KAEL'S POV
One instant, her hand was in mine.
The next, she was gone.
The abyss ripped her from me so violently the bond shrieked like it had been torn from my chest. The sudden silence where her light had burned nearly dropped me to my knees.
"No—" The word tore out of me, raw, useless. My claws raked the void, shredding shadows, but every strike hit nothing. She was simply—gone.
Her last thought still rang in me, seared into my bones.
You won't lose me. You never will.
But the bond was already thinning, dimming, fraying under the Binder's grip.
The void seethed with laughter, a chorus of voices twisting into one.
"You are fired. She is light. But light is fragile, Alpha. It shatters."
"Give her back!" My roar cracked the darkness, flames erupting around me in a storm. The fire wasn't controlled anymore—it lashed out wildly, devouring, desperate. The abyss recoiled, but it wasn't enough. Nothing was enough.
