Kael's POV
"No."
Mira's voice was small but absolute. "You're not going to war because of me."
I stared at her, fury still burning through my veins. Zara's body lay between us—an innocent girl, dead because Lyssa wanted to hurt Mira. Wanted to send a message.
"She murdered someone," I said, forcing the words through clenched teeth. "In my territory. At a sacred gathering. That demands blood."
"More blood won't bring Zara back!" Mira's eyes were red from crying, but her voice stayed steady. "It'll just create more bodies. More orphans. More grief."
"Then what do you suggest?" I stepped closer. "Let her get away with murder? Wait for her to poison more innocents?"
"I suggest we be SMART." She stood up, facing me despite being half my size. "Lyssa wants you angry. Wants you to attack her territory so she can play victim and unite all the tribes against you. Don't give her what she wants."
Through the bond, I felt her emotions—grief, guilt, rage, and underneath it all, a cold determination. She wasn't being soft. She was being strategic.
"What do you have in mind?" Elder Thorne asked quietly. He knelt beside his granddaughter's body, looking ancient and broken.
Mira wiped her eyes. "Lyssa's power comes from controlling medicine. She makes tribes dependent on her, then uses that dependence as a weapon."
"We know this," Soren said.
"So we break her monopoly." Mira's voice strengthened. "I teach healers in every territory. Share everything I know freely. Within a few months, tribes won't need her anymore."
It was a good plan. A smart plan.
But it wasn't enough.
"That takes time," I growled. "She'll kill more people while we wait."
"Then we move fast." Mira looked at me with those warm brown eyes. "And we protect the healers I train. Make it impossible for her to stop us without revealing herself as the monster she is."
Elder Thorne nodded slowly. "A quiet revolution instead of a loud war."
"Exactly." Mira glanced at Zara's body. "We honor her death by making sure Lyssa can never use medicine as a weapon again."
The plan was sound. Clever, even.
But rage still burned in my gut. I wanted to tear Lyssa apart with my claws. Wanted to make her pay for every innocent she'd hurt.
Through the bond, Mira felt my bloodlust. "Kael. Please. Trust me."
Those words hit differently than any others could have. Trust. She was asking me to trust her judgment over my instincts.
I'd never trusted anyone completely. Not since my parents died.
But looking at Mira—this tiny human who'd walked into hell to save strangers, who'd bonded herself to me permanently to win a challenge, who was asking me to choose strategy over vengeance—
Something in my chest cracked open.
"Fine," I said roughly. "We do it your way. But if Lyssa makes one more move against you, I'm ending her. No arguments."
Relief flooded through the bond. "Deal."
"I'll help spread the word," Soren offered. "My tribe will host the first training. Lyssa doesn't control our territory yet."
"Mine too," another voice called. More tribal representatives stepped forward, pledging support.
Watching it happen, I realized: Mira had just started building an alliance. Without threats or force, just by offering to share knowledge freely.
She was dangerous in ways Lyssa would never understand.
"We need to move you to my territory tonight," I said quietly to Mira. "Every moment you stay here, you're exposed."
"I can't leave yet." She gestured to the three patients she'd saved. "They need monitoring for the next day to make sure the antivenom holds."
"Then I'm not leaving your side." I crossed my arms. "Not for a second."
She started to argue, then stopped. Through the bond, she felt my absolute certainty. This wasn't negotiable.
"Fine. But you have to let me work."
"I'll carry your supplies." I looked at Elder Thorne. "Give us space to tend the patients. And post guards. If anyone else dies tonight, I won't wait for strategy."
The next few hours were tense. I watched Mira move between patients, checking pulses, listening to breathing, adjusting her makeshift IVs. She worked with the focused intensity of a warrior in battle.
"You should rest," I said when she swayed on her feet.
"Can't. If they crash, I need to be ready."
"The bond is keeping you upright." I felt her exhaustion like my own. "When it fades completely, you'll collapse."
"Then I'd better work fast." She smiled weakly. "How long do we have?"
"An hour. Maybe less."
She nodded and kept working.
Stubborn. Reckless. Magnificent.
Through the bond, I felt the moment she hit her limit. Her legs buckled.
I caught her before she fell, lifting her easily. "That's enough. You did everything you could."
