**DEREK POV**
I feel it instantly.
It hits me mid-breath, a sudden constriction in my chest so sharp my lungs forget what they are supposed to do. The world tilts. My vision darkens at the edges, like someone has reached inside me and twisted something vital without warning.
No.
The bond does not break.
That is the first thing I register, even through the surge of panic. It does not snap cleanly or shatter the way I have always feared it might. There is no violent recoil. No sudden emptiness where something essential used to be.
It thins.
Narrows into something fragile and terrifying, stretched so fine it feels like it could vanish with the slightest strain.
The sensation burns through me, raw and animal. Panic detonates in my chest, drowning out reason, rank, restraint. My wolf su
