I drop his arm like it’s red hot. Disbelief has me turning around, finally seeing all the sad faces looking at me. Young and wounded, the elderly, they stare at me, some of them clutching each other and crying, some with heads lowered, whispering to each other.
But most noticeably not moving.
“They will not believe an empty camp,” the old man explains.
I stare at them. “What?”
“We’ve lived our lives. We’ve made our peace. It is our honour to be able to save the future,” his voice is gentle as he reaches out, taking hold of my hand and patting it gently. “If we can be the mask that saves those children, please, let us have this.”
“But,” I look around. They’ll all die. They know it; I know it.
He pulls back, turning to an old omega who sits beside him.
Jarek takes my hand. I don’t need to look at him, I just inhale that scent of his, roses and candles burning. His fingers squeeze mine, almost to the point of pain, but I don’t try to get free.
“We’re staying,” the old man says.
“You can’t; you’ll die,” I murmur, but the force and conviction in my voice are gone.
“We know that!” the old man says kindly. His weathered skin is brown with lines of age, and his hair is almost as white as mine. “Let us fight in the only way we can.”
I shake my head again, but another alpha sits beside him, wrapping an arm over his shoulders. He closes his eyes and leans in, pressing their heads together.
It could have been us,I think in a panic.It could be us.
“We need to seal them in,” Jarek hisses.
I look one last time, turn, and run back up to the cave. Bear is standing up there, handing the last of the children in.
“Good, be brave. You sit still and silent and don’t come out until someone comes to get you. You can do this. I know you can. You are all Resistance. I am so proud of each and every one of you!”
“What if you don’t come?” a crying boy asks.
“I will come,” Bear promises. “I will always come for you.”
The child hugs him and then goes into the cave. Sophie stands beside Bear holding a torch.
Bear grabs her and kisses her hard, then he shoves her back into the dark.
“Grab her!”
“No, Bear, stop. What are you doing?” She fights the people who hold her back, screaming like she’s being murdered. I didn’t once see her as afraid as she is right now, not in all our days in Foreen.
“I love you, Sophie.”
Bear slams his body against the rock, pushing and shoving.
Straining so hard his tendons stand out, his body shakes, and he’s almost horizontal. Mordecai and Cadel break through the small crowd and join him, moving it inch by inch.
“Bear!” Sophie wails. “Stop, please. You promised. You promised me.”
I put a hand to my mouth, blinking several times as the rock is moved across the cave entrance. Sophie’s desperate screams are silenced as the rock encloses them in a tomb of stone.
Bear’s shoulders slump, and he puts a hand on the rock.
“I love you. I promise you’ll be okay.”
Bear doesn’t look at any of us, just swipes his arm across his eyes. His shoulders curl, and he turns away. After a moment, he straightens and turns back, his expression grim.
