Page 82

I am me… but I am also a being of stardust and galaxies and glimmering silver. I soar across space and time, searching… searching… always searching…

For her.

She is all there is. All there will ever be.

So I search—for decades, centuries, millennia without stopping. I watch empires fall and rise. I watch as, in what feels like the blink of an eye, a massive landmass splits, breaking apart to form what will eventually become the seven continents the world will come to know.

Oceans rise—oceans fall. Trees are cut down; homes and businesses and castles are built. Food is harvested. Weapons are made. A million, billion people fall in love and live and die with each breath I take.

And still, I search.

I am a being of stardust—one of only a lucky handful who have been chosen by Fate. The world has never seen a Bond like ours, nor will they again. There was once a similar Bond, but it—just as those lucky enough to experience it—no longer exists. They’ve been gone for so, so long—a day, an hour, a minute. Time is meaningless outside of the millennia I spend in a search that feels like it may never end.

And then it does.

I am a being of stardust. My name… my name is Soren. I am stardust, and I am wolven. And for the barest instant, the two parts of me collide, and I brush against the knowledge of why my kind exist. For a single breath, I know all that’s been lost to time. Our history, the birth of our Species, and exactly how close we are to the vampires we try to pretend don’t exist.

I know everything. I see it all. And I am overwhelmed with gratitude and despair, knowing our very existence nearly came at the expense of all else. I hear the screams of the world tearing apart until the Mother herself—her very soul and being—lashes out, and⁠—

Nothing. Nothing but overwhelming loss tempered by gratitude and sorrow for what is and nearly was and may once again come to pass.

I am stardust, and I am wolven, and my soul has searched since the beginning of time. Every moment. Every breath. Every sunrise and sunset and every second between has led to this moment.

To her.

MINE.

I’m no longer stardust.

I am wolven, and I am falling, falling, falling through the stars, yanked back to earth. I slam into my body with a gasp, eyes snapping open and my Scent-Match Bond pulsing and thrumming.

It sparks with joy, no longer alone. Alongside it exists something new. Something deeper, stronger. Ancient and powerful and so incredibly, impossibly fucking alive. It reaches out, wrapping around Idril and me both, tethering our souls together and rearranging my DNA.

Remaking me into something new.

Hers.

My fingers flex, biting into Idril’s skin. My claws unsheath. My canines extend—both lengthening and sharpening faster than ever before. My vision sharpens, the world snapping into focus, so clear I can count each strand of hair on Idril’s head. I can pick out every shade of silver and white while still retaining enough attention to spare for the conversation between Daxen and Gavran happening in his study three floors above.

What the hell is happening to me?

This Bond… it makes our Scent-Match Bond feel flimsy in comparison. Even now, every part of me feels lit up. Fire races down my spine, flooding through my limbs before circling back again.

Vaelenor moves—taking a single step in our direction—but I move faster. Faster than I ever have before, crouching over my Omega and shielding her with my body. I’m not sure who’s physically in control—me, my Beast, or something else entirely—something attached to the Bond that’s waking for the first time in millennia.

Vae takes another step. Closer.

Big fucking mistake.

“Mine!” I roar, but my voice doesn’t sound like my own. It doesn’t sound like my Beast, either. More like I’m speaking through the Bond itself, imbuing my words with power.

This new Bond is alive and screaming, primed to attack. Even when the Alpha backs away, hands raised in front of him, I don’t move from where I’m crouched, hovering protectively over my Omega as a growl vibrates deep in my chest.

When his eyes fall to Idril, my vision turns white.

“GET OUT!” My voice thunders through the air. My hands are clenched around the edges of the bench, and when I tighten my grip, my claws dig into the concrete like hot knives into butter. The stone splinters apart, long sections breaking off and crumbling in my hands.

I don’t linger on the realization that I’m suddenly strong enough to crush concrete into dust. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is getting that male the hell away from my Mate.