#Chapter 135: Into Custody

ELENA The world was burning. Not with fire—something older, deeper. Something inside me, under my skin, roaring through my blood. The bond wasn’t just stitched back together—it was alive. Pulsing. Thrumming in time with my heartbeat. And it was overwhelming me. Nox howled in the back of my mind, her voice ragged and wild. It wasn’t words. It was pure, raw emotion: want, claim, mine. My body ached with it. My hands trembled with it. Every nerve ending was raw and too loud, as if the entire world had peeled back a layer to reveal itself in sharp, brutal color. Derek was standing so close. Too close. Not close enough. His scent wrapped around me—smoke, cedar, something dark and vital—and I leaned into it without thinking, needing more, needing him. The way he looked at me— Hungry. Desperate. Devoted. It nearly broke me in half. I was drowning in him, in us, in everything the bond demanded. The cool night air didn’t help. The mus