A sharp pain shoots through my chest, making me double over on the narrow bed. My heart pounds erratically, and for a moment, I can't catch my breath. The fertility goddess powers in my veins feel unstable, like they're trying to tear free from my mortal flesh without the anchor of our bond.
I press my hand to my belly, where our child grows. Four months pregnant, and every day brings new evidence that I'm channeling divine power at levels that were never meant for human biology. The seven Fae women who died before me—they were all pregnant too, all trying to sustain fertility goddess enhancement while growing children that demanded more thantheir bodies could give. But even they didn't face what I'm facing now.
I'm not just enhanced. I'm something unprecedented—channeling goddess-level divinity that makes their struggles look like minor omega adjustments. Where they burned through normal fertility magic, I'm drowning in divine essence that should be impossible for mortal flesh to contain.
And without Thorian's presence to stabilize our mate bond, it's consuming me alive.
Another wave of crushing exhaustion hits me, and I feel my fertility powers flare chaotically as my system tries to compensate for the missing bond connection. The gas lamps in my room flicker, and I can hear plants in the boarding house garden below responding to my unstable divinity with confused bursts of unseasonable growth.
I'm dying. Without the mate bond to anchor my enhanced abilities, my fertility goddess powers are becoming toxic, burning through my human biology faster than my body can heal. The divine enhancement that makes me capable of sustaining an entire court's magical prosperity is slowly cooking me from the inside out.
The boarding house keeper pounds on my door. "Miss Jones! You've got a visitor!"
My blood turns to ice. I registered under a false name, paid extra for discretion, chose this place specifically because it caters to people who don't want to be found. Who could have tracked me here?
"I'm not receiving visitors," I call back, my voice hoarse from the strain of speaking around the ache in my throat.
"Says she's your physician. Claims you're gravely ill and need immediate medical attention."
Sarah. It has to be Sarah, probably with some elaborate story about being my doctor. The thought of facing her again,of hearing more justifications for her calculated betrayal, makes my stomach turn with rage.
"Tell her I don't need medical attention."
"She's got official papers, miss. Says if you don't come voluntarily, she'll have you committed for evaluation."
The threat hits like a physical blow. In this world, an unmarried pregnant woman showing signs of mental instability can be declared incompetent and placed under medical supervision. If Sarah has forged the right documents, she could have me forcibly committed to an asylum where I'd be completely at her mercy.
Another wave of pain crashes through my system, stronger this time. I gasp and clutch at the thin blanket, my fertility goddess powers flaring with enough force to make the gas lamps flicker violently. The mate bond withdrawal symptoms are getting worse, and I'm starting to understand with growing horror that they might be more than just emotional distress.
I might be dying.
The bond between alpha and omega, enhanced by divine transformation and pregnancy, isn't just spiritual connection. It's biological necessity, as essential to my survival as breathing or eating. By trying to escape Thorian, I've triggered a process that could kill me within days.
The irony is bitter and perfect. I fled to save my life from a transformation that might kill me, only to discover that separation from my mate definitely will.
The pounding on the door grows more insistent. "Miss Jones! Open this door immediately, or I'll be forced to involve the authorities!"
I stagger to my feet, swaying as another wave of dizziness hits me. Through the grimy window, I can see a black carriage waiting in the street below. Not Sarah's practical medicaltransport—something far more elegant. Something that speaks of wealth and authority that transcends human jurisdiction.
My enhanced senses, dulled as they are by bond withdrawal, catch a familiar scent drifting up from the street. Cedar and earth and that wild, untamed power that speaks directly to my omega hindbrain.
Thorian.
He's found me. Despite my careful precautions, despite the false name and the anonymous boarding house, he's tracked me to this desperate hiding place. The relief that crashes through my system is so intense it brings tears to my eyes, even as fury burns in my chest at my body's betrayal.
My mate bond recognizes its other half and floods me with desperate need, completely overriding my conscious anger about his lies and manipulation.
"Miss Jones!" The boarding house keeper's voice has taken on a note of panic. "These gentlemen are quite insistent?—"
The door to my room doesn't break or dissolve—it simply opens under Thorian's touch, the lock mechanisms responding to his fertility magic like plants turning toward sunlight. He steps through the opening with fluid grace, his tall form seeming to fill the shabby space completely. Behind him, Captain Sage maintains guard position, her hand resting on the pommel of her sword.
"Maya." His voice carries a relief so profound it makes my chest clench with unwanted emotion. "Thank the ancient trees, you're alive."
I want to rail at him, to demand explanations for how he found me, to maintain the fury that's been sustaining me for the past two days. Instead, the sight of him makes my legs buckle with relief so intense it's physically overwhelming.
He crosses the room in two strides, catching me as I collapse. His familiar scent envelops me like a lifeline, and the desperateache in my chest begins to ease for the first time since I fled. My enhanced senses sharpen, the muffled quality of the past two days clearing as his presence stabilizes the mate bond that was slowly killing me through neglect.
"I hate you," I whisper against his chest, even as my body melts into his warmth. "I hate what you did to me, what Sarah did to me. I hate that I can't survive without our bond."
