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“I would’ve fought the entire room if they hadn’t clapped,” he said, mock serious. “But I’m glad it didn’t come to that. My tux is dry-clean only.”
But when she stepped up to that podium, something shifted.
“You take my breath away, Sera,” he murmured, taking my hand in his.
As if Sera hadn’t already blown me away with her appearance on the red carpet, she had to go and knock my socks off with her speech.
He knew exactly what it meant to guide her out under the lights first. To take her hand in front of the most elite wolves in the region. He was staking an unspoken, public claim on
Seraphina.
Lucian leaned closer, his voice a warm murmur by my ear. “You’ve got this.”
Not to cause a scene.
The truth.
The room quieted.
The host took the mic again. “And now, esteemed guests, we invite everyone to the dancefloor for the first waltz of the night-opened by our generous benefactor Lucian Reed and his stunning date, Miss Seraphina Blackthorne.”
I glanced up-and found Lucian watching me, standing out in the sea of faces, steady and
proud.
“I’d always been missing the wolf sensitivity that came gradually before the first Shift.” I inhaled sharply. “But then, all my mates Shifted for the first time. My brother did. My younger sister did. By nineteen, I was sure-there was something wrong with me.”
My lips curved into a small smile. “OTS helped me see that I may be different, yes. But that’s where I find my strength.”
Lucian was already there when I stepped down the stairs, eyes gleaming, hand held out.
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“All OTS asked from me was my determination. To train. To heal. To help myself in a way no one ever did. And for the first time in my life, I didn’t feel helpless or useless or broken. I felt strong.”
The opening dance wasn’t just a tradition. It was a statement-a symbolic claim.
The crystal chandeliers shimmered like they were auditioning to be stars. Every table was draped in silk and crowded with names I’d only ever read about in magazines-Alphas. Betas, magnates, dignitaries.
I was supposed to get up on that stage and tell the elite crowd how I was ridiculed my whole life, cast aside, and ignored because I didn’t have a wolf. I had to recall the details of a loveless marriage where I was never enough and then cast aside as soon as my shiny sister reappeared.
I’d always seen fragments of her-the quiet girl who hid behind everyone else, the dutiful mother, the shadow of a wife I never really knew.
Because tonight, I wasn’t just Lucian’s date.
“Should we join them?” Celeste’s voice sliced through the haze in my mind. Her nails were already digging into my arm again. “We’re supposed to be making an impression.”
My heels clicking against the stage stairs seemed to echo around me, and the lights were so bright, I could barely see the audience. Which was probably a good thing-I wouldn’t be able to see their judgment and disapproval.
“I was fifteen when I first felt different.”
I blinked against the sudden sting in my eyes, barely able to move as the host thanked me and gestured for the next portion of the evening.
She looked at him with something almost shy. And he looked at her like she was the only woman in the room.
And then the host announced the opening dance, and all the air was knocked clean out of my lungs.
“As quickly as I noticed this, everyone else did too. I wasn’t the kind of girl anyone
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expected much from. Not the daughter you took pride in. Not the she-wolf you brought into the fold. Just someone forgotten at the edges of a room.”
The gala was stunning, and our entrance had gone smoothly-better than expected, honestly, considering I rarely ever clashed with Kieran and Celeste and came out
unscathed.
My jaw clenched as they began to dance.
I glanced down at my hands-no shaking, but they felt stiff. My tongue sat heavy in my
mouth.
I let out a breathless laugh, the adrenaline making me lightheaded. “I thought I’d
bombed.”
No. No, that couldn’t be right.
KIERAN’S POV
“Because all you need to do is speak from the heart. And you’re the most genuine person I’ve ever met, Sera.” He gently squeezed my hand under the table. “Don’t try to impress them. Just tell the truth.”
The silence that followed was absolute.
She was radiant. Brave. Real.
I had never stood in a room like this before.
‘Mine,’ Ashar growled.
Before Celeste could protest, I was already walking away, my back to the gathering
crowd.
I hesitated for half a second-then slipped my hand into his.
She peeled herself open in front of this powerful, judgmental crowd-and instead of being cut down, she rose higher.
“Barely.”
There-ripped the bandage right off. No going back now.
