Chapter: 45

"Get out," she said icily. My jaw went slack.

She'd asked me to leave the day before, too, but not like this-this was ice-the kind that froze rivers from the bottom up.

Lucian was seated on the seat I had occupied over the last two days, a gift basket at his feet. An illogical, irrational part of me told me he was trying to replace me.

I took a step into the room.

"Sera-"

"I said out." Her voice could have flash-frozen hell. The heart monitor spiked as her breath turned ragged. "Take your pack of hypocrites with you."

What the hell had happened in the three hours I was gone? Had she just been too weak earlier to treat me this way, or had something else occurred?

Regardless of her words, I stepped further into the room, and her face tightened with anger.

"Are you deaf?" she snapped, and my eyes widened as her chest started to rise and fall rapidly. "I said-"

"Sera," Lucian said softly, taking her hand in his, "calm down, don't overwork yourself."

My eyes zeroed in on Lucian's hand in Sera's, and my vision tinged green with jealousy as she turned to him and offered him a soft smile.

"Are you kidding me?" The words tore out of me raw. She turned back to me as I entered the room.

"Im the one who's been by your side for the past two days while you teetered between life and death. He"-I glared at Lucian in disgust- "shows up with a gift basket and deserves your affection?"

Her laugh was hollow. "Funny. I don't recall asking for your vigil."

That look in her eyes-like I was nothing. Like our decade together had evaporated.

The truth hit like a silver bullet: The woman I married was gone.

And the one left behind hated me.

KIERAN'S POV

The door swung open before Sera could spit whatever venom she'd brewed.

She closed her eyes and muttered, "What now?" like everyone-including me-was a fucking inconvenience.

"Enter," I called out, hoping whoever it was would annoy her further.

The door drew open, and Gavin, my Beta, strode in, all military precision. His gaze swept over Lucian's hand clutching Sera's-fuck-and landed on me like none of it mattered.

"Alpha,"-he stretched out a thin brown envelope to me-"here are the results of the investigation.”

Sera's nails dug into the sheets. "Take your pack business elsewhere-" I couldn't resist snapping back at her. "It is your business." She frowned. "What?"