Page 66 of The Wolf

But it’s a long way through the desert. My kind can only carry so much, and it significantly slows us down. With ahandful of witches low on energy and this many pregnant human women, it seems like an impossible task. Not even taking into account the wounded ones.

“Penny, we need some transportation,” I command.

“On it!” She sprints away to figure something out.

Somehow, we manage to exit the base’s perimeter but we’re being crowded by the military and the remaining few hybrids. Another fight erupts. The wolf charges right at me, its massive form barreling toward me like a freight train. My senses kick into overdrive, but something is off.

For a second, everything feels muffled. Disconnected. I’m not feeling it. Not like I should. A cold shiver runs down my spine, and I stop mid-lunge, my claws still extended in the air. The world slows around me, and that’s when I feel it.

The mating bond snaps, a cold void rushing in where Julia’s presence should be, replaced by that swallowing emptiness. That vast, unbearable, dark hollow inside me.I stumble as panic surges through my whole body.

Julia.

Her presence, that faint but constant thread that’s supposed to always be there, is…gone. It’s like my soul just vanished, snatched away in an instant. The connection we share has been so strong, so undeniable that I never thought for a second it could break.

But now? Nothing.

How’s that even possible?

I stagger farther back, my head spinning. My breath comes in sharp, hysterical bursts. I try to latch onto any part of her. There’s nothing. I feel like suffocating. The bond is gone, and I’m drowning without it.

No. No. This isn’t happening.

I shake my head violently, as if that could help. But that soul tie we shared—the one that kept me tethered to her, that kept megrounded, kept mewhole—is gone. And it’s as though my very essence is missing.

Julia.

I call out her name in my mind, but the link is silent. Empty. She just slipped away, and I can’t…feel her.

Everything around me blurs. The soldiers. The hybrids. The world itself… none of it matters. There’s only theabsence.

Something sears through me, a feeling of desperation so raw it drowns out everything else. I’m unable to think, to focus. I’m not even sure what’s happening anymore.

I have to go. I have to get to her. I don’t care about anything else.

The creature swings at me, but I don’t see it. I barely register the sharp pain as its claws rake across my side. The world tilts. I stagger. A wave of dizziness threatens to pull me under. Blood pours from my side. I feel it, but it’s nothing compared to the ache inside, thehollowness.

I hear Farah’s distant voice, calling my name. Edwin’s worried growl. But they don’t matter. I can’t care.

Julia…

That’s the only thought in my mind now. The only thing that matters. My mate. The woman I love. She’s in danger. I can feel it. Even though I can’t sense her, Iknow. She’s in danger, and I’m not there.

I’m hardly even aware I’m on the ground with the hybrid’s jaws around my neck. I feel nothing. But I catch the minotaur’s sight, like through haze, as he barrels into the white wolf above me with the force of a freight train, his horns gouging deep into the hybrid’s sides. The minotaur roars as it rips him apart piece by piece, the blood gushing down on me.

Alex!Edwin’s voice shouts in my mind, cutting through my daze.

I grunt, shell-shocked, pulling myself to my feet, then forcing my vision to focus on him.Can you check with Clara?

She says they buried Tabatha, and Julia went back to the castle with Vernox. But she and Meg are still in the village caring for children.

Katia’s voice is sharp, full of worry. “What’s going on?”

I ignore that, my eyes darting to Farah. “Can you see Julia?” I demand, breathless.

Farah shakes her head, her voice soft. “Oh, honey, my powers are too weak. But you know she’s safe in the Veil. She has to be.”

Unless she’snotin the Veil.

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