57 Chapter 57 Incomplete Bond
The one I’d left behind in the ashes of my old life.
He was all I had. Just like I was all he had.
7
He didn’t smile. Didn’t look relieved. Instead, his eyes filled with a sadness that made my skin crawl.
In my world, discovery meant death. Hunters with silver bullets and tracking dogs would come for me. They’d hunt me down like the animal they believed me to be.
The door whispered open. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins entered with exhaustion etched into every line of their faces. A small figure trailed behind them, clutching his worn stuffed rabbit against his chest. Theo’s eyes were too wide, too scared for a little boy.
The room started spinning around me. Mate. The word felt like a noose tightening around my neck. My mind flashed to him, to the man whose eyes Theo had inherited.
I squeezed my eyes shut and reached inward, searching for the wolf that had surfaced when I shifted. My breathing turned desperate as I clawed deeper into myself, hunting for that wild pulse that would prove she was real and not some hallucination.
How could I go back? I’d spent six years building this life from nothing, creating a safe world for my son. Theo was the unexpected gift from the man I’d loved and lost, conceived during one night when grief and alcohol had made me reckless.
“Please, no.” The words came out broken and desperate.
I tried to force my lips into a reassuring smile, to give him the comfort he needed, but another wave of pain crashed over me and stole my breath. My throat felt shredded, and the best I could manage was a pathetic whisper, “I’m okay, baby.”
My throat burned like I’d swallowed broken glass. Every breath felt like fire in my lungs as I struggled to push myself upright against the hospital pillows. The thin IV tube snaked from my arm to the wall, and that damned monitor kept beeping with the rhythm of my racing heart.
“No.” I shook my head violently, panic rising in my chest. “I can’t do that. I won’t.”
He was always my little ray of sunshine, bouncing around with endless energy and that infectious grin that could light up any room. Seeing him pale and frightened like this made me want to claw my way out of this bed and fix everything.
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57 Chapter 57 Incomplete Bond
The harder I searched, the worse the agony became. It felt like my heart had been ripped down the middle, each piece pulling away from the other with vicious force. I could sense her there, my wolf, but she was fading like an echo in an empty canyon. My mind screamed for her to return, but my body betrayed me with its weakness.
Julian belonged to my past, and I couldn’t let that past destroy everything I’d fought to protect.
“Your vitals look normal,” the nurse said, scanning her clipboard without bothering to make eye contact. “No signs of injury or infection that we can detect.”
Even I knew it was a lie. I hated that he had to see me broken like this.
I stared at the doctor, my heart hammering against my ribs like a caged bird. “No.” The word came out shaky and desperate. “I’m human. Just human.”
“Mommy?” His voice cracked like he was afraid I might disappear. “Are you okay?”
My heart and soul. My entire world wrapped up in one perfect child.
“The pain you’re experiencing isn’t from any physical trauma,” he said slowly, like he was explaining something terrible to a child. “It’s a mating call. You’ve shifted, but you’re incomplete now.” His hand settled gently on my arm. “The only way to stop this burning is to find your mate and complete the bond.”
My heart felt like it was going to explode from my chest. I wanted to run, to disappear again, to pretend this conversation had never happened.
Tears burned my eyes, not just from the physical torture but from the terrifying realization crashing over me. All these years of hiding, of building a normal life, of protecting everything I loved, and the truth was clawing its way to the surface anyway.
“We’re not going anywhere,” she murmured. “You don’t have to face this alone.”
Mrs. Jenkins’s warm palm settled on my forearm. Her touch was gentle, but it couldn’t stop the ice that was spreading through my bones like poison.
Going back didn’t just mean losing these six years of peace. It meant risking Theo, and I
couldn’t lose him.
The Jenkinses stood frozen, their faces mixing compassion with fear.
Theo’s eyes flooded with tears that he was trying so hard to be brave and hold back. He pressed his tiny hand over mine, his fingers squeezing like he was trying to keep all my scattered pieces from falling apart completely.
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57 Chapter 57 Incomplete Bond
“Are you a werewolf?” The question came out as barely more than a whisper, like he was sharing state secrets.
A scream tore from my throat without warning, raw and animalistic, shattering the sterile quiet of the room. The Jenkinses jerked back in shock, and Theo’s face went white as the hospital sheets.
Seraphina’s POV
The monitor started shrieking in response to my outburst. A doctor in a pristine white coat burst through the door, his expression serious but controlled. He dropped to his knees beside my bed, scanning the charts before leaning close enough that I could feel his breath on my cheek.
The doctor’s gaze softened, but there was steel underneath that I couldn’t argue with. “You’ve already met him,” he said quietly. “Your body recognizes him even if you’re fighting it. The pain you feel is the incomplete bond trying to form, and until it’s finished, this agony won’t end.”
Her clinical words drifted past me like smoke. My skull felt like it was splitting apart, and something deep in my chest was tearing me in half from the inside out. I wanted to scream until my voice gave out, but the words died in my throat, suffocated by the
kness creeping through my veins.
y blood turned to ice water in my veins. That word hung in the air between us, aded with danger and everything I’d spent years running from. For the past six years, I’d lived as human as I could manage, pretending that the supernatural world didn’t exist beyond the safety of these city walls.
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