Chapter 10

Questions turned into knots in his chest.

He started drinking. Hoping he could go numb.

The more he drank, the more he saw her face.

Laughing. Crying. Coy. Strong.

Ethan had loved Elara. He thought he'd stopped.

Now he understood. He was the one who couldn't leave.

He tipped another bottle back.

He drank himself into a wreck.

He lived like that for days, until the steward, worried, called Seraphine to come and pull him out of it.

Seraphine picked up the call, realized this was her way back into the manor, and hurried over.

Seraphine flinched when she saw him.

A few days, and Ethan had lost over fifteen pounds.

He was gaunt, eyes sunken and red, half-closed. He kept tipping alcohol into his mouth.

Disgust flashed in her eyes. Then she thought of something. She crossed the room anyway.

"Ethan. What is this? Why are you drinking yourself into this?"

"Stop thinking about that woman. Let me and the pups stay with you. Forget her."

"If she loved you, really loved you, she wouldn't let you turn into this."

She kept her voice soft, pretending to care.

Ethan looked up at her coldly.

The next second, he threw the bottle at her.

She jumped back, but pieces cut her. She opened her mouth to curse him — saw his eyes, and swallowed.

"Ethan. Even if you're upset, you can't treat me like this. Did you forget? I'm carrying your pup."

She switched face. Tears welled.

He stared at her, blank, then laughed coldly.

"Seraphine. I told you not to come near me."

"Did you decide I was just talking?"

"Or did you think I wouldn't touch you?"

His eyes pinned her, beast-like.

She trembled.

"Ethan... I just wanted to check on you."

"Enough!" he cut her off.

"Get out. Now. Or that brat inside you — I can't promise it lives."

She shrieked. "Ethan! That's your pup!"

He didn't answer. He smiled coldly.

Looking at his eyes, she knew — stay longer and he'd kill what was in her.

Possibly her too.

She shook. Before she left, she forced out a last line.

"Ethan. You're not thinking clearly. I'll wait for you. When you need me, I'll be here with the pups."

She sobbed and ran.

Ethan just stared at the bottles on the floor. He didn't look up.

Not three minutes after she left, the assistant sent over what he'd dug up.

Ethan skimmed it. His face twisted.

He took his phone, called the Pack Warriors at the manor.

"Seraphine hasn't left the grounds yet. Bring her back. If she fights, beat her. Leave her alive."

His voice was flat.

After he hung up, he went through the rest. Videos. Surveillance.

All those messages Seraphine had sent Elara behind his back.

All of it — her own production. Even the kidnapping she'd staged herself.

And the woman in the Infirmary bed — Elara's mother — Seraphine had driven her to her death just after she'd woken up.

Ethan clutched his head.

If everything he'd believed was a lie — then Elara had done nothing.

Then every punishment he'd given her was what?

The look of despair on her face. His chest tore.

The Warriors brought Seraphine back fast.

She hadn't fought them the way he'd expected.

He almost smiled.

Of course. A wolf like Seraphine couldn't imagine her true face was out.

She was probably still waiting for him to come around.

The old Ethan had been that blind.

No matter how cheap her tricks, he'd fallen for them.

He'd hurt Elara over and over.

He clutched his chest. His eyes stung.

Seraphine, not reading the room, started in the moment the Warriors brought her into the study.

"Ethan. You came to your senses."

"I knew it. The one you love is me. From now on, the five of us, a real family."

"Whatever you gave Elara, I want the same. Transfer some Sterling Pack shares to the pups first, would you?"

"We aren't even Marked. I need some security."

She was already picturing her future.

Picturing what she'd do with the money once she sat in the Luna's seat. The corner of her mouth lifted.

Ethan looked at the vain wolf in front of him. Selfish, greedy, cruel — nothing on Elara.

And for this wolf, he'd blindly gone after Elara until she Severed the Bond and left.

He couldn't hold it in. He reached for Seraphine with murder in his face.

She finally felt the shift.

This wasn't the Ethan coming back to her. This was Ethan who knew.

Everything she'd done surged up like cold water.

She twisted her mouth into a smile — before she could speak, his hand was on her throat.

His face was ugly with rage. "Seraphine. All those things you did to Elara behind my back. You didn't think the day would come?"

"How could you stand in front of me like this?"

"Watching me play the fool. Watching me tear into my own mate. You enjoyed that?"

His grip tightened.

Until she was almost gone. Then he stopped.

"Seraphine. You killed Elara's mother. You don't get an easy death. I'll bring you to Elara to answer for it."

He dropped her.

She gasped air back into her lungs and crawled back away from him.

She rasped, trying to speak. He waved a hand. The Warriors took her out.

"For as long as she's alive, you may do anything you want with her."

"One condition. Everything she ever did to Elara gets done back to her a hundredfold."

"From today, she kneels a hundred times a day. She drinks nothing but scalding broth and scalding water."

"Until I find Elara, she lives worse than dying!"