Page 105 of Queen of Diamonds

Knight was trying to take her from me. I didn’t understand. Kyan was coming back. She’d live. I’d get on my knees and tell her… what? I was sorry? As if that covered it.

That was so stupid. She’d tell me it was stupid, too.

I stared at her, realising her breaths had stopped.

“Glade.”

Her scent had changed, curdling cream, spice of cardamom turning stale in the air.

“Move.” Knight grabbed my arm, his terror turning the bond to lava. “She needs CPR. She isn’t going to?—”

My sanity cracked, the feral side that made me an Alpha burning me alive. I didn’t know what made me do it. Not when I should have moved and let Knight take over.

My fingers were weaving through her hair beyond my control as I lifted her.

“Zed—!” But Knight cut off as my teeth sank into her neck.

My offer of a bond burst to life in an abyss, leaving me frozen and more vulnerable and alone than I’d ever felt.

Glade?

I felt like I was calling into the void after her. If I offered a bond, she had to accept it to join, but Glade had chosen our pack long ago. She’d chosen us the day she’d given everything for our protection.

Don’t leave me.

Not now.

She was drifting away, fading into nothingness. She needed an anchor. Something to hold on to.

Please, don’t leave me.

GLADE

I was… nowhere.

Fading so fast, clinging to the only silver lining—death on my own terms.

But there was so much grief. So much terror that it was over and he’d won. What he’d taken was forever; I would never be with them the way I’d dreamed…

This couldn’t be it.

The doors were closing, and I… I wasn’t done.

I felt the rustle of life, leaves blowing in an icy wind, and ahead, the flicking warm light through a cabin window between santals strained beneath heavy snow.

Zed…?

I could feel him reaching out, trying to drag me back.

For one brief second, I hesitated; I shied back, even as everyone I loved waited ahead, an offer of everything I’d ever begged the universe for.

But if I crossed that threshold, would I bring with me the curse I carried?

Die with it, a voice whispered. Let go, and take your nightmare with you.

But then the ghost of that nightmare would be the only companion I’d ever had.

They had each other, while I had no one.

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