Chapter 16
SERENITY KELLER
"Fiancé?"
Elias's voice was laced with barely contained fury, radiating an overwhelming sense of dread. He looked at me for confirmation.
"Yes, he's telling the truth!" I answered with my chin held high.
I had intended to deny it at first. But on second thought, admitting it would show him I had already built a new life. I had no intention of returning to the werewolf world or having anything more to do with him.
I clenched my teeth and deliberately took Frank's arm.
"You see? I don't love you anymore. From now on, nothing you do concerns me!"
The moment the words left my mouth, I realized it wasn't as hard as I had imagined. Instead, I felt a strange sense of relief, as if things were finally settling into place.
Elias's face turned ashen. He stared at my hand on Frank's arm as if he might attack us at any second.
His Alpha dominance spread uncontrollably through the air. The wolf warriors around us couldn't help but bow their heads, unable to look our way. Frank wasn't a werewolf, but fear crossed his face too. Still, he held his ground. "Wh-what are you going to do? Are you going to hit us?"
"Hit you?" Elias shot him a look of disgust and sneered. "You're not worth it."
Before any of us could react, he lunged forward. The next second, my world spun. When I came to my senses, I was slung over his shoulder!
"What are you doing? Put me down!"
Elias handed Arian off to another subordinate and carried me toward the limo in long strides.
I pounded on his back with everything I had, but his solid muscles made him immune to my blows. He showed no sign of letting me go.
"Please, Serenity. Don't force my hand." His voice was low. "I've endured four years. I can't take it anymore."
I froze, not understanding what he meant.
He threw me into the car, shut the door, and locked it to prevent my escape.
"I'd rather use any means necessary to take you with me than lose you again."
With those words, he turned and walked to the front, opening the driver's door.
I couldn't believe it. I threw myself at the door, desperately trying the handle. Frank charged up from behind, shouting, "Kidnapper! Let her go!"
One look from Elias, and several warriors blocked him again.
"For my mate's sake, I won't do anything to you," Elias declared coldly. "But if you dare follow us, don't blame me for what happens!"
"You—!" Frank's face flushed with rage.
Elias got his people back into the vehicles. The engines roared to life.
Frank screamed and chased after the car carrying me. Through the window, I watched his figure grow smaller and smaller until he finally disappeared behind us. Unease and fierce anger filled me. I had no idea what Elias intended to do with me.
Even when he had despised me most in the past, he had never used such forceful methods. His imprisonment of me before had been nothing more than house arrest. But after four years apart, he seemed to have changed into someone I didn't recognize.
"Let me out! I won't go back with you!" I gave up on the door and threw myself at the front seat, trying to grab the steering wheel from the driver.
He swerved sharply, the car fishtailing wildly.
Suddenly, a small body tumbled into my arms due to the momentum, bringing my mind back to some semblance of calm.
"M-Mommy?…"
He looked up at me timidly, hesitating over what to call me, but still trying to get closer. I froze for a moment, then fell silent.
I could fight the driver and force the car to stop. But that would put Arian at risk too. In the end, I gave up and opened my arms to my son. He nestled his head against me obediently. I held him tight, drawing warmth from his small body to ease some of the dark emotions churning inside me.
It's okay, Serenity. I held my child and told myself. Even if they take you back, you won't give in to any of them!
I will escape!
With that determination, I returned with Arian to the mansion where I had lived four years ago.
When I stepped through the door, I was surprised to find that nothing had changed in four years.
And I, too, felt as if those four years of separation had never happened. As if I had never left.
Before I knew it, nearly a week had passed since my return to the mansion. Just like before, I was trapped in this "prison," unable to leave.
I had assumed Elias had kidnapped me to make my life difficult. But to my surprise, he'd been incredibly careful around me this past week, eager to please, even.
He spent every day by my side, trying everything to make me happy. Gifts poured into the mansion like water, but I threw every single one out without a glance.
I didn't tell him that watching him try to please me reminded me of myself four years ago.
That same careful, desperate, humiliating posture, as if it had traveled through time to pierce my heart. The harder he played the devoted lover, the more suffocated and disgusted I felt.
But no matter how cold I was, Elias never got angry. He silently picked up the discarded gifts and arranged them one by one in my room.
