The forest was too quiet now.
Too still.
The fire crackled low beside me, its light casting broken shadows across the tangle of wounded bodies and bloodstained leaves. The others slept in uneasy shifts, weapons still within reach. Kol breathed shallowly, curled on his side. Kade paced a few yards away, speaking in hushed tones to one of his surviving men.
And me?
I couldn't stop shaking.
Not from fear.
Not from pain.
But from something worse.
Something deeper.
The bond.
It had been quiet since we left the facility—dulled by distance, maybe, or by the chaos around me. But now it flared to life again.
Bright.
Wild.
Panicked.
I gasped as it hit me—like drowning in someone else's lungs. My chest locked up. My ribs felt like they were collapsing inward.
Then came the images—not clear, not formed. But sensed.
Hands.
Not mine.
Touching him.
A voice—familiar in the worst way. Cold. Cruel. Authoritative.
The boss.
Nyx was on her feet in my head, snarling. He's touching him. That bastard's touching him!
A wave of helpless terror rolled through me, not mine but his. Nine's fear clung to my skin, saturated my thoughts. There were no words. He didn't know how to think it yet. But he felt it.
The violation.
The confusion.
The heartbreak.
He'd asked me to protect him. To come back.
And I hadn't.
And now—
He thinks I left him.
Tears didn't come. I wasn't the crying type. But my body shook with the force of restraint, with the need to run.
I stood abruptly, knocking aside a tin cup someone had left by the fire. The sound startled one of Kade's men.
I barely heard them.
I need to go back. I need to tear the boss apart. I need to get him out of there. Now.
But I didn't move.
Because I couldn't.
Because that thing—that monster—was still alive.
Nyx snarled, slamming herself against the walls of my mind. We should've killed it. Shouldn't have waited. Now he's suffering and we're just sitting here—
"I know!" I hissed.
"Rhea?" Kade's voice, cautious. "What's wrong?"
I looked at him, and he saw the truth in my face.
"It's him," I said, voice raw. "He's being—used. And I can't do anything."
Kade's expression twisted. A flicker of guilt. Maybe something older. "You'll get back. You'll fix it."
"But not now," I whispered. "Not tonight."
Because if I left—if I walked away while that thing was still out there—I wouldn't be able to live with myself if more of our people died.
So I stood in the middle of the firelight.
Burning with helplessness.
While far away, Nine was crying through the bond without knowing how.