POV: Seraphine
I didn't hear Jill leave.
I didn't hear the chatter of the crowd return. Or the soft breeze brushing my hair. Or the ambient music playing through hidden speakers overhead.
I heard them.
The silence of my girls closing ranks around me like a velvet curtain.
Vivien stepped in first, her voice calm but not soft. "Do you want to go?"
Liora was already pressing a palm to my back. "We can hex her mimosa."
Vixzen's hand brushed mine, subtle and steady. "Say the word."
They weren't angry for me.
They were furious with me. Wrapped in it. Wielding it like armor.
This wasn't pity. This was battle-readiness.
And I was in the center of it.
Not a project. Not a burden.
Someone worth fighting for.
I nodded.
And we left.
---
Later – In My Apartment
We didn't go straight home. We wandered. Took detours. Liora pretended she got lost and definitely did not cry behind her sunglasses. Vixzen convinced a street magician to swallow his own cards. Vivien bought me a set of obscenely expensive noise-canceling earrings and claimed it was "for aesthetic rage reasons."
When we finally got in, I collapsed onto the couch, my heart pounding like I'd run barefoot through glass and shame.
Liora sat on the floor. Vivien perched on the windowsill. Vixzen didn't sit—she hovered, ready to interrogate the walls if necessary.
No one spoke.
They waited.
Not impatiently—like they already knew what was coming.
I closed my eyes. Suddenly, I was so tired.
"Jack made me believe I was broken," I whispered.
The room didn't move.
"That there was something wrong with me. Too much. Too hungry. Too complicated."
My throat tightened.
"And Jill—she told me I was lucky. That someone was willing to put up with me at all."
I looked up, braced for judgment.
Instead, I found fire.
Vivien's knuckles were white. Liora's jaw locked. Vixzen's pupils narrowed into slits.
I kept going—because if I didn't spill it now, it would choke me.
"I thought it was my fault. That if I could just be softer, smaller, better, maybe they'd stop looking at me like I was a burden. Or a thing to mold. Or…"
My voice broke.
"Or something they could throw away."
They didn't rush in with hugs.
No platitudes.
They let it hang.
Then:
"They're going to choke on their own bones when I'm done," Liora said darkly.
Vivien nodded. "I'll make sure there's no legal trail."
"Or you could let me do it my way," Vixzen muttered. "I've got pictures. Accounts. Access. I can erase them before lunch."
What broke me wasn't their threats.
It was that I believed they could.
---
"I think we should tell the boys," Vixzen said.
It wasn't a suggestion—it was a scalpel.
Vivien glanced at me. "Do you want to?"
Liora shook her head. "We barely know them."
"They've been in the trenches with us for months," Vixzen countered. "They've seen half of what we've been dealing with, whether we told them or not."
"That doesn't make them safe," Liora said.
"It makes them useful," Vivien muttered.
"This isn't about muffins," Liora snapped. "Or muscles. Or how many jawlines a person can have before it's suspicious. This is about her."
Three pairs of eyes pinned me.
"Seraphine," Vivien said softly. "Do you trust them?"
I hesitated.
Did I trust the way Kaiden never pushed, even when the planning got messy?
The way Theodore made space without making a show of it?
Zaire's sharp temper—always aimed outward, never at me?
We'd spent months working side by side. I'd seen them tired, irritated, laughing, focused. I knew their tells, their rhythms.
But—
"They're still under Jack's employment," I said quietly. "He told them to 'guard' me. If they're following that order to the letter…"
"…we wouldn't be able to sit here eating overpriced gelato, or wander into back alleys for bad magic tricks," Vivien interrupted. "You think Jack's orders allow this?"
I bit my lip. "But… Vixzen is also Elysium—"
"I'm a consultant," Vixzen cut in, sharp and final. "Not an active employee. There's a difference." She leaned forward. "The only reason you get breathing space is because I built a loophole and they're using it. I still send short, boring reports Jack can skim without thinking twice—meeting notes, inventory numbers, petty disputes over storage space. Nothing with teeth. Just enough to keep suspicion down."
"And the boys?" I asked.
Vixzen's mouth curved. "They use the same loophole. Which means if they're 'guarding' you, they're doing it on their own terms—not his."
"…I trust their intention," I said slowly. "But I still don't want them dragged into this."
"And what if they're already in it?" Vixzen asked, brows lifted.
That hit too close.
Because I didn't know.
And that terrified me.
"I'm not ready," I said finally. "Let's just… wait."
The silence that followed wasn't agreement—it was calculation.
"Fine," Liora muttered. "But if they show up with another snack? I'm stabbing one."
