Rise of the Immortal

Part III: Unraveling Truths--- Chapter 13: The Healing Bond

The nightmares always started the same way.

I would be back in that cell, the stone walls pressing in around me like a tomb. The sound of footsteps echoing down the corridor would make my heart race, because I knew who was coming. Greg's laughter would bounce off the walls, that sick, predatory sound that had haunted my dreams for five years. Then his hands would be on me, tearing at my clothes, and I would try to scream but no sound would come out.

I jerked awake with a gasp, my body drenched in cold sweat despite the warm blankets wrapped around me. The room was dark, but soft moonlight filtered through the curtains of what I still couldn't quite believe was my room in the Red Moon pack house. My heart hammered against my ribs as I struggled to orient myself, to remember that I was safe.

"Talia." Kale's voice was soft, careful not to startle me further. I felt the mattress dip as he sat on the edge of the bed, close enough to offer comfort but not so close as to make me feel trapped. Even in my post-nightmare haze, I appreciated his consideration. "You're safe. You're here with me."

I pressed my palms against my eyes, trying to push away the lingering images from my dream. "I'm sorry," I whispered, hating how small my voice sounded. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Don't apologize," he said firmly. "Never apologize for something that isn't your fault."

It had been two weeks since the rescue, two weeks since Kale had carried me out of that fortress and back into the light. Two weeks of trying to adjust to freedom, to safety, to the overwhelming kindness of the Red Moon pack. But the nightmares came every night without fail, dragging me back to that dark place where I was helpless and broken.

Through the bond that had awakened between us during the rescue, I could feel Kale's emotions—his helpless rage at what had been done to me, his guilt that he hadn't found me sooner, his desperate love that wrapped around me like a protective shield. But I could also feel his careful restraint, the way he held back his instinct to gather me in his arms because he knew that sometimes touch still terrified me.

"Can you tell me about it?" he asked gently. It was the same question he asked every night, and every night I gave him the same answer.

"It was the usual one," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "Greg coming to my cell. The things he did." I shivered, pulling the blankets tighter around myself. "I know it's not real anymore, but it feels so real when I'm dreaming."

Kale's hands clenched into fists where they rested on the mattress, and through the bond I felt his wolf's fury spike. He'd been struggling with his own demons since the rescue—the sight of what I'd endured, the faces of the other prisoners we'd found, the fact that Marcus and Greg had escaped before he could make them pay for their crimes.

"I should have killed him," Kale said quietly, his voice rough with barely contained violence. "When I found him in your room, I should have ripped his throat out instead of listening to your plea for mercy."

I reached out without thinking, my fingers brushing against his hand. The contact sent a spark of warmth through the mate bond, and I felt some of his rage settle. "I'm glad you didn't," I said, meaning it. "If you had killed him in front of me, it would have just added another layer of trauma. You did the right thing."

"The right thing," he repeated bitterly. "The right thing would have been finding you five years ago. The right thing would have been protecting you from ever experiencing any of that."

I could feel his guilt like a physical weight through the bond, heavy and suffocating. It was one of the reasons I'd been hesitant to fully open myself to the connection between us—his emotions were so intense, so overwhelming, that sometimes I felt like I was drowning in them on top of my own trauma.

"Kale," I said softly, turning to face him in the darkness. "What happened to me wasn't your fault. Marcus is the one who chose to take me, to hurt me. Greg is the one who chose to assault me. You're the one who chose to save me."

He looked at me then, his golden eyes reflecting the moonlight streaming through the window. Even in the dim light, I could see the pain etched in his features, the way guilt and rage warred in his expression.

"I can feel your nightmares through the bond," he said quietly. "Every night, I feel your terror, your pain, and I can't do anything to stop it. I can't fight your demons for you."

The mate bond. We'd been dancing around it for two weeks now, both of us aware of its presence but neither willing to address what it meant. The connection had flared to life during the rescue, strong enough to help me survive the trauma of being found, but we hadn't made it official. We hadn't completed the bond that would tie us together permanently.

"Maybe that's part of the problem," I said, the words slipping out before I could stop them.

Kale went very still. "What do you mean?"

I took a shaky breath, trying to organize my scattered thoughts. "The bond between us—it's partial, incomplete. I can feel your emotions, you can feel mine, but there's no stability to it. No... anchor. Maybe that's why the nightmares are so vivid, why I feel so untethered. Because part of me is still lost in that place, and part of you is lost with me."

Through the bond, I felt his surprise, followed quickly by understanding. "You want to complete the mate bond."

It wasn't a question, but I nodded anyway. "I think I need to. I think we both do." I looked down at my hands, twisted together in my lap. "I know I'm damaged, Kale. I know I'm not the same wolf you found five years ago. But I'm tired of feeling broken. I'm tired of letting what they did to me control my life, even now that I'm free."

"You're not damaged," Kale said fiercely, and I felt the force of his conviction through the bond. "You're a survivor. You're the strongest wolf I've ever known, and I've never stopped loving you, not for a single moment in five years."

Tears pricked at my eyes. "Then help me heal. Help me become whole again. Complete the bond with me, so that no one and nothing can ever come between us again."

Kale was quiet for a long moment, and I could feel him weighing the implications through the bond. A completed mate bond was permanent, unbreakable. It would tie us together for life, would make us vulnerable to each other's pain but also give us access to each other's strength.

"Are you sure?" he asked finally. "A completed bond... there's no going back from it. You'll feel everything I feel, I'll feel everything you feel. Your nightmares will become my nightmares, but my strength will become your strength too."

