Chapter 140 Reckless Idiot
Seren
The hospital smelled like antiseptic and broken promises. Bleach and sterile air tried to smother everything else, but beneath it, faint and fragile, I felt him. The bond is there, thin and fraying, connecting me to my mate.
Duncan’s alive. He’s alive. He has to be alive. The chant rolled through my skull in rhythm with my pounding heart, a mantra as I raced to find my mate. Every step felt too slow, too loud. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, buzzing against my nerves. I could taste copper and fear at the back of my throat.
The doors to the ICU wing swung open before I could touch them.
“Seren.” Luna Catriona’s voice broke on my name.
Suddenly I was wrapped in warmth. Her arms, strong and sure, folded around me. The scent of wild heather and moonlight clung to her, and for one weak second I almost collapsed into her like a child. My knees wobbled.
“Oh, Goddess,” she whispered, pulling back to cup my face. Her fingers trembled as they brushed the bruising along my jaw, a badge from our fight for freedom. “Look at you…”
“I’m fine,” I said automatically. The lie came out reflexively. Hollow.
Alpha Aidan stood just behind her. Under the unforgiving hospital lights, the silver threading his dark hair gleamed like steel. His gaze moved over me the way an Alpha inspects a battlefield, cataloging damage, calculating retaliation. His eyes darkened.
“Who touched you?” he asked quietly. The softness made it worse.
Before I could answer, footsteps approached. Julian.
His jaw was clenched so tight I could hear the grind of his teeth. Kayla was already moving toward me, her eyes rimmed red, tears still clinging to her lashes. “You idiot,” she breathed, and then she hugged me hard enough to bruise. “You absolute, reckless idiot.”
I buried my face in her shoulder and inhaled. Warm vanilla and comfort.
“I couldn’t let them—” My voice broke.
“I know,” she whispered. “I know.”
Julian stepped closer. His hand hovered at my back like he wasn’t sure if I’d shatter if he touched me. “We’ll deal with them,” he said. It isn’t a promise. It’s a sentence already carried out in his head.
Behind him stood Gideon and Lucian.
Lucian’s arm was around Alexis. She looked pale but steady. Our eyes met briefly, and something silent passed between us. Survivors recognizing strength after the battle.
The bond tugged at me again. “Where is he?” I asked.
The room went quiet, the silence worse than any answer they could have given me. Kayla’s grip tightened around my hands.
“He hasn’t woken,” she said softly.
The world tilted. Kara slammed against my ribs.
“No,” I breathed.
“He’s stable,” Alpha Aidan said quickly. “His body is healing. Doc Theo says—”
“He should feel me,” I whispered. Panic crept up my spine. “He should feel that I’m back.”
Julian’s gaze flickered, just for a second. That’s when I understood they’re afraid he won’t. I pulled away before anyone could stop me.
“I need to see him.” No one argued as I shoved through the ICU doors, following the faint thread of the bond to Duncan’s room.
The room was too white, too quiet despite the constant beeping of the machines surrounding the bed.
He’s lying still beneath crisp sheets, golden skin too pale, dark hair pushed back from his forehead. Tubes snaked from his arms. Machines breathed for him in soft, rhythmic sighs. The life and vitality that usually fill a room when he’s in it are just…gone.
He looked like he was sleeping, like he might wake up any second and scold me for scaring him. But he didn’t move.
The bond felt…thin. Painful. Like it was fraying. I stepped closer even as my knees threatened to give out.
“You don’t get to leave me,” I whispered as my fingers curled around his hand. It’s warm, but he didn’t squeeze back.
Kara surrounded me with her warmth, her own emotions barely contained as she reached out to Conn with no result. ‘He’s here,’ she said. ‘But he’s buried deep.’
I closed my eyes and reached—not with my hands, but with the thread that tied our souls together. The bond flickered, and for a heartbeat, I felt him.
Pain. Darkness. Distance. Then nothing. My chest tightened.
It felt like he and Conn were barely hanging on, fighting a tear in their very soul as they clung to life. Like they were clinging to our bond just to stay alive.
“I’m here,” I said, louder now. “Duncan, I’m here.”
Behind me, I heard movement. The door opened, footsteps coming into the room.
“Seren—” Julian warned softly.
But I didn’t turn. Instead, I closed my eyes again, and I reached deep inside. With Lucian, the power awoke, an explosion outward, instinctive. This time, I called on it, connected to it the same way I do air or earth.
It started low in my spine. A warm, steady heat. Not the violent blaze I felt when Lucian was dying in my arms. This was deeper, older. Ancient. The Moon Goddess’ blessing.
It rose through me slowly—like silver light pushing through cracks in stone. The healer mark on my arm glowed and my hands warmed as a soft white shimmer spread beneath my skin.
The room went still. “Oh, Goddess,” Cat breathed from behind me.
Both of my hands pressed flat against Duncan’s chest. The moment I touched him, the thread that felt frayed pulled tight, blindingly bright. I felt his heartbeat slam against mine. His pain crashed into me as Conn roared in my head.
My power answered. It surged out of me violently, white light poured from my palms, sank into his chest. The monitors spiked wildly. A sharp, panicked beep filled the room.
“Seren!” Alpha Aidan barked, fear lacing his voice.
But I couldn’t stop. I could feel the damage inside Duncan—the internal bleeding, the crushed ribs, the wolf that was curled in on itself to survive. And my body decided.
He. Was. Mine. The healing tore through me. It burned. It felt as if my bones were being hollowed out and filled with fire. I screamed, but I didn’t pull away. I could feel him coming back.
His heartbeat strengthened beneath my hands and our bond hummed as it pulled my strength from me. Then suddenly, power slammed into me from somewhere behind—raw, masculine, familiar. My brother’s strength. His life force.
Gideon. Our twin bond ignited like a second sun.
‘Take it,’ his voice echoed in my head, strained. ‘I’ve got you.’
“No,” I gasped. “Gideon, stop—”
But he didn’t. He fed me more power, more of his own energy. And I kept pouring everything into Duncan. The light grew brighter, almost too bright, and the room shook with the force of it. The doctor shouted. Kayla cried out. Someone grabbed my shoulders but couldn’t pull me free.
Then, Duncan inhaled on his own, a sharp, violent gasp. The alarms on the monitors stabilized. His fingers twitched beneath mine.
“Seren…” he rasped.
Relief crashed over me so hard my vision went white. I smiled. He’s awake. We did it.
My shoulders fell as the power vanished, like someone ripped the sun out of my chest. The twin bond flickered violently, and I felt Gideon stumble.
My knees buckled as the room tilted. I tried to breathe, but there’s nothing left in me to breathe with. The borrowed power is gone, and my own reserves are ash.
The last thing I saw was Duncan’s eyes opening—golden amber and terrified—as I collapsed forward onto his chest and darkness took me.