All Talon could feel was pain.
Pain so intense previously she would have never thought anyone could live through it. Yet she was... and she knew the reason.
She would live through anything to hold him again, to touch him again.
Pain paralysed her as it raced along her nervous system with a blazing molten heat.
Part of her could feel him close, but as motionless as she was. She desperately wished she could raise her hand to touch him let him know she was there. That she was thinking of him. That she was joyous they had bonded.
She could sense Rieden there, but could not even make a coherent effort to mind link with him.
And she was aware of another, watching, waiting... also linked to her now. A link that was almost as strong as her link to Channing.
The pain made thinking comparable to shoving jagged glass shards through her brain. She was changing... again, every cell in her body transforming at an accelerated pace, Channing's blood acting as a catalyst. Her bones burned with pain as they elongated against her stubborn and seizing muscles.
Her teeth hurt, her ears hurt, her eyes felt as of hot poker has been thrust into her pupils. Although nothing was safe from this pain, out of all the throbbing her wrists were the worst.
It felt like lassos of way below freezing temperatures were coiled around her wrists, branding forcefully into her soft skin. She wanted to scream. Begged internally to cry. Wish she could arch her body against the pain, smash her fists into the ground, grind her teeth, bite something. Cut something. But instead she could do nothing but endure it.
When the pain grew beyond what was tolerable she welcomed the blackness that pressed in on her finding sanctuary in the darkness where pain was only a dull ache in the recesses of her mind.
**
Talon slowly rose from the dark and pain free abyss to find her body awake and ready. She felt different but the same. All she could think about was him.
The three were still there. She opened her eyes.
Her heart faltered at the sight of him. To her, he was nothing but beautiful. Her eyes raked over every inch of him, savouring the feel that swelled in her heart like never before.
He was hers.
She gasped audibly at the state of him, her sensitive ears detecting the regular and strong beat of his heart.
"He's okay Talon," Rieden whispered softly as he squatted down next to her.
Blood spattered over his hard contoured body from his mangled arm and over the angles and planes of his face. She frowned slightly as she took in the black inked mask over his eyes and her gaze trailed down to his almost mark bare arms. One arm was blistered and burnt, clear fluid oozing from the cracked skin.
"What happened?" she croaked. Her throat constricted in fear.
"This lifdagar snúa was difficult... and not ideal. He will heal Talon. All worked out in the end my little wolf." He reached forward and pushed her sticky hair back from her face. She glanced at him quickly sending him a thank you in her smile and thoughts. She knew he wasn't telling her everything, protecting her.
The lifdagar snúa had the most profound effect on her. She had always been rather possessive of Channing in a way, even before the bond she had not been overly excited when another female had shown interest in him. The mere fact of saying his name had sealed Elliada's fate.
