Three Wolfens Betrayed Me. One Siren Didn’t Chapter 16

Three Wolfens Betrayed Me. One Siren Didn’t Chapter 16

Epilogue

When we got back to the manor, the three wolfens were waiting.

They told me the truth. The conversation I’d overheard – they’d *wanted* me to hear it. Because

they’d seen how exhausted I was. Cole wouldn’t look at me. “You couldn’t sleep. You were barely holding on. You couldn’t even afford to feed yourself.”

Kane’s voice was quiet. “We never treated Selina as our master. Never.”

Drake nodded. “We thought if you believed we liked her, you’d send us away. You’d be free. But you weren’t free. You were more exhausted than when you had us.”

The room was quiet.

Kane looked at me. Then at Lorian. Wolfen and siren. Their eyes met.

No fight. No challenge. Just – recognition.

I didn’t kick them out. I didn’t invite them to stay. I just said, “Come or go as you like. But I’m not your master. You’re not my property. We’re all adults. Live your own lives.”

Cole rolled his eyes. “Who said we wanted you as a master?”

“Then why are you here?”

He opened his mouth. Closed it. Nothing came out.

The next day, they moved in next door.

Selína came to see me a few months later.

She said she was sorry. She

e said she’d always known Lorian was the siren I’d saved. But she was jealous. He didn’t like her. She wanted him anyway.

“I should have told you,” she said. “But I didn’t want to.”

She cried the whole time. Red nose. Red eyes. Like when she was little and fell down and came running to me.

I was quiet for a long time. Then I hugged her.

“Don’t bother me so much.”

She froze. Then cried harder.

Two years later.

Winfeld Group was stable. Lorian stayed by my side. Sometimes he went out for meetings.

Sometimes he slept all day.

The three next door became regulars.

Cole started a business selling wolfen merchandise. It was losing money. He asked me to invest. I said no. He called me a *cold-hearted capitalist,*

Kane didn’t talk much. But every time he came over, he left flowers on the hall table. No note. No

name.

Drake texted the group chat sometimes. *Want to get dinner?* *No.* Then he’d send a crying

emoji.

Another rainy afternoon. I was curled up on the couch with paperwork. Lorian was at my feet, his tail hooked around my ankle. Rain beat against the windows.

1 remembered that day years ago – the wet alley. Three little wolfens in the rain. Blood and water.

And one of them – so weak he couldn’t open his eyes – had flicked his tail. And curled it around my

calf.

Just like Lorian was doing now.

I smiled.

“Lorian.”

“Mm.”

“That day. Were you lying next to those three wolfens on purpose?”

Silence.

“You were following me.”

“…No.”

“Yes, you were.”

“No.”

“Lorian.”

Long pause.

“…You were afraid they’d take me away.”

The tips of his ears went pink. Sirens don’t have pink ear tips. But his did.

I reached down and ruffled his hair. Black strands slipping through my fingers.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “No one’s taking me anywhere.”

Lorian looked up from the blanket. His dark eyes reflected my face.

He looked for a long time.

Then, slowly – he smiled.

It was the first time I’d seen him smile. Like a crack in the ice – a dark river finally breaking

through.

Outside, the rain kept falling.

Inside, it was warm.