Chapter 42
Chapter forty-two
Seraphina
Chace crouches beside us, hands moving as he checks for a pulse. He shakes his head. My stomach drops into a pit of fire.
“Sera, move. Calm the dogs.” His voice is tight, controlled, but I hear the panic bleeding through. Klause growls low, muscles coiled, tail thrashing, while Artemis snarls, eyes locked on the intruders who aren’t moving anymore but won’t let the moment pass.
Chace’s hands find Trey’s chest. He starts compressions.
“Where’s the fucking medic?” His voice cuts through the chaos, sharp and commanding. My ears ring with the thump of boots outside the room, distant gunshots, and the growls and snapping of claws as the dogs settle, but remain alert, low and dangerous.
I want to pull Trey toward me, to cradle him, but I can’t.
Chace won’t let me, and I feel mad with panic, and whatever is still in my system.
Everything is like waking from a nightmare.
My fingers dig into his arms, desperate, leaving streaks of blood across my hands, as Trey jerks from Chace’s efforts.
Sounds meld together. It’s like a constant roar in my ears.
Shouts, shots, snarls, blood, static, ringing.
Get off him, you’re hurting him.
No. He’s trying to save him.
Every time Chace pushes down on his chest, I flinch as if I’m feeling the blows myself. I feel naked and afraid. My heart hurts. It breaks.
I feel like I am outside of my body. Holding Trey as he tries to float away, to move on.
“Ser—” I am tapped, I snap back to reality.
“Sera. Please. The dogs.” I look to Klause and Artemis. They are snarling, ears pinned back, barking at the crew standing at the entrance to the chamber, unable to advance.
“F-Fuss!” I call. Both dogs, stop their snarling and pad over to me, and Trey. His skin pale, lips blue.
Chace keeps shouting, but now it’s commands for the security team, for anyone who can move faster than I can think.
“Move the chains! Make room! Sera, get back!”
I feel my chest tighten, panic squeezing my lungs. The metallic scent of blood is thick, clinging to my hair, my skin. The concrete is cold under my knees. I can’t breathe, can’t see past the terror in his still face.
“Come on, come on, come on, you stupid motherfucker. Breathe for me.” Chace begs.
I whisper a prayer. Something I haven’t done in maybe a month. His head lolls sideways, eyes still. I bite back a scream.
The sounds outside intensify—more footsteps, the distant roar of engines, the angry barking of backup dogs. The air vibrates with it all, like the whole world is pressing down into this tiny basement, into this room.
Chace’s hands move faster now, more forceful, chest compressions brutal and relentless.
“TREYYY!” Chace roars, his hands press harder.
An audible crack of boke snaps in Trey’s chest. The mania boils inside me again, frothing over.
“Get me a fucking EMT, now! Someone fucking move. Sorry, brother, think I broke some ribs there. You’ll be fine.
It’ll be fine.” He continues his chest compressions, a sheen of sweat taken hold.
I lean close, pressing my forehead to Trey’s shoulder, feeling the warmth of his blood. I whisper into his ear, desperate.
“I love you. Please, please come back to me.”
The words hang in the air, fragile, almost swallowed by the chaos. I can feel the weight of every second stretching longer, like the world has slowed down to focus on his chest, on his bloodied face, on the sound of my own ragged heartbeat pounding in my ears.
“Come on, Trey,” I sob. “Come on…don’t leave me…”
Chace shouts again, breath ragged. A new figure sweeps in in blue fatigues, large duffel bag set down, another comes in and pauses, a large orange board in hand, he looks over the dogs and freezes.
“Keep those dogs back.”
I press closer, unwilling to let go, even as the dogs nudge me, whining, trying to shield me from the chaos.
The floor is cold beneath my knees, slick with blood and water. Voices blur above me—orders shouted, boots pounding, the sound of someone counting under their breath.
“Pressure! He’s losing too much blood—get that line in now!”
“Trey,” I whisper, voice cracking. “Please—”
Hands push me back, gentle but firm.
“We need space, ma’am.”
Medics swarm him. One kneels over his chest, another checking the wound at his side. Blood seeps through the gauze faster than they can press it down. Chace’s face is ghost-white as he hovers close, barking orders I can’t hear over the chaos.
Then they’re lifting him—his body limp, pale, blood streaked across his ribs. Onto a gurney. Out the door.
Moving too fast.
“Come on, Seraphina,” someone says beside me, a man’s voice—steady, urgent. “We need to get you out of here.”
I blink up at him, dizzy, the room tilting. He reaches for me, his gloved hand firm around mine, pulling me to my feet. My knees buckle, but he steadies me.
“Come on,” he says again, and I let him lead me—through the smoke, through the ruins of Gideon’s world.
Outside, flashing lights paint the night red and white. Medics rush Trey into an ambulance, Chace climbing in right after them. The doors slam shut. The siren wails.
“We’ll follow,” the man beside me says.
Klaus and Artemis appear out of the shadows, hackles raised, blood on their fur. They press close to my legs, trembling but alert. The man opens the boot of a black SUV.
“Tell them to get in, Seraphina. Hurry.”
I don’t think—just move. “Hopp,” I whisper, my voice breaking. “Hopp.” They respond on the second command.
They leap up, obedient, the door slamming shut behind them.
My heart barely beats as I slide into the back seat. My hands are shaking too hard to wipe the blood from them. My mind races, looping the same prayer over and over.
Please, God. Please. Keep him safe.
The man rounds the car, gets in beside me.
“I’m sorry, little one.”
Something sharp stings my neck. I gasp, hand flying up to the spot. “No—”
My vision swims. The edges blur.
“My name’s Johnathon Baker,” he says quietly.
The words hit harder than the drug flooding my veins. I blink at him, horror dawning slow and heavy. His eyes catch the passing light—green, deep and endless.
The same green as Trey’s.
Like the heart of a forest after rain.
“Why?” My voice slurs, barely a breath.
He watches me fade, guilt flickering across his face. “Because he can’t protect you, Seraphina.” His voice drops lower. “And you’re carrying my grandchild.”
The world tilts.
My breath catches.
What?
My world shatters in one breath, the darkness sweeping up every ruined piece of me.
To be continued…