Ex-Mate Wants Me Back (Seraphina and Mortimer) novel Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Seraphina’s POV

I was stunned.

Ever since I was pulled out of that avalanche, that near-death despair had become a curse etched into my soul.

Every time I closed my eyes, the scene replayed with clinical precision.

For the last two weeks, that terror had been tearing at my will, a constant, brutal reminder of what I’d lost.

I looked down, hiding the mess in my eyes. “It’s nothing,” I said flatly. “Just a dream.”

I climbed out of bed, my voice sounding like it had been dragged over gravel. “I’m going to wash my face. Go back to sleep.”

In the bathroom, the shock of ice-cold water finally pushed back the panicked wolf in my mind.

But my hands, gripped tight against the sink, wouldn’t stop shaking.

Water dripped from my hair, but it couldn’t wash away the scent of him—the heavy Alpha pheromones that filled the room.

It hit me then, with a jolt of pure nausea: just being in the same room as him, sharing the same air, made my skin crawl.

I lingered in the bathroom until the urge to throw up passed.

When I finally pushed the door open, Mortimer was leaning back on the sofa, his brow furrowed in a tight knot.

ľ

He snapped his eyes open the second he heard me, locking onto me like a hawk.

I hesitated for a heartbeat, then walked straight to the closet. I pulled out a heavy down comforter and turned to leave the master suite.

“Where are you going with that?”

Mortimer’s voice was sharper now, spiked with irritation.

He didn’t like being ignored.

I stopped and looked back at him, my expression dead calm. “I haven’t been sleeping well. I don’t want to disturb you, so I’m going to the guest room.”

+15 Bonus

His face went dark instantly.

The exhaustion vanished, replaced by a cold, hard look of offense. “Seraphina, are you seriously telling me we’re sleeping in separate rooms?”

I could hear the growl in his tone, but it didn’t move me.

I was too tired to care, too drained to even argue. I just wanted to be

away

from him.

“You’re busy, and you need your sleep,” I said, my voice steady and patient. “It’s better for both of us.”

He stared at me, his lips pressed into a thin line. His aura began to leak into the air again.

He was waiting for me to cave, to apologize, to explain myself-the way I always did. But I just stood there, waiting for him to move.

The silence between us was suffocating.

Deep in my mind, the mating bond flared with a sharp, stinging pain.

He took a deep breath and released a wave of cedar-scented pheromones-the scent that used to mean safety. But now, it was laced with a frantic, broken edge that only made the confrontation more pathetic.

“Seraphina,” he said, fighting to keep his voice level. “We are mates.”

I nodded. “I know.”

Two months. That’s how long was left before the contract could be dissolved.

That was why I wanted to keep things civil-to give this business arrangement a clean, dignified ending.

“Then why are we sleeping in separate rooms?” He rubbed his temples, his patience clearly redlining.

I bit my lip. The last shred of my own patience was about to snap.

I just repeated myself, “I’m a restless sleeper. I don’t want to affect you.”

He saw right through the lie.

He let out a sharp, frustrated “Tsk,” yanked at his collar, and started pacing the room like a caged animal.

I wasn’t in the mood to watch the performance. I gripped the comforter tighter and turned to

C

+15 Bonus

But before I could reach the door, his arm shot out, blocking my path.

I looked up. His eyes were dark, swirling with a storm I knew all too well.

I’d spent ten years loving him from afar and three years as his partner; I knew he was on the edge of a violent outburst.

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