“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I should have waited for you to come home before I…” My voice trailed off, and I gestured at the medical equipment around us. If I had only waited to hear Alexander out instead of panicking, then none of this would have happened. The procedure hadn’t even worked. Our mate bond wasn’t restored, and my mother was dead. “You had every reason to doubt me,” Alexander said firmly. He cupped my face in his hands, forcing me to look at him. “But I need you to know something. I love you. Mate bond or not, that will never change. You are my first priority. My only true love. I don’t want you to ever worry about that again.” Fresh tears rolled down my cheeks. Rather than waiting for me to answer, Alexander leaned down and kissed me. It was gentle and tentative, but deepened when I returned it with fervor. I savored his taste, even if his skin was tinged with blood and his lips faintly smelled like smoke. When we pulled apart, however, his brow was furrowed. “What is it?” I asked, wiping my wet eyes with the back of my hand. “Did you mindlink me earlier?” he asked. I blinked. “What? That’s impossible.” “I know, but…” He looked confused. “I swore I heard your voice when my car went off the road. You said you needed me. It woke me up and gave me the strength to keep going. Maybe I was just dreaming, but…” I tried to remember if I had reached out somehow. The moments before I’d flatlined were hazy, but there had been a moment when I had desperately called for Alexander in my mind. It was just an instinct from years of being bound together. I never thought it would work. “I think…” I paused, licking my lips. “I think I may have tried to mindlink you. I didn’t even realize I was doing it. My life was in danger, and I just… reached out. But I never thought it would work without the mate bond.” noveldramaWe both fell silent, staring at each other. The mate bond was gone. The Anthonies had said the procedure didn’t work. So how had I been able to reach him? I pressed my hand to my chest, feeling the warmth of the crystal shard beneath my skin. It was still buzzing with energy, fuller and brighter than it had been before. Maria’s soul. My mother’s soul. Both absorbed into the crystal. Could that have had something to do with it? Before I could say anything else, there was a knock at the door. Dr. Evelyn stepped into the room, holding a clipboard in one hand and something small and plastic in the other. “Ella,” she said gently, crossing over to me. “I’m glad to see you’re awake. How are you feeling?” “Tired,” I admitted. “But alive.” “Good.” She moved closer to the bed, and I could see now that the plastic object in her hand was a pregnancy test. An unused one, still in the wrapper. “Before you collapsed, I noticed some irregularities in your bloodwork and vitals. I need you to take this before we can continue treating you..” My heart stopped. I looked at the test, then at Alexander, then back at Dr. Evelyn. I’d nearly forgotten in the haze of everything that had happened, but now it all came rushing back. The words Dr. Evelyn had said to me right before I went to sleep. “The crystal is unstable at the moment. You need a steady drip of medicine… Otherwise you and the baby will die…” +25 Bonus adminSara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.