SERAPHINA

    After my conversation with Grace, my heart was restlessb. /bI began reying every argument between Ronan and me, questioning whether I’d overreacted to his possessiveness. The unease was so heavy I couldn’t bring myself to wash the meat near him. I ended up taking another job. I needed space to untangle everything

    between us.

    “Can I have some meat too?” Asher’s deep, velvety voice came from my side, warm enough to curl against my skin.

    I nced up to find him smiling, fresh from the hunt, broad shoulders still damp from sweat and the earthy scent of the forest clinging to him. Thanks to him, everyone was feasting on fresh pork tonight.

    “Of course,” I matched his smile and served him a generous portion.

    One of his brows arched. “I got more than the others?” He leaned in, his breath brushing my cheek as he murmured, “Should I take that as a sign I’m special?”

    The faint brush of his shoulder against mine sent a ripple through me. My fingers stilled for a beat. Did he just flirt with me? Why did he, the Alpha who usually kept every man at arm’s length, decide to flirt with me tonight?

    “Seth!” Grace’s voice cut through, pulling me back. She was surrounded by a circle of Alphas,ughter and firelight flickering over them. “You’ve been hoarding the grill long enough. Pass it over ande sit. I saved you a spot.” She nced at Asher and tapped her on the empty chair on her right,”You too.”

    I served myself a te and settled across from her, away from the other Alphas. I wanted to eat in peace.

    “It’s really delicious,” Grace moaned around a bite.

    I agreed instantly after tasting mine. “Juicy…perfect.”

    “Then it deserves this,” Finn said smoothly, handing me a slender ss of wine.

    I gasped. Wine? How did he smuggle it inside the Academy? Thankfully no Alpha instructors had joined this feast. It was also the reason the Alphas were freely smoking.

    The scent of the wine alone was intoxicating, deep, rich, aged to perfection. I recognized it instantly. A rare vintage, the kind you only tasted once in your life… if you were lucky.

    And it was a rare find. I hadst tested it on my eighteenth birthday with my friends.

    I took it without hesitation. “Thank you.” One sip and a low sound escaped me before I could stop it. “Gods… it’s exquisite. Thank you for sharing this, Finn.”

    His eyes warmed as he poured me more. “Drink,” he urged, his voice low enough to feel intimate.

    Grace nced between us before clearing her throat. “Alpha Finn, if you have any left, I’d like to taste this ‘heavenly wine‘ too.” Her smirk carried meaning. Asher’s quiet, serious gaze flicked between us.

    That’s when I realized something. Finn had given me his share as well. I paused, unsettled. Such a rare, exquisite wine…and he’d given it all to me.

    “I have another bottle for you, Grace,” He poured her a different vintage, old, yes…but not this.

    I sat with a strange feeling in my chest, my mind drifting to Finn’s recent behavior toward me. Then someone took the empty seat on my left.

    It was Ryker.

    Why? He never sat beside anyone, most didn’t dare be near him. Now, though, his tall frame was right next to

    Chapter 135 Why?

    mine, drawing a few curious nces.

    “Alpha Ryker, you’re back,” Grace said with a smile. “You never seem to touch an axe, yet you chopped that wood faster than anyone.”

    He only nodded, but his gaze shifted to the wine in my hand then to

    Finn

    Their eyes met, silent but loaded.

    “Please serve Alpha Ryker a te,” Grace told her Omega.

    “All the grilled meat has already been served,” the Omega said softly. “Should I grill more?”

    “No need,” Ryker raised a hand, then turned to me, “Mind if I get a bite?” His voice was low, his blue eyes steady on mine before dropping to my lips.

    My pulse skipped. His face was so close…

    “Sure,” I set my ss down and reached for the water, hoping to divert attention from the heat building between us.

    Asher and Finn were already watching. Ryker took a small piece of meat, half–eaten by me, and ced it in his mouth without hesitation. The intimacy of it made my shoulders tense. What if someone noticed? Sharing a te was practically a lover’s act among Alphas. It would only deepen the animosity I’d already begun to feel from the others.

    That’s when another presence imed the seat on my right. I didn’t need to look to know who it was.

    “I have too much on my te. Help me finish it,” Ronan slid a te toward me, meat I instantly recognized as his handiwork.

    Phina murmured in my mind, “He grilled it over the bonfire himself“.

    I didn’t lift my eyes to him, but something warm unfurled in my chest. iSo /ithat’s where he’d been.

    Still, I couldn’t eat straight from his te either. That would be just as dangerous. Instead, I reached for an empty te, transferred a few small pieces, and took a casual bite pretending not to notice the silent exchange of looks between Ronan and Ryker, or Finn and Asher. What I didn’t realize was the other Alphas were watching all four of them.

    Sensing the tension, Grace cleared her throat. “Now…shall we start the final game for the scroll?” Her cheerful tone drew attention back to her.

    “Yes!”

    “Then let’s begin!”

    “I have a question,” Cassius interrupted.

    “Go ahead,” Grace said.

    “Who will be participating in this task?”

    Another Alpha called iout/i, “Yeah, l’want to know too.”

    Cassius leaned forward. “Since thest challenge near the waterfall was interrupted by the storm, bit /bicouldn’t /ibe finished. But many of us already passed ifour /iother tasks. It wouldn’t be fair if all forty of uspeted in the final round.”

    Grace inodded/i. “True, that’s why ionly /ithose who took part in the blindfold fight willpete in this task.”

    Relief spread among the fourteen who qualified, while the others frowned,

    Then Reed spoke up. “Grace, you said this party and thest task are to thank us for the Nightshade Alley mission?”

    “Of course,” she said simply.

    “Then-” Reed’s gaze cut to me, “why the hell is a useless nobody who didn’t lift a finger getting topetei?/ii” /i

    The clearing went still. I met his re without blinking.

    b“/bAlpha Reed, why would you say that to Seth Darven?” Grace’s tone sharpened. “He went ito /iNightshade just like the rest of you, for me.”

    Reed chuckled darkly. “Really?” His eyes narrowed. “Then why didn’t I see him at Sinspire?”

    My heartbeat stumbled.

    “When we were fighting rogues, nearly dying in that fire, where the fuck were you, Seth Darven?” His eyebrow rose, daring me to answer.

    Every gaze in the circle turned to me.

    No one knew. That night, I’d been in a woman’s dress…among the she–wolves.

    But wait…

    I lifted my gaze to Asher and Finn.

    Why had they never questioned me about this?

    Or Ryker…

    I felt his gaze on the side of my face and my heart nearly dropped in my stomach.

    Why…he did not question either.

    I held my breath tightly and looked ahead even as I felt Ronan’s gaze on the other side of As my mind asked only one thing. “Why?”

    Everyone’s questioning eyes came to me as I found myself in deep shit.

    my

    face.