Chapter 11: Static

Emrys didn't let go of me.

He just stood there with his forehead against mine while we both got our breath back.

"He's asking where I am," I said.

"Tell him."

"He can't hear me. That's the whole point."

"Then tell me." His thumb moved on my waist. "Where are you?"

"In a stable. With bark down my shirt."

He huffed a laugh into my hair.

Then he stepped back. It cost him.

"Go inside," he said. "Before I forget I've got manners."

"You have manners?"

"I've got some. I keep them for emergencies."

He picked up his coat and left.

I stood in the dark with my lips stinging and the bond buzzing.

Lorcan came at eleven.

I heard his truck on the west road. I heard him in my head long before that.

[She has to be awake. She has to.]

I went out on the porch in my socks so he wouldn't wake the kids.

He got out and left the door hanging open.

He hadn't shaved.

His flannel was buttoned wrong.

"Something's wrong with the bond," he said.

"I know."

"I can't feel you." He came up the steps. "Seven years, I felt you every day. That night you got shot in the leg, I woke up screaming."

I hadn't known that.

I didn't let it land.

"And now?"

"Nothing. It's like you're not there." His hands were shaking. "Say something."

"I'm saying something now."

"Not out loud." He stepped close. Too close. "Through the bond. Think it. Anything. Please."

[Please let her be in there.]

I looked at him.

I thought it at him as hard as I've ever thought anything.

YOU WORE HER TOWEL.

Nothing moved on his face.

I tried again, louder, with my whole chest behind it.

YOU KISSED HER ON MY LAWN FOR THE ANGLE.

Nothing.

[Come on. Come on, Mirren.]

"Did you do it?" he said. "Are you doing it?"

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Alpha's Regret Came Too Late from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.