Chapter 148

Dane

My claws paused a millimeter from his throat. He might as well have reached up and punched his own claws into my chest.

“What did you say?”

Holden’s familiar smirk flitted across his face, but only for an instant. Then he pretended to look shocked and pitying.

“You mean she didn’t tell you?” he said. “Hm. I guess you two weren’t as close as you thought.”

His posturing didn’t have the same effect as it could have, since he was on his back in the mud with his blond hair plastered to his forehead.

I wrapped my hand around his throat and lifted him. We were close in size as men, but as a lycan, I was larger. I lifted him until his feet dangled six inches off the ground. It should have taken effort. It didn’t. Whatever had happened to me, I wasn’t just magically stronger; I was physically stronger as well.

“Repeat yourself.” I had just seen her. Just been with her in the vision. Was it even real? Would she remember?

Chapter 148

Holden’s eyes bulged, and he choked on his words. “I… bound her… to me…”

If she was already bound to him, what did it mean for the strange moment she and I had shared? Had it done anything? Would I ever be able to get her back?

I dropped him. He collapsed in a heap on the muddy ground. The rain was cold against my skin, which felt suddenly hot. I looked toward Piper. Aurora’s cousin had helped her up.

When we left to perform the ritual at the stone, he wasn’t even awake. He’d been asleep since Aurora had healed him. As he moved to help Piper into the house, he slipped, and it looked like she was helping him.

I returned my attention to Holden on the ground at my feet. His wolves were closing in. I hauled him up and put my claws at his throat again, facing his wolves.

“Tell them not to move,” I growled.

“Don’t move!” Holden called out, his voice cracking.

“Now, you are going to dismiss your wolves, and you and I are going to go inside and have a talk.”

Holden did, sending his protesting wolves out of my territory. I knew they’d be waiting on the borders, but as long as they didn’t cross those borders, I didn’t care.

I sent most of my Blue Ridge wolves to make sure they left and shoved Holden in front of me into the pack house. I took him to one of the conference rooms and posted warriors to wait outside.

Then I closed the door and turned on him. Because I knew what he had said to me couldn’t be real. I had to have misheard.

“You aren’t mate-bonded to Aurora.” I didn’t say, “Because I just did my best to bond her to me in some kind of dream world.” Instead, I said, “Her wolf is dead.”

Even as I said it, it felt wrong. But her wolf was dead. Of everyone in the world, I would know.

Holden’s mouth twisted. “You just haven’t thought outside the box enough.”

I moved toward him. “You had better explain. Now. I’ve just become the Alpha of the Broken Forest Pack. I’m not afraid to take on Fall Line, too.”

His eyes widened. “You killed the old man?”

“He challenged me.”

Holden shoved his rain-plastered hair out of his face. “Shit.”

“I’m about to kill you, too,” I growled.

“I can sense Aurora is gone,” he said quickly. “I can sense where she is. I’m in her mind. I know something has her. The thing you’ve been trying to unearth. It wasn’t what you expected, or the old Luna who runs High Alpine. You thought you were going to claim power. You’re in over your heads.”

Chapter 148

Holden’s statement hung in the air between us, heavy and ominous. I couldn’t let him know how right he might be. I refused to believe I couldn’t fix this. Couldn’t get Aurora back.

“Tell me where she is, or I’ll kill you.” I grabbed him by the shirt collar. “Enough games!”

“It’s not that easy,” Holden glared. “The bond isn’t like yours was. I was more… thorough than you. I can sense her, feel her emotions, and know where she is. It’s a powerful link, Dane, one you can’t understand.”

Holden had always been arrogant. “Try me. If this is some kind of trick…”

“No trick.” He held up his hands. “I can show you if you want. Share a little piece with you. It’s been a long time since you felt connected to her, hasn’t it?” He wiggled his fingers. I wanted to rip them off.

“Then show me,” I said through gritted teeth.

Holden shrugged, a casual gesture that threatened all the control I was using not to tear him apart. “I can share some of the bond with you. Let you feel it for yourself.”

I hesitated. Alphas rarely let other Alphas into their heads, though we can form a sort of bridge between our minds if we need to. It was just that none of us ever trusted each other enough to do it.

Chapter 148

In the end, though, I would have done anything to find her. “Do it.”

He reached up and placed his first two fingers on my forehead. A surge of images, emotions, and thoughts flooded my mind. I saw glimpses of Aurora—she fought, but there was a dark tide around her, and the greatest thing I sensed was my Aurora, my former mate, drowning. Disappearing into cold and distance. Great distance, as if the monster had taken her to the other side of the world.

I jerked away. “What the fuck? You’ve had her like that in your head this whole time and you didn’t immediately tell me?”

“She’s trapped,” he growled. “Whatever this thing is you set free, we need each other to get her back.” His tone surprisingly earnest, but that just made me want to strangle him more. “We aren’t getting her back. I am. And when I do, you will release her from whatever the hell you’ve done, or I am going to kill you and rip her free if I have to.”

Holden smirked again, but this time his eyes were the cold, dead eyes of a killer. “You can try… if you think killing me won’t kill her, too.”

Before I could respond, the door burst open. Trajan stood there, looking hollow-eyed and exhausted. “Alpha. Your children need you. Now.”