Page 116 of Crossed Fates

Yeah, I had a memory of that, too.You went all, like, Hulk smash on the soldiers.That was the part of my dream I’d enjoyed, listening to him kick ass.

But now he was caught.

And everyone was waiting for me to wake up.

To start a new trial.

Where’s everyone else?I asked, but even as I thought it, I felt the answer.

Because I was just as connected to Alaric’s pack as I was to him.

Oh.

Our mating link had granted me access to the hive mind via him. Or maybe… it was the other way around. Regardless, I was firmly embedded in his pack now. I couldn’t even sense Nathan or my home realm.

My heart skipped a beat, my breath threatening to halt in my lungs.

But Alaric’s dominance took over, forcing me to relax.

I could fight him. I might even win. However, I allowed his compulsion, needing him to ground me before I lost my ever-loving shit. Never in my wildest imagination could I have come up with this possibility. But now that it stood before me, I had no choice but to accept it.

He was my true mate.

The other half of my soul.

I’d… accepted it before. But not quite.

Not until he’d plowed down all my walls and forced me to acknowledge his spirit as mine.

I couldn’t even hate him for it. Because he’d done it with the best intentions, saving my life, and now… now I was still strapped to a chair with him in another room, and wasting precious time overthinking a connection I never had a choice in ignoring.

Walking away from him now would kill us both.

I had no idea how we’d progressed this far in such a small amount of time, but fighting it would only hurt us both.

And I very much wanted to survive this situation.

I also wanted to kill Bortex and the vamp who had spiked my blood with silver.

My resolve settled, my mind focusing on the task at hand, and I felt more than heard Alaric’s approval.

Good to have you back, Mak, he said.Now, how the hell are we getting out of this mess?

Are you still disabled?I asked.

Not exactly.His mental voice wavered just enough for me to sense his depleting energy.

Oh, hell…He’d been focusing the last vestiges of his strength on holding me still… while a machine fucking bled him.Alaric!

Priorities, sweetheart,he whispered.The pack’s bolstering me, something Bortex realized when my father passed out in the other room.Some of his ire traveled through those words.

How long was I out of it?

Long enough,he muttered.But you’re fully restored now, and that’s what matters. Now help me figure out a way to survive.

I didn’t reply right away, my mind processing the location of the others first. Everyone was still alive and in this wing, including Savannah. She appeared to be the most damaged, her mental waves altered by whatever the machines were doing to her.

But Hawk, Hardt, Timothy, and Gregory were all unconscious.