Pain didn't come all at once.
It crawled.
Slow.Burning.Merciless.
Evelyn floated somewhere between darkness and fire, unable to move, unable to scream, unable to breathe. Something invisible coiled around her chest, squeezing until her ribs felt like they were cracking one by one.
The moonlight in the clearing blurred, stretching into long streaks of silver.
She wasn't sure if she was dying.
She almost wished she was.
Because the pain wasn't physical.
It was deeper.Lower.Buried in a place inside her she never knew existed.
A soul-pain.
A tearing.
Like someone had dug into her chest with claws and ripped something sacred out by force.
She felt hollow—but burning at the same time.
Like a home she'd never visited had suddenly collapsed inside her.
She tried to inhale. Her body refused.She tried to scream. Nothing came out.Her mouth opened silently as agony ripped through her again, sharper than before.
Around her, wolves shifted uneasily, low growls rumbling in their chests as if they felt the echo of her suffering.
But no one stepped forward.No one helped.
This was the pain of a bond breaking.
This was what happened when fate was cut apart.
Evelyn's fingers dug into the earth, but she couldn't even feel the dirt beneath her nails. All sensation drowned under the white-hot stabbing in her chest.
Her heartbeat thrashed wildly, too fast—
Then too slow—
Then painful.
Every breath was an impossible task.Every second stretched into torture.
And the worst part was him.
Ronan.
She felt him.
Not through sight, not through sound—but through something electric and raw that still connected them.
A bond that was supposed to be gone.
Every time he inhaled, she felt the air burn.Every time he stepped closer or farther, it shredded something inside her.
It wasn't just her soul tearing.
It was theirs.
Across the clearing, Ronan stood frozen, the moon turning the sharp line of his jaw into carved stone. His breath came uneven. His fists clenched at his sides. His eyes were locked on her—
Not cold.Not cruel.
But horrified.
Like he was feeling something he wasn't supposed to feel.
Something he didn't want.
And that terrified him more than it hurt her.
Evelyn's vision flickered.She collapsed fully, her forehead sinking into the dirt as her body trembled violently.
A sound tore out of her—a broken, choking gasp.
Everything in her screamed for release.For air.For anything to stop the pressure crushing her chest inward.
Then—
CRACK.
Not a sound in the air.
A sound inside her.
Like a spiritual bone snapping.
Evelyn's body arched off the ground, back bowing as a raw, guttural cry ripped out of her throat at last. It barely sounded human. It barely sounded alive.
The wolves flinched.
Some backed away.
Some lowered their heads.
Because this wasn't ordinary pain.
This wasn't a normal rejection.
This was a bond that refused to die—being dragged to the edge of death anyway.
"What—what is this?" she gasped, reaching blindly for anything, anyone, just to stay conscious.
Her hand found nothing but empty air.
Her heart twisted violently, sending a shockwave of agony that made black spots swarm across her vision.
"I can't— I can't—"
Another wave hit her.She crumpled back to the ground, shaking uncontrollably.
Her tears burned as they slipped down her cheeks.
She didn't know what she was.She didn't know what he was.She didn't know why fate had chosen her only to destroy her minutes later.
All she knew was that she wanted the pain to stop.
A shadow fell over her.
A voice—raspy, strained—growled low above her ear.
"Stop."
Ronan.
She could barely see him through the blur, but she saw enough to realize something terrifying:
His hands were shaking.
The Alpha's hands were trembling.
"Why aren't you letting go?" he breathed, like she was somehow holding the bond together herself.
Evelyn sobbed weakly. "I'm not—I don't—know—how…"
Another crushing wave of pain slammed into her, cutting her words off. Her body jerked, knees curling inward as she tried to curl away from the agony.
Ronan swore under his breath—a raw sound, almost panicked.
He knelt.
He touched her.
And the moment his skin brushed her trembling arm, a violent jolt shot through both of them, knocking the air out of their lungs.
He recoiled.So did she.
But the pain eased—barely.Just enough for her to breathe once.
Just once.
His voice dropped, low and dangerous.Not to her.To himself.
"This shouldn't be happening."
Evelyn's vision dimmed around the edges.
Her heartbeat stuttered.
Her limbs went cold.
"I don't… want to die…" she whispered, barely audible.
Something in Ronan's expression cracked.
His jaw clenched.His nostrils flared.His eyes burned with something fierce and unwilling.
"You're not dying," he said roughly.
But Evelyn was already slipping into darkness, the world muffled, her body shaking with the last echoes of the tearing bond.
Her consciousness faded, and the last thing she felt was—
A warm hand cupping the back of her head.A breath brushed against her ear.A whispered word she wasn't sure she imagined.
"Hold on."
Then everything went black.