Ex-Alpha's Regret: Siren's Comeback novel Chapter 95

POV: Seraphina

I walked away from the docks, leaving Killian standing there in a state of stunned confusion. The rest of the day was a blur. I buried myself in logistics and planning, but my mind was a battlefield. The strategist in me screamed that I was a fool, that I was sacrificing my father's only real hope on the altar of my own paranoia. But the wounded woman, the broken mate, could not bring herself to trust, to be indebted, to be vulnerable to another Alpha ever again.

That night, I was in the medical center. The quiet hum of the stasis pod was a familiar, mournful lullaby. I stood before the ice coffin, my hand resting on the cold glass, my heart a heavy, aching knot of guilt and indecision. Had I just condemned my own father out of fear?

"He must have been a very proud man."

Killian's voice, soft and unexpected, came from the shadows by the entrance to the facility. He hadn't left the island. He was standing at a respectful distance, not intruding on my vigil, his silhouette framed by the cool, blue light of the medical equipment.

I didn't turn. I just kept my eyes fixed on my father's peaceful, sleeping face.

"He is," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "The proudest."

"I can see where you get it from," he said gently. He paused, and I could feel his gaze on my back. "I am not here to pressure you, Siren. But I have to ask. Why? I thought we were allies. Allies help each other."

His words were a key, turning a lock in a door deep inside me that I had sealed shut and tried to forget. The door flew open, and for a fleeting second, all the pain, all the humiliation, all the memories of Damian's cruel, conditional ‘love' flooded my senses. My composure, the icy mask of the Siren, cracked. I didn't sob, I didn't speak, but my breath hitched, a tiny, involuntary sound of pure, unadulterated pain.

And in that moment, he saw it. I felt his understanding reach across the cold, sterile room. I didn't need to tell him my story. He had just read the last, bloody chapter in my eyes.

He didn't move closer. He didn't offer empty words of comfort. He simply stood there, in the shadows, a silent witness to my pain.

"I am not him, Seraphina," he said, his voice a quiet, solemn vow. "And I will spend every day of our alliance proving it to you."