“The wolf will be dealt with, of course.”
No. No. No. Bast, stay away!I scream the warning in my mind.
But Bast doesn’t stop. He pushes against my warning. He sends me calm, peace, and his promise of vengeance.
No. Stay away. If you love me, stay away.
Helen’s hands are cool against my temples. “Delta Team’s oversight will be corrected. But first, let us remind you what it means to defy the Court.”
Margaret and Emily take positions on either side of me, their hands joining Helen’s. Ancient words fill the air, and pain explodes behind my eyes.
I try to scream, but no sound comes out. The pain is too much. Every nerve ending is on fire. The bond to Bast stretches, twists, pulls taut like an over-tuned violin string.
No. Please no.
Their chanting grows louder, and the pain builds until I think I’ll shatter from it. The bond strains more, stretches further—
Then snaps.
The silence in my soul is deafening.
Then I scream. And scream. And scream.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Bast O’Connor
Empty Spaces
The bond snaps.
One heartbeat Bridget’s there—terrified but alive, her presence as much a part of me as my own breath. The next…nothing. A void so complete it steals the air from my lungs.
Empty. Hollow. Wrong.
The steering wheel jerks under my hands as pain rips through my chest. The car swerves violently into the other lane. Horns blare. Someone shouts—maybe Liam—and hands grab for the wheel. My vision blurs, dark spots dancing at the edges as I fight to stay conscious through the agony.
“Pull over!” Rachel’s voice seems to come from far away. “Bast, brake! Now!”
My foot finds the pedal on instinct alone. The car fishtails as we skid onto the shoulder.
Can’t breathe. Can’t think.
The emptiness where she should be burns like acid in my veins, consuming everything.
I’m out of the car before it fully stops, my legs buckling as soon as they hit the ground. The world tilts and spins as Istumble down the steep embankment. My knees slam into dirt and gravel, the impact barely registering through the soul-deep pain that’s tearing me apart.
“BRIDGET!” Her name tears from my throat in a roar that’s more wolf than human. Birds explode from the nearby trees, their startled cries lost beneath the sound of my grief. She’s gone. The bond that made me whole is gone.
My hands claw at my chest, trying desperately to reach the hollow space where she should be. Where she was just moments ago. The echo of her fear, her love, her desperate attempt to warn me away—it’s all gone. Ripped away like someone reached inside and carved out my heart with a rusty blade.
“No. No. No. Please.” The words come out as broken sobs. My wolf howls inside me, the sound of pure anguish intensifying until it blurs—impossible to tell if it’s emerging from my human throat or my wolf’s soul. Both, maybe.
Everything hurts. Everything is wrong.
Footsteps crunch in the gravel behind me. A hand grips my shoulder—Lawrence. The touch should make my wolf bristle, should trigger every defensive instinct I have. But I can barely feel it through the void that’s consuming me.
“Focus, O’Connor.” His voice cuts through the fog of grief like a blade. “Is she dead?”
