Daniel.
The world stopped turning, and the deafening roar of the pack crowd dissolved into a distant, underwater buzz.
I stared at the empty execution post, my eyes wide and unblinking, fixed on the bare wood where Galen had been chained only seconds ago. The thirty iron arrows were scattered across the bloody gravel, but her body, her voice, her presence... everything was gone. Faded into mist. Disappeared into the cold night air.
"Galen..." I whispered, the name coming out as a raspy, broken sob that barely left my mouth. "Galen, no... please..."
A suffocating, crushing weight slammed into my chest, so violent and heavy it felt like my heart had been ripped out of my ribcage with bare hands.
The blood link—the ancient, undeniable thread that had hummed softly in the deepest corner of my soul since the moment I first laid eyes on her—snapped. It didn't just break; it shattered into a million sharp, icy shards that tore through my soul.
She was my mate.