"But the patients—"
"Are stable. Elder Thorne will watch them." I carried her toward a sleeping cave. "You need rest."
She was too tired to argue. Her head dropped against my chest, and within seconds, she was asleep.
I laid her on soft furs and sat beside her, keeping watch. Through the bond, I felt her dreams—confused, anxious, full of dead girls and poisoned water.
She blamed herself for Zara's death. I could feel the guilt eating at her.
Stupid female. It wasn't her fault Lyssa was a monster.
But I understood guilt. Carried plenty of my own. All the people I hadn't saved. The sister I'd almost lost. The parents who died because my father loved too recklessly.
Maybe that's why the bond worked. We were both warriors haunted by the ones we couldn't protect.
A sound at the cave entrance made me tense.
Soren stood there, his face grim. "We have a problem."
"What now?"
"A messenger came from the central territories. From Lyssa." He paused. "She's sent a formal invitation to all tribal leaders. A grand gathering in two weeks. She's calling it a 'Unity Festival.'"
"And?"
"She's making attendance mandatory. Any tribe that refuses will be cut off from her medicine supplies completely." Soren's jaw tightened. "It's a trap."
"Obviously." I kept my voice low so Mira wouldn't wake. "What kind of trap?"
"The kind where she gets all the leaders in one place and reminds them who holds the power." He glanced at sleeping Mira. "And she specifically requested the new healer attend as 'guest of honor.'"
Ice flooded my veins. "She wants Mira there."
"In her territory. Surrounded by her warriors. With every tribal leader watching." Soren's expression was bleak. "If Mira refuses, she looks weak. If she goes—"
"She dies." I finished the thought. "Lyssa will make it look like an accident. A tragic poisoning. Oh, so sorry, we did everything we could."
"Exactly."
Rage built in my chest again. This time, even Mira's strategy wouldn't stop it.
"Then we don't go," I said flatly.
"If the tribal leaders don't see Mira, they'll assume she's hiding. That she fears Lyssa. That the challenge victory was luck, not skill." Soren sat down heavily. "Lyssa's backing us into a corner. Mira has to show up or lose all credibility."
"So we make sure she's protected." I began planning immediately. "Maximum security. Taste-testers for all food. Guards at every entrance—"
"Kael." Soren interrupted gently. "Even with all that, Lyssa has had three years to perfect murder. She'll find a way."
"Then what do you suggest?"
He looked at me steadily. "Complete the mate bond."
My heart stopped. "What?"
"The blood ritual created a connection, but it's not a full mate bond. Complete it before the festival." His voice was urgent. "Make Mira yours in every way. Then Lyssa can't touch her without declaring war on your entire bloodline."
"That's—" I stopped. Looked at sleeping Mira. Felt her exhaustion and guilt and determination through our half-bond.
Completing the bond meant more than protection. It meant claiming her as mine forever. Marking her. Binding her to me so deeply she'd feel every emotion, every thought, every heartbeat.
It meant admitting I cared about her more than I'd cared about anyone in twenty years.
"She'd have to agree," I said quietly.
"Would she?" Soren raised an eyebrow. "You felt how she fought tonight. How she sacrificed. She'll do anything to stop more innocents from dying."
He was right. Mira would agree to protect others.
But would she agree because she wanted me? Or because she felt obligated?
The thought made my chest ache.
"I'll think about it," I said.
"Think fast. The festival is in two weeks. If you're going to complete the bond, it needs to happen before then."
Soren left.
I sat in the darkness, watching Mira sleep, feeling her dreams through our connection.
Two weeks. Two weeks to decide if I was going to claim this female completely.
Two weeks until we walked into Lyssa's trap.
And somewhere in the central territories, I knew the Blessed One was smiling.
Because she'd just forced my hand in a way I couldn't escape.
Mira stirred in her sleep, murmuring something I couldn't hear.
I reached out, tucking the furs around her more securely.
"I won't let her hurt you," I whispered. "No matter what it costs."
But as I said the words, cold certainty settled over me:
Saving Mira might require becoming the monster I'd always feared.
The one who loved too much.
The one who'd destroy the world to keep one female safe.
Just like my father.
And we all knew how that story ended.