Tear—!
Sharp canines sliced through skin, and warm blood gushed out. He pumped pheromones into me like a madman, desperate to force a mark into place.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Nothing happened. No magical glow flickered to signal a successful bond, no jolt of soul-deep resonance hummed between us.
The back of my neck might as well have been a cold, lifeless stone.
The mark had failed.
Without a mutual soul response, a severed mate bond can never be reestablished.
For a beat, Roman didn't move at all. Then he lifted his head slowly, his lips caked with my blood, his eyes swimming with disbelieving, shattered despair.
"How... how is this possible..." The words tumbled out of his mouth in a dazed mumble, and he crumpled to the floor, all the fight draining out of him
