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This is a female who’s been forced to be strong far past her breaking point. A female who just used the very last of her strength to fall into my brother’s arms and nearly died getting there.

Maybe I should have known when his dagger was spinning straight at my head, but even then I was more confused than anything. Even then, something inside of me refused to believe the truth. Refused to acknowledge what I’ve been fighting to deny for days now.

It wasn’t until Caelan reached for the Omega, pulling her close, and burying his face in her hair that the world stopped—and I finally understood.

And when my brother fell to the floor, curling his frame over hers like he was prepared to protect her with his life… Something inside of me crumbled to dust. Around me, the world lurched, then started to spin again—like everything was put to rights. Like everything was finally the way it was always meant to be.

Like my whole universe hadn’t just been rocked on its foundations.

Like my fucking life didn’t just implode.

Caelan’s been blocking us from his side of the Bond since the moment he woke up. Now, he finally lets us in. His emotions flow freely, flooding the Bond.

And nearly destroying me in the process.

Light shoots down the Bond and washes over me, drowning me in a brilliant explosion of silver. I gasp for air, lungs tightening to the point of pain. My chest constricts, and my hands fly to my sternum, curling into fists that I use to pound against my flesh.

My heart pounds frantically against my ribs as my brain struggles to comprehend what I’m seeing.

But I don’t need logic or science to tell me what I know I’m experiencing only a glimpse of. I don’t need my brain to put a name to what I know as surely as I know my own name.

Their Bond.

I can see it as easily as I can see the green threads of our Pack Bond. Except this—this Bond is a thousand times more intense. A thousand times more incredible. The silver thread of their Bond is unlike anything I’ve ever imagined could be possible.

It’s Caelan. It’s Idril. It’s both of them, together.

Two souls twisted into a spiraling chord so incandescent—so fucking ancient and bright and alive—that it knocks me back a step. My hands fly out in front of my face, like doing so will somehow shield me from facing the truth.

I bend over, bracing myself by gripping the flesh of my thighs with numb fingers.

It feels like forever before I finally get my breathing under control, and once I can finally take a breath, I shout, “Someone tell me what the fuck is going on!”

Calean’s head snaps up. He turns, leveling me with a glare that feels like it should light me on fire. My newly healed hand throbs, twitching at the recent memory of white-hot, fiery pain. Of burning flesh that heals, burns, heals, and burns again.

With the Omega cradled in his arms, Caelan pushes to his feet and straightens to his full height.

“It’s very simple, Daxen. Idril is mine. My Fated Mate. Do you understand?”

Even now, part of me still wants to deny his words. Deny what’s happening. This isn’t my brother. This isn’t Caelan. This is a stranger. A stranger who deliberately threw a dagger at my head. A stranger wearing my brother’s face and speaking with my brother’s voice. It’s not right. It’s not real. It can’t be.

Everything hits me at once, slamming into me with the force of a freight train. My mouth is so dry my throat clicks audibly as I try to swallow. I’m shaking. Shaking and sweating, swaying on my feet, seconds from imploding.

I reach out, blindly searching for something to hold onto as the room spins and the floor heaves beneath my feet—someone moans, long and low. A heavy weight lands on my shoulder and I flinch, scrambling away from the touch as my stomach heaves and bile surges into my throat.

Fates… that sound—that moaning—I need it to stop. I need it to go away. It’s awful. It’s… It’s…

It’s coming from me.

“Daxen?”

My head snaps up, finding Vaelenor kneeling in front of me, eyes wide and wild and agonized.

“She was telling the truth,” I whisper, like maybe if I speak low enough, no one else will hear me. No one else will come to the same realization I have.

This whole fucking time… this whole time…

Fates… oh gods…