Another cough.
More blood.
"Figures," she whispers, and even now her voice carries that sardonic edge, that gallows humor that seems to be herdefault setting. "They always... gotta take everything... from the innocent Omega."
A giggle escapes.
Weak.
Wrong.
"Shh," I tell her, brushing blood-matted hair from her face. "We're gonna fix this."
"You can't fix crazy," she huffs, and her mismatched eyes are starting to lose focus, drifting in and out of awareness. "But if I'm gonna die and meet my parents... welp. Maybe I'll find purpose there."
"You have purpose right here."
The words come out fierce.
Desperate.
She makes a sound that might be a laugh or might be a cough.
"What? With you bunch of fools, which..." Her gaze slides past me, taking in Jett and Blaze with their components and calculations. "By the way... I have no clue who your pack friends are, but at least you're all cute."
Leave it to her to compliment our attractiveness while she's dying.
Her eyes continue their journey.
Land on something—someone—behind me.
Kai.
I feel his presence before I see him. That heavy, commanding aura he carries everywhere, impossible to ignore even when you're not looking directly at him.
Seraphine grins.
It's weak—blood staining her teeth, her lips, her chin—but it's still unmistakablyher.
"So you're my archnemesis..."
She laughs.
Coughs.
More blood.
"Hurry up!" I snarl at Jett and Blaze.
"Working on it," Jett replies, his voice tight with concentration. He's grinding something—herbs, compounds, things I don't recognize—while Blaze creates a small fire in his palm, the flames dancing obediently in his cupped hands.
Heating the antidote.
If it even works.
"Damn," Seraphine murmurs, still looking at Kai. Her voice is dreamy now, fading. "I bet your father looks just like you."
Kai's expression flickers.
