The first time he felt the pull of the bond was when he was barely grown, no older than nineteen, a girl from one of the border packs whose smile had been shy and bright when she met his eyes, and though he never claimed her, though he never touched her in more than passing, within weeks she sickened, within months she was gone, and the whispers began.

After her came another, and another, each time the bond stirring, each time hope kindling for only a heartbeat before death snatched it away, ...