VINCENT
I wake up with Kaia in my arms, and the bond between us hums like a live wire beneath my skin.
For a moment, I just lie there, feeling her breathe. Her bare back presses against my chest, warm and solid and real.
The memory crashes over me before I can stop it.
Lewis's panicked phone call.
Racing to his territory and finding nothing but disturbed earth where the portal had been.
Knowing she was gone and I had no way to reach her.
My chest tightens at the memory. Those hours were the worst of my life—worse than any battle, any challenge to my authority, any pain I've ever endured.
I couldn't feel her. Couldn't reach her. The mate bond wasn't complete yet, so there was no thread connecting us, no way to know if she was even alive.
Just emptiness and terror.
Lewis had been b
