Darius suddenly clutched his chest and dropped to one knee in the middle of the hallway, gasping sharply as if someone had punched him in the heart.
His golden-brown eyes widened. A wave of warmth, strength, and pure light flooded through him — not his own. Elara. He could feel her. Her power. Her joy. Her connection to someone else. His wolf howled inside him, both desperate and furious.
“What… what is this?” he muttered, pressing his palm hard against his chest, trying to steady the wild pulsing.
Lira rushed toward him, her fiery red hair swinging as she moved. She dropped down beside him, placing her hands on his shoulders. “Darius! What’s wrong? Talk to me.”
He shrugged her hands off roughly and stood up, pacing back and forth in the corridor. His breathing was ragged. “Nothing. It
