Kael POV
The moment Zara spoke Aria's name, my beast roared to life.
Threat. Enemy. Protect mate.
I was on my feet instantly, placing myself between Aria and this stranger. My claws extended. Through the bond—the cracking, dying bond—I felt Aria's spike of fear.
"Who are you?" I demanded. "How do you know her name?"
Zara's smile widened. She was beautiful in the way poisonous flowers are beautiful—lovely and lethal. "Oh, Kael. The mighty Alpha who lost everything." Her eyes glittered with false sympathy. "Still trying to replace what was taken from you?"
White-hot rage exploded through me. "Don't you dare speak of them."
"Of your dead mate? Your dead cubs?" She tilted her head. "Why not? It's the truth. You're broken, desperately trying to fill the hole they left behind. And you think she can fix you?"
Through the bond, Aria's emotions crashed into mine—confusion, horror, and underneath it all, a fierce protectiveness that made my chest ache. She was trying to protect me, even though she could barely stand.
"Kael, don't listen to her," Aria said, struggling to her feet. "She's trying to manipulate you."
"Smart girl." Zara's glowing screen pulsed, and I realized what it meant. "You figured out I have a system too. But did you figure out what mine does?"
She raised her hand, and her screen blazed with text I could somehow read:
CONQUEST SYSTEM ACTIVATED
TARGET: ARIA CHEN
MISSION: ELIMINATE RIVAL GODDESS
BONUS OBJECTIVE: CLAIM HER MATES
My blood turned to ice.
"That's right," Zara purred. "My system rewards me for taking everything you have. Your mates, your power, your life." She looked directly at me, and something in her gaze made my skin crawl. "Starting with you, Alpha. You were supposed to be mine."
"I belong to no one," I snarled.
"Not yet. But you will." She took a step forward, and power radiated from her like heat from a fire. "My system has been active for three months. I've completed dozens of quests. I'm level fifteen." Her eyes found Aria. "What level are you, little goddess? Two? Three?"
Aria said nothing, but through the bond, I felt her shock. She was barely level one.
"That's what I thought." Zara's screen pulsed again. "Here's how this works. I challenge you for your mates. We fight. Winner takes all."
"No," Aria said firmly. "I'm not fighting you over people like they're prizes."
"Then you forfeit. And they die."
The words hung in the air like a death sentence.
"What?" Aria's voice cracked.
"System rules. If you refuse a challenge, your bonds break immediately. All of them." Zara's smile was cruel. "Kael's bond is already cracking. Thorne's is fresh and unstable. You haven't even bonded Ryn yet. Refuse my challenge, and all three of them go feral within the hour."
I felt the truth of it through my dying bond. The crack in my mark had spread to my chest. Pain pulsed with each heartbeat. If Aria didn't stabilize the bond soon, I'd lose my mind.
But I'd rather die than let her fight this woman.
"Aria, don't," I said. "Let the bond break. I've lived through worse."
Liar. My beast howled inside me. We can't survive losing another mate. We won't.
Through the bond, Aria felt my lie. She met my eyes, and I saw something fierce and determined in her gaze.
"I accept your challenge," she said.
"No!" I grabbed her arm, but she pulled away.
"I won't let you die because of me." She turned to Zara. "But I set the terms. No weapons. No killing. First one who can't continue loses."
Zara laughed. "Fine. I don't need weapons to destroy you." Her screen glowed. "But let's make this interesting. Each of us picks a champion to fight for us."
"What? No, we fight ourselves—"
"System rules override your objections." Zara's eyes locked onto me. "I choose Kael as my champion."
The world stopped.
"That's not possible," Ryn said, stepping forward. "He's bonded to Aria. He can't fight for you."
"Can't he?" Zara's screen pulsed, and suddenly a new interface appeared in my vision—glowing red instead of blue.
TEMPORARY BOND OVERRIDE
ZARA'S CONQUEST SYSTEM SUPERSEDES ARIA'S GODDESS SYSTEM
YOU WILL OBEY ZARA'S COMMANDS FOR THE DURATION OF THE CHALLENGE
"No." I tried to move toward Aria, but my body wouldn't obey. "What did you do to me?"
"I'm level fifteen, remember? I have abilities you can't imagine." Zara's voice became a command. "Kneel."
My legs bent against my will. I crashed to my knees, snarling, fighting with everything I had. But the red system locked my muscles in place.
"Stop it!" Aria lunged at Zara, but Thorne caught her.
"Don't," he said urgently. "If you attack her before the challenge officially starts, you forfeit automatically."
Aria's face twisted with helpless rage. Through our dying bond, I felt her desperation. She wanted to save me but couldn't.
Just like I couldn't save Mira and the cubs.
The memory crashed through me—coming home to find them slaughtered, the raiders already gone. I'd been too late. Too weak. Too useless.
