Chapter 312: Chapter 312 – Seraphine’s a doctor. We need her help again.
Seraphine’s lips curved into a soft smile as she nodded, her eyes locked on Voren’s without a hint of hesitation. The pull between them was still crackling in the air, but she didn’t look away. If anything, she looked more sure of herself.
"Yeah, it is," she said. "You got a problem with that, V?"
She watched him closely, curiosity bubbling up. The way he was staring at the mark on her skin made her wonder if he’d seen it before. Her mind immediately went to Marigold, wondering if Voren had seen the mark on her.
Voren’s brow furrowed slightly, but there was no judgment in his expression. It was more like fascination, mixed with genuine interest. His fingers hovered just above the mark, like he was dying to trace it but holding himself back.
"It looks familiar," he admitted, eyes still glued to it. "I swear I’ve seen this somewhere before."
The longer he stared, the more that feeling grew. Something in the back of his mind was trying to push through. Back when he’d been training Seraphine for her showdown with Santiago, he thought he’d caught a glimpse of something similar.
It hadn’t been this clear then, though, and he definitely hadn’t been focused on it. He hadn’t let his eyes wander anywhere they didn’t belong.
A small smile tugged at his lips. "I don’t remember seeing it when you were a kid, but that tracks. I never saw you naked back then."
The blunt honesty in his voice sent a fresh wave of heat rolling through the room. His tone had dropped lower, rougher, and it was getting harder for Seraphine to ignore.
She let out a soft laugh and shook her head, even as her thoughts raced ahead. If Voren actually recognized the mark, then it was somewhere on Marigold’s body he could not remember.
"Do you remember where you saw it?" she asked.
Voren’s eyebrows drew together as he dug through his memories. He stayed quiet for a few seconds, totally focused. Then it hit him.
The realization brought a weird mix of feelings because the answer only created more questions. The coincidence felt way too big to brush off, and if he was right, there were some heavy implications he wasn’t ready to dive into yet.
Before he could decide whether to say anything, his phone started ringing and completely killed the moment.
The sound yanked them both back to reality.
Voren grabbed the phone, low-key relieved for the interruption until he saw the name on the screen.
"It’s Ravyn."
The warm vibe in the room disappeared almost instantly. His jaw tightened, irritation flashing across his face before he could mask it.
"Answer it," Seraphine responded gently.
She rested her hand on his thigh and gave it a reassuring squeeze. That small touch said more than any words could.
Voren glanced at her, saw the spark of interest in her eyes, and put the call on speaker without saying anything else.
Ravyn’s voice filled the room right away.
"Voren, can we visit your shaman the day after tomorrow? We need to announce the Blood Moon Festival during the Full Moon Festival, and preparations are already rolling. The response from the werewolf groups has been huge, but you’ve been completely silent on everything."
Voren leaned back, listening while trying not to dwell on the fact that he’d been too wrapped up in Seraphine lately to deal with any of this. As Ravyn spoke, an idea came to him.
"You guys go ahead with the preparations," he replied, staying calm. "I’ll send my contribution to cover me and my family. As for the shaman, I’ll reach out to her myself and let you know what date works."
The silence that followed was just long enough for Voren to know Ravyn wasn’t happy with that answer.
"I was really hoping to see you in person," Ravyn responded. "There’s a lot we need to talk about. Last time you came over, Seraphine being there made it impossible to discuss certain things."
Voren turned to look at Seraphine.
Instead of looking pissed off, she just smiled, clearly entertained by the whole thing, silently telling him to keep going.
"The thing is, I still have stuff to handle here before I can leave," Voren explained. "Plus, I need to get Mari back to the academy before the festival starts, and she’s still not really comfortable around you."
One of Seraphine’s eyebrows lifted.
She saw exactly where this was going.
Marigold had never bothered hiding how she felt about Ravyn, and it was obvious she didn’t like him. At the same time, Seraphine got why Voren kept the friendship going.
In a lot of ways, they were similar. Neither of them liked abandoning people who’d been there during their darkest times. Flawed as he was, Ravyn had stood by Voren through some rough shit.
"Alright," Ravyn finally gave in. "Just let me know the date."
His voice got heavier before he continued.
"It’s just... there’s been another chemical explosion, and I still don’t know who’s behind it. The cure Seraphine left behind has been used up. Raymond says he checked all the ingredients in that cure, but two people have already ended up paralyzed after he tried what he replicated on them, even after it passed the animal testing. Since you have a business connection with her, I thought maybe—"
"Ravyn, please," Voren cut in, his warning clear and sharp.
The temperature in the room dropped. "Don’t go there."
A frustrated sigh came through the speaker.
"Voren, I know I fucked up, alright? I’m not denying it. But did you see how she treated me? She turned me into a damn errand boy in my own pack after everything I did for her. You have any idea what it’s been like since then? Ever since the salary cuts, pack members have been avoiding Daisy. The punishment I gave her wrecked her reputation in the pack, and everyone’s treating her differently now. I took all of that because I wanted to make things right with Seraphine, but she won’t let go of her grudge."
The more Ravyn talked, the darker Voren’s expression got. His grip on the phone tightened until the veins in his forearm popped. It was getting harder to stay patient while Ravyn painted himself as the victim and conveniently skipped over all the damage he’d caused.
Before Voren could reply, Seraphine’s hand slid gently across his thigh.
The touch pulled his focus back to her.
When their eyes met, she gave him a calm, easy smile. There was no anger or bitterness in it—like Ravyn’s complaints didn’t even touch her anymore.
Just seeing that look eased some of the tension coiled up in his chest.
Voren took a slow breath and kept his voice steady.
"Here’s the deal, Ravyn. Here’s the deal, Ravyn. I’ll come two days before the Moon Festival starts. We can sit down and talk everything out properly then."
The relief on the other end was obvious. "Alright. That works."
For the first time during the call, some of the strain left Ravyn’s voice.
"But please, Voren... there’s something else. Seraphine’s a doctor, and we need her help again, and she shouldn’t refuse when it’s lives involved."
