Seraphina’s POV

The silence pressed against me after Caleb walked out. Every corner of this house seemed to echo with emptiness, making me acutely aware of how alone I was. My children were still outside somewhere, lost in the pack games, and I knew I wouldn’t see them for hours. The one person who should be here with me was nowhere to be found.

I needed allies. People I could trust completely in a world where everyone else might be compromised.

I grabbed my phone with trembling fingers.

"Ma? Pa? Can you come for dinner tonight?"

They were my only certainty. Human. Immune to whatever dark magic might be twisting the minds of pack members around me. Their mortality had never felt like such a blessing.

Minutes later, thunderous knocking rattled my front door.

Before I could even turn the handle, I was airborne.

"Seraphie!"

Pa swept me into one of his legendary bear hugs, lifting my feet clean off the ground. His booming laughter filled every hollow space in the house, chasing away the oppressive quiet.

"Pa, I can’t breathe!" I gasped, but I was laughing too.

"My little girl," he rumbled, crushing me against his chest before finally setting me down. "I’ve missed you something fierce."

Ma stood behind him, arms loaded with cloth-covered baskets that smelled like pure comfort. Like safety. Like the home I’d lost.

"We figured you’d be too wound up to cook," Ma said, already heading for my kitchen. "So we brought Sunday dinner to you."

They transformed my empty kitchen into a feast. Golden roast chicken with skin that crackled. Buttery mashed potatoes that looked like clouds. Green beans studded with bacon. And an apple pie that made my mouth water just looking at it.

"Sit yourself down," Pa commanded. "Food first. Everything else can wait."

For those precious minutes, eating Ma’s cooking around my kitchen table, the world felt normal again. Like the years before I’d returned to this pack. Before the wars. Before my heart had been shattered and pieced back together so many times I’d lost count.

"How are you two adjusting?" I asked, savoring every bite. "Living among werewolves can’t be easy for humans."

Ma’s face lit up like sunrise. "Oh honey, we’ve never been happier."

"Really?" The surprise in my voice was obvious.

"Really," Pa confirmed, gesturing with his fork. "In the human world, people lock themselves away. Don’t know their neighbors’ names. Here? We’re family. We cook for the young wolves, they help us move furniture. Everyone looks out for everyone. We have purpose here, Seraphina. Real purpose."

Their contentment warmed me, but the dark cloud hanging over everything refused to lift. I set down my fork, my appetite suddenly gone.

"Pa," I said carefully, "I need to ask you something important."

His chewing slowed. "What’s on your mind?"

"Something’s wrong with Julian." The words tasted bitter. "Caleb told me things, and what I saw myself... he’s different. Changed. What are people saying?"

The warmth drained from the room instantly. Ma stared at her plate. Pa’s heavy sigh seemed to echo off the walls.

"Everyone’s talking about it," Pa said gravely. "It’s no secret around here, Seraphina."

"Tell me."

"He’s like a walking ghost," Pa said, his voice thick with sadness. "Used to burn so bright, that boy. Had fire in him. Now he drifts around like he’s already dead. Barely speaks to anyone. Locks himself away in that office or disappears into the woods for days."

Pa’s eyes found mine, and I saw my own pain reflected there.

"Something’s eating him alive from the inside out, Seraphina. He’s not the man you knew."

Ice formed in my stomach. Hearing Pa confirm my worst fears made it devastatingly real.

"When did this start?" I demanded. "I need to know exactly when."

Ma looked up from her untouched dinner. "About weeks after you left."

Weeks. The timeline aligned perfectly with when I’d started noticing the changes in our bond.

"And," Ma continued quietly, "that’s the same week Cordelia showed up to live here permanently."

My fist slammed against the table, making the dishes jump. "I knew it!"

The pieces crashed together in my mind. Cordelia arrives, Julian becomes a hollow shell. Cordelia arrives, everyone becomes obsessed with her. The timing was too perfect to be coincidence.

"Whatever’s happening," I snarled, rage building in my chest, "she’s behind it. Cordelia is doing something to him. And if she’s here pulling strings while Julian’s acting like a mindless puppet, then Vivian has to be involved too."

Power surged through me. The need to fight, to tear apart whatever was destroying my mate. "I’m going to end this. I’m going to expose Cordelia and shatter whatever hold she has on him. I’ll bring back the man I fell in love with."

I expected support. Encouragement. Battle cries.

Instead, silence stretched between us.

"Sit down, Seraphina," Pa said quietly, but his tone brooked no argument.

Confusion clouded my vision. "What’s wrong?"

"I heard every word you said," Pa replied. "Now you need to hear mine."

I’d never seen him look so heartbroken.

"Nothing you do might bring that loving mate back," he said bluntly.

The words hit like a physical blow. "How can you say that? Julian is strong. He’s just fighting something."

"Maybe he is," Pa said. "But you need to look in the mirror, Seraphina. Because you’re part of the reason he’s in this condition."

Tears burned my eyes. "Me? Pa, how is this my fault? I left because I had no choice!"

"Did you?" Pa stood, towering over me. For the first time in my life, he didn’t offer comfort.

"I love you more than life itself," he said. "You’re my daughter, and I’d die before letting anyone hurt you. But somebody needs to tell you the truth."

His next words shattered me.

"You’re a coward." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The accusation hung in the air like poison.

"You ran," Pa continued relentlessly. "You tell yourself it was duty, but part of it was fear. When things got hard, when the mate bond became complicated, you took the easy way out. You left that man to suffer alone."

"I don’t want to leave him!" I sobbed. "I love him!"

"Then stop acting like love is a game you can pause whenever it suits you!" Pa’s voice rose. "You don’t get to keep walking away and coming back. Especially not when you have children watching. You can’t abandon your family and expect everyone to be standing exactly where you left them when you decide to return."

His words cut deep because part of me recognized their truth.

"He’s broken, Seraphina," Pa said softly now. "Maybe Cordelia is using magic. Maybe there are spells involved. But the crack in his heart? The weakness that let the darkness in? You created that crack when you walked away."

I collapsed into my chair, sobbing into my hands. The beautiful dinner Ma had prepared sat forgotten, growing cold.

"What do I do?" I whispered through my tears. "Is it too late?"

Pa’s heavy hand settled on my shoulder.

"I don’t know," he said honestly. "But you can’t fix this by fighting some villain. You have to heal what you broke between the two of you. And that’s going to be harder than any war you’ve ever fought."