Chapter 117 117

Chapter 117 117
~ARLINA~

I didn't mean to fall asleep.

One minute I was sitting on my bed, staring at the ceiling, trying not to think about Zayne dying. The next, I was somewhere else.

Dark. Everything was dark.

I was standing in a void with no walls, no floor I could see, just endless black in every direction.

"Hello?"

My voice echoed back to me, distorted.

Then I heard it. Chains rattling. Metal scraping against stone.

I walked toward the sound. The darkness shifted and suddenly there was a room. Small, windowless, lit by a single flickering bulb.

And there, chained to the wall, was Zayne.

He looked awful. Blood running down his face from a cut on his forehead, bruises covering his arms, burns on his chest forming patterns I recognized from the healer's description.

The spell. This was what the spell was doing to him.

"Zayne?"

His head lifted. His eyes found mine and something in them broke.

"Arlina. You're here."

"This is a dream—"

"I know. But you're still here." He tried to move but the chains held him in place. "I've been calling for you. For days. Weeks. I thought—I thought you weren't coming."

"I'm not. This is just a dream."

"Please." His voice cracked. "Please don't leave me here. I can't—I can't fight it anymore. The spell, it's too strong and I'm so tired—"

"Then stop fighting. Let it win."

"I can't. My wolf won't let me. He keeps pushing, keeps trying to break free. But every time he does, the spell fights back." He looked down at the burns on his chest. "It's killing me. Slowly. And I can't make it stop."

"The healer said I'm the only one who can break it."

"I know. I heard them talking. Heard them say you refused." He met my eyes again. "I don't blame you. After what I did—"

"What the spell made you do."

"Does it matter? I still hurt you. Still destroyed us. You have every right to let me die here."

"I know I do."

"But you're here. In my dream. That has to mean something."

"It means I feel guilty. That's all."

He smiled, sad and broken. "Liar. You came because some part of you still cares. Some part of you still feels the bond."

"The bond is dead."

"No it's not. I can feel it. Even here, even chained and dying, I can feel you. Faint but there." He closed his eyes. "It's the only thing keeping me sane. Knowing you're out there. Knowing the bond isn't completely gone."

I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell him he was wrong, that the bond was severed and dead and nothing remained.

But looking at him, broken and bleeding and chained in the dark, I couldn't make the words come out.

"Why did you do it?" I asked instead. "Why did you ask Nessa out? Why did you kiss her?"

"I don't know. The memories are there but they don't feel like mine. Like I was watching someone else use my body." He opened his eyes. "But I remember the party. I remember seeing you in that blue dress. And for a second, everything was clear. I knew I was making a mistake, knew I needed to go to you."

"But you didn't."

"The spell wouldn't let me. Nessa touched my arm and the clarity vanished. Next thing I knew, I was asking her to be my girlfriend and you were—" His voice broke. "You were standing there watching me destroy you."

"Yeah. I was."

"I'm sorry. I know sorry doesn't fix anything. Doesn't undo the pain. But I'm sorry, Arlina. For all of it."

The chains rattled again. He gasped and blood dripped from his nose.

"The spell's fighting back. It knows you're here, knows you might save me. It's trying to kill me before you can."

"Good. Let it."

"Arlina—"

"No. You don't get to apologize and make this okay. You don't get to bleed and suffer and make me feel guilty for not saving you." I stepped back. "You made your choice. Now live with it. Or die with it. I don't care anymore."

"Yes you do. That's why you're here."

"I'm here because I'm asleep and my brain is processing trauma. Nothing more."

"Then wake up. Leave me here. Let me die." He looked directly at me. "But know that if you do, if you let the spell win, Nessa wins too. She gets exactly what she wanted—both of us destroyed."

"I don't care about Nessa—"

"You should. Because this isn't over. Even if I die, she'll keep coming for you. Keep using magic to tear apart your life. And without me—without the bond—you'll be alone against her."

The darkness around us started to fade. The dream was ending.

"Please," Zayne said, his voice desperate. "Please don't leave me here. I know you're hurt. I know you hate me. But please—"

The dream shattered.

I woke up gasping, tears streaming down my face.

For a moment, I just lay there, trying to catch my breath.

It was just a dream. Just my mind processing everything.

But it had felt so real. Zayne's pain, his desperation, the chains holding him in the dark.

"Our mate is dying."

The voice was soft and barely a whisper.

My eyes widened.

My wolf. Speaking for the first time in weeks.

"You're back," I whispered.

"Never left. Just hiding. Hurting." A pause. "But he needs us. Even if you hate him. Even if you never forgive him. He needs us to save him."

"I don't know if I can."

"You can. The bond is still there. Damaged but there. I can feel it."

I pressed my hand to my chest. And for the first time since the rejection, I felt it too.

"What if saving him breaks me completely?"

"What if not saving him does the same?"

I didn't have an answer for that.

I looked at the clock. 3 AM.

My wolf whispered again. "He's calling for you. Even now. Can't you hear him?"

And I could. Faint and distant, like an echo through the damaged bond.

My name. Over and over.

"Arlina... please... don't leave me..."

I closed my eyes. Tried to shut it out.

But the voice wouldn't stop.

And neither would the pull in my chest. The bond that refused to die.

Maybe it was time to stop running from it. Maybe it was time to face what terrified me most.

I got out of bed and grabbed my phone. I was going to do it.