Liv POV
Seraphine was crying.
Liv found her at the edge of the rogue camp, sitting on a frozen log with her shoulders shaking. The silver-haired warrior who'd commanded three hundred wolves with absolute control was falling apart like she was made of glass.
In five years of surviving together, Liv had never seen her cry. Not once. Not after the rejection that nearly killed her. Not during the brutal early days when they were learning to survive the rogue camps. Not even when Seraphine realized her father had died while she was gone.
Liv had been waiting for this moment.
She'd known the second Seraphine saw Kael in that pack hall, something would break inside her. The walls she'd spent five years building would start cracking. The anger that had kept her alive would start to crumble.
And Liv had been terrified.
She sat down beside Seraphine without asking permission. Her massive scarred frame somehow made the smaller woman look even more fragile.
He said he never stopped loving me, Seraphine whispered.
Her voice was broken in ways that made Liv's chest ache. This was what she'd been afraid of. This vulnerability. This belief that maybe things could be different.
Liv felt something cold settle in her stomach.
He was protecting you, Seraphine continued. Marcus threatened to take me. Kael rejected me to keep me safe.
The words hung in the frozen air between them.
Liv wanted to say something comforting. Wanted to hold her friend and tell her everything would be okay. But she couldn't lie. Not to Seraphine. Not about this.
So she said what needed to be said instead.
He's dangerous.
Seraphine's shoulders tensed.
I know what he did sounds romantic. I know it sounds like he was trying to protect you. But he made a choice for you without your consent. He took away your voice. He took away your choice.
Liv gripped Seraphine's shoulder, feeling the tremors running through her friend's body.
And now he's doing it again. Making you feel things. Making you believe in him. Making you vulnerable when you finally learned how to be strong.
Seraphine turned to look at her and her grey eyes were red from crying. Broken from believing something she'd spent five years trying not to believe.
We should leave, Liv said quietly. After the battle, we take our army and we go. We don't stay in this pack. We don't give him another chance to destroy you.
For a moment, Seraphine just stared at her.
Then she said the thing that broke Liv's heart completely.
I don't want to leave.
The words were so soft Liv almost didn't hear them.
Seraphine stood up and walked toward the edge of the camp where the northern territories stretched out dark and frozen. Her voice was steady when she spoke again.
I came back hoping he'd changed. Hoping he'd give me a reason to not hate him anymore. And now he's giving me that reason and I don't know what to do with it.
Liv stood up, her scarred hands clenching into fists.
You can't forgive him, she said harshly. Forgiveness is weakness. You came back here to survive. To prove you were strong. To show everyone that the girl they rejected became something they could never break.
If you forgive him, you lose that. You lose the armor you built. You become vulnerable again.
Seraphine turned back to face her best friend.
Maybe I don't want to be a warrior anymore, she said quietly. Maybe I want to be a woman who can love someone even though they hurt her.
The words hit Liv like a physical blow.
That's suicide, Liv said. Loving him is suicide.
But even as the words came out, Liv knew they weren't going to matter. She could see it in Seraphine's eyes. The decision had already been made. The walls were already crumbling. The five years of survival and anger and building something unbreakable was about to collapse because one man had whispered that he never stopped loving her.
Seraphine walked back to Liv and pulled her friend into an embrace.
I need you to understand something, Seraphine said against Liv's shoulder. You saved my life. You gave me a family when I had nothing. You made me strong enough to come back here.
But I can't let fear control me anymore. I can't spend the rest of my life running from him.
Liv held her friend and felt something shift inside her chest. Something breaking that she couldn't put back together.
I can't protect you from this, Liv said.
No, Seraphine agreed. You can't.
They stood together in the frozen night while the rogue army moved around them. Warriors preparing for war. Wolves who'd learned to survive by being hard and cold and impossible to break.
And in the center of all that strength was Liv's best friend falling in love with the man who'd shattered her five years ago.
Liv realized in that moment that all her protective walls, all her fierce loyalty, all the strength she'd spent five years building couldn't stop this. Couldn't stop Seraphine from being hurt again. Couldn't stop the mate bond from burning through them both like a wildfire they couldn't control.
Her best friend was falling in love with Kael Ashford.
And there was absolutely nothing Liv could do to stop it.