Page 106 of Crossed Fates

“Hmm, maybe you aren’t as strong as we thought.” He sounded disappointed.

I’m a badass,I slurred in my thoughts.

You are,Alaric agreed, tugging at my psyche.

“Might as well,” someone said, sounding resigned. “At least he’ll be here soon.”

“Then the real trial can begin,” the other agreed.

Trial?I repeated.Trial… test… trial… thread… something…I almost had it, almost connected all the moving dots in my mind, when he stuck me again.

Another prick.

More fire.

Bright light.

Oh, fuck…

Chaos.

Words mingling. Voices, too. Alaric. Me. Them. Everyone.

Sounds. Growls. Screams.

Walking… walking… walking… to the bright, pretty… light.

All the while hoping I’d find Alaric on the other side. Waiting.

Alaric

My heart fucking stopped.

Halted.

Broke.

Crumbled into dust.

Proverbially taking me to my knees on an exhale that nearly killed me. Except I felt Makayla there, hanging on by a thread, her psyche a blink on my radar, her strength crushed to a tiny point that throbbed withneed.

The need to survive.

The need to breathe.

The need tothrive.

I shoved every part of me into her, my soul screaming in agony as I followed a path I didn’t understand, yanking my mate from a place I’d never known existed, and weaving my essence through hers in a way that shouldn’t be possible.

It just… happened.

My wolf reacted.

And I didn’t fight him.

I let him guide me into this darkness, marrying my soul to hers in a manner that defied all time and space.Makayla,I pleaded, my spirit infusing hers with life, all inside my mind.

I vaguely understood that I sat in the passenger seat of my father’s truck.