Luna. Chapter 15

(Kael's POV)

I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Lyra's face during the rejection ceremony.

The way she'd glanced at me when I accused her of lying. The way she'd stood there, dignified even in her pain, while I destroyed everything we'd built together.

At three in the morning, I gave up trying to rest and wandered down to the kitchen. The packhouse was silent, everyone asleep except for the night patrol guards.

I stood at the counter where Lyra used to make her morning tea, and suddenly I was remembering the first time she'd tried to make me coffee.

It was three weeks after our wedding. She'd been so nervous, wanting to do something nice for me. I'd found her in the kitchen at dawn, surrounded by coffee beans and confusion, reading instructions on her phone.

"The internet says freshly ground is better," she'd said, looking up at me with those bright eyes. "But I've never used a coffee grinder before."

I'd watched her struggle with the machine, coffee beans flying everywhere, her face scrunched in concentration. She was trying so hard to make everything best.

"Here," I'd said, moving behind her to guide her hands. "Like this."

She'd leaned back against my chest, warm and soft and smelling like vanilla and hope. "I want to take care of you," she'd whispered. "I want to be a good wife."

"You already are." I'd kissed the top of her head, meaning every word. "You don't have to prove anything to me."

The coffee had been terrible. Bitter and weak and somehow both too strong and too watery at the same time. But I'd drunk every drop because she'd made it for me. Because the look on her face when I told her it was best was worth more than any perfectly brewed cup.

Now, standing in the same kitchen where she'd tried so hard to please me, I felt like I couldn't breathe.

When had I stopped appreciating her efforts? When had I stopped seeing the love behind every small gesture? When had I started taking her for granted?

"Kael?" Seraphina's voice made me jump. She stood in the doorway wearing a silk nightgown that definitely hadn't come from the pack's donated clothing pile. "Couldn't sleep either?"

"Just thinking."

"About her?" There was resentment in Seraphina's voice, quickly hidden behind concern. "Darling, you have to stop torturing yourself. You made a right choice."

"Did I?"

Seraphina moved closer, her bare feet silent on the kitchen tiles. "Of course you did. She was lied you, trying to trap you with fake pregnancy claims. You saw right through her deception."

"But what if it wasn't deception?" The question came out before I could stop it. "What if she really was pregnant?"

"Then she would have been able to prove it properly." Seraphina's hand found my arm, her touch light and familiar. "Any real pregnancy would have been obvious to your wolf senses."

Would it have been? I tried to remember the last time I'd really paid attention to Lyra's scent, really focused on her instead of on Seraphina's needs and Seraphina's recovery and Seraphina's endless requirements for attention.

"Kael, look at me." Seraphina's voice was soft, hypnotic. "I'm here now. We're together again, just like we always should have been. Don't let guilt about that woman cloud your judgment."

That woman. As if Lyra hadn't been my wife. As if she hadn't lived in this house, shared my bed, tried to build a life with me.

"She has a name," I said quietly.

"What?"

"Her name is Lyra. Not 'that woman.' Lyra."

Something across Seraphina's face - annoyance, maybe. But it was gone so quickly I might saw it wrong.

"Of course. Lyra." She said this name with reluctant. "I just think it's healthier not to dwell on past mistakes."

Past mistakes. Was that what Lyra had been? A mistake to be forgotten now that Seraphina was back?

"I should try to sleep," I said, moving away from her touch.

"Wait." Seraphina caught my hand. "Why don't you come to my room tonight? Like we used to?"

The suggestion annoyed me. "Seraphina, it's too soon. Everything that's happened..."

"Is exactly why we should be together." Her eyes were bright, intense. "We wasted three years apart, Kael. Don't let's waste any more time."

She moved closer, pressing against me, and for a moment I was transported back to five years ago. When Seraphina's touch had meant everything to me. When I'd thought she was dead and mourned her like a piece of my soul had been torn away.

But now... now her touch felt wrong. Calculated. Like she was playing a role instead of feeling genuine emotion.

"I need time," I said, stepping back. "Everything is still too busy."

"Because of that woman?”

Not that woman.

She named Lyra, my ex-wife.

I moved toward the kitchen door. "Good night, Seraphina."

I left her standing in the kitchen and went back to my empty bedroom. Lyra's scent still lingered on her pillow, faint but unmistakable. Without thinking, I picked it up and breathed in deeply.

Vanilla and warmth and something else. Something sweet and new that I'd been too distracted to identify before.

My wolf stirred restlessly, recognizing something important that my conscious mind had missed.

"No," I whispered into the darkness. "It's too late. Even if I was wrong, it's too late now."

But was it? Magnus had invoked the Right of Second Chance, but that didn't necessarily mean he'd completed a mate bond with Lyra. There might still be time to fix this.

If I was brave enough to admit I'd been wrong.

If I was strong enough to face what I'd thrown away.