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Fuck the bond.

By the time we got back to our packs, I could already see the bruises forming all over her arms, and I felt responsible. I should have just carried her across the river. I should have found another route. I should have…I should have let her stay in Rimor where she was safe. What the fuck was I doing? Was it too late to go back? Then, she thanked me for saving her and fucking hit me with, “You’re a good person.”

“No,” I said, although it came out as more of a growl as the wolf inside began to resurface. I pushed it back down. I was not a good person. I had done horrible things to innocent people – hundreds of years and dozens of death by my own hands, following orders of corrupt kings just so I could get my own brief taste of freedom. I was selfish. I was evil. I didn’t deserve love. I knew it, and she had to know it too. But before I could tell her, a scream broke through the trees.

We found the sisters in a clearing, the younger one dying from poison. Aura did everything in her power to help complete strangers. She was everything I wasn’t – good, pure, selfless.

Fuck. No. There went that admiration again, igniting my feelings for her. This wasn’t love. This was just the bond. I had to ignore it as best I could.

Aura saved the younger sister’s life like the extraordinary person she was. And she somehow convinced me to take them to Chatus, againstmy better judgement. But I couldn’t say no to her, her beautiful green eyes filled with determination. She was strong, beautiful, stubborn – probably as equally as I was. So we took them, barely escaping being caught by her own father’s soldiers.

When I thought we were in the clear, I sensed terror coming from Aura. I ran to her only to find her being held by a soldier she called Horus. We fought – the soldier being more skilled of a fighter than any other human I had ever sparred with. If I were human as well, he likely would have bested me. And because I hadn’t noticed him grab for his sword, hewouldhave bested me with his blade if it had been made of silver and if Aura wasn’t there. Instead, it was steel, and any wounds would have healed within seconds. But Aura didn’t know that. She fucking jumped in front of it to save me.

My own arm burned as I felt a numbed version of her pain where she had been slashed. She tried to save my life. No one had ever shown me such kindness, not in hundreds of years. I stopped everything to help her, and Horus let us go – or at least, gave us a head start. He warned me, demanded me to protect her at all costs.

“Always,” I answered without even thinking. And I meant it. Against everything I told myself, I couldn’t stop myself from falling for her. The mating bond was strengthening with every passing day we spent together. It was giving me feelings I couldn’t have. Someone as pure as Aura could not be with someone like me. Gods be damned.

But the next few days went by, and I found myself falling…hard. Fuck. She wasn’t just beautiful and strong. She was funny, smart, kind… I had never met anyone like her, not in my five hundred-something years of life. I lost track. Even before I was forced to work for the Sprathian kings, before Zolmara had fallen, no one from my life compared to Aura.

On a night after a long day of me training her to better her fighting skills, we were making camp when a familiar ringing in my ears began. I wondered if Aura heard it too. Sometimes it was hard to tell what was too quiet for a human to hear, and what wasn’t. The ringing noise was Sarai, calling to me from the water. It had rained heavily the night before, and I couldn’t avoid the many puddles that pooled throughout the woods.

Fuck. She was checking in for the first time on this assignment-gone-wrong. It made sense since I had been gone for over two weeks at that point, with no word.

I excused myself, knowing full well Aura sensed something was off. But I couldn’t let Sarai see me with her. I walked off in the distance, following the ringing sound that echoed off the trees. Once I felt I was far enough from Aura, I bent down to face one of the many large puddles. Within a moment, my own reflection was replaced with Sarai’s face.

“There you are,” she spat. “I was expecting to find you in Rimor when I scried for you.” Scrying was a type of spell witches could use to locate anyone or anything. “But you’re in the middle of the forest, nowhere near the Stone City,” she added. “Trying to escape again, dog?”

Shit. I couldn’t let her think I was trying to escape or she would tell Volund and he would send his guards after me. Then they’d find me with Aura. And they’d kill her.

“I am not escaping, I am tracking the target,” I said quickly.

“Why the hell is the princess so far from Rimor? Why haven’t you kill her?” Her voice reminded me of a serpent – hissy and lethal.

“The princess escaped from Rimor before I could complete the job,”I said. It wasn’t necessarily a lie. “I’ve been tracking her.”

“You should have easily caught up with her with your abilities, dog.” She and Volund used that insult a lot. “A lycan such as yourself should have quickly found her and killed her by now.”

“She’s not alone.” Also not a lie.

“The king says you have one week left to make the kill, or we’re dragging you back to your cell for some fun.” She smiled wickedly. By fun, she certainly meant torture.

“Yes, I understand.”

“Kill. Her.” The demand was slow and daunting.

“I will,” I growled. “I just need more time.”

“You have one week.” Then with that, Sarai’s face disappeared. As soon as it did, I heard a twig snap and smelled Aura’s sweet, intoxicating scent. I whirled around and came up on her, angry that she followed me. No, not angry at her. Angry at the situation. I was so quick, I made her jump – then I cursed myself for using my inhuman speed in front of her.

Somehow, I convinced her I was just talking to myself, but I wasn’t sure she fully believed me. As we walked back to camp, I tried to come up with a new plan. Sarai and Volund were becoming impatient, and Sarai certainly sensed something was amiss. It was likely they would figure out what was going on before we made it to Zolmara.

I thought about where we were located, and realized Monuvia wasn’t far. After Zolmara fell, I had heard rumors that some witches may have fled to the City of Streams. If I was lucky enough for that to be true, maybe I could enlist a witch’s help to shield me from Sarai’s scrying spells. Or at the very least, shield Aura. I never tried this before, unsure of how a witch would react to a lycan. It had been centuries since the rebellion… But I had to try. For Aura’s sake.

Aura reluctantly agreed to go to Monuvia, and we made it to the City of Streams within a few days. When we arrived, Aura decidedto partake in some sort of ceremony they were having. I watched her dance all night, completely entranced by the way she moved her hips. I tried to force the lust deep down, but I couldn’t help it. She was so gods-damned beautiful. Everything about her screamed at me to take her as my own. To make love to her until she screamed my name. But I couldn’t.

She smiled and laughed with the Monuvians and accepted their drinks, slowly becoming intoxicated. And that night, we shared a bed. I should have said no, knowing full well that I wanted to claim her – wanted to set the mating bond. She smelled sweet and exquisite, and the energy that poured from her skin into mine made my pants tighten. It was addicting.

When she reached up and brushed her hand on my cheek, the beast inside nearly forced himself to the surface. I wanted nothing more than to rip her clothes off and claim her right then and there. I wanted to feel every inch of her. I wanted to hear her moan my name. I wanted to bring her to climax again and again, feeling her pleasure as my own. It took every restraint – every fiber of my being – to fight that hunger.