Serena stirred awake and imdiately started coughing.
Alaric’s face swam into focus through the blur. He was smiling.
"Oh gods," she rasped. "What the hell. Again."
"It works too well," Alaric replied, entirely unapologetic.
Serena lurched upright, already moving. She barely made it to the bathing chamber before retching. The door slamd shut behind her and locked with a decisive click.
She threw it up violently, eyes watering, stomach heaving, every nerve in her body protesting the betrayal.
On the other side of the door, Alaric’s voice drifted in, infuriatingly calm.
"Side effects include nausea, temporary rage toward the person who saved your life, and a full recovery. You’re welco."
She rinsed her mouth again, steadying herself, then pushed open the door.
Elara was standing in the infirmary room. "You look like shit."
Serena snorted weakly, shaking her head. "I feel like shit so that’s fitting."
Elara grinned. "Let help you."
She moved in, fingers already in Serena’s hair. As she worked, Elara leaned close, covering her mouth, her voice dropping to a whisper threaded with urgency.
"Serena, you need to know a few things—"
At that mont, Hale strode in, not bothering to knock. "We don’t have ti."
Elara and Serena locked eyes. He’d clearly heard that and cut it off. Elara’s hands moved faster, pulling Serena’s hair back, settling the crown into place.
The air split.
A portal blood open as Hyran stepped through. "We need her now. Serena, fabricate filters on everyone. Red Death."
Serena pushed gold into every mber of the Draken Forces and every warrior she could reach. A tiny cube, no larger than a pearl, ford on each of them, rapidly filtering the air around them.
They broke into a run. It was dark and the camp was in chaos. Fires burned uncontrolled. Red Death drifted like a living thing, seeping into canvas.
"Can you fabricate as many of those as possible for the next minute?" Aeron asked when they reached him. "Shadowclaw is on his way."
He was wrapped in gold, as were Garrett, Bloodmoon, and Shadowclaw. Everyone Serena had been able to reach, she had shielded.
"Yes," Serena answered without hesitation.
She began fabricating.
"Serena," Hyran said, watching her closely, "multiple at the sa ti."
"Good thinking," Serena said with a nod.
Two ford cleanly in her hands. She looked up at Hyran and grinned.
Hyran blinked, unimpressed.
"If you can push these into three hundred people at the sa ti, then you can fabricate more than two." His voice was flat and irritated.
"Oh. Right," Serena said, face going red. She was tired. "It’s not the sa thing..."
"Figure it out."
Her breath steadied as the rhythm locked in. Twenty at once. Fifty at once. One hundred. She kept going, it took concentration.
Aeron watched in open fascination.
Mages poured into the tent monts later, grabbing the small cubes by the handfuls and sprinting back out into the smoke and fire.
All of them eyed her, eyes wide in disbelief. None spoke. Mages had affinity to one another regardless of pack affiliation, more than wolves. It was an unspoken rule, they protected their own. And as of that mont, Serena joined that club.
Aeron and Hyran made eye contact, both smirking.
"The Red Sacred Oak enchantnt worked. The traitors had Red Death already in the camp," Hyran comnted. "We have Viremont in custody."
At the ntion of Viremont, she randomly felt a flicker of anger toward Hyran. She understood he’d been following orders. She knew it was irrational. She could’ve ignored all of them and burned Viremont. They needed to flush out the five traitors. Holding position was the correct call.
But the silver around her neck had rattled her. She felt upset.
Fin entered the tent in a blur and pulled her into his arms without hesitation.
His scent hit her hard. When their skin touched, it felt like electricity, intense and grounding all at once.
His eyes dropped to her neck, and his expression darkened.
Serena noticed.
"I’m okay," she assured him quickly. "Don’t worry." She did not want him focused on her. He had his own pack to lead, and she’d survive.
Wait.
She wasn’t upset at the chain of command. She knew the risk and could have stopped it with fla if she’d wanted to. It hadn’t been pleasant, but it hadn’t broken her.
No. The upset she felt wasn’t hers.
It was Fin’s.
His frustration at Hyran and Hale. Controlled, but strong enough to bleed through to her.
Oh.
This is making sense... these aren’t my feelings, she thought to herself.
Her instinct was to soothe him, the sa way she would have with Dex, steadying and grounding without thinking.
And then it dawned on her.
Oh shit. Wait.
Holy shit.
Was he her fated mate and she hadn’t known? Or had he marked her?
What the hell was happening?
She resisted the urge to reach for her neck, forcing herself not to be obvious. Had she really not noticed anything that morning? How tired had she been?
If he had marked her...
Or maybe they were fated mates and she could feel him through the matebond.
Her thoughts spiraled, stacking possibilities faster than she could dismiss them.
Fin could feel her too and knew exactly what she was probably wondering.
He leaned back just enough to et her gaze. He wanted to laugh and kiss her.
Instead he opened his mouth and Garrett burst into the tent.
Hyran and Aeron were both standing there and had very clearly been watching the hug and the entire interaction. Fin caught their eyes at the sa ti.
They both looked away in opposite directions with identical expressions of sudden, intense interest in absolutely nothing.
Fin almost snorted.
He gave Serena a look that clearly said, I’ll tell you later.
It did not help.
More mages rushed into the tent, grabbing the fabricated purifiers by the handfuls. Every single one of them clocked Fin’s hands on Serena’s shoulders.
Not a good look.
Fin adjusted imdiately, pulling her into a platonic proper hug. Very obviously just a hug. Nothing to see here.
"I need to take you to King Tiberon," Garrett announced, hating every word of it. "Follow ."
Serena turned, already assuming Fin would stay behind.
Fin laughed out loud, feeling her emotions again. She was adorable.
Yeah, no.
There was no universe in which he was letting her walk through an active battlefield without him there to protect her.
As they moved, Garrett called over his shoulder, "Serena. There is sothing you should know."
He slowed and turned, opening his mouth to tell her. Then he saw the look on Fin’s face and imdiately closed his mouth.
"But it can wait," he anded.
Serena’s gaze shifted to Fin.
Then back to Garrett.
The silence between them stretched, heavy with things very clearly not being said.
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