Before I could answer, a memory flooded my mind. It had happened before, but instead of Damien and Sebastian, it was Leo and Sebastian. I'd been in this exact position, leaning against the same wall, only I hadn't been holding Phoenix, but papers clutched to my chest.

“Doesn’t you and your wolf like Mommy?”

He paused. “Your mother gave me you. That’s what matters.”

Remembering the pain his words caused, I stumbled, struggling to breathe, trying to ease the sudden pain. Was this memory from before or after we decided to separate? I tried to recall more; I succeeded, but the result wasn't what I'd hoped for.

“Every time you show up here, you bring chaos. From day one, all you’ve done is disrupt Pack harmony because you can’t accept what you are, what you aren’t.”

His voice was ice-cold, each word a precise cut. Coldness and disappointment filled his eyes. God, this was the Sebastian I knew—the Sebastian who destroyed my soul, the cold Alpha who saw me as nothing but a burden to the Pack. Seeing this memory, feeling again that sense of being unwanted, of being looked down upon, nearly tore my heart out, making me collapse to the floor.

“Mom, what are you doing standing there?” Leo’s voice cut through the fog, pulling me back to reality, cutting off my memory.

Hearing his voice, Sebastian and Damien rushed out. They shared a silent look before facing me.

“Thea, are you okay?” Sebastian asked with concern.

He reached out to touch me, but I flinched away. A flash of hurt crossed his eyes, but I didn't care right now. Not when the pain I’d just experienced was so fresh, not when I’d just gotten another reminder of how cruel Sebastian had been to me.

“Yeah, I just remembered something. I got lost in the memory,” I answered softly, avoiding his eyes.

“A memory?” The way he asked made me look up. In his eyes, I saw fear. He was afraid of my memories returning. “What was it about?”

“I’m not sure; it was a bit fuzzy,” I lied, unsure why. “I’m going to put Phoenix down and maybe take a nap before dinner. My head suddenly hurts.”

Leo looked at me with concern. They all did. For Leo’s sake, I faked a smile and kissed his cheek before going upstairs.

My mind was a mess. When I said my head hurt, I wasn’t lying; it really did. There was too much going on in my brain, too many secrets waiting to be uncovered. It was starting to become too much, almost more than I could handle.

I walked to Phoenix’s room, gently laid her down, and kissed her forehead. After grabbing the baby monitor, I headed straight for the master bedroom.

I entered the room and spent a minute staring. At first, I didn’t care; I was just happy Sebastian was sleeping next to me. But now? Now I saw differently. Everything was different. The bed, the color scheme, the furniture. There was nothing familiar about this bedroom. It was as if whoever redecorated had tried to erase every trace of me.

Sebastian had said he and Aurora started dating after she came back. Had she slept here? Had they made love in this bed? Had she redecorated the room, or had Sebastian? Maybe both of them together?

Troubled by these questions, I left the room and went to the guest room at the end of the hall. I couldn’t sleep in that bed thinking Aurora and Sebastian might have slept and made love there. The possibility hurt my heart, but considering I’d slept with another man, did I have the right to feel hurt?

Crawling under the covers, I forced my exhausted body to sleep. My head was killing me, and I couldn’t continue like this. I was tired of the questions, tired of the suspicions. I was tired of trying to figure out what Sebastian was hiding. The key to knowing Sebastian’s secret lay in my memories. I needed to remember now more than ever; the only problem was, I didn’t know how to trigger those lost memories.