Cam stirs in my arms.
It's faint at first—just a twitch, a soft sound in her throat—but I feel it like a lightning strike. Relief slams into me so hard my chest aches.
"Cam," I whisper urgently, brushing blood-matted hair from her face. "Cam, hey. Wake up. Please."
Her lashes flutter.
She groans, disoriented, one hand lifting weakly as if searching for something she's lost. Her fingers claw at her chest, nails digging into fabric, and a broken sound rips from her throat.
"Something's—wrong," she gasps. "I—can't—"
My heart drops.
The air shifts.
I feel it before it fully happens—the pack bond, the thread that ties a Gamma to their Queen, stretching thin. Fraying. Slipping through my grasp like water.
"No," I breathe, panic clawing up my spine.
I turn back to Enoch, hands shaking as I press them to his chest, to his neck, anywhere I can feel warmth. "Enoch," I beg. "Wake up. You're okay. You're still here. Stay with us."
His skin is already cooling.
The bond—his bond—flickers.
Not just with me.
With her.
Cam suddenly screams.
It's raw. Primal. A sound dragged straight from the depths of her soul. She clutches her chest with both hands, body arching violently as if something inside her is being torn out.
"No—no—no—no—" she sobs, scrambling out of my grasp and collapsing beside Enoch. "No, no, no, wake up, baby. Wake up. You don't get to do this."
The bond snaps.
I feel it.
A violent, soul-deep rupture that tears through me like a blade. I cry out as the pain hits—white-hot, consuming, driving me to my knees. It's not just loss. It's absence. A space where something vital used to exist.
Cam keens.
She crawls over Enoch's body, straddling him, hands framing his face as she shakes him desperately. "Come on," she pleads through sobs. "You're stronger than this. You promised me forever, remember? You said you'd never leave me."
She presses frantic kisses to his cheeks, his lips, his brow. "Wake up," she whispers, voice cracking. "Please. I'll stop swearing. I'll stop teasing you. I'll—fuck—I'll do anything… pleease."
Her tears splash onto his still face.
He doesn't move.
"Daddy!" Cam screams suddenly, head snapping up. Her eyes find Dirge, wild and desperate. "Daddy, do something! You're a healer! Fix him!"
Dirge staggers back like she's struck him.
His hands shake violently. His face crumples, grief and guilt warring in his expression. "I—I'm so sorry, princess," he chokes. "I didn't mean for this. I swear. It wasn't supposed to be him."
Cam freezes.
Slowly, horrifyingly slowly, she turns to face him.
"What," she whispers. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
Dirge sobs openly now, words spilling out in a rush, as if holding them in any longer would destroy him. He drops the dagger fills with Enoch's blood.
Cams eyes follow the object, realization hitting her.
"She—she started the fire," he gasps. "She killed your mother. She took Ginny from me."
The world stops.
Cam's mouth opens—but no sound comes out.
Her eyes go distant, unfocused, like her mind is trying to reject reality entirely.
I stare at Dirge, my stomach dropping out beneath me. The pieces slam together in my head—the fire, the timing, the lies, the way certain truths were always just out of reach.
"No," I whisper, horrified. "You betrayed us… you took Cam?"
Valen laughs.
Seraphina joins him, the sound sharp and cruel, echoing through the trees.
Cam lets out a broken, strangled sound and collapses forward, draping herself over Enoch's body like she can shield him from death itself. Her sobs come hard and violent, shaking her entire frame.
Seraphina claps mockingly. "Aw. Look at her. Crying over her dead mate. Isn't that sweet?"
I rise slowly to my feet.
Every muscle in my body is trembling.
Emma is roaring inside me—pure fury, pure grief, pure devastation—but I keep her leashed by sheer force of will. My gaze locks onto Seraphina, and I bare my teeth in a snarl.
Seraphina smirks. "What? Don't tell me you feel sorry for her. Serves her right."
She tilts her head. "Who's laughing now?"
I take a step forward.
The ground seems to recoil beneath my feet.
"Wait," Alpha Jered says calmly, raising a hand. "Let's not rush this."
I turn to him slowly, disgust curling in my gut.
"Since we're exposing truths," he continues mildly, "and since Samantha here is going to die anyway, we might as well make this… educational."
Elder Silvester steps out of the shadows.
My blood runs cold.
"You're right, Jered," Silvester says smoothly. "Let's tell them everything."
Cam doesn't look up.
She's rocking back and forth now, clutching Enoch's body, whispering his name like a prayer.
Something inside me hardens.
"Kieran, come find me." I whisper to the bond.
I need him here, because I know once I unleash Emma…they will not survive it.