Chapter 8
**Kael's POV**
One month.
One month of dead ends and sleepless nights, and Kael was unraveling.
He'd lost weight. Dark circles lived permanently under his eyes. His wolf, Fenris, had gone from frantic to cold — a silent, simmering rage directed entirely inward.
Every tracker came back empty-handed. Every lead dissolved into nothing. It was like searching for someone who'd never existed.
Which, apparently, she hadn't. Not as he'd known her.
"Sera Thompson doesn't exist," Ronan reported, standing in Kael's office with dark circles of his own. "The name, the history, the pack transfer — all fabricated. Professionally. By someone with resources most packs couldn't dream of."
"Then who is she?" Kael's voice was hoarse.
"That's the problem. We have no starting point. No real name, no real origin pack, no family connections." Ronan paused. "Whoever created her cover identity did it to hide someone important."
Important.
Kael thought of Sera — quiet, gentle Sera, who folded his laundry and made his coffee and never once complained when he missed dinner.
*Who are you?*
Then — a break.
Not from his trackers, but from the most unexpected source.
Mina.
She'd come by the apartment unannounced — a bold move that Kael no longer found endearing. She sat on the couch, pouting prettily, while he ignored her from across the room.
"You've been so distracted," she whined. "It's been weeks since—"
"Mina." His tone was flat. "Not now."
"Is this about your... ex?" She practically spat the word. "I don't understand why you're so obsessed. She *left* you."
"I said *not now.*"
Mina huffed, but something in his expression must have scared her because she fell silent. Then, almost as an afterthought: "You know, I saw something weird before she left."
Kael's head snapped toward her.
"The night of the rooftop party?" Mina examined her nails. "I went downstairs to get a drink, and I saw her in the stairwell. She was just standing there in the shadows, listening."
Kael's blood turned to ice. "Listening to what?"
"I don't know. You were talking with Ronan and the others." She shrugged. "I didn't think much of it."
*The rooftop. The conversation about Sera being boring. About Mina being refreshing. About flying out that same night.*
*She heard everything.*
Kael closed his eyes, and the full weight of it crushed him.
She'd come to tell him about the pregnancy. She'd heard him compare her to another woman. Heard him laugh. And then she'd gone home, waited for him, given him *one last chance* to stay —
And he'd left.
"Get out," he told Mina. His voice was barely human.
"What? Kael—"
"GET. OUT."
She fled.
Kael sat alone in the silence and pressed the ring — her ring — against his forehead.
He had done this. Every piece of it.
And somewhere out there, his mate was carrying his children, alone, believing he didn't want her.
"I'll find you," he whispered into the empty room. "I swear on my life, Sera. I'll find you."
But the universe, it seemed, had other plans.
Because two days later, every Alpha on the continent received the same message. A formal announcement, sealed with a silver crescent crest that made Kael's Beta go pale.
*"The Blackwood Pack announces the return of its heir. Alpha-born Seraphina Blackwood has resumed her rightful position."*
Kael read it three times.
Then he read the name again.
*Seraphina Blackwood.*
The Blackwood Pack. The most powerful pack in existence, ruled by Alpha Supreme Dominic Blackwood — the wolf other Alphas feared in their sleep.
"No," Kael breathed.
*Seraphina.*
*Sera.*
---
One month.
One month of dead ends and sleepless nights, and Kael was unraveling.
He'd lost weight. Dark circles lived permanently under his eyes. His wolf, Fenris, had gone from frantic to cold — a silent, simmering rage directed entirely inward.
Every tracker came back empty-handed. Every lead dissolved into nothing. It was like searching for someone who'd never existed.
Which, apparently, she hadn't. Not as he'd known her.
"Sera Thompson doesn't exist," Ronan reported, standing in Kael's office with dark circles of his own. "The name, the history, the pack transfer — all fabricated. Professionally. By someone with resources most packs couldn't dream of."
"Then who is she?" Kael's voice was hoarse.
"That's the problem. We have no starting point. No real name, no real origin pack, no family connections." Ronan paused. "Whoever created her cover identity did it to hide someone important."
Important.
Kael thought of Sera — quiet, gentle Sera, who folded his laundry and made his coffee and never once complained when he missed dinner.
*Who are you?*
Then — a break.
Not from his trackers, but from the most unexpected source.
Mina.
She'd come by the apartment unannounced — a bold move that Kael no longer found endearing. She sat on the couch, pouting prettily, while he ignored her from across the room.
"You've been so distracted," she whined. "It's been weeks since—"
"Mina." His tone was flat. "Not now."
"Is this about your... ex?" She practically spat the word. "I don't understand why you're so obsessed. She *left* you."
"I said *not now.*"
Mina huffed, but something in his expression must have scared her because she fell silent. Then, almost as an afterthought: "You know, I saw something weird before she left."
Kael's head snapped toward her.
"The night of the rooftop party?" Mina examined her nails. "I went downstairs to get a drink, and I saw her in the stairwell. She was just standing there in the shadows, listening."
Kael's blood turned to ice. "Listening to what?"
"I don't know. You were talking with Ronan and the others." She shrugged. "I didn't think much of it."
*The rooftop. The conversation about Sera being boring. About Mina being refreshing. About flying out that same night.*
*She heard everything.*
Kael closed his eyes, and the full weight of it crushed him.
She'd come to tell him about the pregnancy. She'd heard him compare her to another woman. Heard him laugh. And then she'd gone home, waited for him, given him *one last chance* to stay —
And he'd left.
"Get out," he told Mina. His voice was barely human.
"What? Kael—"
"GET. OUT."
She fled.
Kael sat alone in the silence and pressed the ring — her ring — against his forehead.
He had done this. Every piece of it.
And somewhere out there, his mate was carrying his children, alone, believing he didn't want her.
"I'll find you," he whispered into the empty room. "I swear on my life, Sera. I'll find you."
But the universe, it seemed, had other plans.
Because two days later, every Alpha on the continent received the same message. A formal announcement, sealed with a silver crescent crest that made Kael's Beta go pale.
*"The Blackwood Pack announces the return of its heir. Alpha-born Seraphina Blackwood has resumed her rightful position."*
Kael read it three times.
Then he read the name again.
*Seraphina Blackwood.*
The Blackwood Pack. The most powerful pack in existence, ruled by Alpha Supreme Dominic Blackwood — the wolf other Alphas feared in their sleep.
"No," Kael breathed.
*Seraphina.*
*Sera.*
---