Theron's POV
I'm chasing a wolf that's carrying the only thing that can save Sloane's life, and I can't catch it.
The scarred dark wolf is fast—faster than anything I've ever hunted. It weaves through the trees like smoke, the glowing green crystal still clamped in its jaws. Every time I get close, it puts on another burst of speed.
Behind me, Calix and Kieran are fighting off the dark wolves trying to stop us. I can hear them snarling, hear the sounds of combat, but I can't look back. If I lose sight of this crystal, we're all dead.
The wolf cuts left suddenly, heading deeper into the forest. I follow, my bronze-scaled form crashing through branches. My Primordial wolf is bigger and stronger than a normal wolf, but this thing is built for speed.
"Theron!" Calix's voice echoes in my mind. "It's leading you into a trap!"
Too late. I burst into a clearing and skid to a stop.
Twenty dark wolves are waiting for me. Maybe thirty. All of them snarling, all of them ready to tear me apart.
And in the center, sitting calmly with the crystal at its feet, is the scarred wolf. It shifts into human form—a man with red eyes and a cruel smile.
"Hello, Primordial," he says. "My name is Vex. I'm the one who gets to kill you tonight."
I shift to human form too, standing naked but not caring. "You can try."
Vex laughs. "Brave words for someone outnumbered thirty to one."
"I've faced worse odds."
"Have you?" He picks up the crystal, studying it. "Have you faced them without your precious nexus bonds? Without your mates to share power with? Right now, you're just one wolf. Strong, yes. But still just one."
He's right, and I hate that he's right. Without the bonds, I can't feel Sloane anymore. Can't sense Calix or Kieran or even Dacian. The emptiness where they used to be is like a wound that won't stop bleeding.
But I'm not giving up. Not while Sloane needs me.
"Give me the crystal," I say. "Or I'll take it from you."
"You're welcome to try." Vex tosses the crystal to one of his wolves. "Kill him. But make it slow. I want to enjoy this."
The dark wolves attack all at once.
I shift mid-leap, my bronze scales deflecting the first wolf's claws. My jaws close on another's throat and it dissolves into shadow. But there are too many. They're on me from all sides, biting and clawing.
Pain explodes across my back as teeth sink deep. I roar and throw the wolf off, but two more take its place.
This is bad. Really bad.
Then Calix crashes into the clearing like a lightning bolt. Literally. His gray wolf form is surrounded by crackling electricity, and when he hits the dark wolves, they fly in every direction.
"Took you long enough!" I shout at him.
"You're welcome!" He tears into another dark wolf, his lightning making them scatter.
Kieran appears next, his white fur stained with blood that isn't his. His red eyes find Vex immediately. "You."
Vex grins. "Me."
"I know you," Kieran snarls. "From the old war. You were one of Morgath's generals. I killed you myself."
"You killed my body," Vex corrects. "But Morgath brought me back. She's been bringing all of us back, one by one, for centuries. Building our army. Waiting for the Primordials to wake up so we could finish what we started."
"How many?" I demand. "How many of you are there?"
"Enough." Vex shifts back into his wolf form. "More than enough to wipe out every pack in this territory. Starting with yours."
He howls, and the sound makes my blood run cold. Because it's not just one howl. It's dozens. Hundreds. Coming from every direction.
More dark wolves are coming. A lot more.
"We need that crystal," Calix says urgently. "Now."
The wolf holding the crystal tries to run, but Kieran is faster. He tackles it mid-stride, his jaws going for the crystal.
Vex intercepts him, slamming into Kieran's side. They tumble across the ground, snapping and clawing at each other.
I leap after the wolf with the crystal, but three dark wolves block my path. I fight through them, scales deflecting most of their attacks, but I'm getting tired. Without the nexus bonds, I don't have unlimited energy. I'm running on fumes.
Calix reaches the crystal wolf first. His jaws close around its neck and it drops the crystal. The green stone falls to the ground, glowing brighter.
"Got it!" Calix shouts.
But before he can grab it, the ground beneath the crystal cracks open.
Not like before with the Devourers. This is different. A hand reaches up through the crack—a human hand made of shadows and smoke.
And it grabs the crystal.
"No!" Kieran roars.
The hand pulls the crystal down into the crack. In seconds, both the hand and the crystal are gone, the crack sealing behind them.
We all freeze, staring at the spot where it disappeared.
"What just happened?" I breathe.
