Caelan's POV
I felt her pain before I saw the light.
The night of the blast tore through me and dragged me to the ground before I could even breathe. My wolf howled in shock. And then the surge came. I felt a silver pouring through the bond until it burned me from inside out.
I woke up hours later with warriors holding me down, sweat slick on my skin, and my body convulsing like I had been poisoned.
Doctor Hayes could not find the cause and concluded it was a bad fever outbreak, but I knew better.
It was her.
Aisla.
The bond had roared alive for a heartbeat, bright enough to shatter me, and then it dimmed. It has stayed hidden and muffled since then, but it did not go away. And that was worse because it meant she was alive but cut off.
And I could not reach her.
Kieran told me to rest. He looked at me with that sharp, commanding stare, the one that said he expected obedience.
"Stay in bed, Caelan. You are no use to anyone if you collapse in the field."
