Chapter 153
Xander POV
Serafine settles against me, she’s warm and soft as she shifts slightly to get comfortable. Her breathing is slow and steady now. I tighten my arms around her, trying to be careful so as not to wake up or disturb Eryx. He’s still resting quietly in her arms, nursing slightly, but mostly, he’s drifting to sleep. There’s something different in the way that she leans into me now.
It’s not just exhaustion or instinct. It’s more like trust, full, unspoken and heavy with everything that we’ve both overcome and survived to reach this point. We’ve achieved a lot now, considering where we were before.
She doesn’t seem like she’s in as much painore, which is a relief. I’ve been waiting for her to wake, more to see how she was. I was hoping that the agony which tore through her before wouldn’t return the second that she opened her eyes. I hated it, watching her scream like that, I felt helpless, and caught in something I couldn’t touch or fix. It was one of the worst moments of my life.
She’s calm now, maybe not completely at peace, not yet anyway. There’s too much weight still hanging around us, and too many unanswered questions. She’s breathing easier at least, and her fingers curl protectively around Eryx, her shoulders no longer pulled tight with tension either.
Glancing down at the baby in her arms, I smile softly. His tiny hand has found its way into the collar of her shirt, and he is clutching the fabric like it anchors him. I’m guessing that it does. After everything that has happened, after all the noise, chaos and the fear, this… her heartbeat, her warmth and her scent, it’s the only place in the world that feels right to him.
“Looks like having him close helped,” I murmur, brushing my thumb along the curve of her shoulder.
She hums quietly, not quite answering but not disagreeing either.
The truth is, I’ve been preparing myself all day for the moment she’d wake again. I’ve gone over a dozen ways I might explain what happened, how we buried him, and how the magic is fading from the chamber. But now that she’s here, pressed close to me and holding our son like the world depends on
it, I find I don’t want to talk about any of it.
She was asleep for hours, now the sun’s already set. The guards are all quiet now, lingering around camp. There are a few murmurs here and there, but nothing big. The scent of meat cooking over fire drifts faintly through the air, but I ignore it all. I’m going to guess that she will be awake for most of the night now, and honestly, I don’t mind. If she wants to talk, I’ll listen. If she wants to sit here in total silence, I’ll be happy to do that with her as well.
All that I want is to be near her, to make sure she stays upright in the aftermath of everything that she endured. After a long moment, she tilts her head towards me and whispers, “How long was I out?”
“Since this morning,” I answer gently. “You’ve slept the entire day.”
She nods, her eyes drifting toward the dark windows. “Strange, it feels like longer.”
“Your body needed it, and so did your magic, I think it was inevitable. It’s been quiet since you passed out.” I pause, hesitating. “How do you feel?”
Her answer is soft, barely more than a breath. “Like something’s missing. Like part of me tore open and didn’t fully close.”
I shift slightly, turning to face her more. “Is it still burning?” I ask, feeling worried for her.
“Not as much,” she says, reaching up to press her palm lightly against her chest. “But it’s… echoing. It feels like it has left something behind. Like a wound that didn’t bleed out completely.”
The way that sounds… I really hate it. I hate knowing that it’s something I can’t stop, and that I couldn’t protect her before mating would help, but she shouldn’t be in pain for this. “I hate not being able to protect you from it,” I say.
“I know,” she says simply, and that’s somehow worse. Because she does know, and we both understand I never could.
ain found her. I know
Eryx stirs a little, fussing softly in her arms. She shifts to soothe him, running her palm along his back. The silence between us stretches again, but this time it’s not heavy or uncertain. It’s just quiet. Right now, we’re two people who are trying to make sense of the pieces that we were handed and told to
deal with.
Chapter 153
Outside, the fire crackles gently. Somewhere further off, I can hear Garrick as he gives an order to the perimeter guards. They’re staying stert, but there hasn’t been a single disturbance. The magic that once soaked into the air around the chamber is gone. All the threads that were alive and suck there have now gone and settles back into the places where they belong.
Still, I don’t relax, not completely, and I don’t think I will until we’re faw away from this place and back at our pack.
“I want to go home,” Serafine says quietly. Her voice isn’t desperate or afraid, it’s steady, but tired. “Not to a camp, or to another pack, or to some neutral land. I want to go home, Xander. To our pack, I want my bed. I want Eryx’s crib. I want to wake up and not feel like the world’s going to tear itself in half again.”
That I can understand, so I’m happy to make no stops and us travel home without breaks if that’s what she needs. I nod and press my lips to her hair. “Then we’ll go home. First light tomorrow. I’ve already told the others we’re camping here tonight. No tents. Just the cars and mats. We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.”
“I’m ready now,” she says, even though I can feel how heavy her body still is against mine.
“You’re not,” I say with a small smile. “But you will be.”
She doesn’t argue, and for that, I’m grateful. Because, for once, I want h
to let someone else make the decision to slow down.
Outside, the fire dims slightly, the camp falling into that thick, dense quiet that comes just before true sleep. A few guards remain by the perimeter, but most have settled on their mats, weapons close, eyes half–lidded.
Inside the car, it’s just the three of us. No enemies, echoes of screaming magic and no curses clinging to the walls.
My eyes flicker down and I look at her, at the way she is curled against me, with Eryx nestled safely between us. I wonder how I ever thought I could go through life without this. Without her.
I spent a long time pretending that I didn’t need anything more than control, and pretending that the weight of being Alpha was enough. It isn’t and it never was, not truly.
She’s the only thing that’s ever made this feel like a life instead of a war. She’s the only one who has made me feel like I can live through every battle that
comes for me.
She amazes me so much, I draw in a slow breath, before I let my thumb brush gently across her knuckles. “Marry me,” I say quietly. “Really marry me this time, Serafine. Not because someone forced your hand. Not because Gideon tied you to me in some twisted play for power. Marry me because you want to. Because I love you, Serafine, and I want you as my wife, not just my Luna.”
She blinks at me, her eyes wide. She looks so lost, and confused right now, but she doesn’t
away.
“We’re married, I know we are, but you deserve a wedding where you’re marrying because you want it and because you love them. I also want us to start again, without Gideon’s hatred hanging over us.”
She doesn’t speak for a long moment. Then, with a soft smile tugging at the corner of her lips, she nods.
“Yes,” she whispers, her voice barely more than breath.
My heart stumbles in my chest, and I stare at her for a beat, just to make sure I heard her right. “Yes?” I repeat, needing to be sure.
Her smile deepens and she nods again. “Yes, Xander. I want to marry you.”
She said yes! Relief floods through me like a wave, I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything so immediate, so powerful. I’m n
her.
I cup the side of her face and press a kiss to her forehead, holding there for a long moment, breathing her in.
re what I was expecting from
“The moment we get back to the pack,” I tell her. “I don’t want to wait, don’t want any delays, or any second–guessing. We’ll do it properly. Me, you and Eryx, and everyone else be damned.”
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09:00 Fri, 27 Jun
Chapter 153
Jun B
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She lets out a small laugh against my chest, and I feel the sound more than I hear it. It vibrates through me, soft and steady, the way everything always feels when she’s in my arms.
“I’ll wear something white,” she murmurs, teasing just a little.
I grin. “Wear whatever you want. Just as long as you’re walking toward me at the end of that aisle, I won’t care about anything else.”
She closes her eyes again, her hand tightening in mine, and we sit like that for a while longer. The stars begin to shine brighter outside the car windows. and for the first time in months, maybe years, the future doesn’t feel so uncertain.
It feels like it’s already begun.
