The air in the bunker tasted like copper and bad decisions.
The ghost of the last emotional surge still lingered, a static charge that made the hair on Ravenna's arms stand up. The silent agreement hung heavy between the four of them: Failure wasn't just embarrassing. It was a death sentence.
Damaris took charge. His control was reasserted by cold, hard logic.
"Calm is the only goal," the Warlock stated. He paced the small room like a metronome. "The Hybrid's power reacts to emotional input. To stabilize the bond, we must remove the interference. Alpha, your aggression is the primary variable. You must overpower your natural rage."
Emin stood rigid. His golden eyes narrowed.
"I am always disciplined, Warlock. My control is absolute."
"Your 'control' is just strangling a scream," Damaris countered. Cold. Clinical. "The bond sees the difference. Now. Stand in position. Close your eyes. Focus only on the concept of still water."
He looked at Ravenna. "Prepare for the incoming energy. Do not fight it."
Asher moved behind Ravenna. His stance was wary. He wasn't participating; he was spotting a weightlifter who was about to drop the bar on her neck.
"Don't trust them, Boss," he muttered. Low enough that only she heard. "Just ride the wave."
Ravenna closed her eyes. She tried to clear the noise.
She reached out through the Mate Bond. She felt three distinct presences.
Emin: A boiler under immense pressure. He projected intense control, but underneath? Raw fury. Deep shame. A bomb waiting for a spark.
Damaris: A glacier. Vast. Frozen. A demanding, relentless focus that viewed her mind as a math problem.
Asher: A flicker. Static. Suspicion and guarded alertness.
"Ready," Damaris announced. His voice was tight. "Now. Send calm."
Ravenna felt the collision immediately.
Emin tried. He really did. He aggressively slammed the lid down on his emotions. He forced the stillness with every ounce of his Alpha will.
But effort isn't peace.
He didn't send calm. He sent a concentrated wave of suppression. It felt like a heavy, iron hand crushing her lungs.
Simultaneously, Damaris channeled focus. But he didn't send serenity. He sent chilling detachment. He treated her mind like a broken schematic that needed to be erased and redrawn.
The two forces collided in Ravenna's mind.
It was agony.
She was being crushed by the Alpha and dissected by the Warlock.
Ravenna choked back a scream. Her knees buckled.
"It hurts!" she gasped. She doubled over, clutching her head.
The feedback loop snapped shut.
The overwhelming negative emotions slammed back into the senders.
Emin gasped. His hands flew to his temples as Ravenna's fear and pain surged into him. Damaris staggered back, paralyzed by the sudden influx of raw Lycan rage.
"Alpha! You are failing!" Damaris hissed. He struggled to maintain his own shielding. "Your primitive fury is contaminating the entire bond! Release it! Find the stillness!"
"I am trying!" Emin roared back. His voice was strained, veins bulging in his neck. "It's not a switch I can flip, Warlock!"
"Then you are a liability!" Damaris snapped. "Your lack of true control will get us all killed!"
The emotions cycled faster. Feeding on themselves. A hurricane in a bottle.
Ravenna began to shake violently. Her breath came in short, rattling bursts. She was seconds away from a chaotic blowout.
"Stop! Disconnect! Now!"
Asher.
He didn't use a calming touch. He used a shout. A raw, loud, discordant sound designed to shock the system.
The order shattered the calm that had prevailed.
The two lords staggered back. They physically wrenched their focus away from the bond.
Ravenna fell back. Asher caught her, lowering her to the dusty floor.
Silence returned. Broken only by ragged breathing.
Ravenna trembled. She felt utterly ravaged. Like she'd been used as a rope in a tug-of-war between giants.
Damaris stood frozen. His eyes were wide with professional horror. He looked at Emin.
The Alpha was leaning against the stone wall. Pale and shaking.
"That was not calm, Alpha," Damaris said. His voice was flat. Threatening. "That was a catastrophic failure of discipline. You sent raw, intensified rage. You nearly drove the Hybrid unconscious. Do you understand the danger?"
Emin pushed off the wall.
His shame transformed instantly into bitter, defensive anger. He couldn't look at Ravenna.
"I tried to control it!" Emin roared. "I forced the calm! You expect me to discard every instinct I was raised with just because of this... this curse?"
"Yes, I do," Damaris replied. His tone was like ice. "Because your instincts are not protecting her. They are killing her. Your discipline is a lie you tell yourself. And the Mate Bond will not be fooled by it."
The words hit Emin harder than any physical blow.
His face showed complete defeat. His self-control—the very foundation of his identity—had been exposed as a weakness.
To have that failure almost hurt his Mate? That was the ultimate humiliation.
He didn't scream again. He simply turned.
He walked stiffly. Like a broken machine. He stalked away into the dark tunnels without saying a word.
Ravenna watched him go. A profound ache settled in her chest.
Through the terrifying feedback, she had felt it. His absolute, hidden shame. The Alpha wasn't just arrogant; he was fundamentally broken by the rigid rules he lived by.
Asher gently helped Ravenna sit up.
"See, Boss?" the Rogue said softly.
"They're all victims of their own rules. The Alpha can't stop being angry. The Warlock can't stop analyzing. Until they learn to be human, we don't stand a chance."
He looked toward the darkness where Emin had vanished.
"He won't be back for a while. He needs to lick his wounds."
Asher turned back to her. Green eyes serious.
"This is your chance. We work with the Warlock's logic, but we use my method."
Damaris, meanwhile, was already focused on the logistics. He picked up a shard of crystal, turning it over in his fingers.
"The variable is confirmed," he muttered to himself. No empathy. Just data. "The Alpha's emotional suppression is the largest threat to synchronization. We must find an alternate route to stabilization."
Ravenna looked between the clinical Warlock and the cynical Rogue.
The training was failing. The alliance was fracturing.
They had to find a way to silence the noise. And for now, the Alpha was gone.