CADEON POV**
My panther was going insane.
I stood alone in my chambers, gripping the edge of my desk so hard the wood cracked under my claws. Every instinct screamed at me to go back to the gardens. To find Lyra. To make sure she was safe.
This wasn't normal.
I'd lived for three hundred and forty-seven years. I'd fought in wars, killed enemies, watched friends die. I'd learned to control every emotion, every reaction. Control was survival in my world.
But right now? I felt like I was losing my mind.
*She's just a human,* I told myself for the hundredth time. *Just Elira's daughter. Nothing more.*
My panther snarled inside my chest, disagreeing violently.
I paced across the room, my boots echoing on stone. The pendant Seris had given Lyra—I'd seen the flash of silver in the moonlight. Elira's pendant. The one she'd worn the day I killed her.
The memory hit me like a physical blow.
*"Please," Elira had whispered, blood on her lips. "Promise me you'll find my daughter. Promise me you'll keep her safe."*
*"I promise," I'd said, even though I knew I was lying. Even though I knew I'd spend the rest of my life trying to keep that promise and failing.*
Twenty years I'd searched. Twenty years of funding the underground railroad, of secretly helping humans escape, of trying to make up for what I'd done.
And then Lyra appeared at that auction, and everything changed.
I'd known who she was the second I saw her eyes. Those silver-grey eyes that haunted my nightmares. Elira's eyes.
But this—this *pull* I felt toward her—that was new. That was wrong.
I stopped pacing and stared at my reflection in the darkened window. Golden eyes stared back, wild and unfocused.
*What's happening to me?*
A knock at the door made me spin around.
"Enter," I growled.
Kairan stepped inside, closing the door behind him. He took one look at my face and swore. "You look terrible."
"Thanks for the observation."
"What happened in the gardens?" He crossed his arms. "I saw you come back. Lyra came back five minutes later looking like she'd seen a ghost."
I turned away, not trusting myself to speak.
"Cadeon." Kairan's voice turned serious. "Talk to me. What's going on?"
"She was meeting with the resistance," I said finally. "A woman named Seris. They gave her Elira's pendant."
"The resistance found her already?" Kairan whistled low. "That was fast."
"Too fast." I faced him again. "They've been watching her. Waiting. They want her to finish what Elira started."
"And that's a problem because...?"
"Because she'll get herself killed!" The words exploded out of me. "She's untrained, unprotected, and completely unprepared for what they'll ask her to do. If she joins them, if she goes to that meeting—"
"You'll stop her?"
"I'll—" I cut myself off, breathing hard. "I don't know."
Kairan studied me with those too-knowing wolf eyes. "You care about her."
"She's my responsibility."
"That's not what I said." He stepped closer. "You *care* about her. Personally. And that's scaring you."
"I killed her mother," I said flatly. "I'm the reason she grew up without a family. I'm the monster in her nightmares. Whatever I feel is just—it's just guilt. Nothing more."
"Is it?" Kairan's expression turned calculating. "Because from where I'm standing, you look like a male who's—"
"Don't." I cut him off sharply. "Don't even say it."
"Mate bond," he finished anyway.
The words hung in the air between us like a bomb.
"That's impossible," I said. "Mate bonds don't form between species. Every scholar, every healer, every—"
"Every expert also said humans were mindless animals who couldn't feel pain or love." Kairan's voice turned bitter. "Until my mate proved them wrong. Until she loved me back and died because no beast healer would save a human's life."
The pain in his voice made my chest tight. Kairan never talked about his mate. Never talked about the human woman who'd somehow bonded with him and died giving birth to their child—a child who hadn't survived either.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly.
"Don't be sorry. Just don't lie to yourself." He moved toward the door, then paused. "The pull you're feeling? The need to protect her? The way your panther goes crazy when she's in danger? That's not guilt, Cadeon. That's recognition."
"It can't be."
"Then prove it." Kairan opened the door. "Stay away from her for a week. Don't check on her, don't watch her, don't think about her. If it's just guilt, you'll be fine."
He left before I could respond.
I stood alone in my chambers, his words echoing in my head.
*Stay away from her.*
I lasted exactly four hours.
---
At dawn, I found myself standing outside Lyra's door like a creep.
I told myself I was just checking that she was safe. That the resistance hadn't come back for her. That she hadn't tried to sneak out again.
But the truth was simpler and more terrifying: I just needed to know she was there. Alive. Breathing.
My hand reached for the door handle before I could stop myself.
*What are you doing?* I thought. *She's sleeping. Leave her alone.*
But my hand wouldn't listen. It turned the handle slowly, quietly, and pushed the door open just a crack.
Moonlight spilled across Lyra's bed. She was curled on her side, one hand tucked under her cheek. Her dark hair spread across the pillow like silk. She looked peaceful. Young. Vulnerable.
Beautiful.
The thought hit me like lightning.
My panther purred—actually *purred*—deep in my chest. A sound I hadn't made in centuries. A sound reserved for—
*No.*
I backed away from the door so fast I nearly tripped. My heart hammered. My hands shook.
This wasn't guilt. This wasn't projection.
This was a mate bond. An impossible, illegal, completely insane mate bond.
With Elira's daughter.
With the human I'd sworn to protect.
With the one person in the world who had every right to hate me.
I leaned against the wall, trying to breathe normally. Trying to think.
*It doesn't matter,* I told myself. *Even if it's real, it doesn't matter. She'll never accept it. Never accept me. I killed her mother. I'm the enemy.*
But my panther didn't care about logic. It had already chosen.
I pushed off the wall and headed back to my chambers, my mind racing. I needed to research this. Needed to find out if interspecies bonds were actually possible or if I was just losing my mind.
I was halfway down the hall when I smelled it.
Blood.
Fresh blood.
Coming from Lyra's room.
I ran.
I burst through her door, claws already extended, ready to kill whatever had hurt her.
But Lyra was alone, still sleeping peacefully.
Except now I saw it—a thin trail of blood seeping from under her pillow. Staining the white sheets red.
I moved closer, my heart in my throat. Carefully, I lifted the pillow.
Underneath was a knife. Small, sharp, and covered in blood. And attached to the blade was a note written in red ink—or maybe blood, I couldn't tell:
*"False daughters bleed true. Real daughters bleed lies. Which one are you?"*
My blood turned to ice.
Someone had been in her room. While she slept. Close enough to plant a weapon under her pillow. Close enough to kill her.
And she had no idea.
I looked at Lyra's sleeping face, so peaceful and unaware, and something inside me cracked wide open.
Mate bond or not, guilt or not, it didn't matter anymore.
She was *mine* to protect.
And whoever had threatened her had just made the worst mistake of their life.
I carefully removed the knife and note, making sure not to wake her. Then I stepped into the hallway and pulled out my communication crystal.
"Veron," I said quietly into it. "Lock down the fortress. No one leaves. No one enters. And find out who was on guard duty outside Lyra's room tonight."
"Sir? What's happened?"
"Someone just declared war," I said, staring at the bloody knife. "And they don't even know they're already dead."
I ended the communication and looked back through Lyra's doorway one last time.
She stirred in her sleep, murmuring something I couldn't hear.
My panther growled, protective and possessive.
*Mine,* it insisted. *Mate. Ours. Protect.*
I closed the door softly and headed to my study.
I had a traitor to find.
And a mate bond to deny.
Even if it killed me.