Kamrynn’s POV
A second passed. And then another and another. Little moments that felt like eternity as Calvin’s words settled over me heavily like a shroud. Like a thick fog, surrounding me, suffocating me. The realization of my own actions…
The children are dead.
The moment the thought formed, it crashed into me with the force of a boulder, knocking the air from my lungs.
I staggered, my vision tunneling as the enormity of it all hit me like a punch to the gut.
This was because of me.
Because of the curse I had placed in my fury, mere words spoken out of distress. At least back then I had thought they were just words.
A curse I had spoken without thinking, without truly believing it would take hold. I had been bleeding, broken, drowning in despair, and in that moment, I had only wanted them to feel even a fraction of what I had endured.
I had wanted justice.
I had wanted vengeance.
But I never-ever-wanted this.
Tears welled in my eyes, my body trembling violently. “No,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “No… I… This…this can’t be real. I didn’t mean for this-”
“Kamrynn-”
“I remember,” I choked out, my hands clutching at my chest, as if I could physically hold my breaking heart together. “I remember standing there, Calvin. I remember the pain, the rage. I remember wishing-praying-for the Moon goddess to make them suffer. But I didn’t-” A sob tore from my throat. “I didn’t think it would actually happen!”
Calvin moved toward me, his expression unreadable.
I took a shaky step back, my vision blurring with hot tears. “I cursed them, Calvin,” I whispered. “I cursed them…you to lose everything. And now-” My breath hitched. “The children. The babies-”
My legs buckled.
I would have collapsed if Calvin hadn’t caught me, his arms steadying me before I could hit the floor.
But I didn’t want his touch.
I fought him, twisting in his grasp, shoving against his chest, trying desperately to get away. “Let me go!” I sobbed. “I don’t-I can’t-”
He didn’t.
Instead, he pulled me against him, his arms wrapping around me like an iron cage. “Breathe, Kamrynn.” His voice was low, steady, despite the storm raging between us. “Just breathe.”
I struggled, my nails digging into his arms as I tried to free myself. “Let me go!”
“No.” His grip tightened. “You need to calm down.”
“Calm down?!” I thrashed, my entire body shaking violently. “The children are dead, Calvin!”
He inhaled sharply, his muscles tensing. “That’s not on you.”
I froze, my breath coming in sharp, ragged gasps.
“Not on me?” My voice was barely above a whisper. “How can you say that?”
Calvin exhaled, his fingers brushing soothing circles against my back. “Kamrynn, you were wronged. The Moon goddess saw that. As hard as it is for me to say it, this-” he hesitated, “this is just justice.”
My entire body went still.
Then, I shoved him away.
“Justice?” My voice broke on the word, my hands clenching into fists. “You call this justice?”
Calvin took a slow step forward, his expression unreadable. “I… We all made you suffer.”
“Not all of them,” I snapped. “The adults did. The elders. The warriors. The ones who stood by and let it happen. The ones who encouraged it.” My throat tightened. “Not the children, Calvin. Not the babies.”
I wiped at my tears furiously, my breath unsteady. “I can’t-” My voice wavered. “I can’t imagine Astor and Arabella suffering for my mistakes. If the positions were switched and I had hurt someone, if I had punished an innocent person for what they didn’t do-” My breath hitched. “Would our children deserve to pay for it?”
Calvin looked away, his jaw clenching.
“Would they?” I demanded.
“No,” he admitted. “They wouldn’t.”
A mother’s love was unlike anything else in this world. It was raw, boundless, and fierce.
I knew that now.
I knew it in the way my heart ached when I heard Astor and Arabella cry. I knew it in the way I would lay awake at night, watching them sleep, promising in silence that I would never let anyone hurt them. I knew it in the way my entire being felt wired to their safety, to their happiness.
And that was why this was unbearable.
Because I could feel-in the very marrow of my bones-the devastation of every mother in the Obsidian Pack.
I could hear their wails of grief. See their empty, shattered eyes as they looked down at the lifeless bodies of their children. I could feel the ragged, violent pain that came with losing a child-something I couldn’t even imagine surviving myself.
My throat tightened, a fresh wave of anguish crashing over me. “Oh, sweet Selene,” I gasped, my knees nearly buckling under the weight of it all. “What have I done?”
Calvin caught my arms before I could fall, his grip steady, unwavering. “Kamrynn,” his voice was gentle, almost pleading, “you can still make this right.”
I stilled. My breath hitched.
“What?”
“The curse,” he said softly. “It’s still tied to you. If you forgive me, if you forgive all of us, the Moon goddess will lift it.”
Forgive.
Forgive.
The word slammed into me like a physical blow, knocking the air from my lungs.
Forgive him?
Forgive the pack that had ruined me?
My entire body shook with the weight of the impossible. “I can’t,” I whispered, tears spilling freely down my cheeks. “I can’t, Calvin.”
His grip on me tightened. “Kamrynn please. I’m the one who did horrible things to you, things I can never take back, things I’ll continue to regret till the day I die. I alone should bear the burden of my sins, the Pack members were just following my lead, obeying their Alpha and doing what they thought was right. So please free our people from the needless suffering. Please find it in your heart to forgive me, even if it’s for their sake.”
“That’s the problem… I don’t know how to forgive you!” My voice broke, my sobs escaping in ragged, shuddering breaths. “You took everything from me! You destroyed me, tore me apart piece by piece until there was nothing left!” My hands curled into fists, trembling. “And now you expect me to just let it go?”
Calvin’s face was unreadable, his emerald eyes locked onto mine. “You can try.”
I let out a broken, hollow laugh, shaking my head. “It doesn’t work like that. I can’t just say the words, Calvin. It has to come from my heart.” I pressed a trembling hand to my chest, my breath unsteady. “And you successfully killed any kind of affection I had for you.”
His fingers twitched, but I didn’t stop.
“There’s nothing left,” I whispered. “Nothing but anger and hatred.”
Calvin froze.
Then, slowly-so slowly-his hands fell away from me.
As if my words had burned him.
A heavy silence stretched between us. I could see it-the way his body tensed, his jaw clenched tight, the faint tremor in his fingers.
Then, in a voice so low I barely heard it, he whispered, “I understand.”
And before I could say another word, before I could even process what was happening-
He turned and disappeared into the dimly lit hallway.
Something inside me lurched.
A chill crept down my spine, my breath coming out in shallow, uneven gasps.
The mate bond between us had finally settled, and now-
Now, I could feel it.
I could feel his emotions, just as he could feel mine.
And what I felt was a darkness so deep, so suffocating, that a wave of dread crashed over me.
Something wasn’t right.
Calvin was going to do something drastic.