We’d been fine before I went to the mall. We’d talked about what I was planning for my day, how his very long day was going…

Donovan brushed his nose against my neck, and I instinctively lifted my chin, showing him my throat in surrender. As a rule, I wanted to do that as little as possible. If we were going to have an equal relationship, I couldn’t be surrendering to him left and right. But this time was an exception. I knew when an Alpha was losing his mind and losing control of his wolf. It was better to show my throat than force him to lose what little control he had left.

His teeth brushed my neck. They were almost a wolf’s teeth—elongated and sharp. When he bit down, I gasped, but he let go before drawing blood.

He growled something indecipherable.

“I don’t know what you’re saying.”

“Open.”

Open? Open what? The closet? A window? Sure. No problem. But he had me cornered. I couldn’t do anything until he moved out of the way, and I was pretty sure that wasn’t happening anytime soon.

I tried to feel along our bond to figure out—

And then it hit me. I knew why Donovan had gone crazy. I’d seen Dastien go through this. It had been worse then because he wasn’t as old as Donovan. He didn’t have the control that Donovan did. But when Tessa had gone onto coven land, the magical barrier that surrounded La Aquelarre’s compound had cut off their bond, and Dastien had lost his mind. We’d locked him up in the feral cages before he did something horrible.

I was such an idiot.

I closed my eyes and focused on our bond. It took me a second to find Donovan. I had to sort through my connections with both my pack and the St. Ailbe’s satellite pack. When I found the severed link that tied us together, I grabbed hold of it and tugged it back into place. The force of it knocked me against the wall.

Donovan’s terror ate at my soul. All the possibilities he’d been thinking raced through my mind at once. The fear that I’d been taken by rogue wolves or killed or worse—stolen by the fey. It was all too much. I almost shut him off again but didn’t dare. I could barely breathe until the bond settled down.

When I could finally open my eyes, I was sitting on the floor, wrapped around my mate. Donovan pressed his mouth against the side of my neck, and his hot breath heated my skin. I knew I should say something, but what?

Should I apologize? Probably best to lead with that. It seemed like apologies were going to be the theme for the evening. “I’m sorry that I closed off the bond. The cops were coming, and there was a mob scene outside the bathroom, and I knew I’d epically fucked up. I had to focus on figuring a way out of it without making things worse, and I couldn’t do that while you were so upset with me.” I paused for a second. “But it was the wrong thing to do. And I’m sorry.”