Page 97 of Forged Bonds

“Not the worst beating I’ve taken. I’m healed already.”

“I’m sorry they took your mate.”

“We were bound to be separated eventually. I’m shocked we were put in the same cell in the first place.”

“They said something when they brought you in about gradually making you more uncomfortable. Is that how they’re going to draw your Omega mate out?”

I sighed, slumping against the wall. “Yes. That’s what they hope.”

“Will it work?”

Iris was a broken woman, someone who would likely do anything necessary to get an extra meal or a bath. I wasn’t going to tell her how certain I was about Freya’s dedication to getting us back. “Maybe. Or maybe she’s already resigned herself to never seeing us again.”

“She hasn’t,” Iris said confidently. She’d turned her face away to peer into her empty cell, no longer looking at me. “A mate bond isn’t so weak she could give up.”

I wanted to ask about the story behind the dead mate bond on her neck, purely to distract myself from the circumstances. Even I wasn’t so callous, though. There was something in her voice telling me she hadn’t given up, despite feeling the broken bond. She might be one of the few who believed mate bonds followed you through the reincarnations. I’d never believed in pre-ordained bullshit like that, but after Freya… maybe I should.

“Part of me hopes she does, though,” I found myself admitting. “Because if she doesn’t give up, I’m worried all she’s going to get out of it is more pain.”

Iris hummed, but shook her head. “There is no pain greater than knowing your mate is alive and not being able to save them. Not even losing a mate is worse than that.”

She shuffled away, back to her bed again, and I was left to muse on that, waiting for Caspian to wake up so I could monitor his state and pointlessly fret.

TWENTY-NINE

Freya

Iwoke up from my nap abruptly, prompted by a change in my bonds. Heart pounding, I felt blindly for all of them. Oswald, a strong bond I could feel his worry through. Emmett, his thighs still beneath my head but his emotions as erratic as mine were. Shan, panicked and faint with the distance. Caspian…

A void.

Sitting up, I reached out for Emmett who was staring at me with wide eyes. “Do you feel it?” I asked urgently.

He nodded. “Caspian isn’t there.”

“Except… he is there,” I said, grabbing for the bond again.

I could hold it, as I’d been mentally cuddling with the bonds since my two mates were taken. That meant it wasn’t broken. He wasn’t dead. It was only when I continued along the string attaching our souls that I felt nothing. No emotion. No Caspian.

Understanding washed over me all at once.

“He’s gone feral.”

Emmett clutched my hand and shook his head. “No way. Shan wouldn’t have let him.”

“Think about it. The bond isn’t broken, but I can’t feel him. Caspian is the most emotive person in all the realms, so there’s no way he’s intentionally cutting me off from him. He would have killed people before he was captured, and if they kept them chained up or separated…”

“Fuck,” Em hissed.

His worry spiked to anger, and he got up to pace. He didn’t let go of my hand, forcing me to pace along with him.

“They’re both been worried and stressed since they were captured, and I thought it was a result of the situation as a whole. It makes more sense now — it was because of this. Shan wouldn’t have been worried constantly if they were simply prisoners. He’s too much of a hothead for that. Anger would have made more sense,” I said.

“What are you two talking about?” Nolan asked, sitting up on the couch opposite where we had been.

He held a phone in his hand, scrolling through a list of wanted posters. I assumed he was searching for someone who might be susceptible to a bit of memory manipulation and being our inside man.

“Remember when Caspian sucked your cock?”

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