Chapter 169 TO THE CABIN

Chapter 169 TO THE CABIN
The rain came down in sheets over the Miller cabin, drumming on the tin roof until the sound filled Seraphina’s head and drowned out everything else. Her wipers couldn’t keep up. The logging road was mud and her tires slid twice before the trees finally opened and the cabin came into view.  

Small. Wooden. Smoke curling from the chimney.  

She killed the engine and just sat there.  

Her hands were shaking on the wheel. Not from cold. From the weight of what she was about to do.  

Two days ago she’d dragged Alessia here herself. Tied her to the bedframe with climbing rope and told her it was safer this way. Told her Ivan said so. Told her a hundred lies that all tasted like truth at the time.  

Now she had to undo it.  

She got out. The mud sucked at her boots. The air smelled like wet pine and woodsmoke and something underneath it that made her throat close.  

The door was unlocked.  

Seraphina pushed it open.  

Inside, the cabin was warm. Too warm. A fire burned low in the stone hearth and a pot of soup sat on the little stove, barely simmering. The windows were fogged.  

And on the bed, sitting with her back straight and her hands folded in her lap, was Alessia.  

She wore one of Seraphina’s old sweaters. Gray. Too big. The sleeves swallowed her hands. Her hair was in a single braid down her back. She looked like someone who hadn’t slept in days.  

She looked up when Seraphina came in.  

Neither of them spoke.  

Rain dripped from Seraphina’s coat onto the floor. The sound was loud.  

Finally, Alessia said, “You came.”  

Her voice was flat. Empty. Like she’d used up all the anger and all the hope and there was nothing left.  

“Alex wants to see you,” Seraphina said. The words felt wrong in her mouth. Too small for what they meant. “He’s at the packhouse. He told me to bring you.”  

Alessia didn’t move. “Did he say why?”  

“Because you’re family.”  

Alessia laughed. It wasn’t a laugh. It was a breath that got caught wrong. “Family.”  

Seraphina shut the door. The sound echoed. “Can you get up?”  

Alessia tilted her head. “Do you know what he did to us?”  

The question hit like a fist.  

Seraphina stopped three feet from the bed. “Who?”  

“Don’t play stupid,” Alessia said. And for the first time there was something in her eyes. Not anger. Worse. Disappointment. “Ivan.”  

Seraphina’s stomach dropped. “What do you mean?”  

“I mean he’s been playing with our heads, Seraphina. Mine. Yours. God knows who else’s.” Alessia’s voice didn’t rise. It didn’t have to. “Did you know that?”  

“No,” Seraphina whispered.  

“Then you’re as bad as I was.”  

The words landed and Seraphina felt them in her ribs. She sank to her knees without meaning to. The floor was cold through her jeans.  

“I believed him,” she said. And it came out broken. “After my parents died, he was there. He was the one who found me in the shelter. He was the one who bought me food when I had nothing. Who paid for my apartment. Who told me I wasn’t crazy for wanting answers.”  

She looked up at Alessia. Tears were already running down her face and she didn’t care. “He was the only person who stood by me. For years,Al. Six years. And he told me Alex did it. That Alex burned our house down. That Alex was the reason I had no one. So I believed him. I let him teach me how to hate. How to shoot. How to hurt the right people.”  

Alessia watched her. Her face didn’t change.  

“I shot him,” Seraphina said. “Twice. And Mia felt every single one of those bullets. Because of the bond. Because of me. And he still looked at me like—” She choked. “Like I was just confused. Like I was family.”  

The fire popped.  

Alessia still hadn’t moved.  

“Did you know,” Seraphina whispered, “that you were spellbound?”  

Alessia’s head snapped up.  

“The spell,” Seraphina said, pushing the words out before she could lose her nerve. “The one that made you think Kane was your mate. That made you hate Mia on sight. That made you think you had to claim him or you’d die. Ivan did that to you.”  

“Don’t you dare,” Alessia said. And she was on her feet now, fast, fury flashing across her face. “Don’t you dare tell me I didn’t choose him. Don’t you dare take that away from me too—”  

“I’m not!” Seraphina cut her off, scrambling to her feet too. “I’m not saying you chose it. I’m saying he made you choose it. And it broke. The second Alex and Mia claimed each other, it broke. Because the only thing that breaks blood magic like that is a true mate bond. And you and me? Neither of us were Kane’s true mate. Not even when he claimed me that night on the rooftop. It was all the spell, Al. All of it.”  

