Sera's POV
I stared at the photo on Lyra's phone until my eyes burned.
That woman in the picture—smiling, radiant, wrapped in Kael's arms like she belonged there—that was supposed to be me. But I didn't recognize her. Didn't recognize the pure joy on her face or the way she looked at him like he was her entire world.
"I need a minute," I whispered, pulling away from both of them. "I need to think."
Lyra looked like she wanted to argue, but Kael touched her shoulder. "Give us the room."
"But—"
"Please." His voice was gentle but firm. "She's overwhelmed. Let me talk to her alone."
Lyra shot me one last worried look before leaving, closing the door behind her.
And suddenly I was alone with the Rogue King.
My alleged husband.
The silence stretched between us like a living thing. Kael stayed by the door, giving me space. But his golden eyes tracked my every movement, and I felt the mate bond humming between us—a constant pull I couldn't ignore.
"Say something," I finally begged. "Anything. Because right now my head is spinning and I don't know what's real anymore."
"Everything I've told you is real." He moved slowly toward a dresser and opened the top drawer. "Your name is Sera Ashford. You're twenty-six years old. You come from a bloodline of healers—rare wolves with violet eyes and magic strong enough to mend not just bodies but souls."
He pulled out a leather journal and held it up.
"You kept a journal. Wrote in it every night before bed. Want to know what the last entry says?"
I couldn't speak. Could only nod.
Kael opened to a marked page and read aloud, his voice rough with emotion: "'I've never felt safer than in Kael's arms. Never felt more loved, more seen, more whole. Tomorrow we're planning to expand the healing sanctuary, and I can't wait to see his face when I tell him about the pregnancy test I took this morning. We're going to have a—'"
He stopped abruptly, his jaw clenched tight.
"What?" I whispered. "We were going to have what?"
"It ends there." He closed the journal with shaking hands. "Mid-sentence. Because that was the night they took you. And whatever you were going to tell me the next morning, I never got to hear it."
Oh gods. I pressed a hand to my stomach, feeling sick. "Was I... was I pregnant?"
"I don't know." Pain flashed across his face. "When I found you again three years later, there was no child. So either you weren't actually pregnant, or—" His voice broke. "Or Marcus made sure you lost it."
Rage exploded through me so suddenly I gasped. My hands started glowing violet without my permission, power surging through my veins.
"If he hurt my baby—" The words came out as a growl I didn't recognize. "If he TOUCHED—"
"Easy." Kael was suddenly in front of me, his hands on my shoulders. "Breathe, Sera. Your magic is responding to your emotions. You need to control it before you hurt yourself."
But I couldn't control it. Three years of suppressed power was trying to break free all at once, and it felt like my skin was going to split open.
"I can't!" My voice rose to a scream. "I can't make it stop!"
"Yes, you can." Kael pulled me against his chest, and the moment we touched, something shifted. The mate bond flared to life, and my magic... calmed. Like his presence soothed something wild and broken inside me.
"That's it," he murmured into my hair. "I've got you. Just breathe."
I clung to him, trembling. And for the first time since he'd taken me, I didn't want to run. Because being in his arms felt like coming home after being lost for years.
Which terrified me more than anything else.
"Why?" I pulled back to look at him. "Why does touching you make everything feel better?"
"The mate bond." He showed me his chest again, where that wolf and moon mark glowed faintly. "When mates are together, the bond strengthens them. Heals them. Completes them. When we're apart—" He grimaced. "It feels like slowly dying."
I pressed my hand over my own hidden mark, feeling it pulse beneath my skin. "Show me. I want to see mine."
Kael's eyes widened. "Are you sure?"
"I need to see it. Need to know this is real and not some elaborate lie."
He nodded slowly, then placed his hand over mine on my chest. Power flowed from his fingers—not painful, but warm. The glamour spell hiding my mark began to fade like fog burning away in sunlight.
And there it was. The exact same symbol as his. A wolf howling at a crescent moon, glowing soft violet against my skin.
Proof that everything he'd said was true.
"We're really married," I breathed.
"Bonded in the old ways." Kael's voice was barely a whisper. "Under the full moon. With our packs as witnesses. You wore white flowers in your hair and smiled at me like I was worth loving. Like I wasn't a monster."
"Stop calling yourself that." The words came out sharper than I intended. "Everyone keeps saying you're a monster, but all I see is a man who searched for his wife for three years. A man who's been in constant pain because someone ripped his mate away from him. That's not a monster. That's someone who loves too much."
Kael stared at me like I'd just performed a miracle. "You really don't remember me. But you're defending me anyway."
"Because it's not fair." I touched his face without thinking, and he leaned into my palm like a man starving for affection. "Marcus told me rogues were savage. Violent. Incapable of love. But these rogues out there? They cried when they saw me. Called me their queen. And you—" My voice cracked. "You look at me like I'm the only thing keeping you alive."
