Chapter 186 THE BOND DISAPPEARED
Chapter 186 THE BOND DISAPPEARED
Dax's POV
Sebastian is lighter than I expected and he is still breathing but he's unconscious.
The drug worked faster than I expected and it should block out the matebond.
I carefully lowered him on the altar stone as moonlight spilled across his face.
For a second, I actually falter at what I'm doing.
He looks painfully young for all of this.
He's barely nineteen and should not be involved in my decade long feud with Ragnar.
His lashes faintly move but he doesn’t wake up.
Good, I don’t think I could handle Sebastian looking at me right now.
I sit beside the altar with exhaustion as the adrenaline is fading away from me.
What am I doing exactly?
I stare at Sebastian for a long moment before finally speaking quietly.
“I would never normally do something like this.”
The words sound hollow even to me because what does normally matter anymore?
I'm doing it anyway.
I drag a hand down my face slowly.
“You probably think I’m a monster now,” I mutter. “And maybe you’re right.”
Sebastian doesn’t answer as I laugh weakly under my breath.
“I never even heard her voice.”
The confession tears itself out of me as a tear slips out of my eye.
“I only saw her dying.”
The memory crashes into me again so violently that I nearly choke on it.
Twenty years.
Twenty fucking years pretending I survived it properly and that I'd healed and accepted it.
But I didn’t, I never did.
I look down at Sebastian again as bitterness twists inside of me thinking about how Ragnar got a second chance mate.
“I just wanted one chance,” I whisper to him.
Just one.
But Ragnar got two lifetimes of love while mine ended before it even began.
I close my eyes briefly and when I speak, my voice is calmer.
“You can hate me for this if you want.”
The wind sways in the trees.
“You can curse me if you'd like to.”
My gaze drifts back toward the altar and in his face.
“But this is just your bad luck.”
My jaw tightens painfully.
“Because someone like you was unfortunate enough to become Ragnar’s mate.”
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UNKNOWN'S POV
The mate bond flared up so sharply that Ragnar nearly staggered where he stood.
Inside of him, his heart slammed painfully against his ribs as he finally located the reason for his unease.
Sebastian.
Without another word, Ragnar turned around and ran really fast back towards his cabin.
The forest blurred around him as he moved really quick even using his superspeed just to get back.
His mind latched desperately on the mate bond trying to communicate with him.
Sebastian?!
Where are you?!
There was no reply or answer to his question so Ragnar pushed harder against the connection.
Sebastian!
Talk to me Sebastian!
But it was hopeless as there was no reply.
That wasn’t normal.
Panic began creeping in as the worst case scenarios started flashing in his mind.
Even frightened or unconscious, Sebastian should still be there. The bond should still b able to link him to it and tell him that it's all okay.
But the bond is just dead silent.
Ragnar leapt over fallen branches and was moving so fast that the world became streaks of black and silver all around him.
Sebastian!
Answer me damnit!
Then, he finally felt something.
A sudden burst of feeling crashed through, it was of terror and dread.
Ragnar physically stumbled from the force of it making him slow down.
“Sebastian!”
The emotion hit him like a scream before…
It simply disappeared.
It all turned to nothing.
Ragnar gasped from the familiar emptiness in his chest as he recognized what it was supposed to mean.
The last time he felt this way was when his first mate, Elena died.
The bond has vanished completely once more so it could only mean…
Ragnar stopped dead in his tracks as he felt his chest seize violently.
No.
No no no–!
That is impossible!
The mate bond cannot just suddenly disappear.
Not unless–
His stomach twisted in a sickening manner but that finally brought him clarity
Even death wouldn’t sever it this instantly so something probably either shielded Sebastian from it or was injected into him to cause this.
Something is terribly fucking wrong.
The forest suddenly felt too quiet around him as even with the distant battle sounds echoing around, it all still felt quiet to him.
Ragnar felt isolated and exposed as dread was flooding every nerve in his body.
Sebastian needed him once again and Ragnar had left him alone.
A branch snapped softly behind him as he spun around instinctively but it was too late.
Something slammed hard into the back of his skull making pain explode once more in his head.
Ragnar staggered forward with a grunt as his balance tilted and dizziness hit him.
Who–?
Before he could recover, a hand seized his jaw violently from behind as a sharp chemical smell covered his face.
Someone has sprayed something directly into his face.
Ragnar inhaled instinctively as the world disappeared and his vision started to have spits in them.
His limbs suddenly felt heavy and wrong before Ragnar realized what was happening.
Ragnar snarled and tried to turn and fight against the drugs but his body refused to obey him.
Shapes and colors blurred in his vision as the moonlight covered everything even though he knows it's still the evening and the moon was probably a hallucination from him.
Through the haze of it all, a figure stepped into his view.
Draven.
Ragnar’s eyes widened slightly as Draven stared him down coldly, holding a broken wooden bat in one hand.
“You should’ve just stayed focused on the battle Ragnar,” Draven said quietly.
Ragnar tried to move and lunge at him but his knees gave out on him instead.
The drug had already spread through him, turning both his thoughts and his movements to slow down.
No–!
Sebastian!
Ragnar opened his mouth to speak but the words wouldn’t come out properly anymore.
The last thing he saw before the darkness took him was Draven crouching down slightly in front of him with a sick smile.
And somewhere deep inside Ragnar’s chest–
The absence of his mate bond burned deeply.
Oh Draven would pay dearly with his life for this.