LOGINAs long as Elio suffers, I will die piece by piece.
The words came out in the mixed voice as I sat with Rhydian in the private study, the fire crackling softly in the hearth. The phantom pains were constant now, a relentless barrage of agony that never fully faded. Every injury on Elio crossed the mountains to me. Every cut, every bruise, every wound manifested on my own flesh. The binding was draining me faster than ever. I could feel my life slipping away with his suffe
The real Elio is not a prisoner.I crouched beside Rhydian in the shadows of Jax Thorn's fortress, my heart pounding against my ribs. The connection had led us here through the outer rings, past the checkpoints, through the winding streets. The disguise had worked perfectly. But what we saw through a cracked window changed everything we thought we knew.Elio sat in luxury. Fine clothes of silk and velvet draped his frame. Rich food and wine covered the table before him. He was laughing with Jax Thorn, their bodies close, their hands intertwined. Not a prisoner. A secret lover. A strategist. The man we thought was dead was alive and thriving in the heart of enemy territory.Rhydian's breath caught in his throat, his face pale with shock. "He is not suffering. He is living in luxury. With Jax. As his lover. As his advisor. All this time, we thought he was being tortured."I felt the connection flare with intensity, Elio's emotions bleeding thr
The disguise felt strange but necessary.I adjusted the merchant robes as we approached Jax Thorn's outer rings, the rough fabric scratchy against my skin. The low ranking omega merchant look was simple and unassuming. Plain clothes. A small cart of goods filled with spices and cloth. Nothing that would draw attention. Rhydian walked beside me under a powerful glamour spell, his appearance shifted to that of a simple guard. No alpha presence. No power signature. Just two travelers passing through on ordinary business.Rhydian spoke quietly, his voice barely audible over the noise of the city. "The glamour is holding perfectly. No one sees the alpha in me. You look the part completely. The merchant from the neutral lands with his loyal guard. How are you feeling? The binding is not acting up?"I kept my head down, my eyes scanning the ground ahead. "The binding is quiet for now. The pains are less intense than they have been. The connection is helpi
As long as Elio suffers, I will die piece by piece.The words came out in the mixed voice as I sat with Rhydian in the private study, the fire crackling softly in the hearth. The phantom pains were constant now, a relentless barrage of agony that never fully faded. Every injury on Elio crossed the mountains to me. Every cut, every bruise, every wound manifested on my own flesh. The binding was draining me faster than ever. I could feel my life slipping away with his suffering, each new pain carving another piece from my soul.Rhydian held my hand, his thumb tracing soothing circles on my skin. "The pains are getting worse. The black blood. The necrosis. We need to stop this before it kills you. Tell me what you are thinking. What is going through that mind of yours?"I looked at him, seeing the worry etched into his features. "Elio is suffering. Someone is hurting him in Jax's fortress. Every cut on him appears on me. Every scar drains my life forc
The emissary brought a finger.I stood in the main hall as the messenger from Jax Thorn arrived, flanked by two guards. The pack was gathered in tense silence, every eye fixed on the newcomer. Rhydian stood tall beside me, his hand resting protectively on my shoulder. The emissary carried a small wooden box, ornate and polished, the kind used for sending messages of great significance. He opened it in front of everyone with a theatrical flourish.Elio's severed finger lay inside. The original Blackmoor mate ring was still on it, the gold glinting in the torchlight.The hall went deathly silent. Rhydian's face hardened into stone, his jaw clenched with barely contained fury. "Jax sends this as a message. The real Elio is alive. And he is sending pieces of himself to terrorize us."I felt the connection hit me like a physical blow. My own corresponding finger burned with searing agony. Pain shot through my hand, radiating up my arm. The skin o
The Mind Melt broke more than just the shields in my head.I woke up in the bedchamber with a strange openness in my mind, like someone had thrown open every window in a shuttered house. Rhydian sat beside me, his face a mixture of surprise and worry. Something fundamental had shifted. The pack's traditional mental shields were gone, shattered by the intensity of the Mind Melt. Everyone could feel us now. Our emotions. Our thoughts. Everything was exposed to the telepathic network that connected our pack.Rhydian took my hand, his grip warm and steady. "Soren, I brought your core personality back. I found you in the labyrinth and pulled you forward. But I broke the shields in the process. The whole pack can feel us now. Your suffering. My feelings. Everything is open."I sat up slowly, my body aching but my mind clearer than it had been in weeks. "I feel it. The pack is in my head. They feel my pain. The binding. The loss. The fear. Every moment of it. And they feel you too. Your devo
Rhydian is coming inside my head.I felt the pull the moment he started the Mind-Melt. The ancient alpha technique was dangerous, forbidden to most, used only in the most desperate circumstances. Rhydian was forcing his way into my subconscious to find the real me, the hidden ego buried under Elio's suffocating presence. The strain on him would be immense, but he did not hesitate.The world shifted violently. I was no longer in the bedchamber. I was standing in a mental labyrinth of twisting corridors made from my own memories. My childhood home rose beside the meadow where I used to play. The river where I swam as a boy flowed through the middle of it all. Everything mixed together in a disorienting collage of past and present.Rhydian appeared beside me, his form solid and real in this strange landscape. "Soren," he called out, his voice echoing through the corridors. "I am here. I see the labyrinth. Stay with me. I am looking for you. The real you. The one buried beneath all of thi







