Chapter 123
“Emily?”
My own voice sounded broken. I didn’t move. I didn’t even breathe.
I was terrified that if I blinked, she would vanish and I’d wake up.in that cold, empty bed again with the ache of
our torn bond burning in my chest.
But she stayed. She stood in the middle of our room, looking like the moonlight had shaped itself into her body. She was transparent, a shimmering silver ghost, and still the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
“Emily…” My voice was a wreck. “Are you really here?”
She looked down at her hands, her face a mix of panic and wonder. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I think…..”
I moved toward her before I could stop myself. “Don’t disappear,” I rasped.
Her eyes filled with tears instantly. “Nathan…”
That one word nearly brought me to my knees. I reached for her face, desperate to feel her skin, but my fingers
passed through her cheek like smoke.
“No.”
I tried again. And again. My hands found nothing but air/every time. Emily’s lips trembled.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.” My voice cracked. “Don’t apologize. Goddess, baby, never apologize to me.”
She was alive. She was standing right in front of me, and I couldn’t even hold her.
That hurt worse than any silver blade I’d ever taken.
I stared at her, memorizing her face like a starving man. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her cheeks were thinner. Then my gaze dropped to the silver collar around her neck. I couldn’t see exactly what it was, but I could feel it a cold, sickening dread that whatever was under that metal would make me want to burn the world
down.
Emily saw the change in my eyes immediately.
“Nathan, please,” she said quickly. “Listen to me.”
I forced myself to look back at her eyes. It took everything I had. Every instinct told me to tear apart whatever world was keeping her from me.
“I’m in the mountains,” she said, forcing the words out. “The rogues use portals. Crystal portals.”
1.4-1. J
1:35 pm PP
I don’t know exactly. But Ryan knows.”
The name was like poison in my mouth. Emily stepped closer, even as her body began to flicker and fade.
“He’s coming to you. Nathan, please, don’t kill him.”
A dark, jagged laugh broke out of me. “You’re asking too much.”
“He’s the only one who can show you the path to me,” she rushed out.
“Ryan helped them take you.”
“I know.” Her voice broke. “But please, trust him. And Nathan, be careful with Zynair —she’s a predator. She
helped them kidnap me.”
“I know, baby.”
‘Nathan…”
Her voice softened, even as her body shimmered and faded apart.
“No.” Panic ripped through my gut. “Emily, wait!”
“Ryan is coming,” she whispered, her voice fading into a hum. “He has proof. Trust him.”
Her face blurred. Then she was gone.
I woke with a roar that shook the walls. I was breathing like I’d just been pulled out of a grave, my claws buried
leep into the mattress. For several seconds, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. Only her voice remained in the air.
I pressed a shaking hand to my chest. “She was here,” I whispered.
Inside, my wolf was pacing, wild and trembling. Yes.
I got out of bed slowly. The room was empty, but the scent of her was unmistakable. Strawberries and moonlight. Home. My knees almost gave out.
The door burst open. Mother and Liam charged in, their faces tight with alarm.
“Nathan?” Mother demanded. “What happened?”
I turned toward them. My voice was low and lethal. “She found a way to reach me.”
Liam went pale. “What?”
An hour later, we were gathered around the kitchen table. My mother, Liam, Blake, his sister Jessie, and Dr. Reed -they all looked at me like I was losing it. I didn’t care.
When I finished explaining what happened, the room went heavy. The pack doctor ran a hand over his face and
sighed.
1:35 pm P
“Nathan people don’t just walk through dreams. It’s not a known gift.”
I looked at him, my gaze cold enough to draw blood. “She was here.”
He traded a look with the others–that annoying, cautious look people give to the grieving.
“You’ve been separated from your mate for weeks,” Dr. Reed said carefully. “The bond is under extreme strain. Hallucinations, sensory distortions, vivid dreams.. they’ve all been documented in cases of bond–loss madness.”
Madness.
The word nearly made me laugh.
“So you think I imagined her?”
‘Nathan-”
“You think my brain conveniently invented military information?” I leaned forward slowly, both palms pressing gainst the table hard enough for the wood to creak beneath my claws. “Portals. Mountains. Ryan.”
Nobody answered immediately. That pissed me off even more.
“She touched me.”
The room went still again.
“She spoke exactly like Emily.” My voice roughened. “She cried.” I swallowed hard. “And she begged me not to kill
tyan.”
My mother’s expression softened painfully.
Like she wanted to believe me. That almost hurt worse.
Blake leaned back in his chair slowly, his eyes narrowed.
“Maybe you already suspected Ryan was involved,” he said carefully. “Your subconscious could’ve just connected he pieces while you slept.”
I looked at him sharply. “No.”
I knew the difference. I knew Emily. I knew the way her voice trembled when she was afraid but trying to stay
trong. That hadn’t been my imagination. That had been real.
Liam frowned beside me, his voice skeptical. “You’re serious? You’re betting everything on a dream?”
Before I could answer, the pack house alarms exploded through the night.
Everyone in the room froze. A second later, the doors slammed open, hitting the wall with a loud bang. A guard stumbled inside, breathing heavily.
1:35 pm P P
“Alpha…”
Every instinct inside me sharpened. “Talk!”
The guard swallowed hard, glancing nervously around the room. “There’s someone at the border asking for
sanctuary.”
The room went completely still.
“He says his name is Ryan,” the guard added quietly