Chapter 37
ROWEN
It’s happening faster than we thought it would. My fur bristles as Sage, Forest and I walk the perimeter with the other two alphas. Bronson and William are shoulder to shoulder, leading the way. Their ears flick at every sound.
Sage gives me the side-eye. We can’t say that. We didn’t know what to expect.
It wasn’t this. Not days, but hours even, of watching my mate dissolve away.
The air bites colder the farther I go. I shouldn’t have come on this mission. Bronson’s second in command saw two vampires on our property yesterday. Forest had insisted I come, saying they needed as many scouts as possible to follow a trail. He also said I needed the fresh air.
But he’s wrong. Being away from Tobias, it’s straining something in me. I can feel it.
And if I can, so can he.
The bitter taste of copper lingers in the air, shrouded with something else—something dark or sour.
How can it be happening this fast? Taren thought we’d have weeks to figure something out.
Weeks! Not days. But it’s been less than seventy-two hours since the ravens attacked my sister—since Tobias first heard Rip’s voice in his head.
And now, it’s like his very essence is… fading.
Even holding him in bed, it’s like I’m holding a husk.
He’s disappearing right before my eyes, being eclipsed by the vampire’s mind.
Sage nuzzles me in quiet reassurance. He’s the only one who truly gets it.
We reach a small herd of deer near a creek. They scatter the moment they hear us.
Bronson sniffs the air, then turns north. This way, I think.
I turn to follow when an emptiness fills me, painfully deep and overwhelming. My heart clenches. Tobias?
A throb under my ribs makes me stumble. I lift my nose toward the wind. My mate’s scent doesn’t exist here. He’s never been to this corner of the property.
The thread between us—the thing that hums beneath my ribs like a pulse—is wrong somehow. Too faint. Too cold.
I reach for him, but the tether is still.
Not calm. Not quiet. Still.
Like a lake frozen in the middle of winter.
I stop moving and listen, reaching inward to feel him.
Nothing.
Sage, have you ever not felt Red?
He turns to me. What do you mean?
The tether or link between you and him. Has it ever gone quiet? Like from being too far away?
Sage’s tail droops. No, but we’ve never been very far.
You feel him now?
Yes. Why?
The entire forest seems to sway under me. I search deeper, tugging harder on that invisible bond. Tobias should answer—some flicker of awareness, a heartbeat echoing mine, anything.
But there’s nothing.
Fear hits sharp and instant, like an arrow to the gut. I let out a low whine, tail curling between my legs. Tobias.
I say his name like a prayer.
Still nothing.
It’s just my panic. It’s just how overworked and overwhelmed I’ve been. He’s okay.
I try again, forcing power down the link, demanding that my other half reply. He doesn’t.
My claws dig into the dirt as a growl works its way up my throat. Something’s wrong.
I take off without looking back. Forest’s snarl cuts across our pack link. Rowen! Where the hell—
Tobias! Something’s wrong!
William barks after me, voice sharp with command, but I don’t slow. No alpha power can override the need to protect my mate.
Dirt kicks up as I run, fur rustling in the wind. The world sharpens into color and scent and motion, taking in every clue, every detail of what could be happening.
The house looms ahead through the trees, porch lights glowing against the dusk. Jericho is in the yard, a large fireball spinning between his hands. He startles when I sprint by.
Ivy steps out onto the porch just as I reach it. I slip by her, scrambling across the hardwood toward the stairs.
“Rowen!” she calls.
I tug at the tether again, desperate. Tobias, please.
It remains completely, hopelessly still.
Not even a flicker of a single beat.
I take the stairs three at a time, dripping mud and grit across the floor. My chest heaves as I pant, pulling in deep lungfuls of his scent. It’s off somehow, singed with smoke and ash.
I nudge my bedroom open, but the room is empty. The scent is coming from across the hall.
Tobias’s old room.
Turning around, I nudge the door, but it’s closed. My claws scrape the wood, pleading with a desperate whine. But it doesn’t budge.
Is he shutting me out?
I tug again. Nothing.
I force the shift and try the knob. It doesn’t turn. “Toby?” My voice cracks as I try again. It’s locked.
I slam my shoulder into it once, twice. On the third try, it finally gives, the wood splitting in an eerie crescendo.
Darkness greets me.
No lights. No sound. Only the smell of dust and old clothes… and him. He’s standing by the window with his back turned, shoulders drawn tight as if he’s held together by an invisible force.
For a heartbeat, it’s like déjà vu. The first time we laid eyes on each other was through this window. I was still in wolf form then, looking up at him from the backyard. He’d been so scared, terrified even, that he’d hidden behind the curtain.
That fear had cracked my heart wide open. All I wanted to do was help him. Be his provider, his comfort. In any way I could.
But now… it’s like that man is gone. There’s no hint of fear. No sorrow. No pain. Nothing.
He’s… gone.
A chill creeps over me as I move closer. “Tobias?” I whisper.
No response.
I pull at the tether, desperate to feel even a quiver. Anything to let me know he hasn’t severed our link. I’d know if he had. The pain would be like nothing I’ve felt before. But this nothingness is alarming. Terrifying, really.
