1

"Lie to me."

Simone did a double take and let out a slow breath. "You figured it out."

I tossed back my drink and wiped my eyes, trying to keep my emotions under control. "I'm hurt no one has fucking told me." I met her gaze and blinked back tears. "Really hurt."

"We didn't… Sera, we're worried about you."

"We're always all worried—"

"You can't be dismissive and yell at me for not talking to you in the same breath," she snapped. She cleared her throat and apologized.

She was right, and I wiped my eyes again, staring out at the Chicago skyline. We were having our first ‘Ladies Night,' which we sorely needed, while the guys were having their bonding. It wasn't a big thing, just fun on the roof of the club and some spa treatments. But we had too much complicated. We needed more relaxed.

"How did you figure it out?" I asked, trying to come at this another way.

"Last week when the human came in to handle the appointments. She lied about traffic being horrible as the reason why she was late. You always call people on that." She sighed when I flinched. "I know you—people are assholes, Sera. Some pick on you about being petty. I get that."

"I'm not being petty by picking on them," I defended. "Liars are liars, and when we know they lie about stuff, it's hard to trust them about bigger stuff. Plus, it's stupid. She was late. It doesn't matter if it was traffic or she slept in or wanted sex with her lover. It was ten minutes. Don't bother to lie about that."

She nodded, knowing me well enough that I wasn't judging and was just being a genuine person. "You normally remind people not to lie to shifters and let it go. You didn't. You didn't even register it. I was going to say something, but Carter was there and stopped me. I realized that he has always been around for over a week now and something was up."

I opened my mouth but then closed it, realizing she was right. "He hasn't had one APOT job."

She nodded. "He called Galvin on the side and requested to use his vacation saying the team could work without him just fine. He said it was an emergency after what happened with your—Stacey."

"How could he not fucking tell me?" I whispered, feeling stupid and played.

"Sera, give him this one," she said gently, nodding when I couldn't hide my shock. "Please, please hear me that I'm scared this time. I love you and you're doing great, but—I am a mess for you. I keep crying and—so many of us are gutted for you. We don't—there is no book on how to help for shit this fucked up."

I swallowed loudly and stared out at the night. "It was dangerous for me not to have known."

"Yes, but you've been validly fragile, and Carter was scared that one more way you felt different or broken and you would shatter. I didn't disagree. I wasn't sure it was the right answer, but—he said Phobie didn't know either."

I felt my lower lip quiver and bit it to stop as I tried to gather my thoughts as to what to say. "He talked to my therapist about it, but no one talked to me? You guys don't get how that makes me feel more broken and—"

She grabbed my arms and forced me to face her, giving me a shake. "Feel loved , Sera. We all love you so much that we're scared for you. We're not gossiping that you got fat or you can't handle something—aren't a good leader. We're talking about how to help you survive finding out your psycho mom wanted you dead and we almost didn't have you in our lives!"

She broke down crying which shocked me so much that I simply blinked at her. I set down my glass and hugged her to me, somehow comforting her when it was about me breaking?

I was pretty sure that wasn't actually what was going on but again, I missed a lot, so… Yeah, it was how it seemed to me.

It was probably us sharing something together that I didn't understand or catch. Her being so upset and supporting me?

People and emotions were difficult.

"How did you figure it out?" she asked me when she settled.

I sighed. "One of the boys told a totally normal fib that he didn't hog the bathroom or take too long. I wasn't even paying attention until a few of them snickered and ribbed him and then I noticed. I realized I hadn't caught any of that when normally I did—harmless teenage stuff. Then it made me realize I hadn't caught anyone in a lie in over a week that I could remember."

"And you were terrified," she sighed. "Which was why I didn't want to keep it from you. Learning you weren't catching it—I think Carter was too worried because he's not a shifter and didn't have answers."

"Do you?" I asked, nodding when she flinched. "So we have no idea what's wrong with me this time."

