My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 356

Sera

My fork scraped the plate, stirring the venison in gravy. The meat was tender, but it tasted like ash. My appetite had been gone for days. It had not been the same since Fenris rode out.

I had almost missed it when it happened - the moment my senses snapped back. Just a few minutes ago, we'd run out of the storeroom where the fully fleshed woman rogue was kept. The entire situation was absurd. You can't stand before an adult woman like that acting like a feral animal and expect to just take it.

That thing had almost chopped Mina's fingers off.

I looked up, my gaze going to the opposite end of the table. Mina was seated there, her own meal untouched before her. She looked distant, her eyes unfocused on some far-off point. Mina had been born here in the North, and even she was rattled by the idea of a rogue wolf becoming a fully fleshed woman. To top it all, it was a beautiful woman.

My mouth went dry as I watched Mina sit, distant-eyed and still, the fork hovering over her plate. Finally, I couldn't take the silence any longer. "Mina?" I asked quietly. "You not eating?"

Her head snapped up at the sound of my voice. Her eyes, unfocused and faraway, searched my face for a long moment before recognition clicked. Her brow furrowed.

"What?" She blinked hard, trying to shake off whatever haze had claimed her. "Oh, this?" A beat, then she shook her head.

"No. Yeah." She nodded, contradicting herself. A rough, rattling cough. "Sorry, yeah, I'll eat." She picked up her fork, but just held it, staring down at the untouched meat. "Thank you."

I stared at the plate in front of me. Something felt wrong in my chest.

I hadn't eaten a bite since we'd been served, but that was no surprise. I'd been struggling to eat ever since Fenris rode out... I couldn't remember when. I glanced up at Mina, who was watching me, her eyes narrowed. "You haven't touched your food either," she pointed out.

I sighed and pushed the plate away. "I know." My stomach was in knots and food wasn't an option. I looked at Mina, and she shook her head.

Mina had been pushing me to set the rogue free. Part of me was tempted to do just that. To release her, let her be free. If I didn't know what she was, I probably would have already. But my fear of her had stopped me. And there was something else too, something I couldn't quite understand. The bond I could feel... it was an odd feeling. It felt almost like... need. Like I needed to be close to her.

She was an animal, but that feeling was there, and I couldn't ignore it. I couldn't understand it. Did Fenris feel this way about Yvara? Did Yvara feel this way about him? I wanted to ask, but I was too scared. I was too scared of the answer, or the lack of one.

Even if I could ask, Fenris wasn't here to provide an answer.

I didn't want to need anyone. Not now, not ever. Especially not a monster that could rip a man apart.

Mina suddenly stood up, kicking her chair back.

I was still waiting for that day. I had gotten very good at waiting.

My hand found the scar at my collarbone, the one I had put there myself the night I tore the bond out of my own chest. Even now it ached under my fingers, faint and familiar, like a door that never quite shuts flush.

"Sera," a voice called out.

I turned to see Mina staring at me, the unspoken question clear in her eyes. She didn't need an answer. We'd just left the storeroom, and the woman and I both experienced the same nightmare in that room.

I shuddered. The sight of her brought back memories of my first weeks at Ironmaw, when I'd been given over to Yvara to train. I'd nearly died then, broken under the weight of my own weakness. But I had survived, grown strong, become something I never thought I could be. And now, I had my own rogue waiting.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Mina said, her voice soft with empathy.

"Yeah."

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