DARLENE
I was alone inside the small maid’s quarter, sitting on the old wooden chair beside the window. The afternoon light passed through the glass, but I wasn’t looking outside. I was staring at nothing. My mind was blank, but my chest… my chest was burning.
Suddenly, I felt it.
A sharp pain—so sudden and deep that I cried out.
“Ahh!” I pressed my hand against my chest. My heart felt like it had been torn into pieces. My breathing became hard. I bent forward, holding myself as the pain got worse. It was unlike anything I had felt before.
Then I heard her voice—Lala, my wolf.
“Darlene! Are you okay?”
I closed my eyes and answered her in our mind link.
“I—I don’t know, Lala. My heart hurts so much… like it was shattered. Like something inside me just broke.”
“It’s the bond,” she s
