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Rhett "It's too dangerous," Finley says finally. "Rhett, I understand why you want to believe she's alive, but—""She is alive." The conviction in my voice stops her mid-sentence. "And she's trying to get home to us. I'm not going to abandon her.""Even if it means risking your own life? What about Maya?"The question hits home because it's the same one I've been asking myself. What happens to my daughter if this goes wrong? But then I think about Maya asking if I'm going to look for Mommy, about her simple faith that daddies fix things that are broken."Maya deserves to have her mother back," I say. "And Brynlee deserves to know that we didn't give up on her."Finley looks like she wants to argue further, but Dane places a hand on her shoulder. "What do you need from us?" he asks.The offer surprises me. Dane has always been protective of Finley, cautious about anything that might put her at risk. If he's willing to help, it means he either believes I'm right or he thinks I need to
RhettHarper Chen meets me at the edge of the forest preserve where the latest dimensional anomaly appeared. She's exactly as I remember from our previous pack business—tall and lean with an athletic build that speaks to years of tracking through difficult terrain. Her black hair is pulled back in a practical ponytail, and her dark eyes assess me with the same clinical intensity her father uses when evaluating pack security threats."You look like hell," she says without preamble, which is probably the most honest greeting I've gotten in months."Six months of grief will do that." I don't bother with pleasantries. Harper has always appreciated directness. "Show me what you found."She nods toward a barely visible trail that leads deeper into the woods. "The anomaly manifested about fifty yards in. It's... different from the others I've documented."As we walk, I study Harper's profile and wonder how much I should tell her about what happened this morning. She's been tracking dimension
BrynleeI push the doubt away, letting thoughts of Rhett searching for me fill me with such fierce love that flowers bloom in a perfect circle around where I'm sitting. Thoughts of our life together flood my mind, giving me something to hold onto while I wait for him to find me. Rhett and I found each other after trauma had already shattered me into tiny pieces. But he claimed me completely, accepted Maya as his own, built a life with us that was perfect in its quiet contentment. And I threw it all away to save people who probably don't even remember my sacrifice.No. That's the dimensional madness talking, trying to poison my memories with bitterness and regret. I made the right choice. When the barriers started collapsing and threatened to take the entire pack with them, someone had to act. Someone had to buy time for the others to escape.Rhett would have done the same thing in my position. It's what you do for family, for pack, for the people you love more than your own existence
BrynleeThe aftermath of the psychic contact with Rhett leaves me shaking with exhaustion and something that might actually be hope. For the first time in six months of endless twilight, I managed to break through whatever dimensional static has been blocking our mate bond. I reached Rhett. I called out to him across impossible distances, and I felt him respond.He heard me. I know he did.My wolf—restless and agitated since we arrived in this place—finally settles into something approaching calm. She's been pacing constantly beneath my skin, driven to distraction by our separation from our mate and pup. The brief contact wasn't enough to satisfy her completely, but it proved what we both needed to know: they're still there. Still alive. Still ours.Home, she whispers in my mind, the first clear communication I've had from her in weeks. Need to go home."I know, girl. I'm working on it."The landscape around me shifts as my emotional state changes, responding to hope the way it respond
Rhett"Rhett—" Finley’s warning tone snaps me out of my thoughts. "She was wrong," I repeat, more firmly this time. "I know how this sounds. I know you think I'm losing it. But I felt her, Finley. For the first time since she disappeared, I felt her."My sister studies my face, and I see the exact moment she decides I'm having some kind of breakdown. Her expression shifts into the gentle, patient look she used to use on Maya when she was having a tantrum."Okay," she says carefully. "Let's say that's what happened. What do you want to do about it?"It's not an agreement—it's humoring me. But it's better than outright dismissal."I want to find her.""How?"The simple question stops me cold. How do you search for someone trapped in a collapsed dimension? How do you even begin to look for a person who might exist in a space between realities?"I don't know yet," I admit. "But there has to be a way. If she can reach out to me, then maybe I can reach back. Maybe we can find the connection
Rhett I sit up in bed with a gasp as I'm jolted out of my dream, my heart racing and her name on my lips like a prayer and a promise combined."Brynlee!"The sound echoes in the empty bedroom, bouncing off walls that haven't heard her laughter in six months. My chest heaves as I try to catch my breath, sweat cooling on my skin despite the early morning chill. The dream—if it was a dream—felt so real I can still taste her name on my tongue, still feel the phantom warmth of her presence reaching across impossible distances.My wolf, Kian, paces restlessly beneath my skin, agitated in a way I haven't felt since those first horrible days after she disappeared. He's been quiet lately, subdued by grief and the necessity of holding myself together for our daughter, Maya. But now he's alert, ears pricked forward like he's listening for something just beyond our ability to hear.She called to me. The certainty hits me like a physical blow. Not a dream, not wishful thinking born of six months o