Chapter 21: Dismissed

Seraphine's POV

The words were barely out of his mouth before I was on my feet.

"I'll come with you."

The declaration hung in the air like a challenge. My heart pounded against my ribs, but I kept my chin up, meeting Kaelen's eyes across the table.

He froze mid-turn, one hand still gripping the back of his chair. For a split second, something flickered across his face—surprise, maybe. Or conflict.

Through the bond, I felt it clearly: the immediate surge of his wolf wanting to say yes, wanting me close, safe where he could see me.

But then the wall slammed down. Hard.

Kaelen's expression went carefully blank. He turned away from me, shoulders rigid, facing the two warriors.

"Jason, Derek, let's go," he said to them. Just them. Like I hadn't spoken at all.

What the fuck.

I stood there like an idiot, hand half-raised toward him, watching him dismiss me without a single word.

The silence stretched. Three seconds. Five. An eternity.

Jason—the blond one—glanced between us, clearly uncomfortable. Derek, the scarred warrior, kept his eyes fixed firmly on the floor.

Nobody moved.

Through the bond, I felt Kaelen's struggle. The tension coiling tighter and tighter in his chest. The battle between what his wolf demanded and what his mind insisted was necessary.

He's fighting himself. Fighting us.

But he didn't turn around. Didn't acknowledge me. Just stood there with his back to me, rigid as stone, waiting for his warriors to follow.

"Alpha," Jason started carefully. "Maybe—"

"Now," Kaelen cut him off. His voice was flat. Final.

The two warriors exchanged another look, then stood. Derek nodded respectfully in my direction—at least someone remembered I existed—before following Kaelen toward the door.

I watched them go, fury and humiliation burning in equal measure.

He's treating me like a child. Like some fragile thing that needs to stay in the safe house while the real wolves handle business.

My nails bit into my palms. Every instinct screamed at me to follow anyway, to demand he acknowledge me, to make him see I wasn't some helpless—

"Seraphine."

Cordelia's voice was gentle but firm. Her hand closed around my wrist, tugging me back toward my chair.

"Sit. Finish your breakfast."

"I don't want—"

"I know." She pulled harder, surprisingly strong for someone who looked so delicate. "But throwing yourself after him won't help. Trust me on this."

The door closed behind Kaelen with a quiet click that might as well have been a slammed fist.

My legs gave out. I collapsed back into the chair, staring at my half-eaten bread like it held answers to questions I couldn't even form.

He left me. Again.

The rejection stung more than it should have. More than I wanted it to.

Cordelia settled back into her own seat, pushing the jam jar closer to me with a knowing look.

"He's not trying to hurt you," she said quietly.

"Could've fooled me." My voice came out bitter. Raw.

"The search teams are dangerous work. Unstable ground, potential ambush points, the possibility of running into whoever took your sister." Cordelia's tone was matter-of-fact. "He's keeping you here because you're still recovering and because—"

"I'm weak. Got it."

"—because his wolf would lose its mind if anything happened to you out there," she finished, arching an eyebrow. "And a distracted Alpha is a liability to everyone."

I opened my mouth. Closed it.

Oh.

That... actually made sense. In a fucked-up, overprotective, completely infuriating way.

Cordelia picked up the teapot and refilled both our cups. Steam curled between us, carrying the scent of chamomile and honey.

"Besides," she added, lips quirking into a smile, "after you nearly took my head off last night for getting close to him, did you really think I wouldn't notice you shooting daggers at me all through breakfast? The jealousy was radiating off you."

Heat flooded my face. "I wasn't—"

"Your eyes literally went gold, Seraphine. You snarled at me." Cordelia's tone wasn't accusatory, just stating facts. "If Kaelen hadn't stepped between us, I'm pretty sure you would've lunged."

Fuck.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I muttered, suddenly very interested in my tea.

"Mmhmm." She didn't sound convinced. "Look, it's normal. You just formed a mate bond yesterday. The first few days are... intense. Your wolf is going to be possessive as hell. Jealous of anyone who gets too close to him. It'll settle eventually."

I risked a glance at her. "How do you know all this?"

"I'm the pack healer. And Gamma." Cordelia shrugged like it was obvious. "Part of my job is understanding wolf dynamics. Especially mate bonds."

Gamma. One of the top three positions in the pack hierarchy, right below Alpha and Beta.

A woman. In a position of power.

The concept was so foreign it took me a second to process.

"You're... Gamma?" I repeated dumbly.

"For the last six years, yes." Cordelia sipped her tea, watching me over the rim. "Is that surprising?"

"In my pack, only men—" I stopped myself. "It's different there."

"Clearly."

Silence fell. Not uncomfortable, exactly, but weighted with things unsaid.

I picked at the bread, tearing it into smaller and smaller pieces. My mind churned.

She's Gamma. She works closely with Kaelen. She sits next to him at breakfast. She knows him well enough to predict his reactions.

The jealousy flared again, hot and irrational.

"So," I said carefully, hating how small my voice sounded. "You and Kaelen... are you...?"

Cordelia's eyebrows shot up. Then she burst out laughing.

"No." She set down her cup with a decisive clink. "Goddess, no. Kaelen and I are friends. That's it. We've known each other since we were kids, but there's never been anything romantic between us."

The relief that flooded through me was embarrassing in its intensity.

You shouldn't care. It doesn't matter.

But it did. Somehow, it fucking did.

"Besides," Cordelia continued, still smiling, "I already have a mate. Have for three years now."

"Oh." I exhaled shakily. "That's... good."

"You can breathe now." Her tone was teasing but not unkind. "I'm not competition, Seraphine."

I wanted to protest that I didn't care about competition, that this whole mate thing was forced and unwanted. But the words stuck in my throat.

Because sitting here in Kaelen's house, wearing clothes he'd picked out, feeling his absence through the bond like a physical ache—

Maybe I'm lying to myself.

"Can I ask you something?" I said instead.