Kain threw yet another violent wave of energy at the wall separating him from his mate. He knew she couldn’t hear his call, but the sound of her name helped him focus his efforts.

He should never have let her go—should have kept her by his side where she would have been safe forevermore. But he had felt guilty for tying her to a life she didn’t want, and because of that, she was going to die.

“Selma!”

With the next surge of power, he felt as well as heard the faintest hint of a crack in the barrier. It wasn’t enough to break through, but it was something. He would get to her, even if he had to drain his own life essence to do so.

Just as he was about to let another discharge free, movement farther down the road behind the wall caught his attention. There were people coming down it—three women on foot.

Kain snarled. Though he knew they couldn’t hear him, they could most definitely see his rage, judging by their terrified faces.

Slowly, deliberately, he gathered his dark power in a mist around his body before pointing to Selma’s unmoving figure.

The gesture was clear—either they help her, or he would pull the fucking barrier down around their ears—and it seemed to register with the women. Two of them noticed Selma and rushed to her side while the third kept a wary eye on him.

They were talking to each other, but he couldn’t read their lips. Couldn’t see what they said about his little mate’s condition.

The anxious wait made him pace as the women took her pulse and pressed at her body. After a moment, the female not at Selma’s side disappeared back down the road.

It felt like an eternity until finally the two remaining women lifted her up between them. But instead of carrying her straight to him, they paused on the other side of the wall, sending him nervous glances.

As if he gave two shits about them!

Angrily he gestured at them to bring her out, but they still hesitated. Then one of them pointed down the road behind him.

They wanted him to back away.

It was physically painful to put more distance between himself and his mate, but he understood that it was the only way they would dare leave the safety of the barrier. So he did.

Only when he was about fifty yards away did they finally move forward, breaching the wall as if it was nothing but air. They carried her limp body out with them, and despite his near-painful concern over her unconscious state, something dark and hollow deep within eased.

“What’s wrong with her?” he called the second they were through, worry making his voice hitch.