Chapter Twenty-Four -where the soul waits

Chapter Twenty-Four -where the soul waits
JASMINE’S POV
The second our hands touched, the world broke.
No, it didn’t crack, nor did it shift. 
It actually broke
Like a great fragment of glass was dropped on stone.
A sharp ringing filled my ears and everything around me — the shouting miners, the crackle of dying embers, Liam pacing behind me — all of it stretched thin and distant, like sound rippling underwater.
Suddenly, the ground beneath disappeared and my stomach recoiled in response.
For one terrifying heartbeat, I thought I was about to pass out.
That would have literally been the worst time for such a thing to occur.
But perhaps fainting would have been a better situation.
Because this wasn’t fainting. Fainting would have been soft.
This felt violent.
Like something had reached for fragments of my soul, and all but dragged it out through my ribs.
 The cold rushed through me so fast and my teeth chattered in response.
My fingers tightened around the woman’s hands instinctively.
“I—” My voice sounded strange when I tried to speak. It echoed and sounded strangely hollow . “What the hell is happening?” I said, almost desperate.
“Do not resist,” she said calmly.
The waves of her voice didn’t seem to reach my ears, but I heard her words in my mind.
“If you resist, you will lose your way.”
Lose my way?
Before I could ask what that meant—
The mines vanished, so did the sky.
In fact, everything before me seems to fade away.
And I was falling.
Not down. That would have been too normal for this strange place I was in.
But through .
Through smoke, memory and something that was thick and heavy that it clung to my skin like wet wool.
I couldn’t breathe.
I tried to scream, but my mouth wouldn’t do what my mind asked of it. I couldn’t open it.
And then…as if like mercy, my feet hit something solid.
I stumbled forward and barely caught myself.
The air was still.
A bit too still, but it somehow seemed to press against my ears until I began to imagine sounds that were probably not there.
Help. I tried to cry, but the word didn’t seem to form.
I lifted my head slowly.
And was stunned by the en masse of grey that filled the air.
Everywhere was covered by an endless grey fog.
No sky. No ground.
Just… nothing.
“What… is this?” I whispered.
The words finally formed, but it still sounded wrong.
Muted. Far away.
Like I wasn’t really there.
“You are somewhere in between,” the woman said.
I turned sharply.
She stood beside me, but she didn’t look the same.
Before, she’d seemed regal.
But now? She somewhat ancient. But still very much ethereal.
 She was taller, lighter. One would even say the moonlight lived under her skin.
Her hair drifted around her shoulders as though carried by wind. But there was no wind. That’s how strange this place was. 
“Between what?” I asked.
“Between life and death. Between body and soul.”
My heart skipped a beat at her words, and sudden pain had me gripping my chest.
“What?” I gasped.
Her eyes softened.
“Yes.”
I shook my head quickly.
“No, no, that doesn’t make sense. Damien is alive. I checked. His pulse was strong. His chest was moving. He was breathing.”
“His body is alive,” she said gently.
My stomach twisted.
“But his spirit has not returned.”
The words hit harder than any physical blow.
“W-what did you say?”
“He is trapped here.”
For a second, I genuinely forgot how to breathe.
Trapped?
Not unconscious, not injured. But trapped?
Which meant something was holding him. Perhaps something had even taken him! 
The fear that hit me wasn’t soft or slow.
It was sharp.
An animal must have taken him and my wolf howled inside me in anger.
“Where is he?” I demanded.
She didn’t answer.
She simply lifted her chin slightly and the fog ahead of us shifted.
It curled and twisted, like the way water did when it was disturbed.  
And then I saw him. He was just standing there, with his back turned to me.
I smiled at the familiarity of his broad shoulders and the familiar posture.
But he was still. Too still and my chest cracked open.
“Damien.”
My voice broke on his name.
And then I ran toward him…or at least tried to.
Every step felt heavy, like running through waist-deep water. The air itself resisted me.
“Damien!”
Nothing.
He didn’t move or react. He didn’t even flinch.
“Damien, turn around!”
Still nothing.
Panic clawed up my throat.
I finally reached him and grabbed his arm, I was shocked by the instant cold that ran through him into me. 
He wasn’t just cool. He was freezing!
Like stone left in winter.
“Damien,” I whispered desperately. “It’s me. It’s Jasmine. Please… please look at me.”
Still Nothing.
No breath of life, his eyes didn’t even blink.
There was no human form of response from him and my heart all but shattered.
This couldn’t be happening. 
I was losing yet another man. He was slipping away from me.
And did even have a clue on how to save him.
“Damien… please.” I sobbed helplessly.
What was wrong with me anyway? 
I couldn’t keep the horrible thoughts that crept in right then. 
Rowlan left, just like the men before him.
Men got hurt around me or they just woke up one day and left.
And now Damien…
“No,” I muttered angrily. “No. I refuse to let this happen to you!” I cried, trying to wrestle against the fates.
“He cannot hear you yet,” the woman said.
I spun around angrily.
“Then make him hear me!”
“You need to call out to him.”
“I am calling him!”
“Not with your voice.”
I stared at her now, frustrated tears burning my eyes and running down my cheek 
“Then how?!”
“With the bond… your mate bond.”
My stomach dropped.
Our mate bond?
Well, of course, we had that. But…
“ I don’t know how to use that,” I whispered.
“You love him, do you not?”
I don’t know why, but the question came to me as a surprise .
Love.
Did I love him?
Truth was, I barely knew him.
He was stubborn. Arrogant. Infuriating. Bossy and and also Overprotective.
And yet still…
He saved me without hesitation.
Opened his home to me.
Looked at me like I wasn’t cursed.
Like I wasn’t broken. Like I was something precious… someone worth loving
My chest tightened at the answer.
“… yes,” I admitted, “I believe I do love him.”
“Then that ought to be enough.”
“Okay.” I whispered, my hands trembled as I turned back to him.
I stepped closer and placed my palm over his chest.
He was still so cold.
“Hey,” I whispered shakily. “Alpha… you don’t get to do this.”
Nothing. He didn’t respond
“You dragged me into your life. Forced me into your pack. Told me fate wanted us together.”
My voice cracked.
“So you don’t get to disappear on me now.”
Still nothing.
Tears slipped down my cheeks.
“I’m so tired of losing people,” I whispered. “If you leave too… I don’t think I can survive that again. Please, please don’t leave me. I beg you.”
My wolf stirred.
Soft.
Lonely.
Mate, she whispered.
And then… I felt it.
A thread.
Warm and faint
Connecting my chest to his.
It was Thin as silk and oh so fragile
But it was there.
Hope exploded inside me and I grabbed it with both hands.
And then I pulled.