Mated to My Fiancé’s Alpha King Brother - Chapter 80

80: Chapter 80 80: Chapter 80 Seraphina’s POV
I sat beside Damien in the military aircraft, watching his jaw clench tighter with each radio update that crackled through our headsets.

The news kept getting worse.

“Alpha King, this is Base Commander,” came the latest transmission, barely audible over the rotor noise.

“We have two more casualties coming in from the Riverside patrol.

Critical condition.”
Damien’s hand found mine, his fingers intertwining with mine in a grip that was both reassuring and desperate.

“How bad is it really?” I asked quietly, my voice barely carrying over the helicopter’s noise.

His silver-blue eyes met mine, and I saw the truth he’d been trying to shield me from.

“Bad enough that some of the younger wolves are talking about requesting transfers to safer territories.”
The helicopter began its descent, and through the small windows, I could see the sprawling military base that had been established to guard the eastern approach to our territory.

Guards who couldn’t be more than twenty-one or twenty-two stood at their posts, their faces pale and drawn with exhaustion and fear.

The moment we landed, we were surrounded by activity.

Medics rushed past carrying stretchers, officers barked orders into radios, and the acrid smell of antiseptic mixed with the metallic scent of blood hung heavy in the air.

“Alpha!” Base Commander Chen jogged toward us, his uniform pristine despite the chaos around him.

He was a stern-faced man in his fifties with prematurely gray hair and eyes that had seen too much conflict.

“Thank the Moon Goddess you’re here.

The situation is…

challenging.”
“Report,” Damien said curtly, immediately slipping into his role as military commander.

“Seventeen confirmed casualties from last night’s attacks, with three in critical condition.

The rogues hit us at three separate points within a two-hour window.”
Damien”™s voice carried a dangerous edge.

“Show me the wounded.”
The medical tent was a scene from a nightmare.

The most seriously injured lay on cots arranged in neat rows, their bodies bearing the savage wounds that only rogue claws could inflict.

I stopped at the first cot, where a boy who couldn’t be more than nineteen lay unconscious, his left shoulder nearly shredded.

His breathing was shallow and labored, and even from several feet away, I could smell the infection beginning to set in.

“This is Private Williams,” the head medic, a tired-looking woman with kind eyes, explained quietly.

“The wounds are too extensive for conventional treatment, but we’re doing everything we can to keep him stable.”
“And him?” I moved to the next cot, where another young wolf lay with deep gashes across his torso.

“Same situation.

The rogue claws were clearly poisoned with something that prevents normal healing.

We’ve never seen anything like it.”
My hands were trembling as I looked around the tent.

Seventeen wounded warriors, most of them barely out of their teens.

Three who might not survive the night.

“Sera,” Damien’s voice was gentle but concerned.

“You don’t have to see this.

Why don’t you€””
“No.” I turned to face him, and something had shifted inside me.

The self-doubt that had been eating at me all morning was still there, but it was overshadowed by something stronger.

“These are our people, Damien.

Our pack members.

I need to see.”
Commander cleared his throat.

“If I may, Alpha King, the morale situation is becoming critical.

Word of these injuries has spread through the ranks, and some of the newer recruits are requesting reassignment.

They’re saying it’s suicide to patrol the border zones now.”
“I want to address the troops,” I said suddenly, surprising myself as much as everyone else.

Both men turned to stare at me.

“Sera,” Damien began, but I cut him off.

“I’m serious.

They need to know they’re not being sent out to die.

They need to know that even if they are wounded, they won’t be abandoned.”
“With respect,” Commander said carefully, “I’m not sure what you could say that would–”
“I can heal them,” I said simply.

The silence that followed was profound.

“All of them,” I continued, gesturing toward the wounded.

“The poisoned wounds, the infections, the damaged organs€”I can fix it all.”
“Sera, no.” Damien’s voice was sharp with alarm.

“You nearly killed yourself healing just two people a few weeks ago.

Seventeen casualties would be€””
“Would be exactly what these people need to see,” I interrupted, meeting his gaze steadily.

“You want to know how I can prove I deserve to be Luna?

This is how.

By putting the needs of our pack above my own comfort.”
I simply walked to the first cot and placed my hands on Private Williams’s torn shoulder.

The healing light that flowed from my hands was brighter than it had ever been before, as if my desperation to help was amplifying my abilities.

Private Williams’s breathing immediately improved, and I watched in satisfaction as the infected wounds began to close and heal.

But even as his injuries disappeared, I felt the corresponding drain on my own energy.

It was like having someone slowly pull a plug in my chest, letting my life force leak out drop by precious drop.

“Next,” I said, moving to Corporal despite the dizziness that was already beginning to cloud my vision.

“Luna, perhaps you should–“”
“Next,” I repeated firmly.

Word spread quickly through the base.

By the time I was working on the fifth casualty, there was a crowd gathered outside the medical tent.

The seventh healing nearly brought me to my knees.

The wolf had taken a rogue’s claws directly to the chest, puncturing a lung and nearly severing his spine.

Repairing that level of damage required more energy than I’d used on the previous six casualties combined.

“That’s enough,” Damien said, his voice rough with worry and command authority.

“Sera, you’ve done enough.

Step away.”
I looked up at him, swaying on my feet, and saw the terror in his eyes.

But behind him, I could also see the faces of the remaining wounded.

Ten more people who were counting on me, who might die if I stopped now.

“Can’t,” I managed to whisper.

“Not done.”
“The hell you’re not.” He moved toward me, clearly intending to physically remove me from the tent, but I held up a hand that glowed with healing energy.

“Please,” I said, pouring every ounce of conviction I had left into the word.

“Trust me.”
The next three healings passed in a blur of pain and exhaustion.

I was barely conscious by the time I reached the eleventh casualty, a young female wolf whose leg had been nearly severed in the attack.

But somehow, the light still flowed from my hands, still did its work even as my vision grayed around the edges.

“Stop!” someone shouted.

“You need to stop!”
I couldn’t tell who was speaking anymore.

The voices all sounded distant, like they were coming from underwater.

But I could still see the wounded, still feel their pain calling to me.

Thirteen.

Fourteen.

Fifteen.

My legs gave out entirely as I approached the sixteenth casualty, and I had to be held upright by two medics while I worked.

But even through my delirium, I could feel something changing in the tent.

Sixteen.

I collapsed completely after the final healing, my body simply refusing to support me any longer.