Voren looked at him with visible exhaustion written all over his face. "What is it now?"
His patience had completely run out. "It’s getting late."
He slipped an arm around Seraphine with protective care. "We need to leave."
Ravyn slowly shook his head, refusing to let the moment end. "I gave the order..." Ravyn’s voice was rough with the weight of everything he was carrying. "I admit that."
Pain and frustration twisted together inside him until they spilled out in a rush. "But Corvine..." he pointed toward his former beta with a trembling hand. "He was the one who carried it out."
His eyes returned to Voren with a mix of anger and desperation. "So why am I the only one standing here as the villain?"
His voice cracked under the combined weight of his anger and guilt. "You condemn me..." he gestured toward Corvine one more time. "While patting him on the back for doing the very thing I told him to do."
Ravyn caught the raw agony burning in Voren’s eyes the second Daeva’s attack landed on Corvine, and that look hit him harder than anything.
He knew that exact expression because once upon a time it had belonged to the two of them. Back then they had stood shoulder to shoulder, ready to bleed for each other without a second thought, the kind of loyalty and trust that felt unbreakable.
Now that place belonged to Corvine.
It wasn’t enough that Corvine had claimed Seraphine’s heart. Somehow, he had also stepped into the spot Ravyn used to occupy right beside Voren, and the bitter truth twisted through his chest like a dagger that refused to stop turning.
Voren drew in a breath, clearly about to speak, but Seraphine cut in first.
"I was your Luna," she began, sorrow flickering across her face before it hardened into quiet resolve. "That’s exactly why I understand how the hierarchy works. A Beta doesn’t get to refuse his Alpha."
Her eyes locked onto Ravyn’s and held there. "Corvine stayed loyal to you through my entire time in this pack because he respected that position. Do you honestly believe he walked away because of me?"
A deep frown settled over Ravyn’s features. "Then... why did he leave?"
He had always told himself Corvine resigned because Seraphine chose to go. The real answer crashed into him like a hammer.
"It was because of Daisy," Seraphine answered with absolute certainty. "Corvine couldn’t stand taking orders from someone like her, so he left."
Ravyn’s legs gave out. He dropped hard onto his knees as guilt swallowed every last scrap of pride he had left. His trembling hand stretched toward Seraphine’s feet, desperate for even the smallest chance at forgiveness.
Before his fingers could come close, a brutal kick crashed into his shoulder. "Don’t fucking touch my wife."
Voren’s voice thundered through the hall. Without sparing Ravyn another glance, he pulled Seraphine firmly against his chest and wrapped a protective arm around her waist, shielding her like she needed protecting from something filthy.
Ravyn staggered back onto his feet, rubbing the throbbing spot on his shoulder before lifting desperate eyes toward Seraphine.
"Sera..." His voice cracked under the weight of everything he still needed to say. "Can you spare me a moment? We need to talk. Just the two of us."
"We have nothing to talk about." Seraphine’s answer came without the slightest hesitation.


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