Seraphina’s POV

Stepping across the boundary into Zenith Fang territory felt like walking into a wall of thick, oppressive air. The chill wasn’t just from the bitter wind that sliced through my jacket like razor blades - it was something deeper, more unsettling. The silence that greeted me wasn’t the comfortable quiet of home, but something heavy and wrong that made my wolf pace restlessly beneath my skin.

Months had stretched between my last visit here and now. Everything should have felt familiar, welcoming even. This place had once been my sanctuary, where the earth beneath my feet and the air in my lungs felt right. But now, something had shifted.

The pack’s scent reached me first, carrying notes I recognized but twisted with something metallic and sharp - like blood mixed with terror. My wolf’s hackles rose in response.

Julian’s presence pulsed somewhere in the distance, but our mental connection remained stubbornly silent. He was deliberately shutting me out, and that realization sent ice through my veins.

"Mommy!" The collision of small bodies against my legs nearly sent me stumbling backward. Theo’s arms wrapped around my waist with desperate strength, his hair wild from whatever game had occupied his afternoon. Elena clung to my sleeve with tiny fists, her grip so tight I wondered if she feared I might vanish like smoke.

Seeing them again cracked something open in my chest. "You’re back!" Theo exclaimed, though his voice caught on the words as if tears threatened to spill.

Elena simply stared up at me with those dark eyes, searching my face like she needed proof I was real.

"I’m here," I breathed, dropping to their level to gather them properly in my arms. Theo’s giggle echoed Julian’s laugh so perfectly it made my heart ache. If they had missed me this intensely, why hadn’t they pushed to return? I had assumed their extended stay meant contentment, happiness even.

The person I most desperately wanted to see remained absent, though he had to know I was here. His wolf would have sensed mine the moment I crossed the territory line.

Where are you, I thought, pressing kisses to both their foreheads instead of voicing the scream building in my throat.

The children began dragging me toward the house, chattering about their adventures, but the spell broke when I noticed the pack members watching us pass. Their expressions held polite detachment rather than warmth - as if I were a stranger rather than their Luna. The unnatural stillness that hung over everyone made my wolf bare her teeth in warning.

Something was fundamentally wrong here. These people should have shown some recognition, some acknowledgment of my position. Instead, they observed me like I was an outsider intruding on their space.

"Where’s Julian?" I asked Theo, who marched ahead with military precision.

"Daddy’s busy," came his evasive answer, his gaze fixed firmly ahead.

Elena tugged at her brother’s sleeve before adding, "He’s in the forest with the others."

"Others?" My stomach dropped. "Which others?"

Theo’s shoulders lifted in a casual shrug, but worry lines creased his small forehead. "Auntie Vera, auntie Roxanne, Holdy, and grandmother."

Roxanne. The name hit me like a physical blow, stealing my breath and making my vision swim for a moment. Roxanne was free, walking around the territory, spending time with my mate while he couldn’t even be bothered to acknowledge my return.

This had to be some kind of nightmare. The alternative - that history was repeating itself - was too devastating to consider.

The children abandoned me at the house’s entrance, their attention captured by friends calling from across the yard. I stood alone on the porch, listening to a voice in my head whisper what the silence around me seemed to confirm: You don’t belong here.

My wolf threw back her head and howled in anguish.

The house itself remained unchanged, a constant in the chaos swirling around me. The porch swing hung motionless in the still air, exactly as I had left it.

You’re not welcome, the thought echoed in my mind, and my wolf snarled in agreement.

But this was supposed to be my home. I pushed through the heavy oak door, breathing in air that smelled of dust and abandonment beneath the lingering traces of our combined scents. Mine had grown faint during my absence, but Julian’s remained strong and familiar. The space felt like a beautiful shell - recognizable but hollow.

The living room’s familiarity provided a small measure of comfort, an anchor point in the emotional storm raging inside me. Yet that same familiarity felt disturbing somehow, like everything had been carefully preserved rather than lived in.

I needed answers about what had gone wrong between us, why he was avoiding me, why everything felt so fundamentally different. But exhaustion weighed on my shoulders, and I feared what might happen if I went searching for him now. A confrontation born of hurt and desperation would help nothing.

Our bedroom proved the most challenging space to enter. The bed was made with military precision, but his scent saturated the air so completely it made my knees weak. I approached his closet with trembling fingers, pulling open the door to reveal his clothes hanging in neat rows like silent sentinels.

A worn t-shirt caught my attention - soft cotton that had molded to his body countless times. I lifted it from the hanger and buried my face in the fabric, inhaling the essence of him: pine forests, rich earth, and something indefinably Julian that brought memories flooding back. His laughter, his touch, every precious moment we had shared.

The world contracted to just me and this shirt, the longing so intense it felt like a physical wound. Tears burned behind my closed eyelids as I whispered his name into the cotton.

After a shower that washed away the journey’s grime but none of my emotional exhaustion, I crawled into our bed. Tomorrow would bring answers. Tomorrow, Julian and I would finally talk. Tomorrow, this waking nightmare would begin to make sense.

Clinging to that desperate hope, I fell asleep haunted by two faces - Julian’s beloved features and Roxanne’s triumphant smile.