Chapter 3 THE WOMAN AT HIS DOOR

Seraphina heard the front door close a little after midnight.

She had been sitting in the small sitting room upstairs with a book open on her lap for almost an hour. She had not read a page. The fire had gone low, and the house was too quiet.

Kael came up the stairs slowly. He found her in the sitting room doorway with his jacket over one arm. His hair was messy, and he looked exhausted.

"You're late," she said.

"I know."

"That's it?"

He dropped his jacket on the chair by the door. "The meeting ran long."

"You said you'd be home before eleven."

"I know."

"You always know, Kael."

He came and sat beside her. He reached for her hand, and for a second she let him hold it. His fingers were warm. She hated that it still calmed her.

"Where were you?" she asked.

"At the pack house. My father wanted to go through the border reports again."

"And after that?"

"I drove around for a while. I needed to think."

She looked at him. Kael was good at hiding things. He always had been. Even when they were younger, he could smile at someone and be thinking about something else completely.

"You could have called," she said.

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Don't keep saying sorry if you're going to keep doing it."

"Seraphina."

"No." She pulled her hand away and stood. "You disappear for hours. You come home late. You say you were busy, and I'm supposed to accept it because you're the Alpha's heir and everyone needs something from you."

"That's not fair."

"Isn't it?"

Kael stood too. "My father is preparing me to take over. The council questions everything I do. The elders watch every move I make. I can't just disappear whenever I feel like it."

"I'm not asking you to disappear. I'm asking you to come home."

He didn't answer straight away.

"I am home," he said finally.

Seraphina looked at him for a moment, then turned toward the bedroom.

"Come to bed when you're ready."

"Sera."

"I'm tired."

She didn't wait for him to say anything else.

---

In the bedroom, she changed into her nightdress and sat in front of the mirror. She brushed her hair slowly, though she wasn't really looking at herself.

She and Kael had been married for three years.

Three years of quiet dinners, hidden visits, and nights spent in this house instead of the main estate. Three years of pretending their marriage was ordinary, even though most of the pack did not know it existed.

Her father had arranged it. The Veyras had old blood and land along the southern border, and the Blackthorns needed allies. A marriage between Kael and Seraphina made sense to both families.

It did not matter that she had barely known him when the agreement was made.

At first, she had hated it.

She had thought she was being traded like property. Another daughter offered up to strengthen another alliance. Her father called it duty. Her mother called it an honor.

Seraphina had called it a cage.

But Kael had been kind.

He did not treat her like a business arrangement. He asked what she liked. He learned how she took her tea. He noticed when something was wrong, even when she tried to hide it.

Slowly, the resentment became something else.

She loved him.

That was the problem.

Because loving Kael meant wanting all of him. And lately, she felt like she was only getting pieces.

Some nights he did not come home at all. He took calls in another room. Sometimes she would say something and he would look at her like he had forgotten she was there.

It had not always been like this. For the first two years, he had been attentive. Then, slowly, something had shifted. She couldn't say exactly when. Only that it had.

She told herself it was pressure. That he was preparing to become Alpha. That every wife of an Alpha heir learned to share her husband with the pack.

She had told herself all of it.

Lately, she was starting to wonder if any of it was true.

---

When Kael finally came into the bedroom, Seraphina was already in bed. She kept her back to the door.

The mattress dipped behind her.

"I thought you were asleep," he said.

"I was waiting."

He touched her shoulder. "I said I was sorry."

"I heard you."

"Then why are you still upset?"

She turned to face him. "Because you keep making me feel like I'm asking for too much when all I want is my husband."

Kael went quiet.

"I know things will change when your father steps down," she said. "There'll be more duties. More meetings. More people needing you. But I need to know I still come first with you."

"You do."

"Do I?"

"Yes."

The word came out too fast.

"You promise?"

"I promise."

She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe the distance between them was only because of pressure and responsibility.

Kael leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"Get some sleep," he murmured. "Tomorrow will be better."

She closed her eyes, but she did not sleep for a long time.

---

The next morning, Seraphina woke to an empty bed.

At first, she thought Kael had left early again. Then she smelled coffee coming from downstairs.

She found him standing by the kitchen window with a cup in his hand. He was already dressed, though it was still early.

"You're up," she said.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Because of the council?"

"Among other things."

She walked to the counter and poured herself some coffee. "What other things?"

Kael turned toward her. He opened his mouth, then closed it.

Then his phone rang.

He glanced at the screen. His face changed. Softened. He turned away from her before he answered.

"Hey. No, it's fine. I can talk."

Seraphina stood very still with her coffee in her hand.

She had not heard that tone in months.

"Kael-"

"I'll be back later."

He kissed her quickly - on the cheek, not the mouth - and left before she could stop him.

Seraphina stood alone in the kitchen with her coffee going cold.

The house felt too quiet.

She looked at the chair where he had sat the night before, then at the door he had walked through without looking back.

Something was wrong.

She could feel it.

Kael was hiding something from her.

And for the first time since their marriage began, Seraphina wondered if the man she loved was not only busy.

Maybe he was keeping a secret.

Maybe it had a name.