Vincent’s POV
The pain came like a blade, jolting me out of sleep.
One moment the night was quiet—curtains drawn, the faint smell of lavender oil hanging in the air. The next, I was gasping, pain tearing through my chest so sharp it dragged me out of sleep. I lurched upright, clutching at my ribs as if I could dig the ache out with my own hands.
I knew this feeling. I would know it even in death.
The bond.
Not the fragile threads of loyalty I tied to my pack. Not the brittle obligations to throne or bloodline. This was deeper. Sharper. It cut to the marrow, branding me from the inside out. The mate bond.
And it wasn’t mine.
It was hers.
Adeline.
The pain shuddering through me didn’t belong to my body—it belonged to hers. Every nerve screamed with the echo of what she was enduring.