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My muscles locked tight to keep me from launching myself forward and ripping them
apart.
Her steps were a little halted, but I saw her relax in his arms as they glided across the
dance floor.
I was still reeling, my mind still clouded-her in that gown, her with Lucian, the way she glowed.
Then another.
How had I missed her?
My heart skidded.
Because if I stepped onto that dancefloor-if I got close enough to see Sera in Lucian’s
arms, smiling up at him like that-I didn’t trust myself not to snap.
But this time, the warm, fluttery feeling in my belly wasn’t anxiety.
“You can do this, Sera,” I mumbled to myself as all eyes curiously turned to me.
Too soon, my name was called.
I shook my head, forcing my voice steady. “Not feeling up to it. You go ahead if you want.”
I smiled gently, even though my heart was pounding like a caged animal.
When Lucian met her at the bottom of the stairs and took her hand, and that radiant smile was directed at him, the applause still echoing, something inside me twisted so violently it almost choked me.
“Bathroom,” I growled out, standing up.
Her voice was soft, uncertain. But then it sharpened, and every word struck like a honed
blade.
Lucian turned to me, brows raised. “Still breathing?”
But this Sera? This fierce, luminous woman?
A single clap.
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But as I sat down and the hostess announced the program and the speakers, my throat
dried, and my earlier anxiety returned with a vengeance.
“I was never accepted by the pack. Never cherished by my family. But OTS didn’t forget me. They accepted me at my lowest without asking for power or pedigree. They looked past what I was; saw what I could be.” I tried to find Maya in the crowd-she said she was coming with her mate-but she didn’t seem to have arrived yet.
Then the rest followed, and I saw her flinch-then light up as realization hit. That smile. gods, that smile.
The noise hit me like a wave, stunning in its warmth.
You’ve got this, Sera.
The music began. He guided me effortlessly to the center of the floor, the crowd parting like the Red Sea.
There was no rustle in the crowd. No polite coughs. Just… stillness. My lips were the only thing moving.
He smiled, hand outstretched. “Come on, let’s color everyone in this room green with
envy.”
SERAPHINA’S POV
The truth.
I was also the keynote speaker for the OTS program.
And then-
I swallowed hard.
Lucian gave my hand one last encouraging squeeze and a ‘you got this’ smile as I stood, swaying slightly.
I was going to throw up. Or faint. Or combust into a puff of ash and anxiety.
The thought made my stomach churn violently.
And for the second time that night, I was under the lights.
SF
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Panic surged up my spine. Oh gods. Had I gone too far? Been too raw? Were they embarrassed for me?
By the time she said “I am living proof,” my chest ached with something I couldn’t name. Was it pride? Regret? Longing?
“And I know I’m not the only one. There are wolves out there like me, feeling lost, forgotten, broken. What OTS does isn’t just training. It’s awakening. It’s survival. It’s hope. And I am living proof that hope matters. It heals and transforms. And if you give it a chance-give yourself a chance, you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve.”
And as an Alpha, Lucian knew that.
I took a breath. And another. And then, I began.
Lucian and Sera.
Hard.
I wanted to take a picture, make several copies, and hang them in every space I dwelt, just so I could behold that smile everywhere I went.
Lucian kept his hand gently against my back as we were escorted to our table, his presence a quiet but steadying anchor.
And all I could do was watch, listen, spellbound.
Not to tear him away from her.
So I clapped. First.
And then, like an explosion, the entire ballroom erupted in applause. People stood. They clapped and whooped and whistled, and someone even called out, “Well said, girl!”
The silence after her speech was unbearable. I knew the crowd was probably stunned, but I couldn’t let her stand there thinking she had failed.
I looked at him, desperate for a sliver of his certainty. “How can you be so sure?”
My hands gripped the edge of the podium tightly as I continued.
Celeste scoffed. “Seriously? It’s our debut, Kie. Are you going to let Sera-after that
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pathetic woe-is-me speech-and her new lapdog outshine us?”
I laughed again, this time more freely.
“Thank you.”
Gods, what was wrong with me?
She’d been under my nose for ten fucking years and I’d been blind. Oblivious. So fucking
stupid.
Her speech cracked something inside me.
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