Chapter five

Christina's Pov

“He can feel you,” Kyros said.

“What do you mean he can feel me?” I gasped, falling back against the dirt as another wave of pain tore through my chest. My body felt ruined, pushed far past its limits, every breath a struggle.

“The mate bond,” Kyros replied. “He can feel that you are still alive.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, my fingers digging into the earth. “But I’ve never felt the bond like this. Not even close.”

“You didn’t have a wolf,” Kyros said. “And now you carry one as old as I am. Everything you feel will be stronger. Sharper. Louder.”

I let out a broken laugh that turned into a cough. “I didn’t sign up for this.”

“No,” he said calmly. “But it is still better than the hand you were dealt.”

Another sharp pulse rolled through me and I cried out. “How am I supposed to get to Ebonridge like this? I can barely move.”

“You can’t,” Kyros answered. “Not like this.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?” I asked, my voice shaking. “If he can feel me, he’ll find me. He’ll”

“You have to block him out,” Kyros interrupted. “If he finds you now, he will ruin everything we’re trying to do.”

I sucked in a shallow breath. “How… how do I do that?”

There was a pause.

“I will have to take over from here.”

My heart skipped. “What do you mean?”

There was no answer.

For one terrifying moment, I thought he had left me. Then the pain started.

It was sudden and violent, ripping through my body without warning. I screamed as my bones snapped and shifted beneath my skin. Muscles tore apart only to reattach themselves in new places. My spine arched as my body twisted against my will.

I barely had time to process the pain before it consumed everything.

I felt myself slipping, darkness creeping in at the edges of my vision, but just as quickly as it started, it stopped.

Slowly, I pushed myself up and crawled toward the stream. I looked down into the water.

A giant black wolf stared back at me with glowing red eyes.

“I can keep him out of our mind,” Kyros said, his voice now deeper, layered with something feral. “I can dull the mate bond. But you need rest. I will get us to Ebonridge.”

Before I could respond, he moved.

The world blurred as we tore through the forest, faster than anything I had ever imagined. Trees rushed past us, the ground barely touching our paws. Fallen logs were cleared with ease, streams leapt over without slowing.

For the first time since waking up, the pain dulled, pushed far away, as if wrapped in thick fog.

It didn’t take long before I felt it.

A strange sensation rolled through my body as we crossed the border of Ebonridge. Magic pressed against us, humming beneath the ground, meant to keep humans out. It sent a sharp, uncomfortable shock through me, making me flinch.

Kyros slowed suddenly.

“Why are you slowing down?” I asked. “We’re almost there.”

“Something’s wrong,” he said.

Without warning, the world shifted again.

The transformation back was rough, far worse than the first. One second I was moving on four legs, the next I was stumbling forward, human once more.

Naked.

Cold air hit my skin as I stood at the edge of the pack’s territory, barely managing to stay upright.

“What the fuck” I started.

I never finished the sentence.

A body slammed into mine, knocking the air from my lungs as I was hurled to the ground. Pain exploded through my shoulder as I hit the dirt.

I barely had time to lift my head before a voice snarled above me.

“How did you get in here, rogue?”