Calvin’s POV
My world stopped turning.
The rage inside me erupted like an inferno, so scorching, so violent, it threatened to consume me whole.
“YOUR PLAN WON’T WORK,” I roared, trying to lunge forward, but the pain in my shattered wrist, my battered ribs, my bleeding skull held me down.
“I won’t let you do this! And even if you wipe Kamrynn’s memories, Aryna will just tell her the truth. Her wolf will never let this happen.”
Sherelle’s smirk widened.
“Ah, Calvin.” She sighed dramatically, reaching down to Kamrynn’s unconscious form. “Did you really think I wouldn’t account for that?”
With a flick of her wrist, she grabbed a handful of Kamrynn’s hair and lifted her head, exposing the cold, metallic band locked tightly around her neck.
My stomach dropped.
No…
“This,” Sherelle purred, tapping the device mockingly, “is an Ostracylle. Quite a rare find, really. You’d be amazed at the things you can dig up when you know where to look.”
She traced a nail over the metal, eyes gleaming.
“As long as she’s wearing it, Aryna is completely suppressed. Kamrynn is no more than a human now. No heightened senses. No wolf. No instincts.”
I couldn’t breathe.
They had stripped her of everything.
No… No, no, no.
“You bitch,” I snarled, fighting through the crippling pain, trying to push myself off the ground.
I had to reach her.
I had to get to Kamrynn.
I had to stop this.
But before I could even lift myself onto my elbows, Lorien moved-inhumanly fast, a flash of crimson hair and gleaming eyes.
His hand clamped onto the back of my neck, forcing me down with so much pressure, I nearly blacked out.
“You’re a persistent one, aren’t you?” Lorien mused, his grip tightening.
I gritted my teeth, muscles screaming in protest, my broken wrist throbbing as I still tried to reach for Kamrynn.
But it was useless.
I was too weak.
And I was forced to watch, helpless and powerless, as Sherelle smiled down at me, her fingers hovering over the golden button at the top of the orb.
“Now, then,” she purred, turning the artifact toward Kamrynn’s head. “Let’s begin, shall we?”
“NO!” I roared, my voice ragged, desperate, furious.
Sherelle pressed the button.
The orb pulsed, glowing brightly-and then, from Kamrynn’s temple, a shimmering white mist began to seep out, swirling toward the artifact.
Her memories.
Her entire life.
Being stolen away.
“STOP!” I thrashed violently, trying to break free, but Lorien’s grip was unyielding, his strength monstrous.
Sherelle tilted her head, watching the memories pour into the orb with gleeful fascination.
“Oh, this is just beautiful,” she mused. “So much pain. So much heartbreak. All wiped clean, just like that.”
The orb glowed brighter, filling with every moment, every thought, every piece of Kamrynn that made her who she was-
And then, with a final flicker, it turned blue.
I was panting, my entire body shaking, my head pounding, my vision swimming from the rage, from the helplessness, from the pure horror of what had just happened.
Sherelle turned the orb in her hands appreciatively, then tossed it toward Lorien with a satisfied smile.
He caught it effortlessly, the orb disappearing in his grasp, just as easily as it had appeared.
Kamrynn’s memories.
Gone.
Erased.
Just like that.
“You…” My voice was hoarse, my chest heaving. “You MONSTERS!”
Lorien didn’t even acknowledge me.
Battered, broken, and barely clinging to consciousness, I still tried.
I still reached for her.
Even as every nerve in my body screamed in agony, even as my limbs trembled with exhaustion, even as my vision swam with blood and darkness-
I still reached for Kamrynn.
I had to get to her.
I had to save her.
But before my fingertips could even graze the hem of her dress-
A brutal, crushing force slammed into my ribs.
I barely had time to register the impact before my body was sent flying across the stone floor, the breath ripped from my lungs.
A sickening crack echoed in my ears.
Pain exploded through my chest as I hit the ground hard, my limbs sprawled out uselessly beneath me.
Through the haze of agony, my blurry gaze lifted just in time to see Lorien as he crouched down, and with unnerving ease, scooped Kamrynn into his arms.
No.
I struggled violently, trying one last time to break free.
I didn’t care about the pain.
I didn’t care that I was bleeding out.
I had to stop him.
I had to get to her.
But Sherelle stepped in my path, blocking me with a sickeningly sweet smile.
“Tsk, tsk, Calvin,” she cooed. “Still fighting? That’s cute.”
I snarled, trying to shove past her, but she crouched down beside me, her fingers tracing along my jaw mockingly.
“I almost feel bad for you,” she whispered. “You actually thought you could keep her, didn’t you?”
My chest heaved, my vision darkening at the edges.
Sherelle sighed, tapping my cheek lightly, as if comforting a wounded animal.
“I’ll get her back,” I swore, my voice raw with hatred, with fury, with pain.
“And I’ll make you pay.”
Sherelle laughed.
A full, delighted, wicked laugh.
“You know, I knew you’d say all this. I knew you’d make threats, vow vengeance. It’s just so… predictable.”
She leaned in closer, her breath brushing against my ear.
“Which is why I’ll never give you a chance to get back up.”
