SERA POV
The border guards raised their weapons the moment they saw my face.
I didn't blame them. Five years ago, I was supposed to be dead.
"Lower your weapons," I said quietly, but fifty warriors stepped forward behind me—rogues who answered to me now. The guards' hands shook as they kept their rifles aimed at my chest.
My twins pressed closer to my sides. Aria's small hand tightened around mine, fearless as always. Asher trembled slightly, his empathy already picking up the tension crackling through the air.
"Mama?" Asher whispered. "They smell scared."
"They should be," I murmured, then raised my voice. "I have a letter from Elder Thea. Safe passage to heal your sick children."
The head guard—Marcus, I remembered his name—went pale. "You... you're not supposed to be alive."
"Surprise." I pulled Elder Thea's letter from my jacket and held it out. "Your children are dying from blood sickness. I'm the only healer who can save them. Are you really going to shoot me and let them die?"
Marcus grabbed the letter with shaking hands. His eyes scanned the words, and I watched the conflict play across his face. Behind me, Lyra shifted her weight, ready to attack if this went wrong.
"Let her through," Marcus finally croaked.
The gates opened.
I walked into Shadow Ridge Territory for the first time since the night Kade Thorne exiled me to die.
Five years ago, winter wind cut through my thin dress as I knelt in the snow. Blood dripped from fresh wounds—punishment before exile. Kade stood above me, his silver eyes empty of the love that once burned there.
"You betrayed me," he said, each word like a knife. "You betrayed this pack."
"I didn't—please, Kade, just listen—"
"I, Alpha Kade Thorne, sever our mate bond and cast you into exile." His voice was ice. "If you return, you will be killed on sight."
The bond ripped apart. I screamed.
Three days later, alone in the Wastelands, I discovered I was pregnant with his children.
"Mama, everyone's staring," Aria said, her little voice loud enough to carry.
She was right. Pack members lined the streets, mouths open, eyes wide. Whispers spread like wildfire.
"That's Sera Blackwood..."
"She's alive?"
"Those children... look at their eyes..."
I kept my spine straight, my head high. These people watched me get dragged out in chains five years ago. They believed the lies. They let their Alpha destroy me.
Now they could watch me walk back in as a queen.
The packhouse loomed ahead—massive stone and glass, a monument to Thorne power. My chest tightened. Somewhere inside, Kade was probably getting word that his dead mate just walked through his front gate.
Good. Let him panic.
"Sera." Elder Thea appeared on the packhouse steps, her weathered face breaking into a smile. "You came."
"You said children were dying," I replied, climbing the steps. "I'm a healer before anything else."
Thea's eyes dropped to the twins. "And you brought them."
"I don't leave my children anywhere I can't protect them."
"Smart girl." Thea knelt down to the twins' level. "Hello, little ones. I'm Elder Thea."
Aria studied her with sharp eyes. "Are you nice or mean?"
"Aria," I warned, but Thea laughed.
"I like you already. I'm nice to people who deserve it." She stood, lowering her voice. "Sera, you should know—he doesn't know about them. About any of it."
My jaw tightened. "Good."
"The infirmary is this way. We have three children in critical condition."
I followed her inside, the twins staying close. The packhouse smelled the same—pine, leather, wolf. Memories crashed over me, but I shoved them down. No time for that now.
The infirmary was chaos. Sick children in every bed, parents crying, the pack doctor looking exhausted and helpless.
I rolled up my sleeves. "Clear some space. I need room to work."
For the next hour, I lost myself in healing. Blood sickness was nasty, but I'd seen it before in the Wastelands. My hands glowed silver as I pulled the infection from small bodies, one child at a time.
The pack doctor watched in shock. "How are you doing that? You're stronger than—"
"Than before?" I finished. "Exile changes you. Either you die, or you evolve. I chose evolution."
I was working on the third child when I felt it.
The air shifted. Every wolf in the room tensed. Alpha power rolled through the packhouse like thunder.
He was coming.
My hands didn't shake as I finished healing the little girl. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me afraid.
The infirmary doors slammed open.
Kade Thorne stood in the doorway.
Five years. Five years since I'd seen him, and my body betrayed me instantly. The mate bond I'd spent years learning to block roared to life, tearing through every wall I'd built.
Pain.
Longing.
Rage.
All of it crashed through me at once.
Kade staggered like he'd been punched, his hand flying to his chest. Our eyes locked across the room, and I saw everything in his face—shock, hope, devastation.
Then his gaze dropped.
To Asher, standing beside me with his hand clutching my jacket.
To Aria, stepping protectively in front of her brother.
To their silver eyes—identical to his.
Kade's face went white. "Sera..."
The word was barely a whisper, but it echoed through the silent room.
Asher tugged my hand, looking up at the massive Alpha in the doorway. His small voice carried clearly in the shocked silence.
"Mama, why does that man smell exactly like us?"
Every wolf in the room went rigid.
Kade's eyes locked on Asher, then Aria, then back to me. I watched the truth slam into him like a freight train.
He took one step forward, his voice breaking. "Those children... they're—"
The windows exploded inward.
Wolves in attack formation crashed through the glass—rogues, but not mine. Their eyes glowed red with bloodlust.
And leading them, her smile vicious and triumphant, was Elena Shore.
"Hello, Sera," Elena purred, her eyes dropping to the twins. "I've been looking everywhere for those."