Chapter 21 #3
Seren finally steps from her post, the tension in her shoulders easing just enough for her to cross the room.
She must see it, the way I’m now anchored to this spot.
Any notion of leaving has abandoned me. I’m not thinking of anything but the quiet rise and fall of Noa’s chest. Whatever else I was planning for the day has slipped to the edges of my mind and the bottom of my priory list.
Nothing outside this room feels remotely important anymore.
“And that’s why,” Seren continues, moving to stand on the other side of Noa’s bed and her tone gentler now, “she couldn’t bring herself to admit to you that the pain from the broken bond only stops when you’re near her. You are the only relief she can get.”
Like puzzle pieces falling into place, the truth slams into me.
All of our stolen moments fill my mind. I think of the way she softens under my touch, the faint moan of relief that slips from her lips when my skin brushes hers, how she leans into me like she’s trying to steal my body heat.
I remember the way she trembled in my hands by the creek when I’d thought ‘fuck it’ and kissed her senseless—the way her breath caught as though the smallest bit of contact steadied her.
She’d all but admitted this to me the night she found me stationed outside her bedroom, but all this time, I thought she was hurting the same way I was—the restless kind of need that makes my skin crawl when she’s too far away. But it isn’t the same at all.
Noa’s been carrying something far heavier. Feeling more. Needing more.
Unable to hold myself back, my hand finds her face just as it had before and my thumb sweeps along the curve of her cheekbone. The simple contact has the tension in her brow soothing, and her chin tilting instinctively toward my hand like she’s once again chasing my comfort in her sleep.
“This is why you said if I leave this room, I’ll be hurting her,” I murmur, still watching the way her face softens beneath my fingertips.
“Yes,” Seren confirms from the other side of the bed, her gaze fixed on Noa. “What happened yesterday down at the creek—what she put you through—she pushed herself too far. Magic like that takes from our bodies, and she doesn’t have anything to spare right now.”
I nod faintly. I’d told Seren what Noa had done to me once we had her settled in bed. She’d looked at her friend with disbelief etched in her pale eyes after she learned what horrors I’d been forced to live through.
Noa may not have told me of her power, but she hadn’t told Seren either.
“I don’t want her to hurt anymore. I never wanted to hurt her,” I say quietly, the thin and frayed quality of my voice startling me. “I don’t know how to heal her, how to stop this sickness from taking her from us.” From me.
My own begging haunts me, the words that were torn out of me in that nightmare she forced me to live clawing through my head. No, baby, please…stay with me. You have to keep breathing. Please don’t leave me, Noa!
None of it was real, but my body doesn’t know the difference. I can still feel the dead weight of her in my arms, the cold silence that followed.
When I look up, Seren’s already watching me. There’s something calculating behind her eyes, a hesitation that tells me she’s holding something back. The realization hits fast and hard. She knows.
My hand falls from Noa’s face as I take a step back, needing space before I grip her too tightly out of reflex. “You know,” I accuse, my tone teetering close to a growl. “You know how I can stop this.”
Seren tenses, a subtle step backward betraying her nerves. For the first time, I see the omega in her—not weak, but wary. Ready to protect herself if I snap.
Smart.
“I’m on Team Noa,” she says quickly, palms raised slightly.
“Always have been, always will be. But that also means I couldn’t push her.
She had to find her own way back to you.
” She hesitates, a faint smile tugging at her mouth.
“Still…I’ll admit I’ve been rooting for you.
Quietly. From a safe distance. Because Noa deserves something good like a healed bond and a mate who fights for her.
I asked once if you meant it, about earning her back.
You said you did, and I believed you then.
I can sense that truth in you now, too. You’re not lying. Not to her. Not to me.”
Right. She’s an empath, a charmer like Noa and Zora. She can feel truth. Among other emotions. How far her gift goes from there, I haven’t been granted that information.
Seren’s gaze narrows, all softness evaporates.
“You stand there telling me you don’t want to hurt her, but this…
betrothal party?” The words come out clipped, each one a slap.
“All this for that redheaded bitch and her father? Your ties to that woman are the biggest thing standing between you and Noa, and it’s fucking killing her, Rennick.
So if you want answers, you’d better give me one first. Why are you doing this today?
And your reason better be good, because if it’s not I will team up with the coven, and we will dig one up for you—right out of your damn rib cage. ”
Her challenge hits like a gauntlet thrown.
My whole body goes rigid, that dominant part of me baring its teeth at the omega standing before me.
She holds answers I need—dangles them like bait—and the animal in me snarls to take them, to use my alpha bark and pry the truth from her lips.
But the part of me that refuses to turn power into a weapon keeps me rooted.
And Noa would lose her mind if she knew I’d barked at her best friend, and she’d have every right to.
Instead, I tell her everything. I give her the truth that Noa couldn’t hear yesterday, the plan I’ve been setting in motion, the reason I haven’t called this farce of a party off.
As I speak, I watch the shift in Seren’s face.
Anger gives way to disbelief, disbelief turns to something darker. Satisfaction.
By the time I finish, her lips have curved into a sneer that mirrors the same vindictive spark purring in my chest. “You’re still an asshole for keeping her in the dark,” she reminds me bitterly, trying to stay mad on Noa’s behalf.
It doesn’t stick. “But I see why you did. And I love it. I can’t wait to see their fucking faces. ”
I release a breath. Relief mixes with the steady pulse of dread that’s never far away. My gaze drops back to Noa. “I wanted her to be there too. I wanted her to see that all of this was for her. That was the point.”
Seren’s expression shifts again. Determination hardens the fine lines of her features. “I’ll work some magic and make sure she’s there. You’re right, she needs to be there for this.”
I raise a brow at her sudden resolve, but she waves me off and rounds the bed. “Go. Get showered, get dressed, handle what you need to with Canaan. Leave Noa to me. I’ll make sure she’s ready and there on time.”
I don’t move. “You said it hurts her if I leave—”
She cuts me off with another flick of her hand.
“I’m calling Zora in for backup. Between the two of us and throwing the kitchen sink of healer remedies at Noa, we’ll figure something out.
It’ll be a temporary fix, something that at least gets her on her feet for a bit until you can get back to her side.
But, just a heads-up, I will be raiding your closet and stealing some of your clothes.
Surrounding her with your scent while you’re gone will help. ”
“Help yourself. Noa can have anything.” She deserves everything.
Seren’s voice drops as she starts muttering to herself, half planning aloud. When she snaps out of it, she moves closer and starts shooing me toward the door. I note the way she makes a conscious effort to not actually touch me and risk leaving her scent on me out of respect for her friend.
I go reluctantly, every step away from Noa feeling wrong. My hand finds the handle, but before I can twist it, Seren’s voice stops me.
“Rennick.”
I glance back.
“It’s not something that’ll heal on its own or with time. The only cure for rejected mate syndrome is a repaired bond,” she says, voice low, eyes fixed on me. It isn’t just an explanation—it’s a plea. “And a bond is mended the same way one it’s forged.”
Her words hang in the air, and the answer hits me all at once, crashing through me with blinding clarity.
“My bite”
“Your claiming mark.”
The world goes still.