"Please don't think of it that way or about yourself," she whispered, rubbing my arm. "It's a disconnect, Sera. We have more to us than humans and our—our emotional manifests to physical. That's what I know."

"So if you had to guess?"

She shrugged. "Your wolf doesn't trust her own judgment. She was pissed you sent off Clayton. You had issues there, and then she met your birth mom and wanted to shred her. She assumed you were the issue and missed things, but now she's doubting herself and not giving you signals. Cues on what to do. It's her confidence that took a hit."

It made sense… But I was worried.

I was hurt.

I was confused.

I didn't know what I was.

"Are you going to be okay, Sera?" she asked me gently.

"I thought I was doing okay," I answered, my voice hollow.

"Hey, you're doing great ," she said firmly. "You're doing—How can I help?"

I shrugged. "You're doing it. You've taken over all of the fitness clubs and buildings that are now mine. That's a huge —I would have broken under all of that, Simone. We have building managers and—I could never have handled all of that."

"Jimmy Havers has actually been a huge help," she admitted, nodding when I couldn't hide my shock. "He's really smart and has a great head for business. I think he honestly just needed someone to notice." She gave a half shrug. "It's not easy to be in the shadow of a rock star sibling. I know that well. It's why I'm here and not by my family."

Fair enough… And I left it alone. I knew Simone had older siblings, one positioned to take over their family's pack in Europe, but she was low contact with all of them. Mostly just sending birthday wishes or if important information needed to be shared.

And she did not like to talk about them.

Ever.

Which seemed a bit hypocritical given how she involved herself in my family and pushing me to open up. I'd brought that up to Phobie once, and she told me that one day I might get to that point and then the topics would be just dead and settled for me, left in the past. That was the goal and Simone could discuss it, but she wouldn't give her valuable time to something settled.

Maybe.

Maybe that was what it was, but it seemed like it pained her, so I didn't think that was what it was… But I didn't need to go looking for trouble or poke at my friends' problems.

We finished with the fun, and I saw it was what we all needed more of, but even more so on a night where Beth could join us. I waited until I was alone on the rooftop to make the call I needed to.

"It is never good when you are calling me right as I wake," Alena worried.

"Sorry, but I—my wolf is—Mom, something is wrong with me and—"

"You figured out that your wolf isn't sensing when people are lying to you," she said sadly.

"You know?"

"Yes, Carter immediately contacted me and asked if we had any information on it and what he could do," she answered. "He was worried you would spiral if you felt anymore at odds with your wolf. I said the same after speaking with Phobie. I'm so sorry we kept this from you, my beautiful daughter, but it was for your health. I swear it."

"I'm trying to see it that way," I whispered. "Right now it just makes me feel more broken than I did."

"No, no , please do not see it like that. We were going to tell you soon. After Father's Day," she rasped. "You were so excited for the surprise you have planned for their first Father's Day. I thought that would help. Mother is coming to work with you on your new power, and she was going to—you are not the first this has happened to. She will help you."

I nodded as she spoke. "I'm not the first?"

"No, I've experienced it myself, Daughter. Being powerful comes with many problems. The weight we carry as the Alpha—your wolf is doubting herself after she wasn't on your side. You have to see it that way, and she is scared to give her opinion basically. That is how you have to look at this. You are taking on so much more, expanding and—"

"She doesn't want to tell me the wrong thing when she messed up," I muttered, letting out a heavy sigh when Alena confirmed it. "And fucking telling me wasn't an option? Seriously, I could have gotten into deep shit not knowing this and someone lying to me—"

"Which is why your Carter has been hovering," she promised me. "Noah caught it as well and clued in your security to protect you. We weren't going to let this continue. Mother was going to sit you down and explain, talk to your wolf and make it clear that she did make a mistake but to not handle it like this and to not fail you. You both are the team—she knows how to work through this."

"How long until she fixes me?" I asked, wincing when Alena growled. "I'm broken, Mom. Something about me doesn't work. That's broken."

