SERAPHINA’S POV
Celeste’s room felt colder than the corridors outside.
I stood just inside the doorway for a moment, studying her before stepping fully into the room.
She sat upright against the headboard, wrists loosely secured by the leather cuffs attached to the metal ring behind the bed.
Her hair—once styled to perfection even in the middle of chaos—hung in loose, tangled waves around her shoulders.
She looked thinner than the last time I had seen her. Not fragile exactly…but diminished.
A wolfless werewolf.
The absence clung to her like a shadow.
I couldn’t help but wonder if that was how I looked without Alina.
Kieran stood beside me, close enough that the heat of his body comforted me.
Ethan positioned himself across the room near the small writing desk, arms folded tightly over his chest.
Corin lingered near the window, leaning one shoulder against the stone wall, watching everything with quiet, unreadable focus.
For a long moment, no one said anything.
