LOGIN'Do not leave,' Nikolai said quickly. If Theia hadn't known better, she would have said his voice was shaky.
‘You had no right.’ She was looking at Elior, because she knew it was him. Whatever magic he carried, it was not like Nikolai’s. In some ways it was far worse. He could reach into a mind, see it, maybe control it. Take what he
***This chapter contains depictions and discussions of suicide and self-harm. Reader discretion is advised.***Nikolai was still in the small study with Elior and Koda, and a strained quiet still plagued them, and Elior was still actively ignoring Nikolai, standing and gazing out the window.Koda hand slumped in a worn armchair and was fidgeting in the way he did when he wanted to run his wolf.Nikolai leaned against the desk. Unsettled still with the feelings from the new bond with Theia. So different it seemed from his one with Elior and Koda. So much more out of his control.Something was moving beneath his skin, something that he had not experienced in some years, the sort of animal fury of a creature whose territory had been violated. He knew in part it was the freshness of the blood-binding, a side effect he long forgotten. But now, it was taking a tremendous amount of effort to walk h
***This chapter contains depictions and discussions of suicide and self-harm. Reader discretion is advised.***And now, Elior was there too.That was the worst part.Callan had taken her body until she had learned how to detach from it and float somewhere else where the pain could not fully reach her. Her mind had been the only place she could keep clean. It was the only place where Isme and Mikka were entirely hers, where her memories could hide without anyone judging them or tearing them down.Now that was gone too. Elior had stepped right past the lock and looked at the ruin inside. And he had shared it with the others as if it meant nothing.She looked at the small mirror above the basin. The girl looking back at her had hollow eyes and grey skin.She glanced down at the wooden tray beside the basin, noticing the small folding razor blade.
Outside, further down the hallway, there was a heavy oak door to a small seemingly unused study by the dust on the desk. Elior shut the door with a quiet, solid thud as they slipped inside.Nikolai stood in the middle of the small space, his shoulders tense and his jaw set, his hands clenched into tight fists at his sides, until his knuckles were white. In his chest, the bond was still pulsing, an erratic, aching rhythm of her distress that made his blood boil.I'm going to tear his throat out, Nikolai sent down the link, the thought vibrating with raw, vicious heat. Right now.‘You are going to do nothing of the sort,’ Koda said aloud, his voice low and sharp. He caught Nikolai by the shoulder and forced him around. ‘Stop acting like a blunt instrument, Nico.'He put his hands on her. Nikolai snarled across their minds. He dragged her into the fucking
'Do not leave,' Nikolai said quickly. If Theia hadn't known better, she would have said his voice was shaky.‘You had no right.’ She was looking at Elior, because she knew it was him. Whatever magic he carried, it was not like Nikolai’s. In some ways it was far worse. He could reach into a mind, see it, maybe control it. Take what he wanted from it.Her voice shaking with fury now, not fear. 'You had no right to go into my head. I do not know you. I do not know any of you, and you had no right.''I know,' Elior said quietly. 'I am sorry. Truly.'‘What did you see?’ She knew, but she had to be sure. Her worst fears were being realised. She had to be sure that Isme and Mikka had not touched her thoughts unconsciously, and the co
'Theia!' Koda was on his feet instantly.She did not respond. She was somewhere else entirely, her face grey and her pupils blown wide with terror.Through the binding, a spike of sheer, suffocating agony slammed into Nikolai's chest so hard he nearly lost his balance.'Elior, do something!' Nikolai commanded out loud, panic ripping through his usual restraint.'I cannot just force my way into her mind, human minds are delicate. I could hurt her more in this state.' Elior argued.Eli, she can't breathe. Koda tried to reason instead.'Step back, both of you,' Elior said sharply, his voice cutting through the panic in the room. 'Nikolai, get off the floor. Koda, stop crowding her. You are cornering her, and your wolves are only making the air oppressive with their dominance.'Fix this, Elior! Nikolai pushed back through their link, raw and ragged. Please. She is suffocating!If I breach her mind uninvited, I am no better than whatever broke her, Elior snapped back across the mental thre
She is not hearing us, Elior sent. She is somewhere else entirely.Can you tell what happened? Nikolai asked, the tension under his ribs winding tighter.Not without entering her mind. And I will not do it.Elior.No.Nikolai turned back to Theia. The pulse in his jaw ticked, hard and sharp. Through the thin thread of their blood bond, her panic reached him, not as clear thoughts, but as a violent, shivering tremor that set his own instincts on edge. He could not understand what he was feeling. Why was she terrified of him? Her silence felt like a barrier thrown up to keep him out, and he could not tell if she was shielding Callan, hiding something dangerous, or simply refusing to trust him.The uncertainty was rapidly fraying his restraint.He kept his voice level, though the effort was beginning to cost him. 'Did the general do something to you?'Theia went very still. The air seized in her throat.The question hung between them like a blade. She stared at his rigid posture, the dar