I barely recognize him.
I step forward. “Toby?”
He turns slowly. His face is pale, eyes shadowed, lips parted like it hurts to breathe. For a moment, there’s the faintest flicker of awareness, like he’s fighting to come up through water. Then it’s gone.
When he speaks, his voice is wrong—flat and empty, hollowed out. “You said you’d keep me safe.”
My stomach drops. “We are,” I say quickly. “We have everyone out on patrols right now. Grant’s covering the western ridge with some from the Spokane pack, and Neal’s sweeping the—”
I stop. It’s clear he’s not listening. His eyes are on me, but it’s like he’s staring straight through me.
The air suddenly feels too thin.
“Toby, listen to me. Whatever’s happening, we’re going to fix it. You’re not alone.”
His voice slices through mine. “I didn’t want this.”
The mark on his shoulder pulses bright red, a heartbeat beneath his shirt. It seems to move, vibrate in his veins, as if the magic were charged.
“I know,” I whisper. “I know you didn’t want it. But we’ll get you out—”
Tobias moves before I can blink.
One second he’s in front of the window, the next he’s slamming me against the wall, his hand around my throat. The impact rattles my teeth.
“You can’t help me,” he snarls—except it’s not quite him. Nothing about this is him.
Everything narrows to the sudden sharp pain around my throat. I claw at his wrist, trying to break through, but his strength is impossible. Inhuman. Darkness masks his face, his eyes vacant. No rage, no grief. No recognition.
Just emptiness.
“Toby—” I gasp, vision flashing white.
My heart beats wildly. Painfully. Sounds fade. The room tilts. My lungs scream for air.
He squeezes harder.
I scramble more desperately against his fingers, nails cutting into his skin. He doesn’t move. Doesn’t yield. Doesn’t even see me.
“Look—” I choke, fighting for words, “at—me.”
Nothing.
Spots dance in front of my eyes. My wolf thrashes beneath my skin, desperate to fight back, but I can’t shift. Not against him. It goes against everything in me to fight my fated one, even now.
We aren’t supposed to be doing this. Hurting each other.
“Oh my God! Toby!” Ivy screams, coming into the room.
With one quick sweep of his arm, Tobias throws her against the wall, never letting me go. Her head cracks a dent into the drywall.
Tears burn behind my eyelids. He’s going to kill me. My mate is going to kill me!
How can I reach him?
My hand trembles as I let go of his wrist. I touch the mate mark on his collarbone, the spot I claimed him just three short days ago. Something flickers in his gray-blue eyes.
Behind him, Ivy barely stirs. Tobias still doesn’t see me.
I slide my hand under the collar of his shirt, pressing my palm against the mark.
A tremor flows through his body.
“To—by,” I rasp. “Please.”
His grip falters—just slightly.
I brush a thumb over his skin as my lungs scream for air. His face is fading fast, blackness touching the edges of my vision.
“Tobe.”
Another heartbeat.
Another faint tremor.
In my last effort, I touch his face, his lips. Please, Toby. See me! I’m right in front of you. I tug as hard as I can on our tether.
Then, like light breaking through a storm, he blinks rapidly. His eyes focus and horror floods them.
He releases me instantly, stumbling back. I drop to my knees as sweet oxygen rushes in. I cough hard, rubbing my throat. The world spins as blood roars back into my head.
When I finally look up, Tobias is gone.
Pain explodes in my chest. I sit on his bed and reach for the tether again. It’s there—but frayed. Faint as smoke.
What the hell just happened?
Yet, I know.
I know what just happened.
Rip tried to kill me through Tobias.
I press my palm to my chest, needing him more than ever. “Tobias…”
I tug at our connection. No answer. No returning tug. No quiver.
Just that eerie stillness again.
My wolf whines deep inside me, as if mourning. The bond that always felt like sunlight—like home—is now a hollow ache.
My sister finally stirs on the floor next to me, blood oozing from a small gash in her head. She forces herself up, groggy and short of breath.
“What…” The moment she sees me, her eyes widen. She scrambles over to me on her knees. “Rowen!”
She pulls my hand away and gasps.
“Follow… him,” I rasp.
Ivy shakes her head, but I grip her shoulder. Her fingers dig into my thighs just as hard.
Please, I mouth, biting back a sob. She has to know this isn’t him. And if he leaves, we might never get him back.
Please, I mouth again. Go.
Ivy stands and kisses me on the head, then shuffles out of the room.
I walk to the window on shaky legs, gripping the ledge. Below me, wolves gather from all sides, sensing danger but unsure of where it’s coming from. The moonlight catches on the edge of the forest, and somehow I know, he’s already long gone.
Tobias is gone.
I drag in a breath and close my eyes.
You’re still in there, I tell him silently. You have to be. I feel you. Reach for me, Toby. Please. Fight back. Rip can’t break this unless you let him.
The tether stays still.
But for the briefest second, I swear I feel a breath against my skin—a ghost of warmth, a whisper that almost sounds like my name. Then it’s gone.
Reach for me.