Seth.
He’s running toward me, his face a mask of fright I’ve never seen on him before. For one impossible moment, he looks like a man who’s about to lose something important to him.
But that can’t be right. He doesn’t want me. He made that clear.
The thought follows me into the darkness as the world finally turns black. Seth’s panicked expression is the last thing I see before I fall, unconsciousness claiming me fully.
I awakento the soft rustle of fabric and the familiar scent of lavender that always clings to the infirmary wing. My eyes flutter open, adjusting to the pale morning light filtering through the tall windows.
Daciana is sleeping in the chair beside my bed, her dark hair obscuring her face, her head tilted at an uncomfortable angle. The sight of her makes my heart clench with affection; she must have been here all night watching over me.
Everything feels hazy, like I’m swimming up from the depths of a deep lake, until I try to sit up and my body protests with aching muscles and bone-deep exhaustion. The small movement is enough to wake Daciana.
“Selene?” she says, stirring and immediately sitting up straighter. She looks at me with concern flooding her features as she leans forward. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” I whisper, though my voice comes out hoarse and scratchy.
“Thank the moon,” she breathes, reaching over to squeeze my hand. “You’ve been unconscious for hours. What happened? I heard Seth shouting your name, and when I turned around, I saw you collapsing. Seth caught you just before you hit the ground.”
The memories come flooding back—the forest, the blood, the injured man, my magic failing. I blink, processing her words slowly. “Are you sure it was Seth who caught me?”
Daciana frowns, tilting her head. “Yes, of course I’m sure. Why would you ask that?” She studies my face with growing concern. “Selene, what were you doing out in the woods?”
The memory of my confrontation with Seth makes my stomach clench. I can’t tell Daciana about that. I can’t tell anyone.
“I was just…wandering around,” I say weakly. “Needed some air.” Daciana looks like she wants to press further, but before she can, I ask, “What about the man? Is he okay?”
“He’s fine,” she says. “Recovering in the room down the hall. He claims he was attacked by three shifters who came out of nowhere.”
Before I can ask anything further about him, the curtain around my bed parts with a soft swoosh, and Seth steps through.
I look at him, bracing myself for the familiar pull, for the way my wolf always stirs when he’s near, for the painful longing that has been my constant companion for months.
Nothing.
My wolf remains calm, almost indifferent to his presence. The mate bond that has been a constant ache in my chest, a fire in my blood, feels quiet. Muted. Like it has been wrapped in cotton and shoved into a distant corner of my mind.
Relief floods through me so powerfully that tears fill my eyes. I press my fingers against them, letting out a ragged laugh that sounds half-hysterical even to my own ears.
“Selene?” Daciana’s voice is sharp with alarm. “Are you okay?”
I lower my hands and smile—really smile—for the first time in months. “Yes,” I say, and my voice is stronger now, clearer.
I don’t know how this has happened, and honestly, I don’t care. All I know is that I’m free. Free from the constant ache of wanting someone who doesn’t want me back. Free from the humiliation of being rejected by my own mate.
Now I just need to make sure I stay away from the man in the forest, whoever he is, and whatever that strange connection was. I won’t give anyone else the opportunity to hurt me the way Seth did.
“Do you need something?” I ask Seth, my tone polite but distant.
He’s standing at the foot of my bed, and somethingabout my calm demeanor seems to unsettle him. His green eyes narrow slightly as he studies my face, searching for something he’s clearly not finding.
“I have questions about the incident,” he says finally, his voice carefully controlled.
“Okay.”
The simple response makes him frown. I can see him trying to read my expression, trying to understand why I’m not reacting to him the way I usually do. There’s no breathless quality to my voice, no racing heartbeat he can hear with his enhanced senses, no scent change that would betray my body’s usual traitorous response to his presence.
“Where exactly did you find him?” Seth asks.
