My blood ran colder.
He strolled into the kitchen like he’d done it a hundred times, a casual smile on his face and a bag in hand. When he pulled out ice cream and set it in front of my sons — my sons — I nearly slammed my fist into the wall.
“In the morning?” Felicia teased, arching a brow.
He laughed, all easy and charming. “They deserve a treat, don’t they? Besides, it’s a special day.”
I hated the way he spoke to her. Like he already believed he belonged there. Like he thought he earned it.
Felicia didn’t push him away. She didn’t say no. But her eyes… they weren’t convinced.
I watched as she turned back to the stove, quiet again. Lucien stepped beside her, leaning in close to murmur something. I couldn’t hear the words, but she tensed. He backed off a moment later, acting innocent.
Then came the goodbye.
Orion stood at the door. Felicia knelt in front of the boys, straightening their coats, smoothing their hair. She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Danny hugged Orion tight. “Will you visit us?”
“Of course, little man,” he said, his voice gruff.
Max was quieter, clinging to his uncle’s leg. Felicia hugged her brother next, longer than I expected. Her fingers gripped his arms like she didn’t want to let go.
Neither did he.
Then Lucien waited by the car. The boys climbed in first, excited about the ride. Felicia followed, sliding into the passenger seat. She didn’t look back.
I wanted her to.
I needed her to.
The car moved down the dirt road, the forest swallowing them in green and gold.
But the Seer didn’t stop.
She showed me what came next.
Lucien pulled over in the middle of nowhere. Felicia looked at him in confusion. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said. “Just wait.”
He stepped into the woods and came back with wildflowers. Real ones. Fresh.
He handed them to her.
“Beautiful women deserve beautiful things,” he said with that same damn smile.
She tried to laugh, small and unsure. “Lucien, this isn’t necessary.”
“It is,” he said gently. “You’ve been through enough.”
She looked down at the flowers. For a second — one small, short breath — she smiled for real.
My stomach twisted.
When they pulled into his pack’s territory, I saw it: the looming house, the wolves training in the yard, the way heads turned as they arrived. The way they looked at her. Like she was a prize.
Lucien stepped out first, his posture immediately protective. He barked at the onlookers to scatter, and they did.
Felicia stepped out next, holding my sons’ hands. She scanned everything like a soldier entering a battlefield.
Then an old woman approached and muttered something cruel.
“She looks better than the last one.”
Felicia bristled. “Excuse me?”
Lucien just chuckled. “Don’t mind her. Dementia.”
I didn’t believe it. Felicia didn’t either. But she followed him anyway. And the moment she walked through those doors, something inside me snapped.
I was watching the mother of my children start a new chapter in a stranger’s home. With another man. With smiles that weren’t meant for him — but that he was slowly earning.
And I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.