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17 Chapter 17: Defiance at Dawn
17 Chapter 17: Defiance at Dawn
I couldn’t stomach my breakfast. The events from last night kept replaying in my head like a bad movie. The way Seraphina had looked at us when we locked her out, the pain and betrayal in her eyes–it haunted me. I glanced at my brothers and knew they felt the same. Kaelen kept glaring at his untouched eggs while Orion stabbed his fork into a sausage with unnecessary force.
Lilith’s chatter filled the uncomfortable silence. “The council meeting today should be interesting. I heard the Northern Pack is requesting additional hunting grounds.” She placed her hand on Kaelen’s arm, her voice dropping to a sultry whisper. “Perhaps I could attend as your companion?”
Kaelen shrugged her off without responding. His green eyes kept darting to the door.
We all knew who we were waiting for.
The heavy oak door swung open, and there she was. Seraphina. My breath caught in my throat.
She looked different today. Her blonde hair was neatly braided, her simple blue dress pressed and proper. She held herself with a composure I hadn’t seen before–chin high, shoulders back, walking with the grace of a true Luna. The an
last night only highlighted her ethereal beauty red mark on her cheek from where she’d fallen
Without acknowledging any of us, Seraphina glided to an empty chair at the far end of the table and sat down. She calmly reached for a piece of toast and began buttering it as if she were
alone.
The silence in the room was deafening.
Lilith’s face contorted with indignation. “You should show some respect to your Alphas,” she snapped. “Or have you forgotten your place, Omega?”
Seraphina looked up slowly, her sea–blue eyes glacial. “Interesting. I believe it’s you who has forgotten proper protocol, Lilith. You should address me as Luna.”
I nearly choked on my coffee. Beside me, Orion’s eyes widened in shock.
Lilith’s face flushed red. “Luna? Please. Everyone knows this marriage is a joke. A punishment. You’re nothing but an Omega they were forced to mate.”
“And yet, Seraphina replied coolly, taking a delicate bite of her toast, “I wear their marks, bear their name, and sit at their table. What does that make you, exactly?”
Lilith slammed her palm on the table, “I am their chosen companion!”
“Strange way to pronounce ‘whore,” Seraphina remarked, her voice casual as she reached for the jam.
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17 Chapter 17: Defiance at Dawn
The dining room fell into stunned silence. Kaelen’s jaw tightened, a muscle twitching in his cheek. Orion seemed frozen in place.
I couldn’t believe the words that had just come out of Seraphina’s mouth. This wasn’t the cowering girl who would have run from the room in tears just yesterday. Something had
changed in her overnight.
Lilith’s face darkened with rage as she jumped to her feet. “How dare you!” She lunged across the table, hand raised to strike Seraphina’s face.
But Seraphina was faster. She caught Lilith’s wrist mid–air, her grip clearly painful judging by
Lilith’s wince.
“Touch me, and you’ll regret it,” Seraphina said softly, dangerously. “Remember, I outrank you now. Luna trumps Beta’s daughter–even one who spreads her legs for the Alphas.”
“Let go of me!” Lilith shrieked, yanking her hand away. She turned to us, eyes wild with fury. “Are you going to let her speak to me this way? After everything I’ve done for you? After last night?”
An uncomfortable weight settled in my chest at the mention of last night. None of us had planned for things to go that far. The intention had been to hurt Seraphina, yes, but once she’d fallen–once we’d seen her crumpled form outside our door–the victory had tasted like ash.
Kaelen stood suddenly, his chair scraping against the floor. “That’s enough.”
Seraphina turned to him with a raised eyebrow, unimpressed. “Is it? I was just beginning to enjoy breakfast.”
I saw the exact moment my brother’s patience snapped. His hand moved before any of us could
react.
CRACK!
The sound of his palm connecting with Seraphina’s cheek echoed through the dining room. Her head whipped to the side with the force of the slap, her braid swinging wildly.
“Kaelen!” I stood, grabbing his arm. This wasn’t right. No matter what she said, we didn’t hit our
mate.
But what happened next stunned us all.
Seraphina slowly turned back to face us, a thin trickle of blood running from the corner of her mouth. Instead of tears or fear, her eyes blazed with defiance. She smiled–actually smiled–and dabbed at the blood with her napkin.
“Is that all you’ve got?” she asked calmly, “Go ahead. Hit me again if it makes you feel better. It doesn’t change the fact that you’re stuck with me, just as I’m stuck with you.”
Kaelen’s face drained of color, I felt Orion tense beside me, his scent radiating distress.
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“I control more than you think, Alpha,” Seraphina continued, her voice steady despite the crimson handprint forming on her cheek. “You’ve taken my freedom, my dignity, and now you’ve shown the entire pack that you’re the kind of males who strike your mate at the breakfast table.” She slowly rose to her feet. “Congratulations. You’ve proven exactly what kind of Alphas you
are.”
“Sit down,” Kaelen growled, but the command lacked conviction.
Seraphina ignored him completely, placing her napkin beside her barely–touched food. “If you’ll excuse me, I have Luna duties to attend to. Someone needs to make sure this pack doesn’t fall apart under your… leadership.”
She turned and walked toward the door, her back straight as steel.
“I said SIT DOWN!” Kaelen’s Alpha voice boomed through the room, powerful enough to make the glasses on the table vibrate.
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But Seraphina didn’t even flinch. She continued walking, opened the door, and stepped through it without looking back.
The door closed behind her with a soft click that somehow sounded like thunder.
“The nerve of that bitch!” Lilith started. “How dare she-”
“Shut up, Lilith,” Kaelen snarled, his fists clenched at his sides. “Just keep shut!”
The look of shock on her face would have been comical under different circumstances.
I stared at the door where Seraphina had disappeared, my mind racing. Something fundamental had shifted. The meek Omega we’d tormented for years was gone, replaced by a woman who had just defied three Alphas and walked away unbroken.
For the first time in years, I felt a flicker of the same admiration I’d had for her when we were children. And beneath that, something else—a fear that we’d pushed her too far, created an enemy more formidable than we’d ever anticipated.
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