Chapter 19 BROKEN STRENGTHS
Chapter 19:
Sera's POV
The question I'd been dreading. The one I didn't have an answer for.
"He will." I said it with more confidence than I felt. "Alpha Dante is strong. He's fighting the curse. He'll wake up."
"But if he doesn't-"
"If he doesn't, then Crimson Fang will need new leadership." I forced the words out. "But that's not a decision we need to make today. Or this week. We focus on immediate threats....Council loyalists, the witch who's targeting us, and finding my son."
"About that." Maren stood. "The Western Peaks is withdrawing from the alliance."
My blood ran cold. "Excuse me?"
"We can't afford to be drawn into what's becoming a personal vendetta." She didn't meet my eyes. "You've made powerful enemies, Majesty. The witch, the Council loyalists, whoever else you've angered. We have families to protect. Territory to maintain. We can't risk-"
"You're abandoning us." I kept my voice level through sheer will. "After we dissolved the corrupt Council. After we fought together. You're running because things got difficult."
"We're being practical." But she looked ashamed. "I'm sorry. Truly. But the Western Peaks must look after its own interests."
"Anyone else?" I looked around the table. "Anyone else want to run while you still can?"
Two more Alphas stood. Wouldn't meet my eyes. Cowards, all of them.
"Fine." I sat back down. "Leave. But remember this moment when the Council loyalists come for your territories next. Because they will. And you'll have no allies left to call."
They fled. Twelve Alphas remained. Not as many as I'd hoped, but more than I'd feared.
"The rest of us stand with Aurora," Alpha Chen said firmly. "Whatever comes."
"Thank you." The words came out hoarse. "I won't forget this."
The meeting continued. logistics, defense strategies, intelligence sharing. I participated mechanically, saying the right words, making the right decisions, pretending I wasn't dying inside.
When it finally ended, I returned to Dante's room in the healing ward.
He lay exactly as I'd left him. Pale as death, breathing shallow, that cursed dark magic still writhing beneath his skin. The healers had done what they could kept him alive, comfortable, stable. But no closer to waking.
I pulled a chair close to his bed, took his hand. It was cold. Too cold.
"I don't know if you can hear me," I said quietly. "Probably not. But I'm going to talk anyway because the alternative is screaming."
His chest rose and fell with mechanical regularity. No response. No sign he knew I was there.
"Asher's gone. Someone took him while I was focused on trying to save you." Tears burned but I didn't let them fall. "I have no idea where he is. If he's safe. If he's scared. If he's calling for me and I can't hear him."
The mate bond flickered weakly. Barely there.
"The alliance is fracturing. Three territories withdrew today. More will probably follow. Everyone's scared and looking for someone to blame. Guess who that someone is."
Still no response. Just that shallow breathing.
"And you....you're dying, Dante. The healers won't say it, but I can feel it through the bond. Every day weaker. Every hour closer to the end. And I can't....I don't know how to fix this."
My voice finally broke. The tears I'd been holding back spilled over.
"I need you to wake up. I know that's not fair. I know you're fighting as hard as you can. But I need you. Asher needs you. We were supposed to figure this out together, remember? We were supposed to be a family in progress."
Nothing. Just the quiet sound of breathing and my own broken sobbing.
"I think I figured out when I fell in love with you." The confession came easier in the dark, to someone who couldn't hear. "Not five years ago when the bond snapped. Not during the rejection....goddess, not then. But somewhere in the past two weeks. Watching you stand up to the Council. Seeing you fight beside me. The way you looked at Asher like he was everything."
I squeezed his hand tighter.
"I fell in love with the man you became after you lost everything. The one who had to rebuild himself from scratch. The one who learned humility and sacrifice and how to put others first." Tears dripped onto our joined hands. "And now I'm losing you before I could tell you that. Before we could see where this led."
The bond flickered again. Weaker than before.
"Don't you dare die on me, Dante." I leaned close, pressing my forehead against his. "Don't you dare leave me to do this alone. Wake up. Fight. Come back to us."
Silence. Just breathing.
I stayed there until dawn, holding his hand, feeling the bond grow fainter with each passing hour.
\---
Three more days passed in a blur of failed rescue attempts and fruitless searches. We found no trace of Asher. No magical signature, no ransom demands, no clues at all.
It was like he'd been erased from existence.
The territories were restless. Aurora's warriors were loyal, but I could see doubt creeping in. How long could they follow a Queen who couldn't protect her own child? Who couldn't save her mate?
I pushed harder. Slept less. Drove everyone...myself most of all, to the breaking point and beyond.
"Majesty, you need to rest." Lyssa found me in the war room at three in the morning, maps spread everywhere, searching for places a witch might hide.
"I need to find my son."
"You need to be functional when you do find him." She sat across from me. "You're running on rage and caffeine. That's not sustainable."
"It has to be."
"Why? Because you're afraid if you stop moving, you'll feel everything?"
Yes. Exactly that.
"I'm fine."
"You're barely standing." Lyssa's voice gentled. "Sera....I know you need to be strong for everyone. But you don't have to be strong for me. Not right now."
The kindness broke something inside me. All the walls I'd carefully constructed crumbled.
"I can't find him." The words came out broken. "I've tried everything. Every spell, every tracker, every resource. And there's nothing. It's like he never existed."
"He exists. He's out there. We'll find him."
"What if we don't?" The fear I'd been avoiding crashed over me. "What if whoever took him is doing....what if they're hurting him? What if he's calling for me and I can't hear?"
"Then we keep looking. We don't stop. Ever."
"And Dante?" I couldn't help asking. "What about him?"
"The healers are still trying-"
"He's dying, Lyssa. Every day weaker. The curse is winning." I looked at my hands, stained with ink and exhaustion. "I'm going to lose both of them. My mate and my son. And there's nothing I can do."
"You don't know that-"
"I can feel it!" The words exploded out. "Through the bond. Every hour that passes, he slips further away. And Asher....I don't have a bond with Asher, but I know. Mother's instinct or whatever. He's in danger and I can't reach him."