The tether stops.
It quiets.
It stills—landing with an eerie inevitability.
As if this was supposed to happen.
As if every awful thing was supposed to happen.
I keep breathing.
I keep still.
The world narrows to the space of this room, to this bed.
To me.
And the familiar darkness.
Peace, I tell myself. That’s all this is. Just peace.
But underneath that false calm, something shifts—soft as a whisper, cold as bone.
Somewhere beneath it, I think I hear a laugh.
Wait… what if it isn’t me?
What if it never was?
37
ROWEN
It’s happening faster than we thought it would.My fur bristles as Sage, Forest and I walk the perimeter with the other two alphas. Bronson and William are shoulder to shoulder, leading the way. Their ears flick at every sound.
Sage gives me the side-eye.We can’t say that. We didn’t know what to expect.
It wasn’t this.Not days, but hours even, of watching my mate dissolve away.
The air bites colder the farther I go. I shouldn’t have come on this mission. Bronson’s second in command saw two vampires on our property yesterday. Forest had insisted I come, saying they needed as many scouts as possible to follow a trail. He also said I needed the fresh air.
But he’s wrong. Being away from Tobias, it’s straining something in me. I can feel it.
And if I can, so can he.
The bitter taste of copper lingers in the air, shrouded with something else—something dark or sour.
How can it be happening this fast? Taren thought we’d have weeks to figure something out. Weeks! Not days. But it’s been less than seventy-twohours since the ravens attacked my sister—since Tobias first heard Rip’s voice in his head. And now, it’s like his very essence is… fading. Even holding him in bed, it’s like I’m holding a husk. He’s disappearing right before my eyes, being eclipsed by the vampire’s mind.
Sage nuzzles me in quiet reassurance. He’s the only one who truly gets it.
We reach a small herd of deer near a creek. They scatter the moment they hear us.
Bronson sniffs the air, then turns north.This way, I think.
I turn to follow when an emptiness fills me, painfully deep and overwhelming. My heart clenches. Tobias?
A throb under my ribs makes me stumble. I lift my nose toward the wind. My mate’s scent doesn’t exist here. He’s never been to this corner of the property.
