THANE POV
‘Golden Panel?’ I repeated.
I couldn’t breathe.
Aiden’s words registered in my brain and my body stopped working.
It felt like someone had reached into my chest, wrapped a hand around my lungs and squeezed until no air could get in anymore.
Golden Panel.
For a second, I could not think past that. Could not move past that.
Could not be anything but the thing inside me that wanted to tear this whole place open with my teeth.
Then I forced myself to focus on the mark she had left on me, on our connection.
On her.
She was calm right now, still focused on something.
But there, alive.
Only then did my lungs remember how to work.
So that was what I had felt through the bond. That wave of fear and rage and disgust. They had been taking samples from her. Using my mate like a
