Blood Ties

Chapter6-fragments

Sera

I come back in fragments.

Sound first — warped, distant, like I'm underwater. Voices overlap, urgent and sharp, not meant for me. Someone says my name, too loudly, like volume might keep me alive.

There's pain in my back.

Hot. Deep. Immovable.

I try to breathe and it catches halfway in, my body rejecting the effort. The world tilts. Sand presses against my cheek, cold and gritty, and I realise I'm on my side.

Don't move.

The words reach me through the fog. A man's voice. Close. Steady in a way that feels practised.

I blink, slow and heavy.

The beach swims into focus — rocks, dark water, the sky dimming toward night. Blood stains the sand beneath me, spreading outward like something alive.

Then there's a face in my line of sight.

Him.

He's kneeling beside me, hands braced near my shoulders but not touching, like he's afraid to hurt me more than I already am. His jaw is clenched tight, eyes fixed on mine with an intensity that cuts through the haze.

Levi.

The name surfaces without effort.

Something in my chest loosens at the sight of him. I don't know why he's here. I don't remember how I got here. But seeing him feels like a tether — thin, fragile, but enough.

"You're okay," he says, even though we both know I'm not. "Help's on the way."

I want to tell him not to leave.

My mouth opens, but instead of words, memory surges — uninvited and sharp.

A door shaking in its frame.

Raised voices.

The instinct to step forward, to block, to endure.

My fingers twitch against the sand.

Levi notices instantly.

"Stay with me," he says, quieter now. Not a command. A plea.

Sirens cut through the air in the distance. Red and blue lights smear across the rocks as figures rush toward us. Someone says knife still in place. Someone else says she's conscious.

Hands replace Levi's — firm, professional.

I panic.

Not because of the pain — because they're taking him away.

Levi squeezes my hand once before letting go, grounding me just long enough to breathe.

"I'm here," he says. "I'm not going anywhere."

As they lift me, pain flares through my back, bright and overwhelming. I cry out, the sound torn from somewhere deep and feral.

The world fractures.

The last thing I see before the dark pulls me under is Levi's face above me — helpless, furious, determined.

And beneath it all, the old instinct rises, unshaken by time:

Stay awake.

Don't let go.

Be the shield