---
Later, I sat on the fire escape, legs tucked under me, hoodie three sizes too big draped around my shoulders.
The wind was brisk. My tea was still warm.
Inside, Liora was loudly arguing with Vixzen about enchanted pepper spray, and Vivien was threatening to sue a streetlamp for flickering at her wrong.
And I breathed.
Not because it was over.
But because, for once, I wasn't suffocating.
A hand settled beside mine on the cold metal.
Liora. She didn't speak.
She didn't need to.
I slid my hand into hers.
She squeezed once.
And for the first time in a long time—
I didn't feel broken.
I felt held.
---
Next day
The next morning, Vixzen's words still wouldn't leave me alone.
What if they're already in it?
The idea had burrowed under my skin, itching at the edges of my thoughts all night. I'd told myself I could wait. I'd told her I wasn't ready. But the truth? I didn't know if I could keep pretending nothing was happening.
Still… telling them meant changing everything. And after what happened with Jack, I wasn't sure I could handle that kind of change again.
I walked out of my room, dressed and ready, and made my way to 26B. As much as I hated to admit it, these past few months had brought me closer to the guys, and their presence, in its own strange way, had started to calm me down. I knocked on their door.
It swung open, and Kaiden greeted me with his usual warmth. "Hello, beautiful."
I scoffed. "Wow, it's only morning and you're already flirting with people? Do you do this with every girl?"
Theo scoffed, and Zaire snorted.
"No, but after the ghost pepper fiasco, I thought we'd grown closer," Kaiden pouted dramatically.
I flashed a smile. Maybe I had answered that question.
I walked in and made my way to my favorite seat at the kitchen table, a steaming cup of coffee already waiting for me. The entire apartment smelled like them—musky, comforting, and familiar, the scent easing the weight in my chest. The added scent of freshly baked goods only made it more inviting.
"Do you do this every day, kitty?" I asked, genuinely curious.
"No, just picked it up recently. Now it's become a routine," Zaire answered, already used to my nickname for him.
Before I even had the chance to take a sip of my coffee, Kaiden attempted to grab my mug, and his whole body stiffened as he took a gulp. "OMG, I thought I hated lemons... is that even coffee??"
I giggled. "It's an espresso. It's supposed to have a kick to it."
"I'm not going to sleep for a week," he groaned, realizing his mistake.
"Serves you right, Wolfy," I shot back, amusement dancing in my eyes.
Zaire let out a long sigh, rubbing his temples. "It's finally almost over. This past few months were hell."
Everyone groaned in agreement, but as the words settled in, they sat heavy in my stomach like a stone. Almost over. The stress only made my hunger worse. I had gone through at least six bottles of Suc-a-bust pills. Now, I was down to my last bottle. I was still waiting for Liora to deliver more. The pills she gave me were supposed to last a few months, but I had been exceeding the dosage more and more lately. They were losing their effectiveness, and I could feel it.
I reached for the bottle again, only to find it empty. Shit.
The guys immediately noticed my change in behavior.
"Is there anything wrong?" Kaiden asked, his voice tentative.
"Umm... yeah," I stammered, but even I knew it wasn't convincing.
Tell them, a voice in my head urged. They want to help you.
But Vixzen's question rose again, sharp as glass—what if they're already in it?
And worse—what if telling them dragged them deeper?
My heart was pounding in my chest, the rhythm frantic and out of sync. The room around me started to blur at the edges, and the sounds of their voices became distant, muffled like waves crashing in the distance. A suffocating heat bloomed under my skin, and I felt the tremor in my hands, not from cold, but from an internal shake that seemed to unravel everything inside of me.
The wedding rehearsal, the ceremony, the after-party... And then, the terrifying thought: They're going to make me do a speech. Anxiety hit like a physical blow, the weight on my chest making it impossible to breathe.
I felt a desperate, primal need for the pills, the only thing that could silence the panic buzzing through my veins.
In the blink of an eye, I went from sitting in the chair to being slumped over Theo, his arm firmly holding me up, the other rubbing my back. His scent, like pine trees after a fresh rain, overwhelmed my senses, grounding me. It wasn't perfume—it was the real, raw scent of the earth, of cool morning air, something that felt more genuine than the chaos in my head.
Before I realized it, my arms were wrapped around his neck, my hands resting on his shoulders, holding onto him as if he was the only thing keeping me tethered to this reality.
"Isn't this the position you use to make babies burp?" I mumbled, my voice weak.
"You're being snarky. Good. It means you're coming back to us," Theo's steady voice reassured me, his grip tightening.
Zaire, still leaning against the kitchen counter, crossed his arms, his expression one of deep concern. "Come on, Sera. Talk to us."