He talked to me, but I never listened. Every time he appeared, I attacked him, scratching, biting, and hitting.
This confinement too easily reminded me of the past. Not just being locked in this mansion under suspicion, but being imprisoned in that sanatorium by Alfred, losing my freedom, waiting for death day by day.
This life filled me with terror. I couldn't stand it!
Whenever it happened, Elias would look at me with sorrowful eyes, letting me vent my rage and fear without fighting back.
"Forgive me, Serenity."
Once, when I was sobbing and biting his shoulder, cursing him and telling him to let me out, Elias pleaded with me.
But I had no idea what he meant.
The gap between an Alpha of a major pack and an exiled rogue was enormous. Besides, we had no relationship anymore. So why was he apologizing to me? When I said this to him, the sorrow in his eyes only deepened.
Eventually, to avoid triggering my emotions too much, Elias stopped appearing.
Instead, he allowed me to leave my room and finally even permitted me to leave the mansion.
But every time I tried to step outside, Arian would appear from somewhere, crying and clinging to my legs, begging me not to go… I had no defense against Elias's underhanded tactic of using our child. I had no choice but to surrender.
As the days passed, I sometimes woke up in the morning and stared at the familiar ceiling in a daze, questioning my own memories. Had the past four years been nothing but a nightmare? Was I actually still the Luna of the Vernal pack, having given birth to an heir, living with my fated mate?
Reality always returned quickly. No matter how peaceful and comfortable this life seemed, no matter how much I might have once dreamed of it, I could never go back. Because I was no longer that Omega who was satisfied with just being Elias's mate.
Now I had my own café, my own culinary career that I loved and wanted to pursue for life, so many customers who appreciated and supported me. My world had grown so vast that I could no longer fit back into the narrow seat of "Elias's mate."
Serenity Keller refused to become Serenity Vernal again.
I was secretly tying bedsheets into a rope for my escape when a commotion erupted outside.
I heard Liv's voice. Someone was blocking her from coming upstairs. "Why can't I go into Elias's bedroom? He's been so cold to me lately. He must be hiding someone here! Let go of me! I want to see who he's hiding!"
I opened the door and walked out.
At the top of the stairs, Liv was storming up in a rage. After all this time, she was still beautiful and impeccably dressed. But when she looked up and saw me, the extreme shock on her face ruined her beauty.
I suddenly understood how she must have felt four years ago, standing at the top of these same stairs, looking down at me after coming back from the dead.
I curled my lips into a mocking smile.
Her face went deathly pale. She pointed at me and shrieked, "Serenity? No… impossible! How can you be here? You're supposed to be dead—"
"Is it really so surprising that I'm alive? Or did you hope I was dead?"
Her appearance was perfect timing. All the rage and confusion I had built up toward Elias with nowhere to release came flooding back. The moment I saw her face and remembered what she had done to Arian, I felt like a mother wolf protecting her cub—ready to fight!
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm still alive, so your wish didn't come true." I slowly descended the stairs toward her, each step firm and steady. "As for why I'm here, you'll have to ask Elias."
My words seemed to trigger something in Liv. Her expression turned ugly. "Elias brought you back? He still hasn't given up—"
She bit her lip, her face twisting with resentment. This reaction only made me more curious about what she was thinking. It seemed her relationship with Elias hadn't gone as smoothly as I'd imagined during my four years away.
"Serenity, if you have any self-respect, you should get out of here on your own! This isn't your home. I'm the one who should be mistress of this place!"
"Really? I don't see many traces of your life here." I raised an eyebrow, partly to provoke her, partly out of genuine curiosity. "Everything here is exactly as it was when I left. You say you're the mistress, but you look more like an intruder to me."
Fury blazed in Liv's eyes. She charged up the stairs to confront me. But before she reached me, a small figure burst out of a room on the second floor and slammed into her legs like a cannonball. "Bad person! Go away! Leave her alone!"
Arian's sudden attack caught Liv off guard. She nearly tumbled down the stairs.
She grabbed the railing to steady herself. When she looked at Arian again, her gaze was vicious. "Were you trying to kill me?"
"I buy you snacks and toys, and this is the thanks I get—losing to some woman who just showed up? You ungrateful little brat—"