My lord

The truth was, Devlin hadn’t given his consent to this procedure. Haydn might have had his cousin’s best interests at heart, but he still had forced him to undergo an incredibly risky procedure the result of which wasn’t guaranteed. Devlin might wake up and not even remember who he was. He might wake up with his sanity gone. He might wake up and hate Haydn for his broken bond.

Haydn cringed at the thought. He’d been honestly shocked when the doctors had told him that Devlin had an active mating bond. He couldn’t imagine the circumstances of a feral Xeus bonding to someone. In fact, he tried hard not to think about it. He could only hope that whoever the unfortunate bondmate was, Devlin hadn’t inadvertently hurt them.

But it wasn’t relevant anymore. The bond was now gone. The genetic modification procedure had inevitably broken it.

Haydn wondered if his cousin would even remember that he’d been bonded to someone. If he’d miss the bond. Would it hurt? The doctors back home had no idea,