Kaiden stood behind Theo, looking up at me with worry clear in his eyes—a pleading, vulnerable look that tugged at my heart. "Please, trust us."
I swallowed hard, the lump in my throat almost choking me. Fear and an overwhelming need for the pills clouded my thoughts, but I couldn't open myself up, not yet. I wanted to, but I couldn't. Not when the wrong words could ruin everything.
I clenched my jaw, fighting against the rising tide of panic. The room felt smaller, and the pressure on my chest tighter. My breaths came in shallow bursts, but I refused to let them see how fragile I was, how close I was to losing control.
I could feel Theo's warmth, his presence like a shield around me, but even that wasn't enough to stop the storm in my mind.
"I just need... I need..." The words didn't come. I couldn't form the sentence I was desperately trying to say.
Theo, ever perceptive, didn't push. He just kept holding me, his calm presence wrapping around me like a lifeline.
After a long, breathless moment, I finally found the strength to speak, though it came out in a shaky whisper. "I'm not okay. But I don't know how to ask for help."
The weight of those words hit me harder than I expected, and the room seemed to pause for a moment. A small part of me wanted to withdraw, to disappear, but another part—the part that was learning to trust—wanted to let go, to release the fear I had carried for so long.
And for the first time in what felt like forever, I allowed myself to lean into their support, the support I never thought I'd need.
I didn't want to lose whatever relationship I had with the guys. It had been so long since I'd felt welcomed in a home. If I opened my mouth and told them everything, what if they changed—like Jack did? What if they looked at me with disgust, like him? Or worse…
The low rumbling and soft purring against my ear pulled me out of my spiral.
I'd been so lost in thought I didn't even notice Theo passing me over to Zaire. He was now seated in one of the armchairs, my head tucked between his chest and throat. The steady rhythm of his purring vibrated through me, a soothing heartbeat I could feel against my cheek. His scent was different from Theo's—fresh, aquatic, the kind of crisp air you breathe in standing on a cliff overlooking the sea. The smell of deep water and open horizons. It calmed me in a way I didn't expect.
I stayed there in silence, letting the rhythmic sound anchor me.
"I'm sorry," Zaire murmured, his hand rubbing my back in slow circles. "I didn't want to rush you. But I also don't like seeing you in pain."
"What can we do?" Kaiden's voice came from the side. He was resting his chin on the arm of the chair, and for a second I wondered—is it instinctive or intentional—that he really looked like a concerned wolf.
My hand moved before I could stop it, cupping his cheek. He leaned into it, pressing a soft kiss to my palm.
I didn't know what we were. We were too close to be acquaintances, but too far from being a couple. I didn't think friends were supposed to be this close—unless they were gay, which they clearly weren't.
"What are we?" I thought aloud, not meaning for it to come out as a question.
All three of them stilled.
"Friends?" Kaiden said, which earned him an immediate bonk from Theo.
"What was that for?!" Kaiden hissed, rubbing the back of his head.
I giggled. "So you do this to all your girl friends?" I asked innocently.
The look on Kaiden's face told me he'd just realized how dumb that sounded.
Theo smirked. "Like he said—you're on your own, bud."
"No! I've never done this with anyone before!" Kaiden backpedaled so fast it was almost impressive. "I swear, I'm only like this with you. Scout's honor."
I arched a brow, doubting him.
"What he means to say…" Zaire's arms tightened around me, like this might be the last time he'd hold me. "…is we feel something from you."
"Like those mating bonds?" I asked, unsure how shifter stuff worked.
"Yes and no," Kaiden said.
"Our dad told us, in human terms, it's called true love. You find someone in a sea of people, and—" he gestured vaguely, "—that one person makes you feel something else."
"You're shit at explaining this," Theo said flatly.
"I'm trying!" Kaiden whined. Yes. Whined.
"We want to deepen our relationship with you, Seraphine…"
Full name. Damn. Why did it sound so sexy coming from Zaire's mouth?
"…and we hope you feel the same way."
I looked into Zaire's eyes, swallowed, but couldn't find an answer. What am I to them?
Before I could even try to figure it out, my phone rang. The name Liora flashed across the screen.
"Hey, girl," I answered, still draped over Zaire's chest. He was still purring—nonstop. I was pretty sure Liora would love to know how, though I doubted Zaire would volunteer to explain.
"We need to talk, Sera. About the pills. Can you make it to my office today?"
"Yeah, I'm free," I said.
"Okay. I'll see you soon."
The line went dead. I started to move, but Zaire's arms didn't budge.
"Going somewhere?" he asked, voice calm but with a possessive undertone.
---