Chapter 291 - Can you kiss me again?

Voren pulled the phone away from his ear after a minute.

"A spell?" The word came out flat, like he was testing whether saying it out loud would make it sound less insane. It didn’t. If anything, it sounded even crazier hanging in the air between them. "How is that even possible?"

He stood there another long second, clearly working through it all behind those dark eyes of his.

You could almost see the gears turning, trying to fit this new piece into a puzzle he thought he already understood.

Then something settled in him, not peace exactly, but more like a solid decision clicking into place. He lowered the phone to his side and walked straight toward Seraphine.

He stopped close. Close enough that she had to tilt her chin up a little just to keep holding his gaze.

Voren’s eyes moved over her face slowly, not with that usual sharp, measuring look he gave everyone else, but something rawer.

Guilt sat there. Confusion too. Both of them right on the surface where she could actually see them for once.

"Sera." His voice dropped low, almost rough around the edges. "Do you trust me?"

She didn’t hesitate, and that surprised her a little. The answer came out steady. "Yes."

Something flickered across his expression, just barely, just enough to notice. He gave one slow nod, like he was letting that sink in.

"Do you want to remember?"

"Yes." That one came out even faster, more feeling behind it than she’d meant to let show. It surprised her how badly she did want it, how much the hole in her head suddenly felt unbearable.

The corner of his mouth moved, not quite a full smile, but close. Soft in a way she wasn’t used to seeing from him at all.

"Then close your eyes."

Her mind threw up about four different questions right away, but she swallowed every single one of them and closed her eyes like he asked. The room felt quieter somehow, heavier with anticipation.

She heard him move before she felt him, his Alpha aura, the way the space around her changed, and then his hands found her waist and pulled her in. Steady. Sure. Like this was something normal, and her body, the traitor, leaned right into it before her brain could even start overthinking.

"Sera." His voice was right there above her now, low and intimate. "Try to remember. This would work better back at the pack but let’s give it a try here first."

She opened her mouth to ask why the pack would make any difference at all, but she never got the question out.

His lips came down on hers, and whatever she’d been about to say completely dissolved. She’d parted her lips to speak, and that small opening was all it took.

The kiss deepened on its own, unhurried, like he had nowhere else to be and no intention of rushing through this moment. For about three full seconds, her mind went blissfully quiet.

Then it started.

Images, fragments, began pushing their way up through the darkness behind her eyes. Blurry at the edges, colors slightly off like old photographs left too long in the sun.

A laugh she recognized as her own. Tall trees swaying overhead. His voice, younger and lighter. Her small hand wrapped in someone much bigger.

They came faster and faster, each one hitting harder, and with every flash came the pressure building behind her eyes, filling her skull until it wasn’t just pressure anymore.

It was pain, sharp and real, like something deep inside her head was being forced open after years of staying locked tight.

Her palm slammed against his chest, and she pushed hard.

"Stop—"

Voren pulled back instantly. No argument, no hesitation at all, just stopped completely. When she opened her eyes, the look on his face nearly broke something in her.

He looked like she’d actually hit him. Not physically. Deeper than that. Like it cut way past the surface.

"It hurts," she whispered, pressing her fingers tight against her temple.

"My kiss hurts?" Confusion clouded his mind as she shook her head.

"Not the kiss. The memories. It feels like someone’s throwing rocks at the inside of my head."

The tension in his face changed. The hurt didn’t disappear, but something tighter and more serious took over.

Voren reached up and brushed her hair back from her face with surprising gentleness, tucking it carefully behind her ear.

"Then stop trying to remember," he said, his jaw still set but his voice careful now. "We’re not doing that here. Not like this." He let his hand drop. "If you can make the time, I’ll take you to the pack. A few days, that’s all. The shaman there will know what to do."

"Why can’t the shaman just come here?"

Voren’s mouth pressed into a tight line. "The energy in the human world blocks it. Whatever power the shaman works with...it can’t reach its full strength here. There’s too much interference."

She let that sink in, turning it over in her mind.

For once, genuinely and surprisingly, she had no argument ready. No pushback, no reason to dig her heels in.

Whatever was locked up inside her head, she wanted it out. She wanted to know who she’d really been before everything turned blurry.

"That would be..." She let out a long breath. "Yeah. I’d really appreciate that."

Voren nodded, already thinking ahead. Seraphine could tell by the way his eyes focused. Planning, organizing, his mind always running three steps in front of the conversation.

And then she heard herself speak before she’d even fully decided to say it.

"Can you kiss me again?"

Voren went completely still, and Seraphine felt the heat crawl straight up her neck and she dropped her eyes to somewhere around his collarbone, suddenly embarrassed.

"I won’t try to remember anything this time. I just—" She stopped short, pressing her lips together. She didn’t finish the sentence because she wasn’t entirely sure how it ended.

The silence stretched between them for exactly two long seconds.

Then Voren’s finger found her chin, gentle, just the tip of one finger, and tilted her face up until she had no choice but to look at him.

Whatever expression she’d braced herself for, this wasn’t it. No smirk. No satisfaction. Just warmth, full and unguarded, moving through his eyes like something that had been waiting a long time to come out.

His mouth came down on hers, and this kiss was different from the first one. Less careful. More certain. His hand moved up her side, and she felt the warmth of it even through her clothes. She let herself stop thinking for once, let herself just sink into it.

His hand moved higher, cupping her breast.

She caught his wrist, holding it right there without thinking, and broke from the kiss like a thought had suddenly snagged in her mind.

Still a little breathless, she looked up at him.

"V." Her voice came out slightly husky and she cleared her throat. "You never told me about Marigold’s mother."