**DEREK POV**
I am in the middle of a sentence when the bond slams into me.
Not a pull. Not a whisper. A collision.
It hits hard enough that my breath stutters, the words dying in my throat as something sharp and wrong detonates in my chest. For half a second, I do not know where I am. The room tilts. The world narrows to a single, blinding sensation.
Panic. Not mine.
It floods me all at once, raw and unfiltered, a spike of fear and grief so sudden it steals the air from my lungs. My vision blurs at the edges. My heart stutters, then starts pounding like it is trying to break free of my ribs.
I grip the edge of the council table without realizing I have moved.
“Alpha?” someone says. Rylan, I think. His voice sounds far away.
The bond screams again, jagged and disoriented, like it h
