14 Chapter 14


    Seraphina’s POV 1


    Valerie’s shriek cut through the elegant atmosphere of the restaurant like a knife through silk, causing every conversation to halt mid- sentence. I could feel dozens of pairs of eyes turning toward us, their curious gazes burning into my skin like hot coals. The humiliation was immediate and overwhelming-standing there with wine dripping from my hair and dress, facing the woman who had destroyed my


    world five years ago.


    All I wanted was to disappear, to melt into the marble floor and never face another judgmental stare. I turned toward the nearest exit, desperate to escape this nightmare, but Valerie’s perfectly manicured nails dug into my wrist like talons.


    “How did you get in here?!” she demanded, her voice pitched loud enough to ensure every wolf in the vicinity could hear every word.


    “Did you sneak in? What gives you the right to be here?!”


    The familiar cruelty in her tone, the way she spoke to me like I was something disgusting she’d found on the bottom of her shoe, ignited a fire in my chest that I’d spent five years banking. This wasn’t the broken eighteen-year-old girl she’d tormented in Whispering Valley. I was stronger now, harder, and I’d be damned if I let her humiliate me again.


    I yanked my wrist free from her grip with enough force to make her stumble-backward, my eyes zing with fury. “I have every right to be here,” I said, my voice carrying clearly across the suddenly silent restaurant. “In fact, I’m the one who organized this entire evening.


    And I don’t recall seeing your name on the guest list I personally curated.”


    Valerie’s mouth fell open in shock, clearly not expecting me to fight back. For a moment, she actually looked uncertain, ncing around at the watching crowd as if suddenly realizing she might not have the upper hand she’d assumed.


    But the moment of doubt passed quickly, reced by the same vicious spite I remembered all too well. If anything, my defiance seemed


    to fuel her rage rather than discourage it.


    “It’s you!” she screamed, her voice rising to an almost hysterical pitch as she pointed at me like I was a criminal she was identifying in a


    lineup. “You’re the omega! The one who-”


    “What the hell is going on here?”


    Damien’s voice cut through Valerie’s tirade like a de, his tone carrying enough Alpha authority to make several nearby wolves


    automatically step back. I felt his presence before I saw him—that intoxicating blend of sandalwood and raw power that made my


    whimper with recognition and need.


    wolf


    He materialized beside me with predatory grace, hisrge hand immediately settling on my waist in a gesture that was unmistakably


    possessive and protective. The warmth of his palm through the damp fabric of my dress was like an anchor in the storm of humiliation


    and anger swirling around me.


    His piercing blue eyes took in the scene with the efficiency of a tactical assessment-me standing there dripping with wine, Valerie’s


    flushed face and usatory finger, the circle of fascinated onlookers who were clearly enjoying the drama. When his gazended on my


    ruined dress, his jaw tightened with what looked like barely controlled fury.


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    Without a word, he shrugged out of his perfectly tailored suit jacket and draped it around my shoulders. The expensive fabric was warm from his body heat and infused with his scent, wrapping around me like a shield against the hostile stares.


    “Someone want to exin why my date is covered in wine?” he asked, his voice deceptively calm but carrying an undertone that promised swift and terrible consequences for whoever was responsible.


    Valerie immediately released whateverposure she’d managed to maintain, practically throwing herself at Damien and wrapping her arms around his free arm like a drowning woman clutching a life preserver.


    “Damien, thank God you’re here!” she gushed, pressing herself against his side with theatrical desperation. “I can’t believe you made her your assistant! Don’t you realize what she is? She’s nothing but a low-ss omega who-”


    She didn’t get to finish the sentence. Damien’s arm tensed under her grip, and then he was shaking her off with enough force to send her stumbling backward in her stilettos. His face was a mask of cold fury as he gestured sharply toward the restaurant’s security


    personnel.


    “Get her out of here,” hemanded, his Alpha authority making the order ring through the air like a decree. “Now.”


    But Valerie, desperate and seeing her chance slipping away, opened her mouth and unleashed every piece of poisonous ammunition


    she’d been saving.


    “Wait!” she shrieked as tworge security guards began moving toward her. “Don’t you want to know the truth about your precious


    assistant? About who she really is?”


    I felt my blood turn to ice in my veins.


    “She’s not just some random omega, Damien! She used to date Gabriel-your brother, my husband! They were together for years before she turned eighteen!” Valerie’s voice was rising to a fever pitch, her words tumbling out in a rush as she fought to get them all out before the security guards reached her. “She has a child, doesn’t she? A little boy? I bet he’s Gabriel’s! She got herself knocked up and my


    parents had to throw her out for being such a—”


    “Enough!” Damien roared, but the damage was already done.


    Every word hung in the air like smoke from an explosion, impossible to take back or ignore. The entire restaurant had gonepletely silent, every wolf straining to hear this delicious piece of gossip. I could feel their eyes on me like physical weight, could practically hear


    the mental notes they were making to spread this story to every pack from here.


    But it was the sudden absence of warmth that made my heart stop.


    Damien’s hand, which had been a steady, protective presence on my waist, slowly withdrew. The loss of contact felt like stepping from


    sunshine into an arctic wind, and I had to fight not to reach for him as that essential connection severed.


    I kept my eyes fixed on my hands, watching wine drip from my fingers onto the pristine marble floor.


    The security guards finally reached Valerie and began escorting her toward the exit, but her venomous voice carried clearly across the


    silent restaurant as she delivered her final blow:


    “Ask her, Damien! Ask her if her bastard child belongs to your brother!”


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    The silence that followed was deafening. I could hear my own heartbeat thundering in my ears, could feel the weight of dozens of stares,


    could sense the excited energy of wolves who’d just witnessed what would undoubtedly be the most talked-about scandal of the


    social season.


    When Damien finally spoke, his voice waspletely devoid of the warmth it had carried all evening. It was the voice of an Alpha


    dispensing judgment, cold and imcable and utterly final.


    “Is it true?”