Page 48 of Protected By the Elf Prince

I would never do so lightly.

But this situation was different. I believed something was amiss, and I had to make certain.

“Landon?”

I pushed the thought gently outward in search for the connection to his mind.

“Landon?”

There was nothing.

No response.

No awareness.

No presence.

My heart slammed violently against my ribs.

I tried again, more forcefully.

“Landon.”

The absence hit me like a physical blow because there were only two explanations.

Only two reasons a mind could become completely unreachable.

He was either unconscious or dead.

And for one terrible second, the world stopped.

The street disappeared.

The traffic noise vanished.

Everything narrowed to a single horrifying possibility.

No.

The word echoed through me with absolute certainty.

No!

Landon was alive.

He had to be.

He had only just started smiling at me.

Only just started allowing himself to consider a future where I existed in it.

He could not be gone.

Not now.

Not ever.

Rage followed the fear, violent and overwhelming.