Seraphina's POV
The tension between us has been suffocating.
Every time I moved, Lorien's gaze followed. Every time he breathed, I felt it in my bones. It was dangerous… this thing between us. A push and pull neither of us could control.
I hated it.
But I also craved it.
After breakfast, I was escorted back to my chamber, my mind swirling with thoughts of the Alpha King who had stolen my first kiss… and the fact that he had tried to act like it never happened.
Like it had meant nothing.
Liar.
I paced the room, restless. My body still buzzed from last night. I hated that he had left. That he had kissed me and then disappeared, like he could just pretend it hadn't happened.
Like I could pretend.
I was so lost in my thoughts that I almost didn't hear the sound outside my door.
A whisper.
A shadow moving too quickly.
And then.
A scream.
Not just any scream. A dying scream.
The next second, the door to my chamber burst open.
My Instinct took over, and I stumbled backward, my breath catching in my throat as a masked figure stepped into my room, sword glinting in the dim light.
An assassin.
I barely had time to react before he lunged.
I twisted away, my body moving on instinct, but he was fast. Too fast. I grabbed the nearest thing… a metal candle holder… and swung.
It crashed against his head.
He snarled, stumbling back, but it wasn't enough to take him down.
More footsteps echoed from the hallway.
More assassins.
My stomach twisted. This wasn't just a break-in. This was a full-scale attack.
Where was the Alpha? Where was anyone?
I couldn't think. I could only move.
The assassin in front of me recovered and came at me again. This time, I wasn't fast enough.
The blade sliced across my arm, searing pain exploding through me.
I gasped, gripping my bleeding arm, but I refused to go down. I kicked out, knocking him off balance.
But I wasn't a fighter. I knew nothing about how to win in this kinda fight and he knew it.
He smirked beneath his mask, raising his sword for the killing blow.
I braced myself and then the door shattered open.
The air exploded with power as the alpha stepped through the wrecked door.
He was a force of nature.
His silver eyes burned with fury, his body radiating raw, untamed rage. His sword was already dripping with blood.
The assassin barely had time to turn before he struck.
One clean movement.
One perfect slash.
The man dropped, dead before he hit the ground.
Silence.
Then more intruders came.
The alpha moved like a predator, cutting through them like they were nothing. I had never seen anything like it… it was graceful, lethal, merciless.
But I couldn't focus.
Because blood was running down my arm.
And I didn't even realize the second assassin was still standing…
Until I felt the knife pierce my side.
Pain.
White-hot, blinding pain tore through me as the blade slid deep into my stomach.
I choked, my vision blurring, my breath vanishing.
"Seraphina!"
The alpha roared, his entire body snapping toward me.
I barely registered the assassin's head hitting the ground before I was falling.
I reached out and he moved.
He was coming for me.
His silver eyes locked onto mine, his entire body lunging forward to catch me, but just then another body stumbled into the room.
A woman.
She was bloody, broken, and barely standing but just as she was about to collapse the alpha caught her.
And me? It was a second too late
I hit the floor.
Hard.
The pain was excruciating, but it wasn't what stole my breath.
It was the sight of the alpha cradling another woman in his arms.
His face, that had been filled with terror for me, was now etched with shock.
His hands, that had been reaching for me, were now holding her.
I couldn't process it.
I could barely breathe.
Everything felt wrong.
I forced myself to focus through the pain, my gaze locking onto the woman.
She was stunning, even with blood staining her face.
Her golden hair clung to her skin, her lips parted as she whispered his name.
"Alpha…"
A memory flashed in my mind.
"The Alpha's first love… she vanished years ago. They say he never stopped searching for her." I remembered one of the servants whispering days ago.
I felt sick.
I had been stabbed, bleeding, fighting for my life and yet, when she fell, he had caught her.
Not me, not me but her.
I could see it, the alpha's arms were gentle around her.
Too gentle.
His entire demeanor shifted.
He had been a monster moments ago, ripping through assassins like they were insects. Even when he was with me. But now?
Now, he looked like a man.
A man seeing a ghost from his past.
A man forgetting everything else.
Forgetting me.
I struggled to move, but my body refused to cooperate.
The room was spinning.
My side was bleeding.
I wasn't sure if I whispered his name or just thought it.
But he didn't turn.
He was still holding her.
His first love.
His missing lover.
And all I could do was lay there, watching it happen.
I was probably nothing to him. I never have.