Becky POV
Anita didn't scream again.
That was the first thing I noticed as we were forced to move away from the basin. No accusations. No sobbing. Just silence—tight, brittle silence that pressed against my senses harder than fear ever could.
She walked stiffly, one hand clenched around her wrist as if holding herself together by force. Her breathing was off. Too shallow. Too fast.
The bond had already begun.
I felt it like a second pulse beneath my skin—foreign, intrusive. Kenneth's pain still lived in my chest, but now there was something else layered beneath it. Confusion. Sharp, panicked thoughts that weren't mine.
Anita stumbled.
She caught herself before anyone else noticed, but I did.
Her eyes snapped to me.
There was no rage in them yet.
Just horror.
"Don't look at her," someone muttered behind me.
"She did that on purpose."
"She cursed her."
I kept walking.
