Page 104 of Echoes From the Void

The Eredar moves before any of us can react. Its massive form flows like liquid night as it dives toward its children. In that moment, my enhanced vision catches something beneath the beast—the father’s desperate need to protect that mirrors my own predator instincts.

Frankie’s eyes meet mine across the void. Her lips form words I can read even at this distance: “Keep them safe.”

Then everything explodes.

Light and shadow detonate outward, their combined power turning the pre-dawn air to pure energy. The blast throws us back, but I fight to keep my eyes open, to witness every second. My enhanced sight catches fragments through the chaos:

The Eredar reaching its children.

Finn’s light merging perfectly with Frankie’s shadows.

Their father’s form wrapping around them both like living armor.

Three souls becoming one point of perfect, devastating balance.

Then...nothing.

The bond doesn’t break. Doesn’t snap like I feared. It just...stretches. Becomes gossamer-thin but unbreakable, like a thread connecting us to somewhere beyond normal space. My predator nature tracks that delicate connection, refusing to let go.

When the light fades and we can finally see again, the void has receded. The shadow beasts that survived mill around inconfusion, their ancient forms already beginning to fade from our reality. The cracks in the earth slowly seal, leaving broken ground and shattered buildings as the only evidence of what happened.

But of Frankie, Finn, and their father...nothing remains.

“She’s not dead.” The words emerge as a growl, my fangs still extended as I fight back the predator’s need to hunt/find/claim. “The bond—I can still feel her. Feel them.”

“Somewhere between,” Bishop confirms, his tactical mind already working despite the grief tightening his voice. “Not in the void, but not in our reality either.”

“Then we find them.” Dorian’s frost spreads in searching patterns, more ordered now. More purposeful. “We research, we plan, we find a way.”

“No matter how long it takes,” Leo adds, his usual sunshine carrying an edge of steel.

I look at my pack—at Leo’s fierce determination, Bishop’s calculated fury, Dorian’s controlled intensity. Feel our bonds pulse with shared purpose. My predator nature recognizes their strength, their unwavering loyalty.

Above us, dawn breaks over a changed world. Around us, the ancient shadow beasts begin their slow fade from our reality, returning to whatever dark space birthed them. My enhanced senses catch every detail of their departure—the way their forms dissolve like smoke, the lingering scent of prehistoric power.

But somewhere, in a place between void and substance, between shadow and light, Frankie and Finn wait. Suspended in their father’s protection, held in perfect balance. My predator nature can still track that gossamer-thin connection, refusing to let it fade.

“We’re coming, Frankie.” The words emerge as a growl, my fangs catching the first light of morning as I make this promiseto the empty air, to the stretched-thin bonds, to the very fabric of reality itself. “All of us. Together.”

My pack moves closer, their shadows and frost and Guardian marks merging with my own power. United. Determined. Unbreakable. Through our bonds, I feel their absolute conviction matching my own predator’s need to find our mate.

“Together,” they echo.

And somewhere beyond normal space, beyond time itself, I swear I feel our bonds pulse with acknowledgment.

With love.

With hope.

My fangs remain extended, body coiled and ready. We have a hunt ahead of us. And this time, we won’t stop until we find them.

No matter how long it takes.

No matter what stands in our way.

We’re coming.

Chapter 36

---