15 Chapter 15


    Seraphina’s POV 1


    The question hung in the air like a de poised above my neck. Even though Valerie had been dragged away by security, her venomous words still echoed through the silent restaurant like poison sceping through the walls. I stared at Damien in disbelief, unable to process


    what I was hearing.


    “Is it true?”


    His voice waspletely different now-cold, clinical, stripped of every trace of the warmth that had made my heart race just moments before. This was the voice of an Alpha passing judgment, and I was clearly the one being judged.


    “Damien, you can’t seriously believe-” I started, but he cut me off with a sharp gesture.


    “Answer the question, Seraphina.” My name on his lips sounded like an usation now. “Is Adrian Gabriel’s son?”


    way he’d The betrayal hit me like a physical blow. After everything we’d shared today-the mate bond crackling between us, the defended me against Valerie, the gentle way he’d asked about Adrian in the car-he was ready to believe the worst of me based on the word of a woman he’d literally thrown out of his office hours earlier.


    “You want to know the truth?” My voice came out steadier than I felt, though my hands were shaking with fury and heartbreak. “The truth is that Adrian’s father is someone disappeared before dawn without even leaving his name five years ago.”


    Damien’s expression didn’t change, but something flickered in his eyes-confusion, maybe even recognition. But it was gone so quickly I


    might have imagined it.


    “Gabriel was never Adrian’s father,” I continued, each word feeling like broken ss in my throat. “Gabriel was a lying, cheating bastard who was screwing my stepsister while promising to marry me. But he never touched me, not once in all the months we dated.”


    “Then Valerie-”


    “She’s a cruel, vindictive bitch who gets off on destroying people!” The words exploded out of me with five years of suppressed rage behind them. “She did the same thing to me when I was eighteen-humiliated me in front of everyone, made me feel like I was nothing,


    like I deserved every horrible thing that happened to me.””


    The entire restaurant was still watching our drama unfold like it was better than cable television. I could see phones being discreetly raised, could practically hear the gossip spreading through the werewolf socialworks in real time. By tomorrow, every pack from


    here to the Canadian border would know about the omega who’d dared to argue with Alpha Nightshadow in public.


    But what broke my heart wasn’t the stares or the whispers or even the humiliation. It was the cold distance in Damien’s eyes, the way he


    was looking at me like I was a stranger he was trying to identify in a police lineup.


    “You know what?” I said, my voice growing stronger with each word as righteous anger began to override heartbreak. “I don’t need to


    justify myself to you or anyone else. I’ve spent five years building a life for myself and my son without anyone’s help, and I sure as hell


    don’t need approval from someone who’s ready to believe gossip over his own mate.”


    09 18


    just minutes ago but now felt like a chain around my


    “Keep it,” he said. “You’ll catch pneumonia.”


    “I’d rather freeze than wear anything of yours,” I shot back, letting the expensive fabric slide off my shoulders and pool on the marble floor between us like a fallen g of surrender.


    The sharp intake of breath from several nearby diners told me exactly how shocking my rejection appeared to the watching crowd. Apparently, omega women didn’t refuse Alpha generosity in public. Well, there was a first time for everything.


    Without another word, I turned and walked toward the exit with my head held high, fighting the urge to run like the scared girl I used to be. Each step felt like walking through quicksand-my legs heavy with exhaustion and my chest tight with the effort of not breaking down until I was safely away from all those judging eyes.


    The cool night air hit my wine-soaked dress like a p, making me shiver immediately. “Well, that went spectacrly,” A muttered in my mind, her mental voice dripping with sarcasm.


    The elegant heels that had made me feel so confident this morning were now instruments of torture, digging into my feet with every step and making me wobble dangerously on the uneven sidewalk. After two blocks of misery, I finally gave up and stopped to slip them off, not caring that I was now barefoot on a city street in an evening dress.


    The concrete was cold and rough against my feet, but it was still better than the agony of those heels. I gathered up the skirt of my ruined dress and continued walking, letting my feet take me wherever they wanted to go as long as it was away from that restaurant and the man who’d so quickly lost faith in me.


    “Why does this always happen?” I whispered to the empty street, tears finally beginning to spill down my cheeks now that I was alone. “Why do I keep believing that someone might actually want me, might actually choose me?”


    I’d walked about six blocks when headlights suddenly illuminated the street behind me, followed by the sharp beep of a car horn. I stepped closer to the parked cars lining the sidewalk, assuming the driver just wanted me to get out of the way, but the vehicle slowed to a crawl and pulled up beside me.


    The headlights were bright enough to make me squint, throwing everything beyond them into shadow. Then the driver’s side window rolled down, and a voice called out:


    “Miss? Are you alright?”


    I recognized him immediately. One of the colleague in thepany. He’d been at the dinner party, had been one of the wolves who’d witnessed my spectacr public humiliation. Thest thing I needed right now was pity from one of Damien’s circle.


    “I’m fine,” I called back, not slowing my pace. “Just getting some air.”


    “With no shoes?” There was genuine concern in his voice, not the mocking tone I’d expected. “Look, I saw what happened back there. That was a really shitty situation, and I’m sorry you had to deal with it.”


    I stopped walking, partly because my feet were starting to bleed and partly because his unexpected kindness caught me off guard. “Thank you, but I don’t need-”


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    09 18


    “Your feet are bleeding” he said simply, and when I looked down, I could see dark spots on the concrete where I’d been walking. “Look, I


    know we don’t really know each other, but I can’t just drive past and leave you walking barefoot through downtown. At least let me give


    you a ride somewhere safe.”


    I studied his face in the glow of the dashboard lights. He was handsome in a more approachable way than Damien-sandy brown hair, warm hazel eyes, and a smile that seemed genuine rather than calcted.


    “I don’t want to impose.” I said carefully, still maintaining my distance from the car.


    He interrupted with a slight smile. “I make my own decisions about who I help and why. And right now, I’m deciding to help someone


    who’s had a really horrible night.”


    The sincerity in his voice,bined with the increasing pain in my feet and the reality that I had nowhere else to go, finally broke down


    my resistance.


    “Okay,” I said quietly, hobbling around to the passenger side. “Thank you.”