59 Chapter 59


    Seraphina’s POV 1


    After another sleepless night spent tossing in his bed, I was eager to keep my hands and mind busy with something productive. Caleb and I set out to find anyone who might remember my family.


    “There are a few elderly pack members who chose to stay in the area,” Caleb exined as we walked down a tree-lined street that felt both foreign and familiar. “Most of them live alone now, but they might remember details about your parents or the attack that never


    made it into the official reports.”


    The first two houses we visited yielded nothing useful. One was empty, its windows dark and garden overgrown with weeds. At the second, a frail woman answered the door but became confused the moment I introduced myself, insisting I looked exactly like someone


    named Dorothy who’d died thirty years ago.


    It wasn’t until we reached a small cottage at the end of a dead-end street that we found someone who might actually help.


    “That’s Mr. Garrison,” Caleb said quietly as we approached the front porch. “He lived about a quarter mile from our neighborhood.”


    The man who answered our knock was ancient, with wisps of white hair and clouded eyes that seemed to look through us rather than at <ol><li> His clothes hung loose on his thin frame, and his hands shook as he gripped the doorframe for support. </li></ol>


    “Mr. Garrison?” I said gently, trying to keep my voice calm and non-threatening. “My name is Seraphina. I was hoping you might


    remember my parents, Alpha and Luna from the Northern Ridge Pack?”


    The old man’s eyes sharpened suddenly, focusing on my face with an intensity that made me step back. Then his expression crumbled,


    and he began muttering under his breath in a voice too low for me to understand.


    “The little wolf,” he said suddenly, his voice cracking. “The little wolf with green eyes. They said you were dead.”


    My heart leaped with hope. “Mr. Garrison, do you remember what happened? The night of the attack?”


    But his moment of rity was already fading. He began shaking his head violently, backing away from the door as if I were something to


    be feared.


    “Too many secrets,” he muttered. “Can’t trust anyone. Can’t trust…”


    He mmed the door in our faces.


    “I’m sorry,” Caleb said, his hand finding my shoulder as disappointment crashed over me. “The attack really messed him up. He’s never


    been the same since.”


    I stared at the closed door, feeling the weight of all the lost memories, all the answers that might nevere.


    We walked in silence for several minutes, the morning air growing warmer as the sun climbed higher. The neighborhood around us told the story of amunity slowly dying-half the houses were empty, yards overgrown, “For Sale” signs faded by weather and time.


    “Most people moved south after the attack, Caleb exined when he noticed my attention drifting to the abandoned homes. “They were


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    59 Chapter 59


    too scared to stay, even with the rogues supposedly cleared out. The ones who remained either couldn’t afford to leave or were too


    stubborn to abandon their homes.”


    We were cutting through a small patch of woods that served as a shortcut back to his neighborhood when I heard it-the soft rustle of movement in the undergrowth ahead.


    Every instinct I’d developed over the past few days screamed danger. My wolf rose to attention, alert and ready. The memory of being chased through these same northern territories just forty-eight hours ago came flooding back, making my heart race with sudden fear.


    Caleb must have sensed my tension because he immediately stepped closer, his entire body coiling like a spring ready to strike. Without hesitation, he positioned himself directly in front of me, one arm sweeping back to keep me behind his protective shield. A low, menacing growl rumbled from deep in his chest.


    I found myself instinctively pressing against Caleb’s back, my hands fisting in his shirt as my heart hammered against my ribs.


    Then two figures burst from the undergrowth like they’d been shot from a cannon-a young couple, maybe college-aged, their clothes


    “Oh God, sorry!” the girl shrieked, frantically trying to button her shirt while hopping on one foot as she attempted to put her shoe back <ol><li> “We didn’t think anyone else was out here!” </li></ol>


    Her boyfriend, red-faced and struggling with his inside-out t-shirt, nearly tripped over a fallen log in his haste to escape. “So sorry!


    Really, really sorry! We’ll just-we’re going now!”


    They practically stampeded past us like startled deer, the boy’s shoes still untied and the girl clutching what appeared to be her bra in


    one hand, disappearing back into the woods with a chorus of mortified squeaks and nervousughter.


    The silence that followed was deafening.


    I became acutely aware that I was still pressed against Caleb’s back, my hands still fisted in his shirt, my cheek actually resting between


    his shoulder des. I could feel the rapid thump of his heartbeat, could smell the clean scent of his soap mixed with something distinctly


    masculine andforting.


    At the exact same moment, we both seemed to realize our position. I jerked backward like I’d been electrocuted, while he spun around


    so quickly he nearly lost his bnce. We stood there staring at each other, both breathing hard from adrenaline and something else


    entirely.


    “Well,” Caleb said, his voice cracking slightly. He cleared his throat and tried again. “That was… educational.”


    I couldn’t help it-I burst intoughter. Not delicate,dylike giggles, but full-blown, snortingughter that made my sides ache.


    Caleb smiled, his own lips twitching despite his obvious embarrassment. “I think that guy put it on backwards and inside-out.”


    We dissolved intoughter again, the tension of the moment breaking like a snapped wire. But as our amusement faded, I became aware


    of how close we were still standing, how his warm eyes were studying my face with an intensity that made my breath catch.


    “Sera,” he said softly, and something in his tone made my heart skip. “We should…”


    “We should definitely… keep walking” I replied, though neither of us moved.


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    59 Chapter 59


    “Right. Walking. Good idea.”


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