Ex-Mate Wants Me Back (Seraphina and Mortimer) novel Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Seraphina’s POV

Mortimer leaned in, his breath hitching against my ear, his voice thick with a hunger he wasn’t trying to hide anymore.

He started to slant his head, his mouth hunting for mine.

Just as his breath ghosted over my lips-just as we were about to collide-I gasped out his name. “Mortimer.”

I shoved my palms against his chest.

Even through the fabric of his shirt, the heat coming off him was searing, making my voice shake

I had to fight my own wolf, dragging Lily back from the edge of surrender and forcing my pheromones to stay locked down.

Mortimer stalled. The haze in his eyes cleared for a split second.

He stared at me, and I forced the words out, cold and steady. “This isn’t in the contract.”

His eyelids flickered, a flash of confusion crossing his face like he hadn’t heard me right. “What?”

I closed my eyes and took a jagged breath, anchoring myself in reality. “Our mating agreement. This… wasn’t part of the deal.”

The confusion on his face lasted two seconds before the realization hit.

Then, a dark, thin veil of fury settled over his brow.

“Seraphina, we’re mated at the altar. We swore to the Moon Goddess,” he growled, his voice vibrating with a frustrated heat he was struggling to contain.

I couldn’t tell what was pissing him off more-the fact that I’d stopped him at the finish line, or the fact that I’d brought up the paperwork in the middle of a blackout.

I looked down, digging my nails into my palms.

The sharp sting helped clear the fog, keeping me from drowning in the steam and the scent of him.

“Yeah,” I whispered, my lips tight. “On paper. For the public.”

Legally binding? Sure. Socially accepted? Absolutely. But at the end of the day, we were just a performance for the other wolf packs.

I summoned every ounce of nerve I had left and looked him dead in those dark, angry eyes. I needed to remind him—and myself –where the line was drawn. “Did you forget? We signed the papers. No interference. A mateship in name only.”

It was a bucket of ice water to the face. The heat radiating off him died instantly.

He stared at me for a long, brutal minute before his grip finally slackened.

He looked away, his voice dropping into a hollow rasp. “My bad.”

I gave him a stiff nod, swallowed the lump in my throat, and brushed past him out of the bathroom.

I scrambled into the walk-in closet and threw the door shut, locking it. Only when the physical barrier was between us did I collapse onto the leather bench, my legs finally giving out.

The agreement we’d signed wasn’t complicated.

It was a standard arrangement: look like a normal couple for the cameras, show up to the pack functions, and keep the elders happy. 1

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In private? We were ghosts to each other. Total autonomy.

The contract even had an exit strategy-a fat compensation package and a clause stating that neither side could refuse the split once the clock ran out. And, most importantly, no overstepping’ into territory that would make the other person uncomfortable.

We were roommates with a shared last name. That was it.

For three years, Mortimer had been the perfect professional.

He gave me the respect a Luna deserved in front of the Blades, and he never once crossed a line. He stayed in his lane, and he expected me to stay in mine.

But for a girl who’d spent ten years crushing on him from the shadows, suddenly being his ‘mate felt like winning the lottery.

I couldn’t help myself.

I started testing the fences, trying to see where the ‘overstepping’ actually started

I wanted to find out exactly where his so-called boundaries for crossing the line were drawn.

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