“Medic!” he roars, voice cracking. “Stay awake, Trey. You hear me?”
“I don’t…” another cough tears through me. More blood. Thicker. “Want to die…Chace.” The words scrape out on a gasp.
“You’re not gonna fucking die, Trey.” His voice shakes, but he lies for me anyway, clutching me like he can hold the life in with his bare hands.
“Trey!” Her voice slices through the noise. Then her hands—warm, shaking—on my face. “Oh my God. Trey, I’m here. What—what happened?”
“Careful,” Chace warns. “He’s losing a lot of blood —”
The edge of my vision is fading. My lungs can’t seem to remember how to pull air in.
“B-baby…” I say weakly.
“Where’s the fucking medic!” Chace roars.
Boots thunder. More voices. Orders shouted.
My tongue feels thick. The air’s thin. Every heartbeat’s slower than the last. “S-sera…” I choke, blood flooding my mouth.
“I’m here, Trey. Please—please don’t leave me.” Her voice breaks.
I find her, even in the dark.
“I l-love you,” I whisper, lips barely moving. “Loved you…the second you told me…to get on my knees.”
A choked laugh falls out of her, broken and desperate. “I love you too. So much. Please—just hold on—”
“His pulse is too slow!” someone yells. “We need that medic now!”
I can’t feel my legs. Can’t feel the ground.
The words echo only in my mind now—clearer than anything I can force past my lips.
I always knew… in my world… love means death. And somehow, it still feels worth it.
Blood fills my mouth, hot and metallic, stealing the breath I can’t drag in anymore.
But I’d choose you again, Sera. A thousand times over.My vision fractures at the edges, black swallowing the light, but her face stays—my final anchor, the last thing I reach for.
I was always… all in.
Her sob drifts away, fading like someone’s turning down the volume on my life. The world’s color fades out, everything dimming, her voice echoing through the dark.
“Please don’t leave me. Please, Trey. Please.”
An apology sits heave on my tongue—one I’ll never get to finish—as my heart stumbles…then stops.
Chapter forty-two
Seraphina
Calling on Angels – J2, Natalie Major
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.
