Chapter 689 – They seem inseparable.
Voren and Seraphine had endured a long day.
The kind of day that gnawed at the edges of patience and left exhaustion coiled deep in the bones. Aside from ensuring every detail of the coronation was flawless, they had also been tasked with setting the right traps for the two witches Ravyn was bringing into their midst.
Every angle had to be considered. Every possibility accounted for. Every shadow examined for the threat lurking within.
The stakes were too high for mistakes. When they finally found a moment of reprieve, they made their rounds.
Desmond and Nessa first. Then Kylie and Humphrey.
Both couples radiated warmth, their affection for Seraphine unguarded. It stirred something in Seraphine, a bittersweet nostalgia for the family she had once longed for.
Daisy sat in Kylie and Humphrey’s suite, her head lowered the entire time. She was a ghost at the edge of the room, silent as conversations swirled over her like water over stone. Her presence was a wound that had not yet healed, a reminder of betrayal and broken trust.
Humphrey was complaining bitterly, his voice carrying the weight of a frustrated father.
"After finding ways of putting Daisy in her place, can you believe that Ravyn is dating some strange girl?"
He shook his head, his expression twisted with disbelief and something that looked almost like heartbreak.
"He goes everywhere with her. And with an additional one he calls her friend tagging along." His gaze found Seraphine, pleading. Desperate. "Sera, you have to help us. They seem inseparable."
Seraphine didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She glanced at Voren, who faked surprise at the news with impressive skill. His expression was a masterpiece of controlled confusion, brows furrowed just so, lips parted in manufactured shock.
For a matter concerning witches, much could not be said until the culprits were caught.
"Dad, if this girlfriend of his hasn’t done anything bad, then I think you should just let him be."
"No, Sera. You don’t understand."
Humphrey’s voice grew more urgent, his hands gesturing wildly as if he could somehow make her see the depth of his fear.
"Ravyn has been training well. Taking pack matters seriously. But ever since this girl appeared a few days ago, he doesn’t even discuss anything with his two betas." His jaw tightened, the muscles flexing. "I’m afraid she might make him do something he would regret."
The worry etched on both their faces was serious. Real. It carved lines into their features that hadn’t been there before, shadows that spoke of sleepless nights and gnawing fears.
Seraphine felt her heart clench. This wasn’t a serious matter but the secrecy of it kept the couple disturbed.
"Don’t worry." Her voice was gentle but steady, a balm to their frayed nerves. "Let’s just hope he finds his mate during the Blood Moon." A soft smile curved the corner of her lips, warm and reassuring. "That would solve this problem, wouldn’t it?"
Humphrey sighed, the tension bleeding from his shoulders like water from a cracked vessel. "You’re right."
Then Voren received the mindlink. ’Ravyn is here. And trust me, if we let these witches in, they’ll blend into the guests, and we won’t be able to make them out.’
The words landed like ice water poured directly into his veins.
Voren realized the flaw in their plan. Without Ravyn, the witches could take the form of any pack member. They could slip through their defenses like smoke through fingers. They could perform whatever dark enterprise they intended, and vanish without a trace, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake.
𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
’Tell Ravyn to meet me in his exclusive suite. The witches should not be let in yet.’
At the other end of the link, Corvine exhaled with relief. Voren would come up with another plan. He always did. That was what made him a king.
"They’re clean."
Liah’s voice cut through the tension as she finished searching the two witches. Her hands had been thorough, professional, betraying nothing of the disgust she felt at having to touch them. Corvine ended the mindlink and turned to Ravyn.
"Our King would like to see you first. In your exclusive suite."
Ravyn’s face went slack with surprise. His eyes widened, then narrowed, then softened with something that looked almost like pain. He never expected Voren to keep his exclusive suite vacant for him.
After everything that had happened between them, after all the distance and silence and bitter words, the gesture struck him like a physical blow.
He forced a smile that didn’t reach his eyes and turned to Candy. "Just wait here. I’ll explain things to the King."
Candy frowned, her fingers twisting together with nervous energy. "Can’t we come with you?"
Ravyn was about to answer when Corvine cut him off.
"You only enter if the King permits it." His voice was firm, unyielding, the voice of an Alpha who had dealt with too many liars to be fooled by pretty faces. "For now, you wait right here. Under my watch."
Candy lowered her head, her expression drifting into something innocent and fragile. A wounded bird. A delicate flower. The act was convincing, but Corvine saw through it. He had seen too many masks to be fooled.
Ravyn walked toward the elevator, his footsteps heavy against the floor. Each step felt like wading through mud. Each breath felt like inhaling glass.
He pressed the digit for his exclusive suite, the numbers glowing beneath his fingertip. When access was granted after he entered the code, disbelief rippled through him.
Voren had kept his passcode just the same. The doors slid open, and Ravyn stepped inside.
The suite was spotless. Untouched. As if it had been frozen in time, preserved in amber, waiting for its owner to return. His personal belongings were still there, arranged exactly as he had left them. A book on the nightstand. A jacket draped over the chair. A photograph of he and Voren on the dresser.
The sight of it made his chest ache with memories.
He missed the old times. When he and Voren were inseparable. When they trusted each other with their lives and laughed at the idea of anything ever coming between them. When the word "brother" meant something sacred.
Who knew a woman would be the one to separate them?
But Ravyn knew the truth. He knew it in his bones, in his blood, in the hollow spaces of his heart. Voren had loved Seraphine for almost two decades. Yet he had stayed away. He had kept his distance, buried his feelings, because she was married to Ravyn. Because honor meant more to him than desire.
Now it was Ravyn’s turn to stay away. Unless a miracle happened.
He froze at the sight of the man standing there. It was Voren, and he wasn’t alone.
Ravyn stood in the doorway, his heart plummeting into his stomach. The air left his lungs in a rush. His hands trembled at his sides.
He did not expect to leave the very same suite in tears moments later.