Page 27 of Beast Bear

“Serena,” Alicia said gently, “are you alright?”

Serena lowered the phone, feeling numb. “My father,” she managed, voice cracking. “He… he’s in critical condition. My mother needs me… I need to figure out… oh god.”

Alicia rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Do whatever you have to do,” she said softly. “I’ll cover for you here. Family is family. You should go to her.”

Nodding, Serena tried to piece together what her next step should be. Her gaze flicked to the window, where twilight tinged the horizon. She thought of Theo somewhere out in the woods, lost in a frenzy.

Chapter

Thirty

After the planetouched down in Sacramento, Serena moved through the busy terminal in a fog of anxiety. Her mother’s texts guided her to the hospital where her father had been taken. The fluorescent lights in the lobby buzzed overhead as she hurried through automatic doors. The sharp, sterile smell of antiseptic filled her lungs, and she spotted her mother, Grace Vaughn, pacing at the far end of a corridor.

She had never seen her mother look so disheveled. Strands of hair stuck to her damp forehead, and her eyes were red from crying. The moment their gazes met, her mother burst into fresh tears, rushing forward to wrap her arms around Serena.

Through the small window in the door, she could see machines attached to her father, tubes and wires connected to his body. He looked smaller than she remembered, as if the hospital bed had swallowed up the powerful man who once towered over her.

Her mother sank onto a nearby chair, motioning for Serena to join her. “I only left him three weeks ago,” she said, her voice trembling. “It took me so long to find the courage. I’d hoped he could get help. I’d hoped things would be different.”

Serena frowned, remembering her father’s fierce anger whenever he felt challenged. “What happened?” she asked softly.

Grace lowered her head, black hair with a streak of white falling over her face. “They think he lost control of his dragon. But I don’t think it was an accident. He was a broken man who never had a chance. His father… did horrible things to him. He was never a whole person. I kept hoping that if I loved him enough, he’d change.”

Serena said nothing for a moment. She recalled her own childhood and the constant tension in the house. “I used to think you stayed because you agreed with how he ran our lives. But it was never that simple, was it?”

Her mother’s eyes brimmed with tears. “No. I stayed because I was afraid to be alone, and I thought leaving would make things worse. Now I see that maybe we were both already lost.”

Serena stared at the still form of her father through the glass, trying to reconcile the terrifying figure who once ruled her childhood with the frail shape in the bed. “I don’t know what to feel,” she admitted. “He was so cruel. But watching him like this…”

Her mother reached for her hand. “I understand. I feel the same. Anger and pity and guilt, all twisted together.”

They spent the night in the harsh glow of fluorescent lights, sipping lukewarm coffee from paper cups. Nurses bustled in and out of his room, offering updates that never gave much hope. Serena felt the minutes drag, her mind wandering to Fate Mountain and the heartbreak she left behind.

At three in the morning, the beeping from her father’s monitors changed. Serena jerked awake as flashing lights filled the room.Nurses and doctors rushed in with crash carts, calling for more help. Alarms screeched, and her mother stood, gripping Serena’s arm with trembling hands.

They watched from outside the room, hearts pounding as the medical team fought to keep him alive. Serena’s mind flooded with horrible memories. But in that moment, she found herself holding her mother’s hand, tears streaming down both their faces.

The doctor emerged, face grim, and quietly shook his head. “We did everything we could,” he said. “I’m very sorry.”

Serena felt a strange hollowness open inside her chest. She stepped closer to the open door, staring at her father’s body. Her mother broke down, clutching Serena’s shoulder with a desperate sob.

Serena pressed her palm to the glass. Her cheeks were wet with tears she barely felt. Anger and regret twisted in her gut, as if she were both mourning and shaking with rage. She wondered if her father had chosen this, if he had finally given up after tearing their family apart. She could not decide if she was relieved or horrified.

They walked in to see him one final time. Her father’s features were slack, free of the anger that once lingered in every line of his face. Serena’s throat closed up. She placed a trembling hand on her mother’s arm, uncertain what to say or feel.

When they left the hospital room, Serena realized nothing would ever be the same. The man who dominated her childhood was gone, slipping away in a final spiral of anguish. She felt no clean sense of closure, only the turmoil of unresolved pain. She wondered if she should hate him, pity him, or both.

Outside in the corridor, her mother slumped into a chair, tears still shining on her cheeks. Serena sat beside her, resting a hand gently on her mother’s knee. They said nothing, just stared at the drab hospital floor.

She glanced at the dim emergency lights illuminating the hallway and realized she had no idea how to grieve this. All she knew was that something vital had ended. Her world had changed. And when she finally stood, helping her mother gather her coat, she felt every step echo with the loss she could not yet name.

Chapter

Thirty-One

Theo wokeup naked in a cave, the taste of blood on his lips. His entire body trembled from cold and exhaustion. When he lifted a shaky hand to his face, he flinched at the sight of dried blood streaking his arm and chest. Memories of the previous night flickered in broken fragments. He remembered running into the forest, and the savage clarity of a predator’s hunger.

He tried to piece together how he had ended up here, curled against the rock with no clothes and no sense of time. A dull ache weighed on his chest as he recalled the fury that had consumed him. He had lost himself to the bear, and now the shame settled in like a slow, heavy current.

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