"I'm sure," I said, and for the first time in weeks, my voice was steady and strong. "I want to be bound to you, Kale. I want to know that no matter what happens, no matter who tries to take me away or hurt me, there will always be a part of you with me."

He reached out then, his hand cupping my face with infinite gentleness. His thumb brushed away a tear I hadn't realized had fallen. "And I want to know that there will always be a part of you with me," he said. "I want to carry your strength with me, to be able to share my stability with you when the nightmares come."

I leaned into his touch, closing my eyes as warmth spread through me. "How do we do it? Complete the bond?"

"It requires a blood exchange," he said, his voice taking on a formal tone as he explained the ritual. "We each make a small cut on our palm, press them together, and speak the binding words. It's simple in execution but profound in its effects."

I opened my eyes to meet his gaze. "What are the effects, exactly?"

"Complete emotional connection," he said. "You'll be able to feel my emotions as clearly as your own, and vice versa. Physical sensations will be shared to some degree—if you're hurt, I'll feel it. If I'm in danger, you'll know it. We'll be able to communicate telepathically when we're in wolf form, and the bond will make us both stronger."

The idea should have been terrifying. After five years of having my autonomy stripped away, the thought of being so intimately connected to another person should have sent me into a panic. But instead, I felt only relief. Connecting myself to Kale wouldn't be losing my independence—it would be gaining an unbreakable source of strength and safety.

"There's something else," Kale said quietly. "The bond will help you connect with your wolf. She's been suppressed for so long, buried under layers of trauma, but the mate bond might be strong enough to help her surface."

My wolf. I'd felt her stirring during the rescue, clawing her way toward consciousness for the first time in years. But since then, she'd remained elusive, hiding from the trauma that had driven her so deep inside me.

"I want to feel her," I whispered. "I want to finally be whole."

Kale nodded, understanding in his eyes. "Then let's do this. Let's complete the bond and start your real healing."

He stood and moved to the dresser, retrieving a small silver knife from one of the drawers. The blade gleamed in the moonlight as he returned to the bed, sitting cross-legged across from me.

"Are you ready?" he asked, holding the knife between us.

I took a deep breath, feeling more ready than I had for anything in years. "Yes."

Kale made a small, precise cut across his palm, blood welling up in the shallow wound. Then he offered the knife to me, handle first. My hand shook slightly as I took it, but my resolve didn't waver. I pressed the blade to my palm and drew it across, hissing slightly at the sharp pain.

"Now we press our palms together," Kale said, holding out his bleeding hand.

I placed my palm against his, feeling our blood mingle where the wounds met. The moment our cuts touched, power flared between us, bright and electric. The partial bond that had existed since the rescue suddenly blazed to life, expanding and deepening until I could barely tell where I ended and Kale began.

"By blood and bond, by choice and will," Kale began, his voice resonating with ceremonial weight, "I bind myself to you, Talia of the Red Moon pack. Your strength is my strength, your pain is my pain, your joy is my joy. Until the end of days, I am yours as you are mine."

I repeated the words, feeling the power settle into my bones like roots growing deep into fertile soil. "By blood and bond, by choice and will, I bind myself to you, Kale of the Red Moon pack. Your strength is my strength, your pain is my pain, your joy is my joy. Until the end of days, I am yours as you are mine."

The moment the words left my lips, the bond exploded into full life between us. I gasped as Kale's emotions flooded through me—his overwhelming love, his fierce protectiveness, his deep joy at finally being connected to me completely. But underneath it all was his strength, solid and unshakeable, wrapping around my fractured soul like armor.

In return, I felt him experiencing my emotions—the fear and trauma that lived in the dark corners of my mind, but also my determination to heal, my gratitude for his patience, and the love that had survived five years of horror and emerged scarred but unbroken.

"I can feel her," I whispered in wonder, my free hand pressed to my chest. "My wolf. She's... she's coming closer."

Through the bond, I felt Kale's elation as he sensed it too. My wolf, drawn by the strength and safety of the mate bond, was finally beginning to emerge from the depths where she'd hidden. She was tentative, wounded, but alive.

"She knows she's safe now," Kale said, his thumb stroking across my knuckles where our hands remained pressed together. "She knows that I'll protect both of you, always."

Tears streamed down my face, but for the first time in years they were tears of hope rather than despair. The bond pulsed between us, strong and warm and absolutely unbreakable. Marcus could try to take me again, Greg could haunt my nightmares, but they would never truly have power over me again. I was connected to something stronger than fear, deeper than trauma.

I was connected to love.

"Thank you," I whispered, and through the bond I felt Kale's confusion at my gratitude.

"For what?"

"For not giving up on me. For searching for five years. For carrying me out of that place and back into the light." I leaned forward, resting my forehead against his. "For helping me find my way back to myself."

"You never lost yourself," he murmured, his voice thick with emotion. "You just got buried under pain for a while. But you're still in there, Talia. You're still the fierce, compassionate wolf who chose to protect Elena even when you had nothing left to give. You're still the woman who begged me not to kill Greg because you knew it would add to the trauma. You're still you."

Through the bond, I felt the absolute truth of his words, felt his unwavering faith in who I was beneath the scars. And for the first time since the rescue, I began to believe that maybe he was right. Maybe I could heal from this. Maybe I could become whole again.

The mate bond hummed between us, a constant reminder that I was no longer alone in the darkness. Whatever nightmares came, whatever challenges lay ahead, I would face them with Kale's strength supporting me and my own resilience growing stronger every day.

I was still broken, still healing, still learning to trust the world again. But I was no longer lost.

I was found. I was home. I was whole.

And nothing would ever tear us apart again.