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Gods! What was left resembled the original, but his body essence was more sinewy with some of the silver strands woven into the surface.

At least it wasn't pulsing anymore. And he'd stopped screaming.

"Tye," I croaked, opening my eyes, surprised to see early morning light streaming into the cave. "Please —"

He didn't respond, eyes closed as he lay on the ground.

But something was happening to him. His body was … changing.

With a grunt, his whole body suddenly went rigid.

"Fuck. Tye, I'm so sorry."

He let out an otherworldly howl as his back arched one more time — then he burst into a cloud of gray smoke …

I stepped back, hand covering my mouth, heart in my throat as I counted down.

5. 4. 3. 2. 1 —

Please! Please!

But the cloud just pulsed and glowed without coalescing intoeitherthe man or the wolf.

FUCK."Tye!"I called through the bond, still bright and strong. "Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

Still … nothing.

Hesitant, I reached a hand towards the roiling sphere of smoke, much larger than any I'd ever seen before.

"Tye?"

I gasped as my fingers sank into the smoke — somehow solid, yet not. I could feel him in there — alive and in pain, but unable to wake. Panic choked me.

What was I supposed to do?!

He'd told me to get Frexin if everything went wrong, but he had those damn tattoos because of her! And not only had she convinced him to get the tattoos, she'd been the one to put the two of us together on these damn missions.

She MUST have known something like this would happen! Which meant this could be one of her fucking plans …

There was no way in HELLS I would hand him over to her. Not when he was so weak and vulnerable.

No, I couldn't tell her anything — not about this or the bond. No matter what he'd wanted.

Swallowing, I checked him once more.

His korra and the sphere of smoke still pulsed and throbbed, but the pace seemed to be slowing … stabilizing.

I tried counting the beats, waiting and counting again.

Yes, it was definitely slowing.

But who knew how many hours it would be before he was done?

The sun had already started to rise above the trees outside the caves, and it was only a matter of time until Frexin sent her people out to find us …

The volunteers could already be at Dragon's Peak, too.

Fuck!