"You are." His hand covered mine on his cheek. "Three years without you nearly killed me, Sera. I became the monster everyone said I was. Executed people for minor offenses. Started wars over nothing. Damien says I was one bad day away from going completely feral."
"What stopped you?"
"The bond." He turned his head to kiss my palm, and heat flooded through me. "It kept telling me you were alive. That I just had to keep looking. So I did. Even when everyone said to give up. Even when it would have been easier to let the madness take me. I kept searching because the alternative was a world without you in it. And that's not a world worth living in."
Tears streamed down my face. "I don't remember you. But I wish I did. Because the woman in those photos? She looked happy. Happier than I've been in three years."
"You were happy." Kael's thumb brushed away my tears. "We both were. For six perfect months, we had everything. And then they stole it from us."
A knock interrupted us. Damien's voice came from the other side of the door. "Kael? We have a situation."
Kael's expression darkened. "What now?"
"The Northern Alliance sent a messenger. They're demanding Sera's return within forty-eight hours or they'll consider it an act of war."
My blood went cold. "They're going to attack because of me?"
"They're going to attack because Marcus convinced them I kidnapped you." Kael's jaw clenched. "He's playing the victim. The noble Alpha trying to rescue his innocent fiancée from the savage Rogue King."
"But that's not what happened!"
"They don't care about the truth. They care about politics. And a war with the Shadowlands gives them an excuse to wipe out the rogues once and for all."
Panic clawed up my throat. "People are going to die. Because of me. Because Marcus took me and you took me back and now—"
"Hey." Kael gripped my shoulders. "This is not your fault. None of it. Marcus started this three years ago when he stole you. I'm just finishing it."
"By going to war?"
"If that's what it takes." His eyes blazed with fierce determination. "I won't let them have you back, Sera. I don't care if every Alpha in the North comes for me. I don't care if I have to fight the whole world. You're mine, and I'm keeping you."
The possessiveness in his voice should have frightened me. Instead, it made my wolf purr with satisfaction.
"What if I don't want to be kept?" I challenged. "What if I decide I want to go back to Marcus?"
Kael's expression turned dangerous. "Then I'd know the suppressants are still affecting your judgment. Because the real you—the Sera I married—would never choose a man who erased her mind and locked her in a prison of lies."
He was right. I knew he was right. But admitting that meant accepting that my entire life for three years had been fake.
"I need time," I said weakly. "Time to process all of this. Time to figure out who I really am without drugs clouding my mind."
"You'll have it." Kael stepped back, giving me space again. "But you'll have it here. In Blackstone Keep. Under my protection."
"You mean under guard."
"I mean safe." His voice softened. "Marcus will try to take you back, Sera. And next time, he won't just erase your memories. He'll make sure you can never remember. I can't let that happen."
Another knock. More urgent this time.
"My King," Damien called. "There's something else. The messenger brought proof of Marcus's claim. Video footage from the summit showing you carrying Sera away while she screamed. It... doesn't look good."
Kael cursed under his breath.
I grabbed his arm before he could open the door. "Wait. What if I talk to them? What if I tell the Alliance the truth—that Marcus took me first, that you were rescuing me, not kidnapping me?"
"They won't believe you." Kael's expression was grim. "They'll think I'm controlling you through the mate bond. Forcing you to lie for me."
"Then what do we do?"
Before he could answer, the door burst open.
A woman I didn't recognize stumbled in, her face pale and terrified. "Forgive the intrusion, my King, but you need to see this. Now."
She held up a phone showing a news broadcast. And there, on the screen, was Marcus giving an interview.
"—heartbroken over Sera's kidnapping," he was saying, looking appropriately devastated. "She's not well. She's been suffering from severe mental illness since the rogue attack that killed her family. The Rogue King is taking advantage of her fragile state, using the mate bond to manipulate her. I'm begging him to let her go before he does permanent damage to her mind."
My mouth fell open. "He's lying! I'm not mentally ill!"
"Of course you're not." Kael's hands clenched into fists. "But he's planting doubt. Making everyone think you can't be trusted to make your own decisions."
The broadcast continued. Marcus pulled out papers—official looking documents with signatures and seals.
"I have medical records proving Sera's condition," he said solemnly. "Proving she's not capable of consent. Which means any claim of a mate bond is invalid. Kael Thorne has kidnapped a sick woman who needs help, not a savage king who wants to use her."
The phone slipped from the woman's hands.
Because those documents—those medical records Marcus was showing the world—had my signature on them.
Signatures I didn't remember giving.
From appointments I didn't remember having.
Proof that for three years, Marcus had been building a legal case to declare me insane.
And if the Alliance believed him, they wouldn't just come to rescue me.
They'd come to lock me up in a facility for wolves who'd lost their minds.
Where Marcus could control me forever.
And there was nothing Kael could do to stop them.