Fury twisted her perfect features. She straightened, and the air around her darkened as she summoned something different, something that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“Let’s see how strong you really are, Serafina.”
The world around me shifted, shimmered, twisted. I tried to throw up a shield, but it was too late. One moment I was standing in the clearing and the next—
I was inside Evermere, watching as Casimir packed a bag. This time, there was no softness in his eyes when he looked at me.
“It was a mistake,” he said as Amabel wrapped her arms around his waist. “This attempt at a marriage. We’ve found more suitable partners.”
“You were never strong enough for us, Seri. We need someone who won’t break.” Koa had his fingers tangled in Eluned’s long hair, his gentleness directed at her instead of me.
My heart seized, pain radiating outward until I could barely breathe. Deep down, I knew it wasn’t real. This was an illusion, crafted from my deepest fears. Knowing and feeling were two different things, however, and the sight of my mates turning away from me tore something deep inside me.
The vision shifted, and now I was outside, watching in horror as Zane dragged Brumous by the scruff of his neck. My sweet wolf pup whimpered, trying to twist free, but Zane’s grip was relentless.
“Please,” I begged, my voice breaking. “Don’t hurt him. He never did anything—”
“He’s a waste of resources.” Zane drew a knife. “Just like you. It was fun while it lasted, but let’s be honest. You were only a charity case.”
“No.” I shook my head, trying to clear it. This wasn’t right. This couldn’t be happening. “No, you wouldn’t do this.”
Amabel and Eluned are dead,some tiny part of my brain screamed at me, and I shook my head.Koko would never talk to me that way. Simmy would never walk away. And Zoodle would never hurt Brummy.
None of my husbands smelled right, either. Not one of them carried their mate scent.
“It’s an illusion,” I whispered. “It’s not real.”
Even knowing that, Arabesque’s spell crept through my veins, doubt gnawing at my certainty, until a warmth bloomed over my heart,small at first, then spreading. My ward against siphoning flared into life, bright and pure as starlight. I touched it with my fingertips as its silver lines glimmered, and her illusion wavered, shadows and shapes dancing at the edges of my vision.
“Not real,” I said again, louder this time.
The fake Casimir’s handsome face twisted with disdain.
“You really thought we’d stay with you? You’re nothing.”
“If you were really my Simmy, you’d knowexactlywhat I am to you.” I raised my chin, and his illusion flickered.
“And if you were really my Koko,” I turned to his fake version, “you’d never look at me with those empty eyes.”
His image wavered like heat rising from pavement.
“And you.” I turned to the false Zane, still holding Brumous. “If you were really my Zoodle, you’d sooner cut off your own arm than harm a hair on Brummy’s head. You love that wolf.”
And just like that, as Zane’s illusion faltered, I remembered who I was.
Not the same frightened girl who’d fled her stepmother’s house with nothing but a battered wolf pup, a newborn, and desperate hope. Not even the same woman who’d arrived at Evermere, waiting for the other shoe to drop, expecting cruelty from every shadow.
This Serafina had found strength in the love of three monsters, in their belief in me when I couldn’t believe in myself. In the home we’d built. In our’ohana.
I drew moonlight to me in great silver sheets. It cascaded over my skin, through my hair, and down my arms until I shone like a beacon. Not borrowed. Not stolen.Mine.
Just as it had always been.
Palms outward, I released the moonlight in a single, focused burst. It exploded outward like a shockwave, shattering the last of her illusion into a thousand glittering fragments.
“No!” Arabesque shrieked, and I realized one thing with dread certainty: If she hadn’t been greedy and tried to siphon from me, she might have won.
And I was done with her.
