Chapter 0205

Evelyn's request to keep Seraphina longer works in my favor. It means more time alone with Adrian today.

As we step outside, the question that's been gnawing at me finally slips out. "How do you do it?" I glance at him.

"Do what?" He smirks.

I exhale sharply. "Sorry. How do you handle being mated to a Guardian, knowing she'd die for you? As an Alpha, it doesn't compute. Protecting the pack—that's our role. How do you live with it?"

His smile fades. He stares into the trees before answering. "It's not easy. It's in their blood, just like protecting the pack is in ours. Evelyn protects me the way I protect our people. After Victor kidnapped her, I told her never to sacrifice herself for me again. I asked her to fight beside me, not for me. That's the key." He meets my gaze.

"You have to treat her as an equal, and she has to agree to stand with you when the time comes. It's a compromise. One I made to keep her safe. Evelyn may be Luna, but she's my equal in every way. That said..." His voice drops. "She's also submitted to me."

My head snaps toward him. "Evelyn submitted?"

His eyes grow distant. "Before we were mated. And still does, sometimes. I know she doesn't have to. Nothing I say or do could force her. It has to be her choice."

"How?" I demand. "How did you make that happen?"

His focus sharpens on me. "By becoming everything she needed in a mate. By being better than I thought I could be—because she expected it. Demanded it. When I proved myself, she submitted willingly. So yes, we're equals. But I'm still her Alpha."

I nod, absorbing this. I have no idea what Seraphina expects from me. If this bond between us is going to work, I need to figure it out fast. "Thanks, Adrian."

"Anytime. We still need to discuss the vampire threat and border security."

"I'll bring Donovan," he says.

We part ways. Back at the pack house, I head straight to the dungeons.

Victor hangs limp in his cell. "One chance," I growl. "Why did you do it?"

Same answer as always. "I didn't kill Luna Isolde."

A snarl rips from my throat. "Don't you dare say her name!"

I jerk my chin at the guards. "String him up."

He doesn't resist as they shackle his wrists overhead. Weeks of frustration explode out of me—my mate nearly dying, vampires hunting her, Seraphina's suffering, her being a Guardian, my mother's murder, my father's abandonment. Every punch carries the weight of it.

When he sags unconscious, I step back. "Why?" I rasp.

"I didn't do it," he slurs.

One final blow knocks him out cold.

"Get him down," I order the guards. "Keep him alive."

Wiping blood from my hands, I realize how much time has passed. I need to clean up before Seraphina returns.

The moment I step into the hallway, her scent hits me—raspberries and fresh cream. My muscles unwind. Even her lingering fragrance soothes me.

Upstairs, I scrub Victor's blood off in the shower. Just as I finish, Nathaniel's panicked mind-link shatters my calm.

"Alpha, she's running!"

"Who?"

"Seraphina. And she's fast—you need to get out here now."

What the hell? I bolt from the shower, shifting mid-stride. Dorian hits the ground running as I leap the staircase railing.

"Location," I demand through the link.

"Heading toward Black Canyon Falls."

I push harder. I didn't even know she was back. What scared her this badly?

"When did she return?"

"Unknown. Patrol spotted her sprinting full-speed."

"Any vampire scent?"

"None detected, but you know her senses are sharper."

"Double-check the perimeter."

The thunder of paws grows louder as I near the falls. Through the trees, I spot Nathaniel struggling to keep pace as Seraphina scales the cliffside. I howl, praying she'll stop when she senses me.

She turns.

No relief—only terror.

What the—?

I surge forward, blowing past the patrol wolves. Dorian overtakes Nathaniel's wolf, Leon, closing the distance to my mate. Something's horribly wrong.

At the cliff's edge, Seraphina stands trembling. Tears streak her face as she whispers, "I won't do it again. I'd rather die than belong to monsters."

Dorian whines. 'What did you do?' he snarls at me.

'I don't know!'

He drops to his belly, crawling toward her with pleading whimpers.

"I can't," she keeps repeating, like a broken record. Then, softer: "I won't."

Her gaze locks onto Dorian. "Even if you're my mate, I won't bind myself to a monster. And he is one. I'm sorry, Dorian."

If she jumps, we follow. I don't know if she'd survive the fall, but I know we wouldn't. It doesn't matter. She'd rather die than be with me. She thinks I'm a monster.

If she rejects us, death is better.