He glared at me, his expression as cold and distant as it had been for months. When he finally spoke, his words sliced deeper than any blade.
“Because you’ve always been the problem, Sera. You lash out, you overreact, and you expect everyone else to clean up the mess. Maybe this bond was never real.”
The air left my lungs as if I’d been struck. “You… you don’t mean that,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.
Lucian’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing more, his silence screaming louder than any words.
Talia, still holding her cheek, let out a humorless laugh. “This is exactly what I mean, Sera. Always making everything about you. You’re exhausting.”
Something inside me snapped, the tether of restraint fraying to nothing. “Get out,” I said, my voice low and deadly calm.
Talia raised a brow. “Excuse me?”
“I said get out! Before I do something we’ll both regret,” I growled, my wolf surfacing, teeth bared in warning.
Lucian stepped between us, his hand raised in a pathetic gesture of control. “Enough, Seraphina. You’re embarrassing yourself.”
I stared at him, my mate, the man who was supposed to protect me, to stand with me. But there was nothing left to fight for in his eyes—only disappointment, as though I was the weight dragging him down.
Tears threatened to spill, but I refused to let them fall in front of him. “No, Lucian,” I said, my voice cracking. “You’re the embarrassment. To our bond, to our son, to everything we’ve built. And you don’t even care.”
"And you, Talia, shame on you for being an attention seeker whore!"
The tension strengthened as the argument spilled from the den into the common room, the space now filled with curious eyes and murmurs. I could feel every gaze fixed on me, their whispers crawling under my skin.
Lucian stood tall in the center, his commanding presence amplified by the weight of his words. “Apologize to Talia, Seraphina.”
His demand angered me. My chest tightened, my heart pounding in my ears. “Apologize?” I echoed, my voice trembling. “For what, Lucian? For standing up for myself? For defending our son? I’m your mate, yet you treat me like I’m nothing. Why can’t you see how much you’re hurting me?”
I looked at him, desperate for a flicker of warmth, a sign that he still cared. But his eyes were cold, distant, and unyielding. I wanted to laugh, I shouldn't have hope. This is already hopeless.