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“He’s dying, Vaelenor!”

Trapped in this tiny SUV with nowhere for the weight of his pheromones to go, his fear slams into me. It’s like getting hit with a fucking baseball bat to the gut and I grunt at the pressure. My hands tighten around the steering wheel.

I don’t snap at him for cutting me off. I can feel how bad it is. The Bond is screaming with Caelan’s pain—white-hot agony that has me struggling to breathe.

The rage pummeling into me is almost worse than the fear. It’s not just Caelan’s. It’s coming from both sides—pounding down the Bond like a Fatesdamned battering ram. It’s relentless. Impossible to ignore.

A dark haze starts creeps over my vision, making it impossible to concentrate.

“Mute your side of the Bond,” I grit through clenched teeth. “I can’t handle the raging emotions from both of you.”

“My side is muted.” Dax snaps. “You’re getting that from Caelan. He must be hurt worse than we thought.”

Fuck!

My foot presses harder on the gas. I send waves of love and reassurance through the Bond, hating the way he’s alone right now.

Hang on, brother. We’re coming. Just hold on for us.

“Try reaching out to him again,” I suggest, attempt to give Dax something to focus on. Right now, he’s an unmoored boat in a storm. He needs a task. Something to give him a sense of control.

“It’s fucking pointless, Vae. The comms are down.”

The tires spin and skid through loose gravel as turn the SUV down a dirt path a few miles from the Varenthrall estate

My driving is chaotic, lacking my normal stealth. But honestly, subterfuge can get fucked—that ship sailed the second we realized Caelan was caught in a trap. Even if Varenthrall never found Caelan’s comm, I’m sure he’s discovered who he is by now.

There’s no reason to pretend we’re we aren’t about to fuck up his life.

I shoot Dax another worried glance. Normally, Dax is calm and controlled. He’s not the kind of male who needlessly fidgets. But right now, his legs are bouncing in a frenzied rhythm, he’s got one hand curled into a fist on his thigh and the other gripping the handle above the door so hard his knuckles are white.

His fingers flex like he knows where I’m looking and it’s pissing him off. I wince as the plastic cracks under the strength of his grip.

“Dax…” I murmur, trying to keep my voice soft so I don’t set him off again.

It’s like he doesn’t even hear me. He spins to the side in his seat and pins me with grey eyes filled with fear

“She set him up,” he snarls. His voice is raw, ravaged with guilt. “I heard it. I heard that bastard thank her. Heard Varenthrall tell Caelan that she played her part beautifully.”

“We don’t know for sure that’s what⁠—”

“I DO FUCKING KNOW!”

Dax’s shout is so loud the windows shake. My head whips to him in shock.

Fucking hell. He never loses his shit like that. Never.

This is so much worse than I thought.

“She was a fucking setup, Vae,” he insists. His tone drops dangerously. “I told him. For Fate’s sake, I told him before he even walked onto the property tonight that it was a trap. He didn’t listen. He walked right into it because he couldn’t stay away from the Fatesdamned Omega!”

He slams his hand against the dashboard, cracking the plastic there, too.

“Look where that got him. Shot with silver and fuck knows what else. I have no idea what we’re walking into because I lost my last link to him outside of the Bond.”

“What about your drones?”

“Don’t fucking work. Whatever’s going on with those wards was dialed up to a hundred about thirty minutes ago. It makes no sense. They dropped completely before the mission tonight. That should have been my first clue that something wasn’t right.”