DarrenThe moment the griffin touched down, I was off, the corridor blurring around me as I tore through it. Dayanara's voice followed, muttering something about not getting herself lost and about being ready to zap any lycan fool enough to mess with her. I barely heard her. I didn't care about anything but getting to Lyle and getting answers. I reached back for Dayanara's hand without stopping, dragging her through the endless twists of the halls. My father waited outside Lyle's room, pale as moonlight, stunned intosilence as I careened toward him."Did you look at the videos?" I asked, barely able to choke thewords out."Cloaked," he said, eyes wide with shock. "Lyle and Allissa collapsed, then Allissa was lifted by... nothing. Like a ghost." The familiar fury began to boil, too hot to contain. Too hot to control."Fuck!" The word shot out, almost louder than I intended. I knew how I must have looked-feral and unhinged-but I couldn't stop. Not now. "We have to get her back," I said. "Where did they take her?" My father shook his head, the weight of it showing in thelines of his face."We don't know," he said. "We know they disappeared in the woods, but that's as far as our surveillance took us." I paced, the movement doing nothing to settle the tempest inside m15:28(**)20 min len"Stop that!" Dayanara hissed. "We've been over this. You can't help her if you get lost in your madness."My heart still hammered like a prisoner against my ribs, a painful reminder of everything I was losing. Of everything I had already lost. We paused outside Lyle's room, and Dayanara studied me."Where's your brother at?" Dayanara asked, and I noticed how my father's look changed. He glared at the stranger, and I realized!didn't introduce them."She's a friend," I insisted, though the words barely came out. "She's a princess of the Sorcery Kingdom." My father didn't seem convinced, his gaze locked on the door like it was the final enemyhe couldn't defeat."I can't," he murmured, voice breaking. "I can't go back in there."Dayanara took a step closer, her usual flippant demeanor replaced by something I hadn't seen in her before. Determination, maybe. Compassion. "I don't need you to accompany me. Either of you. I just need to analyze his blood. Is he through those doors?" she asked, taking a step toward it."The kingdom doesn't know. We didn't want to upset them," Milo whispered as he watched Dayanara."You need my skills. You can trust me.""We need her." I saw the uncertainty still lingering in his eyes, but15:28he20 min leftdidn't try to stop her.Milo shifted uncomfortably, torn between desperation and doubt. "Can you help the others too?" he asked, his voice low andhesitant. "The ones who were brainwashed?""Not a problem,” Dayanara replied, almost too casually. But then she paused, a new seriousness in her face. “First, we need to figure out what poison was used,” she said. "We need to find Allissa before anything else." My father nodded, and I saw him flinch at the mention of her name, there was so much pain in his eyes. He pursed his lips and took in a shaky breath. The look of failure evident in his eyes. He failed to protect his son and hisson's mate."He's been in there... since it happened." He stopped, and I knew he was seeing it all again. Lyle's lifeless body. "We laid him there," he said, nodding toward the room. "For now."Dayanara reached for the door handle and I felt my own resolve crumble for a moment. The thought of seeing Lyle like that wastearing me up."You don't have to." Her eyes met mine."I have to do this," I said, more to myself than anyone. "I owe it tonoveldramahim." I took a breath, the kind that felt like drowning, and rear' edfor the door handle first.I stepped inside, each movement a fresh ache, a new break in my 3/515:28 battered heart. The silence was thick, suffocating, pressing down Chapter 101(+)20 min leftso wrong, his hand cold and lifeless in mine. The reality of it wastoo much. Too brutal. My legs buckled and I was on the floor,sobbing like the child I was never allowed to be. My brother was gone, the emptyhusk of him a painful reminder of what I'd lost. Of what I'd never have again. The memories came sharp andunrelenting: his laughter, his loyalty, the bond we'd never get to feel again.いHe looked like he was sleeping. Sleeping, but never to wake up. Igripped his hand, stiff and cold as screams of grief ripped from my chest, wild and unrestrained. I hadn't cried like this since I was apup. Maybe not ever. But the dam had burst, and I couldn't stop. Didn't want to stop. All the grief, all the anger, all the helplessness -it all poured out, raw and consuming.His smile, his laugh, the way he always had my back even whenI didn't deserve it. Those were the things I remembered. Thosewere the things I would never see or hear again. It was like losinghim all over, the wound ripped open and bleeding inside me. Ithought of when we were kids, always getting into trouble but always together. I thought of the last words I'd said to him beforethis madness started, before I'd failed him.Dayanara stood nearby, but she was a ghost to me now, ashadow. I was alone with Lyle, alone with everything we should have had but never would. His voice, always teasing, always loyal. The jokes he would tell, laughing as he ducked my punches. He'dbeen more than a brother. He'd been a part of me. I let the tearscome, each one a confession of how much I needed him, howmuch I loved him, how much I had let him down. 4/515:2820 min leftsuffocating in it, drowning in everything I'd never get to say to him, everything we'd never get to do. He had saved himself for his mate. He would never get tomeet her. He would never get tohave the family he desperately wanted. I wanted to howl, to tearthe world apart, but all I could do was sob and grip his hand like itmight save me.And then, through the haze of grief, came the thought of Allissa. The samedespair, the same helplessness. The same sense offailure. I couldn't let it happen again. I wouldn't. I owed Lyle thatmuch, owed him everything. My heart was a wreck, but it was still beating, andthat meant I still had a chance. For Allissa. For mybrother. For us all."You've done well, Lyle. You were the best brother ... the best person. You deserved better." I let go of his hand, the hardest thing I'd ever done, and stood, barely recognizing the hollow shell of myself. I looked at his lifeless face and felt his absence settling in my chest. "I'm going to bring Ally back. Rest easy, brother. Iloveyou."I closed my eyes and turned away. I would never see him again. There was so much I wanted for him. It was all robbed from him, from us. I felt a sinister energy swirling inside of me. My anger was a demon, demanding vengeance. Someone wasn't just going to die for this. They were going to suffer. Their family would suffer. And I would hunt down anyone who was related by 'ood. It wasn't just a life for a life. This was pain. This was raw. Their bodies would be torn open, blood pouring like rivers as they15:28screamed in unending torment, haunted by the weight of their 5/5 own actions.