#Chapter 35 She Is Dead

Bastien’s POV

When Aiden and I get back to our clothes, my phone is ringing in my jacket pocket. I untangle the device from the garment, noticing a missed call from Selene and 16 from my mother in addition to the incoming line from an unknown number.

The dread I’d begun to feel on the cliffside had transformed suddenly and horrifically into a riot of agony as an impassable rift rent my heart in two. Something deep in my bones told me that Selene was rejecting me, and now.

I hadn’t known how profoundly it would affect me, at least, not in terms of the rebuff itself. I knew losing my mate would test the very limits of my being, I just didn’t understand how immediate the impact would be, even from such a distance. And I don’t know what happened to cause it.

I certainly left things on bad terms, but why now? Could she be rejecting me simply for my misleading comments about house arrest? Was that the last straw after one too many wrongs?

I’m gasping for air as I fumble to accept the call,