But now, no necklace could make up for everything that happened, nor could it heal every wound. Still, I smiled and accepted
- it.
At last, they turned and left.
I walked inside, paused at the doorway, and gently left all the gifts outside. They had never once given me so much, but this
time… I didn’t want them anymore.
As I set everything down, I looked back. I saw Damian and Ethan stop in the distance, looking back at the doorstep. When they realized I had left the gifts outside, they hurriedly looked away.
That night, the hospital called
They told me Damian was dying and asked if I wanted to see him one last time.
In the end, I went.
Ethan sat by Damian’s bedside, overcome with grief. A man nearly forty, sobbing into his hands, unable to stop.
Damian was hooked up to all kinds of machines, an oxygen mask over his face, his mouth moving soundlessly.
1/2
Chapter 10
+25 BONUS
We had been Fated Mate once, so I could still read his lips without effort. He was calling me, over and over, desperate and
weak.
“Sera…Seraphina…”
Once again, I remembered the snowstorm and the boy from the orphanage who used to hold me close. As I looked back, all
those years in the past felt like a long dream.
Damian’s face was pale, his breathing growing fainter. When he reached out for me, it was with the last of his strength.
In the end, I took his hand and said softly, “Go to the Moon Goddess now. Rest in peace.”
I saw a single tear roll down from the corner of his eye.
So many words were left unsaid, but in the end, all that remained was my name, repeated again and again.
“Sera…Seraphina…”
I watched Damian close his eyes. The heart monitor slowly drew a long, straight line.
When I left the hospital, snow was falling outside again.
Leo was waiting for me outside the hospital. As I came out, he put his coat over my shoulders. As I got into the car,
something made me turn back.
Ethan stood beneath the streetlight, his hair now streaked with gray, his face etched with sorrow. Snow fell on his hair and
shoulders.
Through the falling snow, I told him, “Take care of yourself from now on.”
His eyes, barely dry, went red again. He opened his mouth–so many words wanted to burst out, but all that came out in the
end was one sentence.
“You too.”
I pulled open the car door and got into the car.
As we drove away, Ethan’s lonely and slightly stooped figure slowly faded from sight. Snowflakes fell on the car window, blurring my view. For a moment, I thought I saw the orphanage again
On a snowy winter night, three small children huddled around a flickering fire
Damian gave me the softest part of a stolen bread. Ethan handed me the water he had hidden away.
By the firelight, Damian swore he would become the strongest Alpha and protect me forever.
But now, I no longer needed that promise.
The day Damian and Ethan ceased to trust me, everything between us came to an end. The past was behind me, and ahead lay a beautiful future–like the cold winter giving way to a warm, hopeful spring.
