Ex-Alpha's Regret: Siren's Comeback novel Chapter 72

POV: Seraphina

The Healer's chant was a key, unlocking a door deep within my soul that I never knew existed. The first wave of pain was not physical. It was a spiritual agony, a violent, tearing sensation as if a fundamental part of my very essence was being hooked and pulled. I gasped, my back arching off the cold stone, a silent scream trapped in my throat as my vision swam with black stars.

And then, the visions came, a cruel and beautiful torture.

The ritual, in its infinite cruelty, did not show me the pain to fuel my rage. It showed me the beginning. It showed me Damian, not as the monster he had become, but as the boy I had fallen in love with. I saw him on the day we first met during a summer hunt, his laugh echoing through the pine-scented woods as we raced each other to the river. His eyes were so bright then, filled with a genuine, unguarded joy I hadn't seen in years. I saw the night he first proposed, beneath the harvest moon, the sincerity in his voice as he swore to cherish me, to protect me, to be my partner in all things, forever. I felt the phantom warmth of his hand in mine as he slipped the betrothal ring on my finger, the ghost of his lips on my skin, gentle and promising.

The memories were so real, so sweet, they were a poison more potent than any herb. The ritual was testing me, forcing me to confront the good I was about to destroy, tempting me to falter, to cling to the ghost of a love that was long dead. My resolve wavered. A single tear, hot and bitter, escaped the corner of my eye and traced a path to my temple. Was I strong enough to kill this beautiful boy to escape the monster?

No.

The voice was not my own. It was the growl of my inner wolf, a surge of pure, cold rage from the depths of my being. She rose within me, a magnificent silver beast of pure will, her paws planted firmly in the landscape of my soul. She met the tide of sweet memories with a vicious snarl, tearing the images to shreds, reminding me that the boy in the vision was a lie, a ghost that had been murdered by the man who was now hunting us. The pain was real. The betrayal was real. The hatred was real.

"Alpha… we're pinned down! Traps… the ground is littered with them! They've fortified the position. An ancient stone circle. We can't break through!"

Fury, hot and black, surged through me, so potent it was a physical taste in my mouth. Pinned down? By Jax's rabble? Impossible. The humiliation of her escape was now compounded by the incompetence of my own warriors. A cold, unfamiliar sensation began to creep up my spine. It was a feeling I hadn't experienced since I was a pup facing my first true challenge. Fear. Not for my life, but of something far worse. A fear of the unknown. A primal, instinctual dread that I was about to lose something I couldn't even name. I didn't know what Seraphina was doing in that stone circle, but every fiber of my being screamed that if I didn't stop her, she would be lost to me forever.

"All units, converge on my position!" I roared into the comms, my voice breaking with a rage that was bordering on panic. "I'm going in myself."