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Everything is chaos.

Parker lies at the center, her body suspended off the floor in a storm of light so intense it hurts to look at. The air itself vibrates, crackling like lightning, alive with tension and desperation.

Steo, the reaper born of shadow and bone, cradles her mid-air with a reverence that feels too human, his expression contorted with something raw. Something real. Grief.

He looks utterly shattered. Not at all like the shadowy monster I’d been scared of back in our world. What the hell happened?

“Help me,” he pleads again, voice strangled, shadows gone and leaving him oddly vulnerable.

Rad stands rigid beside me, staring at Parker, muscles coiled tight. His breathing is rough, erratic, those wicked claws flexing uselessly at his sides. He’s hesitating, unsure what to do, and it scares the absolute fuck out of me.

Rad never hesitates. Never doubts. Never flinches. But right now? He looks almost afraid.

I open my mouth, trying to shout, trying to move, when suddenly pain surges through my side where Rad’s demon blood had healed me.

I gasp, doubling over as black veins pulse hot, like molten iron under my skin. Something snaps into place, and my vision shifts violently, momentarily plunging me into a world of searing pain.

Then—clarity.

I feel all of them—Parker’s pain, Steo’s terror, Rad’s barely leashed fury. We’re knotted together now. Fear, devotion, desperation—one raw, screaming tether.

Rad’s eyes snap toward me, his expression shifting from confusion to understanding as he senses it too.

Steo looks up sharply, his fiery orange eyes wide and feral. “What is this?” he demands.

“It’s us,” I rasp, the words tearing from me before I can think. “It’s not just her anymore. It’s us. Your mark, Rad’s blood. We’re all tied together.”

My heart’s hammering, my mind racing too fast to keep up. I don’t know if I’m right. I don’t know if any of this makes sense.

But I feel it.

Like a wire pulled tight through my ribs. Like a scream caught behind my teeth.

“The bond isn’t broken,” I force out. “It’s unfinished. Parker’s drowning because this power was never meant for just her. It’s all of us. It has to be.”

I don’t know monsters. I don’t know this world.

But I know her.

And I know I’m right.

I have to be.

Rad snarls, his jaw tightening. “You’re saying we have to fucking share the bond?”

Steo’s growl is fierce, possessive, but he clutches Parker tighter, desperate. “If it will save her, we will do whatever is necessary.”

I straighten, pushing through the pain, every breath burning with resolve. I don’t like it either, I don’t even know what it means, what the end result will be, but if we have the smallest chance of saving Parker, then I’ll do it a thousand times over. For her. “Fuck! She’s hurting. Can’t you feel it? We owe her this.”

Rad’s gaze meets mine, flickering briefly with something like respect. Then he nods, reluctant but determined and looks back at Parker, still looking impossibly fragile, like she might burst at any moment under the pressure of the power still building. “Hang on my Beholden.”

Steo shifts, carefully lifting Parker’s limp body closer. His movements are tender as to not jostle her too much. “Hurry.”

I step forward, reaching out for Parker’s hand. The instant our fingers brush, power slams into me, raw and overwhelming, tearing a strangled cry from my throat. It’s agony and bliss, too much and not enough, everything and nothing, all at once.

Rad grips my shoulder, his touch like an anchor in the storm, fierce but steady. Steo hesitates only a heartbeat longer before grasping my other arm, completing our circle.

The second we’re all linked, the world ruptures. Power slams into us, raw and violent. Parker becomes the storm’s eye. For a terrifying second, when her body arches, I think we’re losing her—but then the chaos smoothes into something softer, something gentle, balanced and even.

I can breathe again.

I feel Rad’s power, savage yet fiercely protective. I sense Steo’s presence, ancient and surprisingly tender underneath his darkness. And Parker—beautiful, stubborn, fearless Parker—her spirit pulses at our core, warm and vibrant, finally stable.

Then, she gasps awake, chest rising and falling evenly.

Her eyes flutter open—dazed, confused, beautifully alive. Glowing ice-blue eyes stare at us, first at me, then at Rad, and finally settling on Steo, disbelief and relief dancing across her face.

A laugh, weak and breathless, escapes her lips but the Gloom around us responds to it with a flicker of pulsing energy. “Did…did we just have a bonding moment?”

Rad scoffs, feigning irritation, but I catch the subtle way his shoulders relax. “Yeah, don’t get used to it.”

Steo only grunts, but his hold on her tightens possessively, clearly unwilling to let go just yet.

I manage a weak grin, exhaustion settling deep in my bones, but squeeze her hand in response. “Welcome back, Silver.”

She blinks again, eyes softening with gratitude and something deeper—an understanding passing silently between us. “Thanks, Golden Boy.”

The Evergloom finally stills, pulsing gently around us, the vibrant pink now calm and steady. The air itself feels lighter, breathable again.

We’re locked together in silence, wrists still tangled, the aftershocks of what we just became echoing through every part of me. It’s deeper, more profound than anything I’ve ever felt—something rooted in fate, in choices made, and lives forever entangled. And completely terrifying. There are a ton of questions left unanswered with this new dynamic, but no one seems brave enough to voice any yet.

“Well,” Rad finally mutters, withdrawing his clawed grip. “This is fucking awkward.”

Parker laughs again, softer this time, resting her head against Steo’s chest, a sleepy smile curving her lips. The Gloom responds to it again, as if in sync with her every emotion, and I suppose it is since I can feel the flutter of it deep in my core this time around. She looks oddly at ease here, alive and strong, in a realm teeming with monsters. But she still says, “Yeah. It really is.” Her eyes close and she lets out a small content sigh, exhaustion overtaking her.

Yet none of us steps away.

Whatever we were before—enemies, strangers, something in-between—we’re not that anymore.

We’re bound. And that changes everything.