"You are injured . That's not broken. You have to stop seeing it that way, Seraphine! You do emotional and mental damage to yourself when you do. When I was injured this same way, I slowed things down. I asked for help to take things over as you have done . You have better foundations and more in place. You are doing everything you should.

"And this injury will heal in the time it needs. Your wolf needs to feel loved and that you aren't mad at her for not believing in you. She is angry at not ending that woman for her betrayal. You need to bond. Mother will help. I suggest some spoiling from your men for your wolf. That helped me. Treasure her and remind her how much she has protected you as well."

I tried to accept that and thanked her before hanging up. I took a few more minutes to calm down, but then the staff came up to clean after us. I gave them a smile and thanked them as well before heading out.

"Are you okay, Sera?" Nikos asked me gently, worry thick in his eyes. He nodded after studying me. "Simone warned us. Yeah, we all figured it out."

"Who else?" I asked, thinking that was where I should start.

"Noah." He frowned. "I don't know who else." Something filled his eyes at whatever my reaction was, but I ignored it and climbed in the SUV.

Was that something I should be upset at? Would I have noticed if this had happened to any of them?

Yes. Absolutely yes.

Especially if Noah caught it since I spent the least amount of time with him. Carter made sense because he was always at my side.

Brian was the only one with an excuse since he was such a new wolf and didn't know what he was sensing still. And we were trying to recover from our own issues, especially after our couples therapist, Deborah, had tied him up.

But Dain? The twins? Things were still off with Reagan after he'd been a jerk pushing me about how Carter had gone off on my younger half brother when the little shit had called to chew me out.

My heart hurt if Axel had missed it. Eugene. I rubbed my chest. I trusted them both with a lot and they knew what it meant to have issues with family and… Had they really not cared enough to notice?

We were all busy. I knew that, but there were… Was this history all over with the twins drowning and missing when I was in trouble?

But with more of them?

I think that upset me more than that they'd been keeping this from me.

Carter was waiting out front when we pulled up to the building. He opened the door for me and cupped my cheek. "I'm sorry, darling. I didn't know the right answer, and I wanted whichever brought you less pain and fear. I'm sorry if I chose wrong. I really am."

"I don't like feeling like I'm being handled and placated," I whispered. "I'm reasonable, aren't I?" Tears filled my eyes, and I felt too broken.

"You are, but it's hard to know how to bring up— I am limited how to bring things up," Sander said from my right. He shook his head when Carter told him to shut it. "No, she just said to be honest with her." He met my gaze. "I want to help.

"Noah suggested a way, and I want—to me it's like giving you a kiss to remind you to feed. I want to start trying it because I think it's what you need. I get it because I need it too, but I get downtime . You don't, Sera. You need more help because you never fucking stop. Let us be your big brothers. Please?"

I nodded after a moment, and he explained to me about the noise-canceling earbuds idea when driving. When I was frazzled and needed some quiet time to just focus on work or the lists from Vinn. I could just have a time-out even when my day didn't allow it.

"No one will be upset?" I hedged, glancing between them.

"No," they both responded, immediately and firmly.

Sander leaned in and gave me a soft kiss as he hugged me. "You need to be more selfish, Sera. We are all of the time and you just don't see it. I needed some time to just chill after the last assignment and asked someone to switch with me. We do it all of the damn time . I drove the bus instead because I just wanted the drive time chillin'. Take the out if you want."

I thought about it and nodded. "It would be nice sometimes. Sometimes it's nice just to zone out listening to you guys chitchat." I let out a slow breath and met Sander's gaze. "Okay, yeah, that would be great if everyone is really okay with it."

"We are," he promised, giving me another soft kiss. "Go rest, Sera. Some real rest. Go eat your cute chocolate fruit treats and sleep. Everything is going well."

Well enough at least.

I skipped the treats and crawled into bed with Carter since I had a long day that started early… Kind of like all of them.

I really needed a fucking vacation.