Page 19 of Third

She fought harder.

But it didn’t matter.

They dragged heraway.

Away from him. From the bond. From the one thing in this nightmare that feltreal.

And as the chamber doors slammed shut, the echo of her scream twisted in the air like the bond itself.

Fraying.

But not broken.

Notyet.

She couldn’t breathe—couldn’t think—because her thoughts weren’t hers anymore. They were his. Tor’Vek’s.

And he wasroaring.

Not aloud. Not physically. But shefeltit—adeep, pulsing roar echoing inside her chest, shaking her bones from within. Through the raw, exposed edges of their bond came the weight of his fury. Rage. Terror. The unrelenting, animal instinct to destroy anything that dared come between them. The violent, merciless craving to reclaim what was his. Her entire body burned with it, like she was being swallowed in the storm he could no longer holdback.

It wasn’t just panic.

It was madness. Panic had boundaries. Panic could be corralled, controlled. This was something else—wild and consuming, like a dam bursting inside her mind. Her thoughts didn’t spiral. Theyfractured. Her identity tangled with his fury until she couldn’t tell where she ended and he began. And she didn’t care. All that mattered was getting back to him. Or burning everything that stood in theirway.

She cried out again, tears streaking her cheeks as her body shuddered under the weight of it. Her bracelet lit up, glowing bright gold against her wrist, runes flashing like a warning. One of the guards cursed and adjusted the setting, but the moment he did, the lights above them flickered and the device in his hand sparked violently, hissing as if the suppressant rejected the command. Another guard staggered backward, clutching his wrist as the neural interface flared red-hot. And shefeltit—whatever suppressant they activated—tried to numb her, but the bond fought back, pushing the influence aside like a rising tide overwhelming a crumblingdam.

It didn’twork.

The bond didn’t fade. It flared. It flared so hard she thought her skin might burst open with the force ofit.

Not gently. Not gradually. It ignited inside her like a solar detonation, white-hot and unrelenting. Her body arched against invisible pressure, every nerve ending firing as if his need had slammed into her like a second heartbeat. Her skin flushed, her pulse spiked, and somewhere deep in her chest, the sensation of him surged again. Not just presence. Not just proximity. It was possession. Raw, scorching, inescapable. Like he was trying to reach her through force of will alone, burning a path through the void that separatedthem.

“Tor’Vek!” she gasped, reaching backward, even as they pulled her through the corridor. “I can still feel you—oh God, Ican feeleverything—”

The corridor warped. The floor tilted. Somewhere behind her, she thought she heard something break—metal, stone, bone—she couldn’t tell. She just knew that he was coming. Somehow. Some way. If the bond had to drag him across the galaxy to get to her, it would.

Becausethis?

This wasunbearable.

The guards shoved her into another chamber, sterile and bright, and sealed the door. She fell to her knees.

And screamed.

The sound tore out of her like an open wound.

The sterile brightness of the room only made it worse. Too clean. Too white. Too quiet. It didn’t feel real. None of it did. Her breath came in short, panicked bursts as she curled forward, arms around herself like she could hold in the pressure building inside her. But it wasn’t just fear. It wasn’t even justpain.

It washim.

His absence was aroar.

She felt it like a phantom limb, ahollow place where warmth had been. Tor’Vek’s presence—his mind, his touch, the bond that had laced through her blood—was gone. No, not gone.Rippedaway.

And now that it was missing, she realized just how deeply it had embedded itself in her. Not just in her body, but in her sense of self. Of safety. Of control.

She gasped and gripped her bracelet, fingers tightening as if she could will it back to life. The gold glow had dimmed to a dull amber, flickering like a dying ember. The runes that had pulsed like breath now sputtered, fading in and out as though the bond itself were suffocating. Ahollow ache spread through her chest, sharp and gnawing, and for a terrifying moment, she wondered if this was what it felt like to be unchosen. Untethered. Alone. It felt almost as though her spark for life was drained withouthim.

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