Chapter 137 SHATTERED AND BURNING
AMBER’S POV
I woke up screaming as the sound tore out of my chest before I even understood where I was. Pain flooded me in a violent rush, sharp and unbearable, like my chest had been split open and something cruel had been shoved inside it and twisted again and again. I couldn’t breathe. My heart slammed against my ribs so hard it felt like it was trying to escape my body.
Everything burned even as my wolf screamed inside me, loud and broken, filled with panic and loss. She thrashed wildly, rejected and bleeding, her cries echoing through my head. The bond that had once felt solid and warm now felt like a fresh wound ripped wide open. It was raw and wrong, like being torn in half and forced to stay alive anyway.
I tried to move, but my body refused. Every nerve screamed. My skin felt too tight, my bones ached like they were about to crack. When I finally dragged air into my lungs, it only made the pain worse.
“Amber.”
The voice reached me through the noise and agony as I forced my eyes open.
At first, everything was blurred. Shadows swam together, shapes refused to settle. Then the room slowly came into focus, and I saw him.
Derek was on his knees and he was only a few feet away, bent forward as if the weight of the world had crushed him down. His hands were clenched into fists against the floor. His face was twisted in pain so deep it mirrored my own. I could feel his bond screaming too, feel the damage ripping through him just as violently as it tore through me.
The sight shattered what was left of my heart.
“Derek,” I tried to say, but my throat was tight and dry. The word came out weak and broken.
That was when I saw them, my children.
They were suspended in the air but they weren’t falling and weren’t moving. They were simply… held. Their small bodies were stiff with fear, eyes wide, mouths open in silent cries that stabbed straight through my chest. My mind rejected it at first, this couldn’t be real, this couldn’t be happening.
Then I saw him. Soul.
He stood behind them, calm and relaxed, like this was nothing more than a quiet moment. One hand was raised slightly, fingers curled just enough for me to understand. He was holding them there, he had them.
His dark eyes met mine, sharp and curious, watching every flicker of my reaction.
Everything inside me went still. I understood instantly.
This had never been only about pain. It had never been only about Derek, this moment had always been the goal. The rejection and the agony, the breaking point.
All of it had been meant to tear me open, my chest heaved as the truth sank in.
He had planned this. The pain surged again, worse than before. My wolf screamed so loudly I thought my mind would split apart. The bond felt shredded, hanging by bloody threads. Something deep inside me twisted and stirred, restless and angry, reacting to my fear and fury.
Soul smiled faintly.
“Feel that?” he had said softly. “That’s a loss.”
My vision tunneled and all I could see were my children floating helplessly in the air, their little hands reaching for me.
Something inside me broke and the pain didn’t vanish but rage rose up and swallowed it whole.
The anger came fast and hot. It burned through the agony like fire through dry wood, sharp and clean. Fear turned into focus. My wolf stopped screaming and began to growl instead, low and furious, ready to destroy anything in her path. The bond pain still ripped through my chest, but it no longer controlled me.
I controlled it even as I forced myself up, even as my body shook. Power surged through me without warning, heavy and wild, like a storm breaking loose inside my veins. The air around me vibrated. The room groaned and trembled as if it could feel what was coming.
Soul’s smile widened.
I didn’t think, didn’t hesitate. I didn’t care about control or cost or what this would do to me.
I reached out, not with my hands but with everything inside me.
The power exploded outward in a violent surge. It tore through the space between us like a crashing wave. The floor cracked and the walls shook. The force slammed into Soul and threw him across the room like he weighed nothing at all.
He hit the far wall hard as my children dropped and then stopped.
They remained suspended, gentler now, wrapped in something warm and steady. My power. My control. Their breathing eased. They weren’t hurt.
They were safe just as a broken sound tore out of me, half laugh and half sob.
I had done that. The realization struck almost as painfully as the rejection had. I was holding them. I was controlling this. The power responded to me like it had always been waiting.
I turned to face Soul.
He pushed himself up slowly, brushing dust from his clothes as if he hadn’t just been thrown across the room. There was no anger on his face, no fear.
Only fascination because he couldn’t believe I had done this.
“Well,” he said, sounding impressed. “That explains a lot.”
My hands trembled, faintly glowing with energy I didn’t fully understand, it felt ancient and deep and not just a wolf but a bond.
Witch. The truth settled in my mind, solid and undeniable.
Soul laughed softly, pleased. “I didn’t know,” he admitted. “A hidden essence was buried deep.”
“You used my children,” I snarled. My voice shook with fury. “I will tear you apart.”
He tilted his head, studying me like something precious he had finally uncovered. “And yet,” he said calmly, “I’ve already won.”
I didn’t understand at first, then I felt it, the awakening.
My magic fully opened, flooding me with power so strong my knees nearly gave out. This had been his goal. To push me past breaking, to force this power into the open.
Soul smiled, satisfied. “Thank you, Amber.”
Before I could strike again, before I could scream or reach for him, his presence faded. It pulled back and disappeared like smoke carried away by the wind.
He was gone and the room fell quiet. The power holding my children lowered them gently into my arms. The moment I held them, warm and alive, my strength wavered. Relief crashed over me, heavy and overwhelming.
Then the pain returned and this time around, it was stronger.
The rejection roared through my chest like a beast unleashed. I cried out and collapsed to the floor, clutching my heart. My wolf howled again, broken and bleeding.
Derek groaned. I looked up and saw him still on his knees, pale and shaking, his hand pressed to his chest. His pain matched mine, deep and catastrophic and the damage to the bond tore through both of us, leaving nothing untouched.
I crawled toward him, tears blinding me as we reached for each other at the same time and we screamed.
The screaming didn’t stop right away.
It poured out of both of us, raw and uncontrolled, filling the room until my throat burned and my chest felt like it was caving in. The sound of Derek’s pain tore through me almost as deeply as my own. His shoulders shook, his breath came in short, broken pulls, and his eyes were wild with agony when they met mine.
I dragged myself closer, every movement sending fresh waves of pain through my body. My limbs felt heavy, useless, like they didn’t belong to me anymore. The power that had exploded out of me moments before now settled deep inside my bones, restless and humming, but it did nothing to ease the damage that had already been done.
My children clung to me, crying softly, their small hands gripping my clothes like I might disappear if they let go. I wrapped myself around them as best I could, even though my arms trembled and my chest screamed with every breath. I whispered their names over and over, grounding myself in the sound of them, in the warmth of their bodies.
They were alive, that was the only thing keeping me upright.
Derek crawled closer too, his movements slow and unsteady. When his hand brushed mine, pain flared through the bond again, sharp and brutal, but I didn’t pull away. I couldn’t. Even broken, even bleeding, the connection still existed, fragile and torn, but real.
“I’m sorry,” he rasped, his voice cracked and ruined. “Amber… I didn’t…”
I shook my head weakly. I couldn’t listen. I couldn’t think. Words felt useless compared to what had been done to us.
The room around us felt wrong, heavy with the echo of Soul’s presence. The air still buzzed faintly with magic, with what I had unleashed. I felt changed in a way I couldn’t yet understand. I had protected my children without thinking. What else could I do now?
My wolf curled in on herself inside me, wounded but alert, watching the new power with caution and awe, she wasn’t gone but I wasn’t empt
y but something had shifted forever.
WORSE THAN DEATH