Page 28 of Witch Untold
He looked to Ursula. “Could this be related to the changes Cora’s going through?”
Ursula shrugged. “Maybe.” She rolled her bottom lip into her mouth. “Or ...”
The tightness ebbed and I could breathe again. “What?”
“You have a connection to the wolves, and they can sense when you’re in trouble and you can sense their distress, right?”
“Yes.”
“And Jasper has always been able to find you when you’re in trouble. He can probably sense your distress.”
That was true, but, “It’s not a two-way thing. I can’t sense him.”
“Maybe because he’s never been in distress before?”
The thought of Jasper in distress made my stomach churn. “He’s too powerful for them to hurt him.”
Tor took my hand. “He’ll be fine. Jasper is smart, resourceful, and wily.” It was weird listening to Tor listing Jasper’s better qualities. “There’s nothing we can do about this right now,” he continued. “We have to trust that he can take care of himself.”
“And ignore this feeling?” I shook my head. “I can’t do that. If we haven’t heard from Jasper in the next twelve hours, I’m going after them.”
“If you do that, you’ll be playing right into the Sons of Adam’s hands,” Tor reminded me.
My chest tightened again, sudden and violently. My breath caught, and pain lanced through my torso. I doubled over, wrapping my arms around my waist to hold myself together.
“Cora? Cora, what the fuck?”
Jasper’s minty scent filled my head. His emerald eyes flashed wickedly in my mind’s eye, and I swear I felt his breath on my cheek.
“Cora?” Tor pulled me into his lap and hugged me to his powerful chest.
Jasper. I mouthed his name, but no sound came out. Jasper.
Something twisted and snapped inside me and then there was nothing.
Cold. Empty. Nothingness.
I hadn’t noticed it before, but he’d been there, linked to me. A part of me. I’d taken it for granted, become desensitized, but now that he was gone…
The ice in my veins crystalized.
He was gone…
The implications crashed down on me. I sagged against Tor, eyes blurring with tears, heart swelling painfully in my chest.
My throat pinched and tightened as a wave of despair washed over me. “Oh, God.”
Tor gently brushed my hair off my face, then swiped his thumbs across my cheeks to wipe away my tears.
“Cora… What happened?”
“Jasper…” My voice was a whisper, pushed past the lump of devastation stuck in my throat. “I think…I think he’s…dead.”
Chapter Nine
Jasper
My blood is still simmering, muscles on fire, but it’s over in more ways than one. My chest heaves in satisfaction despite the empty ache inside me, and then my laughter fills the room.
