Chapter 117 Exit Seraphina: Scene Closed
Jolie pov
"No." I step around Ryder to face her directly. "I'll know that you were a professional liar who tried to exploit my trauma and failed. That's all you'll ever be in my memory—a failed attack that made us stronger."
She walks past me toward the door, then pauses. "For what it's worth, little Luna, you're tougher than I expected. Under different circumstances, I might have actually liked you."
"I'll never know." I hold her gaze. "Because you chose to be someone who destroys things instead of building them. That's on you, not the circumstances."
She leaves without another word. We watch from the doorway as she crosses to where a motorcycle waits—not one of ours, something she must have arranged earlier.
"Think she'll actually leave?" Phoenix asks quietly.
"Knox put trackers on that bike." Luna taps her tablet. "If she tries to come back, we'll know immediately."
"She won't come back." I lean against Ryder. "She's a professional. She failed here, and now everyone knows how she operates. We're not useful to her anymore."
"Thirty-eight minutes early." Cass checks his watch as her bike roars to life. "Guess she was eager to go."
We watch until she disappears down the mountain road. The moment she's out of sight, tension drains from my shoulders.
"It's over." Phoenix sounds stunned. "She's actually gone."
"It's over." I turn to face my pack. "And we survived."
"More than survived." Luna grins. "We won, we sent a professional manipulator running with her tail between her legs and her reputation destroyed."
"I need a drink." Phoenix heads toward the common room. "Multiple drinks. Maybe an entire bottle."
"Make it two bottles." Knox follows him. "We're celebrating."
As they head inside, Ryder pulls me close. "You okay?"
"Yeah." I breathe in his scent. "I am. She tried so hard to make me doubt us, doubt myself. But standing there facing her, I realized something."
"What's that?"
"I'm not the weak wolf anymore." I look up at him. "I'm the Luna who survived her family's abuse, the Council's attack, and a professional homewrecker. I'm the one with divine power and a mate who loves me and a pack that stands with me. She never had a chance."
His smile is fierce and proud. "No, she really didn't."
"Come on." I take his hand. "Let's go celebrate with our pack. We've earned it."
Inside the common room, someone has already broken out the good whiskey. Pack members cluster around Phoenix, offering comfort and solidarity. When Ryder and I enter, Mara raises her glass.
"To our Luna!" She calls out. "Who just sent a professional bitch packing!"
"To Jolie!" The pack echoes.
I raise my own glass, warmth spreading through my chest that has nothing to do with alcohol. This is family. This is home. This is everything that woman tried to destroy and failed.
"To all of us." I correct gently. "We did this together."
"Together." They echo.
Three days after Seraphina leaves, Luna bursts into our bedroom at dawn.
"She's back." Luna's breathing hard. "At the territory line, says she needs to talk to you."
I'm out of bed before Ryder finishes cursing. We dress quickly, and I feel his worry pulse through our bond.
"Could be a trap." He checks his knife. "Could be she's brought friends."
"Then we bring more friends." I head for the door. "Get Knox and Cass."
Ten minutes later, we're riding toward the northern boundary. The sun barely crests the mountains, painting everything gold and shadow. My wolf stirs under my skin, light already warming my fingertips.
She's exactly where Luna said. Standing alone at the edge of our territory, hands empty, looking smaller somehow than she did three days ago.
We stop our bikes twenty feet away. I dismount slowly, Ryder immediately at my side.
"You have thirty seconds to explain why you're still breathing." Ryder's voice is pure alpha command.
"I came to apologize." Her voice is rough, like she's been crying. "To Jolie. To Phoenix. To everyone I hurt."
"Bullshit." Knox moves to flank us. "You don't have remorse. It's not in your programming."
"I didn't." She lifts her head, and I see her face properly. Dark circles under red-rimmed eyes. Hollow cheeks like she hasn't eaten in days. "Until two nights ago when I dreamed about every bond I've destroyed. Every mate I separated, every life I ruined. I felt all of it."
My light pulses. "What are you talking about?"
"The dreams started the night I left." She wraps her arms around herself. "Memories that aren't mine but feel real. A woman sobbing because her mate rejected her after I seduced him, a man who started drinking himself to death after his chosen mate left him for someone else—someone I introduced her to. Children who grew up in broken homes because I took payment to destroy their parents' bond."
"You're saying you suddenly grew a conscience?" Luna's voice drips skepticism.
"I'm saying something made me feel what they felt." She looks directly at me. "The pain, the betrayal, the emptiness. All of it. And I can't make it stop."
Understanding hits me like cold water. "Empathy."
Ryder turns to me. "What?"
"When we confronted her, when I stood close to her at the end." I remember that moment of rage, of wanting her to understand what she'd done. "I was so angry. My power was right there under my skin, and I wanted it."
"You wanted her to feel what her victims felt." Luna finishes. "And your divine gift gave her exactly that."
"Is that possible?" Cass looks between us.
"Elena trained me to share empathy through touch." I stare at the woman who isn't Seraphina. "But I never touched her. I was standing close, but."
"Your power is evolving." Doc's voice comes through the comm unit Luna set up. He must be monitoring from the compound. "The silver light is getting stronger, maybe proximity is enough now."
The woman laughs, but it's broken. "So I've been cursed. Divine punishment for my sins."
"It's not a curse." I step forward, ignoring Ryder's warning growl. "It's empathy. It's feeling what you made others feel. That's not punishment—that's consequence."
"It's torture." Her voice cracks. "I can't sleep, can’t eat. Every time I close my eyes, I feel their pain. Bonds broken over years, and I remember every single one now. The children, the families, the futures I destroyed for money."
"Good." Phoenix's voice is cold. He arrived on his bike moments ago, parking behind us. "You should feel that, you should carry that weight."
"I know." She sinks to her knees. "That's why I came back. To face whatever justice you think I deserve. Prison, exile, death—anything is better than this."
I move closer, my light brightening with each step. Ryder stays right beside me, ready to pull me back if needed.
"You want me to take it away." I stopped a few feet from her. "That's why you really came back."
"I want it to stop." She looks up at me with desperate eyes. "Please. I'll do anything. Confess to every pack I destroyed. Return every dollar I was paid. Spend my life making amends, just make it stop."
"I can't." The truth sits heavy in my chest. "This isn't something I'm actively doing to you. It's already done, the empathy is in you now."
"Then kill me." She spreads her arms. "End it. I'm begging you."