SERAPHINA

    The moment I stepped into the Academy, I knew the storm hadn’t passed.

    So, when Alpha Jude entered the grand hall holding Grace’s hand and Alpha Gideon stood in the center of the room, emotionless and unblinking, the real storm began to stir.

    Grace looked like a ghost beside him. Pale. Silent. Her eyes flicked up to Alpha Jude, then back to her father, uncertain and trembling. As they stopped just a breath away from Alpha Gideon, the entire hall fell into hushed stillness. The tension wed at every corner, everyone expecting either a deadly sh..or something

    far worse.

    But what happened next?

    No one could’ve predicted it.

    Alpha Jude took Grace’s hand and handed it to Alpha Gideon.

    Gasps echoed.

    My heart plummeted into my stomach.

    Grace…didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Her eyes, ssy with tears, searched Alpha Jude’s face like she was begging him to look at her, to say something, to choose her. /

    He never did.

    “I’ll submit my official resignation immediately,” Alpha Jude said, ivoice /icold and steady.

    Then he turned to leave.

    Grace stood frozen between the two most important men in her life, breaking apart from the inside out. Her silent tears, the way her hand dangled, untouched, unwanted, felt like a de to the chest.

    Mine broke along with hers.

    Ronan stood beside me, unmoving. Ryker quietly watched me from a distance. Not that I could look at either of them.

    Not when all I could think was: Why did their love have to end like this?

    Grace didn’t deserve this pain. All she did was love, truly, deeply. Not just any man, but the man who descended into a hellhole to rescue her.

    Maybe Jude thought walking away was protecting her, from having to choose between him and her father. Maybe it was duty, or respect, or pride. No matter the reason it was tearing them both apart.

    Until-

    “Jude” Alpha Gideon’s voice rang out, sharp andmanding

    Jude stopped but didn’t turn

    “You left something behind”

    Every head snapped to Alpha Gideon

    When Jude finally turned, he found Gideon holding Grace’s hand again this time cing it firmly back into

    Jude’s.

    Jude blinked, startled It was the first time I saw his mask crack

    Chapter 123 Storm Hadn’t Passed

    Gideon bent and pressed a kiss to his daughter’s head. “Live happily with your mate, Grace.”

    Mate?

    The air punched from my lungs.

    Gasps burst through the crowd. Whispers echoed. My heart…it swelled.

    So it was true. They were soulmates. Fated. Bound by something ancient and sacred.

    But bound also by circumstances, and entangled rtionships.

    Yet, in that moment, none of it mattered.

    Alpha Jude pulled Grace into his arms, not like someone fulfilling a duty, not like a man epting a consequence, but like a man finally choosing what was his.

    Grace sobbed into his chest. Her whole body crumpled in relief, in joy, in disbelief.

    I smiled. A genuine, full–hearted smile.

    The way he held her…my heart fluttered like a schoolgirl watching a love confession.

    Around us the other Alphas, usually stern, unshakeable, burst into cheers and whistles. Alpha Hugo even let them. He didn’t stop them. He just watched, arms crossed, a knowing smirk on his face.

    Alpha Gideon turned, expression unchanged, and addressed the hall. “Everyone get your injuries treated.”

    Then, his gaze flicked to Alpha Jude, “You too.”

    Alpha Jude stiffened slightly. Grace looked up in rm.

    Alpha Gideon continued walking past them, adding tly, “I will not tolerate any absences, or resignations.”

    My lips parted in quiet awe.

    It wasn’t just forgiveness. It was eptance. Permission.

    For the first time, it felt like the storm had passed.

    With a wide smile stretching across my face I watched them, Grace and Alpha Jude, finally in each other’s arms. Their love won. For a second, it felt like their happiness was mine. Like the weight in my chest had lifted. Like someone had just handed me the ending I’d never dared to ask for.

    But then…I felt it.

    A gaze.

    I turned slightly and caught Finn watching me from across the hall. My smile instantly faltered.

    How long had he been looking at me like that?

    Before I could process it, I instinctively nced to the other side, only to find Asher’s intense eyes fixed on me too.

    What the hell was going ion/i?

    Heat crawled up my neck, and I immediately decided not to look to my side, where Ronan stood. Because I was absolutely, ione/i–hundred–percent sure he was watching too. Maybe not even blinking. The thought alone was enough to make my stomach knot.

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    Chapter 123 Storm Hadn’t Passed

    So, I didn’t look. I saved myself that embarrassment.

    I turned to leave instead, only to be snared by Ryker’s eyes.

    Blue. Unmoving. Impossible to ignore.

    The moment our gazes locked, my steps slowed. His aura…it felt different now. Calmer, almost. Still what I remembered from the brothel, the way he beheaded Juan like a man possessed, like a beast iwho /iknew no mercy,that was something else entirely.

    They had never met before.

    So why kill him that way?

    Nevermind that smile he gave me afterward…it hadn’t been normal.

    I forced myself to look away and kept walking, trying to ignore the thrum of unease rising inside me. Only just as I passed, his wolf’s presence brushed hard against mine.

    Phina shuddered.

    The feeling we’d both sensed before surged again, danger. Not imagined, not exaggerated. Real. Thick in the air like smoke before a fire.

    I turned my head again, instinct overriding caution.

    No smile this time.

    No expression at all.

    Yet his wolf had surfaced and the way his eyes looked at me, I felt it deep in my bones. That wasn’t hatred. It wasn’t even desire.

    It was iming.

    Predatory. Possessive.

    Like a hunter watching his prey, waiting for the right moment to strike.

    I walked past him with a neutral face, but something inside me was trembling.

    iAnd /ithen, out of nowhere–Dante’s voice screamed in my head. That terrifying day in the forest. His rage. The way he chased me like a ghost refusing to die. How had he even known my name? How much had he known about me?

    He hated me. That much was obvious.

    But iRyker/i…ino/i. Hate wasn’t what I saw in him.

    bIt /bwas something worse. Something darker. Something far more dangerous.

    Whatever it was, I didn’t dare say it aloud.

    Still caught in that haze of fear and confusion, I returned to my dorm. Closed the door behind me without thinking.

    I froze.

    There sitting casually on my bed was Ronan.

    My heart jumped to my throat.

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    Chapter 123 Storm Hadn’t Passed

    “What are you doing in my room?”

    “Your room?” he smiled, and tilted his head side handsomely, “You mean iour /iroom, right?”

    The moonlight fell on my shocked state from the window as he bit his lip, “I am back, Seraphina.”

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