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I’m nothing.

I’m vibrant energy flashing through the stars until I come back down again and slam into my own body.

The pleasure vibrates through every part of my being, but so do all the fleshly limitations of my mortal form.

The arrow in my leg throbs.

My scarred lungs constrict.

And then I’m staring up at a tower that isn’t a dream of shadows anymore.

It’s very real.

And it’s shattering.

CHAPTER 44

I sense the change before I can see it.

Shadows wisp all around me, bending with every thought that crosses my mind.

My vision swarms with colors I’ve never seen before. It’s as if the world has been cut by a knife of oil and magic, splitting it down into threads the Gods used to create everything.

If I pull one, I could unravel it all.

Terror grips my heart as I draw in my initial breath. Then my heart takes its first beat.

The strongest threads are linking me to my mates. I’m fully bonded to Ze’ev and Arwan, but I can see how fragile those bonds are now.

They’re linked to our lives.

To our hearts.

Please be okay.

I call for them, starting first with the Alpha.

Godric.

The darkness parts, revealing the shifter on one knee with his massive body shielding mine from the rubble cascading from above.

Ze’ev.

An invisible arrow spears through the fog, splitting it until I find the Outcast locked in a fight with my brother. He barrels a fist downward, cracking a rib in what seems to be a very tangible body.

Arwan.

Arms wrap around my middle, and his icy breath crests over my ear as he curls into me from behind. His hard chest materializes, and his form solidifies as if I’ve called him into existence.

“I’ve got you,” he whispers.

But the truth is, I have them. I clench my fist around their threads and hold on with all my might.

Because something is pulling them.

No… someone.

All of the darkness I had been carefully parting like a veil shuts on me at the same time that King Njord’s laughter surrounds me.