My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 6

Sera

"Sera?"

Lyra's voice cracked over the line. Then she was sobbing, full-body sobs that made the phone shake.

"Lyra, what—" I gripped the burner phone tighter. Third one this week. Nadia had told me to switch them every two days. Make it harder to track. "Lyra, calm down. Where are you?"

"In my—" She gulped air. "In my cupboard."

I froze.

The cupboard. We'd hidden there as kids when Father got loud, when his voice carried through the palace like thunder. Lyra only went there when something was very, very wrong.

"Talk to me," I said. My hands were shaking. "What happened?"

More crying. I waited, listening to her try to breathe.

"It's Nadia," she finally managed.

My stomach dropped. "What about Nadia?"

I'd been trying to reach her for two days. No answer. I told myself she was being careful, staying off communication. But the silence had been eating at me.

"Father threw her in the dungeon."

"What?" The word came out too loud. "He can't do that. She's from a noble house. Lord Garrett wouldn't—"

"He locked up her whole family."

I stopped breathing.

"Sera, he said if they don't give you back, he's going to execute them all."

No. No no no.

My father was a man of his word. If he said he'd do something, it wasn't a bluff.

I was already moving, shoving clothes into the bag. "I'm coming back."

"Don't you dare!" Lyra's voice went high and sharp. "Sera, don't even think about it—"

"I'm not sitting here while an entire family dies for me." I grabbed the map, the supplies. "Tell Father I'm coming. Tell him to let them go."

"No! Sera, you can't—" Lyra was crying harder now. "Don't come back. Please don't come back."

"Lyra—"

"Nadia knew what she was signing up for!" Her voice cracked. "She knew what she was doing when she decided to help you. Don't ruin what we worked hard for!"

We?

I stopped moving.

"Lyra." My voice came out flat. "How do you know about the plan?"

Silence.

"Lyra. I asked you a question!"

"I..." Her voice was so small. "I couldn't just watch him sell you like that. So when Nadia came to me before you even got home, when she told me what she was planning... I helped her."

The phone nearly slipped from my hand.

"You knew? The whole time?"

"I'm sorry, I just—I couldn't let you go through with it. Not when I knew—" She stopped.

"Knew what?"

"I knew about Dimitri being dead. I've known for two years, Sera. Father told me right after it happened." The words came out in a rush now. "He told me because if you didn't come back after your three years were up, the contract would transfer to me. I was supposed to marry Fenris instead."

My legs went weak. I sat down hard on the cot.

"What?"

"Father had it all planned out. If you honored the bet, you'd marry into House Volkov. If you didn't come back, I would. Either way, he'd get his alliance." Lyra was crying again. "So when Nadia told me she had a plan to get you out, I helped. I gave her money, I helped her bribe the guards, I made sure Mother was distracted that night. Because I couldn't—I couldn't just let you walk into that without even trying to save you."

"You were going to have to marry him," I said slowly. "If I didn't come back."

"Yes."

"And you didn't think to tell me any of this? You just sat there at breakfast and let Father ambush me with the news that Dimitri was dead?"

"He told me not to say anything! He said it would only make things worse, that you'd find out when you needed to—"

"When I needed to?" My voice rose. "Lyra, I thought I was coming home to marry someone reasonable! I thought it was still Dimitri! And the whole time you knew it was Fenris and you said nothing!"

"I was scared!" she shouted back. "I was terrified that if I told you, you wouldn't come home at all, and then Father would force me to marry him instead! I know that makes me selfish, I know it makes me a terrible sister, but I was so scared, Sera. You have no idea what it's been like these past two years knowing what was waiting."

I pressed my hand to my mouth. My baby sister. She'd been living with this for two years. Knowing that if I didn't show up, she'd be the one handed over to the Barbarian Alpha.

"And Nadia knew too?" I asked. "About all of it?"

"She figured it out. I don't know how, but she came to me about a week before you got home and said she knew Father was planning to marry one of us off to Fenris Volkov. She said she had a plan to get you out, but she needed my help." Lyra took a shaky breath. "So I helped. Because even though I was scared, I couldn't just let it happen. Not to you."

I closed my eyes. "I'm coming home."

"No! Sera, please!" She was crying again, begging. "Please don't do this. I don't know what I'll do if I lose you. Please just stay away, please—"

I stopped moving.

There was a smell in the air—cocoa, rich and sweet. The smell of cocoa brewing.

But I hadn't made any.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and listened. The cabin was silent except for the wood creaking and chirping outside. Then I caught another scent underneath the cocoa.

Someone was in the house.

I dropped the phone.

My claws shot out—I didn't even think about it, just felt the sharp burn as they extended. I crept toward the doorway, barely breathing.

The main room came into view.

He was sitting at my tiny dining table.

Fenris Volkov.

He filled the entire chair, made it look like a child's toy. His shoulders were so broad they blocked the window behind him. He held a cup in one massive hand, steam rising from it, and he was just... sitting there. Drinking my cocoa like he owned the place.

He looked up when I entered. Didn't seem surprised. Didn't even move.

Just stared at me over the rim of the cup.

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