“I know. I know it was reckless and stupid and everything you warned me about, but I was so tired of being careful all the time. You know the curse kept me locked up for nineteen years, and I just wanted to feel something real for once.”
Sera’s posture has gone stiff, and her hands are balled into fists at her sides. “And this man? Is he the one from the bar?”
“Yes.”
“So, you’ve been with him this whole time? For two weeks?”
“It’s more complicated than that. I left before he woke up and came back there. Then later, when I was driving back to Llewelyn territory, he found me on the road.”
“What do you meanhe found you?”
“He tracked my scent.” I swallow hard before I add, “There’s something else you need to know, Sera. About who he is.”
The words stick in my throat. I’ve rehearsed this moment a hundred times over the past two weeks, and now that it’s here, I can’t seem to force the truth past my lips. Patrick said I couldlet him explain if it got too hard, but that feels like cowardice. My sister deserves to hear this from me.
“His name is Patrick Walzak.” I meet Sera’s eyes and watch them fill with growing dread. “He’s a Thornridge warrior.”
The reaction is immediate. Sera launches to her feet and takes a stumbling step backward, and her hand flies to her mouth. She looks between Patrick and me with an expression of dawning horror that makes my stomach turn.
“No,” she snaps. “Tell me you’re joking.”
“I wish I were.”
“You spent the night with a Thornridge wolf, and then you disappeared for two weeks, and now you’re standing in my living room with him like this is somehow acceptable?” Her voice rises with every word. “Do you have any idea what that pack has done to this valley? What they tried to do to Raegan? To all of us?”
“I know. Sera, I know everything, and I—”
“How could you be so stupid? How could you let yourself get caught up with someone like that? After everything we’ve been through, after everything I sacrificed to break the curse and build something real with the packs here, you just throw it all away for a one-night stand with the enemy?”
The accusation lands hard. I feel myself shrinking under her anger, reverting to the quiet, obedient sister I used to be before the curse broke. Part of me wants to apologize and promise I’ll never do anything like this again. Part of me wants to run out the door and keep running until I forget any of this ever happened.
But another part of me, the part that walked into that bar looking for adventure, refuses to cower this time.
“You need to understand the reason he tracked me, Sera. Patrick was confronted by other Thornridge wolves after we spent the night together. They knew about us. They saw us together at the bar, and they were planning to use me against the allied packs. Against you.”
Sera goes pale, and she reaches out for the back of the couch to steady herself. “What were they planning to do with you?”
“Bastian Corvelli wanted Patrick to seduce me and gain my trust. He wanted to use me as a weapon to bring down Llewelyn from the inside, the same way he tried to use Raegan. When Patrick found out, he…” I pause as I gather my courage for the next part. “He asked me to marry him. A mating bond would protect me under pack law.”
The silence that follows is deafening.
Sera stares at me like I’ve grown a second head. Her mouth opens and closes several times, but no sound comes out. She looks at Patrick, then back at me, then at Patrick again.
“You’re telling me that you’re married. To a Thornridge wolf.”
“The ceremony was performed by Evangeline in Hysopp territory. It’s legally binding across all packs.”
Sera barks out a disbelieving laugh. “Of course, Evangeline was involved in all this. That woman has officiated more disaster weddings than anyone in the valley.”
“Sera—”
“Don’t.” She holds up a hand to stop me. “Just don’t. I need a minute to process the fact that my baby sister married the enemy without telling me.”
She turns her back to me and massages her temples, taking in a long, cleansing breath. When she finally turns back around, her face has gone totally blank. It’s an expression I remember from before the curse broke, when emotions were something to be suppressed rather than expressed.
The sight of it makes my heart break into pieces.
“I didn’t have a choice,” I whisper. “I know that doesn’t make it okay, but I need you to understand. He was trying to protect me. The witch who married us said I’m the glue; that something terrible would happen if the bond didn’t happen. I was scared, and I didn’t know what else to do.”