Alessia stared at her. Her mouth opened. Closed.  

Then she sat down. Hard. Like her legs had been cut out from under her.  

For a long time there was nothing but rain and the fire.  

“You want to hear something worse?” Alessia said finally. Her voice was barely there.  

Seraphina nodded, even though Alessia wasn’t looking.  

“Ivan picked me up too,” Alessia said. “When I was four years old.”  

Seraphina sucked in a breath.  

“My parents died in a pack war,” Alessia went on. She was staring at the wall now, at nothing. “Not Black Fang. Some border disputes. Fire. I don’t remember it. I just remember waking up and there was this man holding me. Ivan. And he told me my name. He told me I was special. That I had a throne to ascend to.”  

She laughed, and it sounded like glass breaking. “He told me I was a half-sister to Alpha Alex of Black Fang. That I was royalty. That the people who died in that fire weren’t my real parents. That I needed to fight to take back what was mine since I was a pureblood wolf and the Alpha was hybrid.”  

Seraphina closed her eyes.  

“He gave me everything,” Alessia said. “Maids. Dresses. Tutors. He took me to galas and told everyone I was the lost heir. He told me the Black Fang pack stole my birthright. That I had to be strong. That I had to be ruthless. And I believed him. Why wouldn’t I? I was five. Then ten. Then fifteen. He was all I had.”  

“He lied to you,” Seraphina said.  

“He lied to me,” Alessia agreed. “Just like he lied to you. Just like he’s been lying to all of us since we were kids.”  

Another silence. Longer this time.  

Then Alessia started to cry.  

It wasn’t quiet. It wasn’t dignified. It was ugly and raw and it tore out of her like she’d been holding it in for years.  

Seraphina didn’t think. She crossed the three feet between them and dropped to her knees again and pulled Alessia into her arms.  

Alessia didn’t fight her. She collapsed into her, sobbing into Seraphina’s shoulder.  

“I’m sorry,” Seraphina whispered into her hair. “I’m so sorry. For the spell. For lying to you. For tying you up. For—”  

“I know,” Alessia sobbed. “I know. I’m sorry too. I said horrible things to you. I tried to—”  

“I know,” Seraphina said again. She rocked her, like she’d seen Jenna rock Sara. “I know, baby. It’s okay.”  

They stayed like that. On the floor of the cabin, in each other’s arms, while the rain came down and the fire burned low.  

When the sobs finally slowed, Seraphina pulled back. Her face was wet. Alessia’s was too, red and swollen.  

“He never punished us,” Seraphina said. Her voice was hoarse. “Think about it. No matter what we did. I shot him. You tried to claim his best friend. We both tried to destroy his family. And he never—”  

“He never raised his voice,” Alessia finished. She wiped her face with the sleeve of the sweater. “He just looked sad. Like we’d disappointed him.”  

“Because he sees us as family,” Seraphina said. “The Alpha who was a lone wolf. The one who had no one, so he took in two broken girls and called them his.”  

Alessia let out a shaky laugh. “God. We’re idiots.”  

“Yeah,” Seraphina said. And she laughed too, wet and miserable. “We are.”  

They sat there for a while longer. Not talking. Just existing in the quiet.  

Finally Seraphina stood. Her knees ached. “We have to go,” she said. “Alex is waiting.”  

Alessia looked up at her. “What if he hates me?”  

“He doesn’t,” Seraphina said, and she meant it with everything in her. “He’s going to open his arms and you’re going to cry again and he’s going to tell you it wasn’t your fault. And you’re going to believe him, because Alex doesn’t lie. Not about things like that.”  

Alessia nodded. She stood too, slowly. “Okay.”  

They walked out together.  

The rain was still coming down. It soaked them immediately.  

In the car, neither of them spoke for the first ten minutes.  

Then Seraphina reached across the console and took Alessia’s hand.  

Alessia didn’t pull away. She squeezed back.  

Because for the first time since they were children, neither of them felt like they were alone in this.  

Because Ivan was wrong about everything.  

They weren’t princesses.  
They weren’t weapons.  
They were just two girls who’d been lied to by the same man.  

And the man they’d been taught to hate was the only one who’d ever called them family without asking for anything in return.  

Seraphina drove.  

To Alex,the man they wronged and Ivan, the manipulator.