And now I was useless again, a puppet for this woman to control.
"Aria," Zara said sweetly, "choose your champion. Who will you send to fight Kael to the death?"
"You said no killing!"
"I lied." Zara shrugged. "Conquest System rewards are better when blood is spilled. So choose. Ryn? Thorne? Or maybe..." Her eyes glittered with malice. "You'll fight him yourself?"
Through the bond, I felt Aria's horror. She couldn't fight me. Even if she wasn't weakened and exhausted, she couldn't hurt me—the bond wouldn't allow it. Mates couldn't harm each other.
Unless one of them was under a system override.
"This is insane," Aria breathed.
"This is survival." Zara's screen pulsed. "Choose in the next ten seconds, or I choose for you. And I'll choose you."
Aria looked at Ryn, then Thorne, then finally at me. Through the bond, I felt her making a terrible decision.
"I choose..." she said slowly, "to bond with Ryn. Right now. Before the challenge."
"What?" Multiple voices said it at once.
"If I bond with Ryn, the three-bond configuration stabilizes. Kael's bond heals." She held out her hand to Ryn. "And a healed bond is stronger than a system override. Right?"
For a moment, hope flared in my chest. It could work. A complete three-bond was nearly unbreakable.
Then Zara laughed.
"Oh, you clever little thing. Yes, that would work." Her screen pulsed. "Which is why I'm not going to let it happen."
She snapped her fingers.
The cave entrance exploded inward. Massive beasts poured through—bear-men, tiger-men, creatures I didn't recognize. At least twenty warriors, all with the same red glow in their eyes.
"I've been bonding males all over the territory," Zara said casually. "Temporary bonds, just strong enough to control them. Meet my army."
Ryn shifted into wolf form, snarling. Thorne's scales rippled, venom dripping from his claws. But they were outnumbered ten to one.
"Last chance, Aria." Zara's voice hardened. "Choose your champion, or watch everyone you care about die."
Aria's hand trembled as she reached toward Ryn. But one of Zara's controlled warriors lunged, separating them. Another grabbed Thorne, three more pinning him down.
"Stop!" Aria screamed.
"Choose!" Zara commanded.
Through our bond, I felt Aria's mind racing, calculating, trying to find a way out. But there wasn't one. Zara had trapped her perfectly.
Finally, Aria's shoulders slumped in defeat.
"I choose myself," she whispered. "I'll fight Kael."
"No!" The word tore from my throat, but the red system locked my mouth shut.
"Excellent." Zara's eyes gleamed with triumph. "The challenge begins now. Fight until one of you can't continue." She leaned close to Aria. "And remember—if you refuse to fight, everyone dies. Including him."
The red system released my body. I stood slowly, my claws extending against my will.
Aria faced me, tears streaming down her face.
Through our dying bond, I felt everything she felt. Her terror. Her determination. Her desperate love for people she'd known for less than a day.
Love?
Yes. Somehow, impossibly, love. Not the system's forced emotion, but real feeling.
The same way I was beginning to feel about her.
My beast roared, fighting the red system's control. But it was too strong.
My body moved toward her, claws raised.
"I'm sorry," I managed to gasp out before my voice was stolen again. "Aria, I'm so sorry—"
My claws slashed at her throat.
She didn't dodge. Didn't even try to defend herself.
She just closed her eyes and whispered, "I forgive you."
My claws stopped a hair's breadth from her neck.
The red system screamed in my mind, demanding I finish the strike. But I couldn't. Something stronger than the system was holding me back.
The bond. The cracking, dying bond suddenly blazed with golden light.
Through it, I felt Aria's absolute trust. She knew I would fight the control. She believed in me more than I believed in myself.
And that belief gave me strength.
I forced my arm back, claws trembling with effort. "Run," I managed to growl. "Aria... run..."
Zara's face twisted with rage. "Impossible! My control is absolute!"
"Not against love," a new voice said from the cave entrance.
Everyone froze.
An old woman stood there, leaning on a staff. Power radiated from her—ancient, terrifying power that made even Zara take a step back.
"The challenge is invalid," the old woman said. "You violated the sacred rules of mate bonds." Her eyes found Aria. "And you, child, have activated something neither system was designed to handle."
Aria's screen suddenly blazed with new text:
SYSTEM ERROR
IMPOSSIBLE EMOTION DETECTED
RECALIBRATING...
NEW CLASSIFICATION: TRUE MATE BONDS
ALL SYSTEM CONTROLS... NULLIFIED
The red system shattered. I fell to my knees, free again.
Zara screamed, "No! This isn't how it works!"
"It is now," the old woman said. She looked at Aria. "Congratulations, Goddess. You just broke both systems."
Then the cave began to collapse.