LOGINDane's Pov Four days.Four freaking days of pouring memories down the mate bond and getting zilch in return.Four days of staring at Freya lying there pale, too still, barely breathing, like she might slip away if I looked anywhere else.Four days of hope bleeding out slow.I was parked in the chair by our bed, forehead pressed to the mattress right next to her hand. Bone-tired, eyes burning, but no way was I closing them. Not even for a second. What if that was the exact second she came back?George had finally crashed in the other chair after Catherine basically threatened him. His hand was still wrapped around hers, even while he was out cold.The room was dead quiet except for Freya’s shallow little breaths and the fire popping every now and then.I shut my eyes and reached for the bond again. Same plea I’d been sending for days.Please, baby. Please hear me. Just come back.I was already bracing to pull away, another empty day, when the bond… flickered.Tiny. Like someone struck
Freya's Pov This white nothing had turned into my own personal jail cell.I’d been drifting, or walking, who even knows what counts as moving in a place like this, for what felt like forever. Looking for doors that weren’t there. Yelling into emptiness that never yelled back.Then the memories started popping up like uninvited guests. Little snippets from those five years at school.Me scribbling notes in a huge lecture hall. Me trudging across campus in the pouring rain, hood up, soaked. Me hunched over textbooks in my tiny dorm room at 2 a.m. Me fake laughing at some party I didn’t even want to be at.And in every single one of them, something dark was just… hanging around. Always in the corner of my eye. Watching. Patient. Creepy as hell.I kept trying to stare it down, figure out what it actually was, but the second I focused too hard the whole memory would crack and vanish like glass.Mom’s voice kept drifting through my head: The answers are there, if you’re willing to se
Dane’s PovThree days.Three whole days since Freya just… dropped.Three days of staring at her lying in our bed, barely breathing, looking so small under all those blankets. Her hand in mine feels way too cold, no matter how many times I rub my thumb over her knuckles like that’s gonna fix anything.I haven’t moved from this chair except to use the bathroom. George is parked on the other side, same deal. Neither of us has slept more than a couple snatched minutes here and there. We’re both running on coffee, fear, and stubbornness.Miriam’s been in twice a day, every day. Checks her vitals, frowns, shakes her head. “Still no change, Alpha. I’m sorry.”Sorry doesn’t cut it anymore.I keep reaching down the mate bond, searching for her. Nothing. Just this hollow, echoing space where she’s supposed to be. It’s like someone carved her out of me and left the edges raw.Catherine poked her head in earlier with a tray
Freya’s Pov“Hello? Hey, is anybody here? Somebody please get me out!”My voice just… bounced around in this huge nothing. Came right back at me like I was yelling in an empty room with really weird acoustics.Everything was white.Not normal white. Not walls, not snow, not even clouds. This was the kind of white that felt like somebody deleted color from existence. No floor under my feet, but somehow I was still standing. No sky, but I could tilt my head back and look up into more nothing. No edges, no end, just white forever.I spun in a circle, desperate for anything. A door. A crack. A freaking shadow. Nothing.Just white. Suffocating, endless white.“HELLO?!” I screamed until my throat hurt. “Somebody! Please!”Only my own panicked echo answered.My heart was slamming against my ribs. Where the hell was I? How did I even get here?I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to remember.Viktor. The waterfall. The ritual.The power.It slammed into me in jagged little pieces. Viktor chantin
Dane's Pov"Somebody get Miriam over here!" I yelled as soon as I hit the pack house.The wolves hanging around, ready to party after our win, stared at me like I'd lost it. Their faces went from happy relief to pure shock the second they spotted Freya dangling lifeless in my arms.I didn't pause. Didn't even slow my roll. Just barreled through the bunch and straight into the house.I set her down on the living room couch as careful as I could. Her head flopped to one side, arms just dropping like dead weight.She looked gone. Like, really gone.No way. I jammed my fingers against her neck, hunting for a pulse. There it was weak, all over the place, but yeah, still beating.Freya... baby... open your eyes, I shot through our bond, praying she'd pick it up.Zip. Nada.Just this awful, empty quiet."Out of the way." Elder Miriam shoved past the growing crowd, her wrinkled face all business. Catherine trailed right behind, hand clamped over her mouth, eyes bugging out in terror."What th
Dane's Pov The white light hit like a damn freight train.One second I’m tearing into three wolves, bleeding from everywhere, barely keeping my feet under me. The next, boom. Pure silver energy explodes out of the waterfall and flattens everything in the clearing.I get thrown back, slam into the dirt, roll. The wolves on me yelp and scatter like they’ve been electrocuted.For a heartbeat, the whole world goes quiet.Then I hear her scream.Freya.I drag myself up. Ribs screaming, leg barely working, everything hurts like hell. Through the bond I can feel her still alive, but fading fast. The ritual’s hitting its peak.Hold on, baby. I’m coming...Something massive crashes into me from the side.Down I go again, another wolf on top, jaws going for my throat. I get my arm up just in time, teeth sink into my forearm instead. Hot pain. Blood everywhere.I twist, kick him off with my hind legs. He flies, but two more are already piling on.Too many. Still way too fucking many.Through







