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VINCENT

S he was here. I can still feel her touch and hear the worry in her voice.

Amaya found me in my darkest moment, but I don't know how much passed through into our bond. Part of me feels like I should keep away from our aching tether, but even if she shuts me out, I'll be there for her.

So I let myself sink, leaving behind the desolation that my reality has become. I'm a failure. I let my omega down when she needed me the most, and now she's gone. Kidnapped. Taken from her home because I left her alone to face the demons of her past by herself.

Now everyone is hurting... missing her. Fearing for her life. Paul was right; it's all my fault. A jittery pulse of gold flares around the darkness encompassing me. Amaya.

Affection warms me, soothing the shakes still wracking my body, even in the recesses of my soul where my omega resides. But beyond the love Amaya fills my veins with, is an unsettling amount of understanding.

"Little mate?" I whisper, fully settling into this plane of existence. "Where are you?"

A hue of gold swirls from the next pulse of our bond, floating down until it lies at my feet. On the next beat, the sparkle fades and my omega is there, lying in a blurry haze.

"It's my fault," she whimpers, the words sounding far away.

"What?" I gasp and fall to my knees. The pain that should spring through my bones doesn't exist, our bond cushioning my bones. "Amaya, it's not your fault."

Up close, I can see her hair looks damp and stuck to her pale skin. The pajamas I last saw her in are in clinging tatters. She shakes just as I was before I felt her reach out to me. Amaya almost looks like she's fading in and out before my eyes. Is she trying to hold on to her place here, or stay awake for whatever is out there?

Blinking tired eyes open, my omega looks at me with all the sorrow and regret in the world. "I'm sorry, Vincent."

"For what?" I breathe, reaching out to touch her cheek only to pass right through.

She takes a shuddering breath and my throat spasms with emotion. "I don't think I can protect you from this anymore."

"Protect me from what?"

Her little body clenches and curls, but no matter how hard I try, I can't fucking grab her. It's not for lack of trying or clear frantic desperation to hold her in my arms, she's just not fully here with me.

"Omega," I croak, tears now streaming from my cheeks. "Come on, stay with me, Amaya." I'm trembling again, the love she feels for me no longer able to numb the terror and uncertainty.

"I c-can't..."

"Can't protect me from what?!" I choke out. God, I'm fucking terrified of what she's about to say. Giving up on trying to touch her, I curl up on my side and face the woman I love.

With one final anguished look in her eyes, Amaya sobs. "From this."

All at once I'm slammed with terror unlike anything I have ever experienced. Next comes the bone deep ache and horrifically cramped muscles. On top of my own throbbing concussion, Amaya's similar wound makes the pounding increase tenfold. Ice slithers through my veins, replacing the warmth of my mate.

The bond which was once dark with a golden hue now shines like the inside of a fucking spotlight and blasting music replaces the steady pulse of my mate. Her eyes widen one second before I register the red welt now blooming on her collarbone.

"AMAYA!" I scream, reaching for her one last time, only for her to disappear with a wail of suffering and shock.

What was once a calm place to hide away in, our bond now flashes with sparks of red and shouts of my mate's torture above the ear-splitting bass. My knees, which were once cushioned by the bond, now ache with the blow they took when I collapsed in front of Amaya.

She's been shielding me.

"My god, Amaya..." I grieve.

What have they done to destroy her strength to protect me? Because I know Amaya, she would have never let me suffer alongside her. They're breaking my mate, and there's no way my sorry ass can help her in here.

Time to wake up.