Marcus POV
Pain exploded through every bone in my body.
The Shadow Drake's claws had torn through my ribs like paper. I could taste blood in my mouth—my own blood—and feel my consciousness flickering like a dying lightbulb. Through the bond with Aria, I felt her terror spike so high it nearly drowned out my own agony.
Hold on, her voice whispered in my mind. Help is coming.
Help? I wanted to laugh, but it came out as a wheeze. I was going to die. Again. Except this time, I'd been a tiger for exactly three weeks and I was dying because some rich jerk wanted to murder my—
My what? Master? Partner? The girl whose emotions I felt like they were my own?
The drake loomed over me, its red eyes glowing with victory. Damian stood behind it, smiling. "Goodbye, little tiger. You should have stayed small and worthless."
I tried to stand. Failed. My back legs wouldn't work anymore. Everything hurt.
Then something slammed into my body.
Light exploded everywhere—violet like Aria's power, gold like... like something ancient and terrifying. It poured into me through the bond, but different. This wasn't Aria's energy. This was something else. Something that felt like dragonfire and starlight mixed together.
A voice roared in my head: MERGE!
My body changed.
I felt scales growing over my white fur. Felt wings tearing out of my back—actual dragon wings. My broken ribs snapped back together with sounds like gunshots. The pain vanished, replaced by power so intense my vision went white.
When I could see again, everything looked different. Sharper. Clearer. The world slowed down around me like I was watching a movie in slow motion.
The Shadow Drake's claw came at my face. In my old form, it would have killed me instantly.
I caught it.
My newly-clawed hand—when did I get hands?—grabbed the drake's massive talon and stopped it cold. The drake's eyes went wide with shock.
"What—" Damian started.
I roared.
It wasn't a tiger's roar or a dragon's roar. It was both sounds at once, harmonizing in a way that shook the ground and cracked windows in the nearby buildings. The Shadow Drake stumbled backward, and I felt something I'd never felt before:
It was afraid of me.
Through the bond, I felt Aria's shock and relief mixing with something new. A third presence. Another mind connected to ours.
I am Nero, the new voice said calmly in my head. Your partner's father bonded me years ago. She has given me to you temporarily. We are merged.
"Get out of my body!" I snarled, but even as I said it, I could feel the difference. Nero's dragon power flowing through my tiger strength. His ancient battle knowledge mixing with my human strategic thinking. We were three minds sharing one body.
It felt wrong. But also... it felt amazing.
The Shadow Drake attacked again, breathing black fire that should have melted my skin off. I spread my new wings and launched into the air, dodging with grace I didn't know I possessed. Nero's instincts guided my movements while my human brain calculated attack angles.
I dove, claws extended, and raked them across the drake's back. My claws—now razor-sharp and coated with lightning—cut through scales that had seemed impenetrable before. The drake screamed.
Marcus, listen carefully, Aria's voice came through the bond, urgent and scared. The merge is temporary. When Nero separates from you, you'll crash hard. You have maybe five minutes before your body gives out.
Five minutes to beat a legendary beast and an elite tamer. Great.
I landed in front of Damian, and for the first time since this nightmare started, I saw real fear in his eyes. Good. He should be scared.
"You're supposed to be weak," Damian whispered. "Aria's beasts always die. Always. How are you—"
Because I'm not a normal beast, I thought, and this time, I pushed the thought at him directly. Tamers could hear their own beasts. Could he hear me?
Damian's face went white. "You... you can think? You can talk?"
I'm human, you monster. I let my new form shift slightly, showing hints of a human face in my tiger-dragon features. I died and woke up as this. And you tried to kill me. Tried to kill HER.
The rage that filled me wasn't just mine. It was Aria's rage too—five years of hiding, of being humiliated, of watching everyone she loved die while pretending to be worthless. And it was Nero's rage—a loyal beast watching his master's daughter suffer for years while trapped as an egg.
Three minds. Three different kinds of anger. All focused on one target.
I lunged at Damian.
He ran. Actually turned and ran like a coward, commanding his Shadow Drake to fight me while he escaped. The drake obeyed because it had no choice—the bond forced it to sacrifice itself for its master.
I understood that feeling now. The bond that made you fight for someone even when you wanted to run. Even when it might kill you.
But unlike the drake, I'd chosen to fight. Chosen to protect Aria. The bond didn't force me to care about her. It just made me feel how much I already cared.
The Shadow Drake and I clashed in the center of the courtyard, scales and claws and lightning and fire mixing in a battle that tore up the ground beneath us. I was stronger now. Faster. But the drake had years of experience I didn't have.
A tail strike caught me in the side. I crashed into a wall hard enough to crack the stone. Through the bond, I felt Aria scream.
Three minutes left, Nero warned. The merge is breaking.
I could feel it—the dragon power starting to peel away from my body. The wings flickering. The scales fading.
The Shadow Drake sensed my weakness and pressed its attack. Fire and claws and crushing weight. I blocked, dodged, struck back when I could. But I was losing ground fast.
Two minutes.
My human brain worked frantically. How did you beat something stronger than you? In business, I'd always looked for weaknesses. Leverage. Things others missed.
The drake's bond with Damian. That was its weakness.
Instead of attacking the drake, I turned and sprinted toward where Damian had run. The drake roared and chased me, terrified of letting me reach its master.
Perfect.
I led it on a chase through the courtyard, my merged form giving me just enough speed to stay ahead. The drake's frustration grew with each second. It couldn't let me hurt Damian. The bond wouldn't allow failure.
One minute, Nero said grimly. When I separate, you will collapse. Be ready.
I wasn't ready. How could anyone be ready for this?
I spun suddenly, catching the drake mid-charge. My claws wrapped around its neck, and I poured everything I had left into one attack. Lightning and dragon fire and raw tiger strength, all channeled through our bond with Aria and amplified by her power.
The Shadow Drake's eyes rolled back. It crashed to the ground, unconscious but alive.
I'd won.
Then Nero ripped free from my body.
The agony was indescribable. It felt like someone had torn out half my soul and set the rest on fire. I collapsed, my body shrinking back to normal tiger size, the wings and scales vanishing. Everything hurt worse than before. Worse than dying had hurt in my first life.
Through the rapidly weakening bond, I felt Aria running toward me. Felt her panic and guilt.
I'm sorry, she kept thinking. I'm so sorry, Marcus. This is all my fault.
My vision went dark at the edges. But before I passed out completely, I felt something else through the bond. Something that made my blood run cold.
A new presence. Watching us from somewhere close by.
Someone had seen everything. Seen me merge with Nero. Seen me take a form that shouldn't exist. Seen me think and talk and fight like a human.
And whoever they were, they were very interested.
The last thing I heard before darkness took me was a woman's voice, cold and calculating:
"Fascinating. A reincarnated beast. The Emperor will pay a fortune for that."