The next thing I felt-
Sharp, blinding pain.
Something cold and deadly plunging into my stomach.
My entire body seized up, my breath stolen as I gasped, choked-
And blood poured from my mouth.
Sherelle… stabbed me.
Her dagger was buried deep, the hilt pressed against my abdomen, her hand steady, her eyes gleaming with pleasure.
I shuddered, my body collapsing against hers, the warmth draining from my limbs.
My mouth parted, a single question slipping out, barely above a whisper.
“Sherelle… Why…”
Sherelle smiled.
“Consider it payback,” she murmured, tilting her head, “for having to endure you all that time.”
Her grip twisted the blade deeper, and I groaned, coughing up more blood.
She leaned in, her lips brushing against my ear, her next words cold, cruel, final.
“I never liked you all that much.”
Sherelle didn’t hesitate.
With a cruel, brutal twist, she ripped the dagger from my stomach, the cold steel tearing through my flesh as fresh pain exploded through my body.
I choked on a gasp, more blood spilling from my mouth, my vision blurring as a deep, violent shudder wracked my frame.
And then-
She pushed me.
Hard.
I barely had time to register what was happening before my body hit the cold stone floor, my limbs sprawled lifelessly beneath me.
My head swam, pain lanced through every nerve in my body, but Sherelle?
She didn’t even look back.
She simply wiped the blood off her dagger, turned on her heel, and walked away-as if I were nothing.
As if I hadn’t once been her mate, the Alpha of her pack, the man who ruined his entire life in a desperate bid to avenge her supposed death.
And now?
I was nothing.
Dying.
Alone.
My chest heaved, each breath shallower than the last, and I could feel it-the life slipping from my body, like sand through my fingers.
Everything hurt.
The gash in my stomach burned, searing like molten fire, my blood pooling beneath me, warm and sticky.
But none of it-
None of it-
Compared to the pain of failure.
I had failed Kamrynn.
Again.
I had promised to protect her.
I had sworn she would never suffer because of me again.
And yet-
Here I was.
Bleeding out.
Helpless.
As she was carried away.
I hate this.
I hate how weak I am.
I hate that I couldn’t do a damn thing.
I hate that the last thing I’ll ever know in this life is how utterly useless I was when it mattered most.
A shuddering breath left me, my body growing colder.
I’m sorry, Kamrynn.
I didn’t deserve her forgiveness.
But I prayed-Gods, I prayed-that in another life, I could make this up to her.
Darkness crept in at the edges of my vision, pulling me under.
I was done.
It was over.
But then-
A faint rumble stirred inside me.
A presence.
A flicker of something-someone.
“Not yet.”
A low, rasping growl echoed through my mind, so faint I almost thought I was hallucinating.
I barely had the strength to react, but deep in my subconscious, I felt him.
Fenrir.
“Don’t you dare die on me, you weak bastard.”
My wolf’s aura was faint, barely a whisper of its usual strength, but he was still there-clinging on, refusing to let go.
I swallowed, my throat burning, my limbs too heavy to move.
“It’s… too late…” I barely formed the words, but he heard me.
Fenrir snarled.
His voice cut through the haze of pain, sharp and unrelenting. “It’s not over yet. Don’t you dare give up.”
I barely had the strength to breathe, let alone argue. My body was failing. The warmth of my blood seeped out of me, pooling beneath me, my vision growing dimmer with every sluggish heartbeat.
It’s over, I wanted to tell him. I know my time is up.
But Fenrir wasn’t having it.
“Don’t be a wuss,” he snapped, his voice a low, irritated growl. “You can still mind-link Franklin. Call for help.”
I almost laughed. It was a bitter, broken thing.
“What’s the point?” I rasped internally. “By the time he gets here, I’ll already be dead.”
Fenrir snarled in frustration, his rage crackling through my fading consciousness like a dying flame desperate to reignite.
“Weak,” he spat. “Insignificant. Pathetic excuse for a male.”
His fury coiled tight, surging forward like a tidal wave.
“Enough of this. I’m taking over.”
His presence surged forward, overpowering me completely, and before I could resist, my world collapsed into darkness.
I fell.
Deep, deeper-into the abyss, into nothingness. There was no ground, no sky, no body to anchor me. Just an endless void, stretching infinitely, pulling me down, down, down.
This was death.
Weightless, untethered, I drifted in the emptiness, my thoughts unraveling like frayed threads. The pain was gone, my senses dulling into silence.
But the one thing I couldn’t escape was regret.
Kamrynn.
Her name was a whisper in my fading consciousness, a desperate tether I reached for but couldn’t grasp. I had failed her. Again.
I had sworn to protect her, to make up for all the suffering I caused, but I had let her slip through my fingers. I had been too weak, too slow. Now she was gone, taken by that monster, and I… I was nothing.
I’m sorry, I wanted to tell her. I’m so sorry. But the words had nowhere to go.
Would she even care? Would she ever forgive me?
I didn’t deserve it.
The abyss pulled me under, my soul unraveling at the seams, but before the last of me faded, a single, desperate plea clung to existence.
If there is another life… if there is any justice in this world… please, let me make it up to her.
Please…