Ex-Mate Wants Me Back (Seraphina and Mortimer) novel Chapter 38

Chapter 38

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Chapter 38

Seraphina’s POV

The second I spoke, Mortimer froze. His grip on the silver cutlery tightened until his knuckles turned white.

“If you want an update on Rolf, you don’t need the dinner and the jewelry,” I said.

I looked him dead in the eye, my voice as flat as a post op report. “Taking care of patients and their families is my job. If you have questions, ask me at the healing center next time.”

Mortimer blinked. For a split second, he looked completely blindsided.

The usual “Alpha in charge” mask cracked, leaving him looking raw and awkward.

Finally, he let out a slow, heavy sigh and set his fork down. Those dark, intense eyes of his stayed locked on mine, but the aggression was gone. Now, they were just full of this heavy, desperate sincerity! “You really can’t tell…. that I’m trying to apologize?”

I actually blanked for a second. “Apologize?”

The word sounded foreign.

I looked at him with genuine confusion-I wasn’t playing games. I really didn’t see it coming.

Mortimer pressed his lips together, looking like the words were physically painful to get out.

“I’ve been thinking about things the last few days,” he rasped. “About Vivian… and all the times I let you down. I brought you here to say I’m sorry. Officially.” 17

I went completely still.

The warm light of the booth hit his face, highlighting those eyes I used to drown in. Now, they were just searching mine for a sign of life.

I checked my pulse-metaphorically. Nothing.

No wave of old hurt, no surge of triumph, not even a spark of spite.

My wolf was just a quiet ball of fur in the back of my mind.

It felt like watching a stranger try to patch up a wall that had already crumbled into dust years ago.

“It’s in the past,” I said. My voice didn’t even ripple. “You apologized. I accept. Let’s just not bring it up again.”

I wasn’t ‘forgiving’ him because I’d found peace.

I was ‘forgiving’ him because I didn’t care enough to hold a grudge anymore.

Mortimer’s face turned to stone.

He clamped his jaw shut, but after a few seconds, he forced this stiff, hollow smile.

“Fine. The past is the past. But since you accepted the apology… keep the gift. Okay?”

When he said ‘okay,’ his voice went up a half-step. It was a note of tenderness I wasn’t used to.

I didn’t have the energy to fight him over a rock, so I just gave him a nod, took the sapphire box, and tossed it into my bag like it was a pack of gum.

For the rest of the meal, Mortimer scrambled to find a way through the invisible wall between us.

3/3

Chapter 38

1-wasn’t helping.

+15 Bonus

I gave him one-word answers while he struggled with the silence, the only sound being the polite clink of crystal and silver.

“I was in the gallery last night while you were operating on Rolf,” he said, trying again

I paused mid-bite. My first thought? He didn’t trust me to handle it, so he had to supervise.

“Why? Were you worried I’d break one of your future pack members?” I asked.

I meant it as a bit of dark humor, a casual jab.

But the second the words hit the air, I felt a sharp, jagged twitch through our bond. He looked like I’d slapped him.

“No. I never doubted you for a second,” he said, his words tripping over each other.

He was talking fast, desperate to kill the misunderstanding.

I gave him a thin, fake smile. “Relax. I’m joking.”

Even with that, he couldn’t let it go. “I just wanted to see you work. I was curious.”

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