HERO POV "f**k… f**k," I muttered, annoyance bubbling up inside me. I winced as I tried to shift, the chains biting into my wrists. The sight of Jeremy, bleeding heavily on the cobblestones, was a sickening reminder of our predicament, Kristina was strung up to the wall in chains on both hands. Beside me, Walker's cage stood empty, a chilling giveaway to their brutality. They'd dragged him away, unconscious, leaving me alone with the buzzing electricity that crackled through the bars. "Tristan?" I whispered, my voice hoarse. My bond with him, though weakened, still throbbed with life. He was alive. But Walker… I felt nothing. No connection, no reassurance. Panic clawed at the edges of my fear. Was he… "We have been betrayed," I breathed, the word tasting like ash in my mouth. It was the