"Morgath," Kieran says bitterly. "She has it. She's taken the crystal somewhere we can't follow."
"Where?" Calix demands.
"The Shadow Realm. A place between worlds where only spirit-walkers can go."
My stomach drops. "So we can't get it back."
"Not unless one of us becomes a spirit-walker," Kieran confirms. "Which requires dying and coming back. And even then, there's no guarantee it would work."
Vex laughs from across the clearing. "Looks like you lose, Primordials. No crystal means no bonds. No bonds means no nexus. No nexus means..." He grins. "You're all going to die."
More dark wolves pour into the clearing. We're surrounded again, but this time there's no objective to fight for. The crystal is gone.
We lost.
"What do we do?" I ask Kieran.
For the first time since I've known him, Kieran looks uncertain. "I don't know."
That's when I feel it. A pull. Not through the bonds—those are still broken. This is something else. Something older.
It's coming from the direction of the pack house. From Sloane.
"She's in trouble," I say. Both Calix and Kieran's heads snap toward me. They feel it too.
"The mate pull," Calix realizes. "Even without the bonds, we can still sense when our mate is in danger."
"We have to go," I say. "We have to help her."
"We're surrounded by an army," Kieran points out. "We'll never make it through."
"Then we fight our way through."
Vex shifts back to human form. "How noble. Running to save your mate while she's being devoured by a Void Beast. Do you even know what those things do? They don't just kill you. They erase you from existence. Like you never existed at all."
My blood turns to ice. "What?"
"The Void Beast at your pack house," Vex says casually. "It's been eating your pack members for the last ten minutes. And once it's done with them..." He smiles. "It's going to eat your precious Sloane. And when it does, every memory of her will vanish. No one will remember she ever lived. Including you."
Rage explodes through me. I don't care about the odds anymore. I don't care that we're outnumbered. I shift into my wolf form and charge straight at Vex.
He shifts too, meeting my attack head-on. We collide in the center of the clearing, all teeth and claws and fury.
Calix and Kieran join the fight, tearing into the dark wolves between us and the path back to the pack house. We fight like we're possessed—because we are. Possessed by the need to save Sloane.
I feel bones breaking under my jaws. Feel blood spraying. Feel pain as claws rake across my side. But I don't stop. Can't stop.
We have to reach her.
We cut through the dark wolf ranks, leaving a trail of bodies behind us. Vex tries to stop us but Kieran tackles him, buying us time.
"Go!" Kieran shouts in our minds. "I'll hold them here! Save Sloane!"
"We're not leaving you!" Calix argues.
"You don't have a choice! She's dying! I can feel it! GO!"
Calix and I exchange a look. Then we run.
We burst out of the forest and see the pack house ahead. Dark wolves are everywhere, attacking everyone they can find. But that's not what makes my heart stop.
It's the Void Beast.
Twenty feet tall, eyeless, with a mouth that spirals into darkness. And standing in front of it, between the monster and the pack house, are Sloane and Dacian in their wolf forms.
They look so small compared to the beast. So fragile.
The Void Beast's mouth opens wider. I can see people inside it—pack members who've already been caught. They're not dead. They're trapped, screaming, being slowly erased from existence.
Sloane lunges at the beast, trying to draw its attention away from the pack house. Her teeth find the creature's hide but can't pierce it. The beast swats her aside like she's nothing.
She hits the ground hard and doesn't get up.
"SLOANE!" I scream in my mind, but she can't hear me. The bonds are broken.
Dacian throws himself at the beast, trying to protect his mate. But he's already wounded, already exhausted. The Void Beast's massive hand closes around him and lifts him toward its mouth.
No. No, no, no.
We're still too far away. We'll never reach them in time.
The beast drops Dacian into its mouth.
I watch my Alpha—the wolf who trusted me with his mate, his best friend since childhood—disappear into darkness.
And then Sloane does something I'll never forget.
She shifts to human form, stands up despite her injuries, and screams at the top of her lungs: "TAKE ME INSTEAD!"
The Void Beast pauses. Its eyeless face turns toward her.
"Let him go and take me," Sloane says. Her voice is steady even though she's crying. "I'm a Primordial. I'm worth more than one broken Alpha. Take me and let everyone else live."
"Sloane, don't!" I roar, but she can't hear me.
The Void Beast's mouth curves into something like a smile.
And then it speaks, its voice like the death of stars: "Agreed."