Victoria’s POV
My breath still hadn’t returned from being thrown back onto the ground, but that wasn’t what had me frozen.
It was them.
Celeste and my brother—locked in that weird, soul-shattering kind of silence that felt too loud for the room.
Then he said it.
Soft.
Barely above a whisper.
But I heard it.
"Mate."
The word echoed in my brain like someone had rung a bell inside my skull.
I’d heard him say it before. Once. When he thought no one was listening. When he explained what it would mean—what it would feel like. And I thought, when it happened, it’d be something he wanted.
But he looked stunned.
Celeste looked terrified.
“f**k,” Celeste whispered.
And then she collapsed.
“Wait—wait, wait—what the hell just happened!?” I scrambled to my feet, stumbling over a broken c
