, squeezing my eyes shut. “Stop thinking about it.”
But I can’t. My brain replays it without mercy: Kieran exploding into his wolf, all devastating power and impossible beauty, and then shifting back, body reforming in a slow, mesmerizing sweep of muscle and scar.
Luna stirs. “We should have stayed. We should have gone to lunch with them.”
“Absolutely not.” I push away from the door and pace toward the window. “I can barely think straight around him.”
“Because you’re fighting what we both want.”
“What we want doesn’t matter.” The cold glass meets my forehead, but it does nothing to soothe the heat twisting low in my belly. “He made his choice five years ago. Nothing has changed.”
Luna withdraws, but her doubt lingers like a pressure behind my ribs.
Outside, snow drifts lazily over the mountains. Somewhere down in the fortress, Kieran and Azriel are probably eating lunch. Laughing. Bonding.
And I’m hiding like a coward.
I need air. Space. Anything to quiet the war inside my chest.
The library.
My sanctuary.
The halls are mercifully empty as I slip through the castle, avoiding the dining areas entirely. When I push open the library doors, warmth and the scent of old parchment wrap around me like a protective cloak.
I’m tracing a row of spines when footsteps approach.
“Princess Seraphina.”
Cassius’s deep, warm voice makes me turn.
He looks surprised—and worried. “You’re pale. Shouldn’t you be at lunch?”
“I wasn’t hungry.”
“Same.” He steps closer, his amber eyes sweeping over my face. “You seem… tense.”
“That obvious?”
“Only to someone paying attention.” His voice softens. “Was it the military tour? I heard Kieran put on quite the display.”
Heat crawls up my neck. “It was… informative.”
Cassius tilts his head. “You’re blushing.”
“I am not.”
“You are.” He smiles a little. “What happened?”
“Nothing—just warriors shifting and Kieran showing Azriel formations.” I grip a book too tightly. “It was fine.”
“Seraphina.” He says my name carefully, gently. “Talk to me.”
The concern in his voice eats at my defenses.
“It’s nothing. I’m just… confused.”
But when I try to explain, warmth suddenly blooms in my chest.
A soft, glowing swell that spreads down my arms, into my fingertips, into my bones.
Safe.
Right.
Wanted.
My knees buckle slightly.
“Seraphina?” Cassius catches my elbow, steadying me. “What is it?”
“I—I don’t know.” The warmth grows, enveloping me like sunlight. “I just… felt something.”
“What did you feel?” His hand stays firm on my arm.
“Warm,” I whisper. “Safe.”
Something shifts in his eyes. “You feel safe with me?”
“I do.”
He nods, guiding me into one of the reading chairs by the window.
“Tell me the truth,” he says, sitting across from me. “What’s really wrong?”
I swallow hard. “Being around Kieran is… complicated. The rejection didn’t make it easier. It made it worse.”
“Because the bond is trying to fix itself?” Cassius says gently.
I nod. “Something like that.”
“And how do you feel about him? Do you still… care for him?”
“No. I don’t. And I actually never did.”
He blinks, surprised. “I don’t know your story. Rumors, yes, but… if you’re willing. Tell me.”
My throat tightens. Marcus’s face flashes in my mind.
Cassius sees the pain and immediately softens. “It’s all right. You don’t have to.”
“No.” I inhale shakily. “You’ve been honest with me. I can be honest with you.”
So I tell him.
About Marcus. The escape. The betrayal. The terror.
About stumbling into Kieran’s patrol—only to end up imprisoned, blamed, and then forcefully bound to the male who saw me as the enemy.
Cassius listens without interruption, his expression shifting from shock to anger to quiet sympathy.
“And then,” I whisper, fingers brushing the faint scar at my neck, “he marked me. And the next morning, he rejected me.”
“Seraphina…” His voice is thick with emotion. “You never had a chance to fall for him. Your heart never had the time to trust.”
“Exactly.” I exhale, aching and emptied. “The bond made my body respond to him. But my heart? It was never his.”
Cassius reaches across and takes my hand. Warm. Steady. So unlike the electric, consuming fire Kieran ignites.
We sit like that, quiet for a few moments.
“I should check on Azriel,” I finally say, trying to pull my hand away.
But he stands too, still holding it.
This time, the warmth in my chest blooms again—soft, golden, comforting. Nothing like the wildfire that rages whenever Kieran is near.
“You deserve to feel safe,” Cassius murmurs, closer now. “After everything, you deserve peace. I want to give you that.”
My heart twists. “Thank you.”
He squeezes my hand before letting go. “I’ll see you at dinner.”
As soon as I’m alone, Luna speaks.
“That was dangerous.”
“He’s my friend,” I argue. “He cares.”
“Or you wanted him to care.”
“What are you implying?”
“This warmth isn’t normal. It’s too strong. Too sudden.”
I stop in my doorway, pulse quickening.
“You think it’s… something else?”
Silence.
A tense, uneasy silence.
My breath catches.
“What if… it’s a second-chance mate bond?”
Luna freezes. “…What?”
“Second-chance bonds. They happen. Wolves who’ve been rejected sometimes get another mate. It’s rare, but it would explain everything.”
“Seraphina, no—”
“The warmth. The safety. The way it’s been building. How natural it feels. How right.”
“It doesn’t feel right to me.” Luna’s voice cracks. “Something is wrong.”
“You said that about Kieran. And look how that turned out.”
The words wound her. I feel the recoil in my mind.
“Cassius is the first good thing to happen to us in years,” I say quietly. “If the Moon Goddess is offering us a second chance… I’m taking it.”
“And if you’re wrong?” her voice whispers.
“Then I’ll survive the consequences.” I close the door behind me. “But I won’t spend my life wondering ‘what if’.”
Luna retreats, wounded and wary.
I press my palm to my chest.
The warmth pulses there, steady and sure.
Real.
Hopeful.
Undeniable.
I just need Luna to understand.
Eventually, she will.
She has to.
