The Alpha Who Never Loved Me (Serena and Kieran) novel Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Serena’s pov

I didn't sleep.

Every time I closed my eyes, I imagined Kieran and that woman in bed together.

My wolf howled inside me, clawing at my chest but I just lay there in our bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for the sound of his car in the driveway.

It never came.

By three in the morning, I'd checked my phone forty-seven times and I finally accepted what my wolf had known for hours.

He wasn't coming home.

In five years of marriage, Kieran had never spent a night away from me. Not once. Even during the worst pack disputes, even when he had to drive three hours after a late meeting, he always came back. He'd slip into bed smelling of coffee and exhaustion, pull me against his chest, and fall asleep with his face buried in my hair.

I used to think it meant something.

Now I understood. It wasn't love that brought him home, it was obligation, the same sense of duty that made him marry me in the first place.

But Sophie was back and duty wasn't enough to compete with whatever she made him feel.

A sound escaped my throat, a half sob, half growl. I pressed my face into the pillow and screamed until my voice gave out.

My phone rang.

I grabbed it, thinking maybe he was calling to explain, to apologize, to tell me it was all a misunderstanding—

It was my father.

"Serena." His voice was strained, "It's your mother, she's had a heart attack. We're at St. Michael's."

I felt my whole world grind to a stop.

"I'm on my way."

I was up and running. I didn’t stop till I was running through the hospital corridors.

My father met me outside the ICU, he looked worse for wear.

"She's stable," he said before I could ask. "The doctors say she'll be okay."

I collapsed against him and he caught me, holding me up the way he used to when I was small.

"What happened?"

"She was cleaning this morning and she fell." His voice cracked. "If I hadn't been there—"

"But you were." I squeezed his arm. "She's going to be fine."

He nodded, but his eyes were distant.

I understood. After everything we'd lost, our pack was decimated by rogues, our territory absorbed, our people scattered, my mother was all he had left. Her and me.

When they finally let us see her, she was awake. Her eyes found mine immediately, and her face crumpled with guilt.

"Oh, sweetheart. I'm so sorry."

"Mom, don't—"

"Your anniversary." She reached for my hand, "I ruined your anniversary. You should be with Kieran, not stuck here with me."

The mention of his name sent a fresh wave of pain through my chest and my wolf whimpered.

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