Page 34 of Claimed By the Vykan

The oldest rule.

A Vykan who lived too long without attunement descended into madness—venom turning inward, instincts fracturing. When that occurred, the remaining Vykan hunted him down and ended him before he could end half the world.

Kyrax had carried out two such executions in his lifetime.

He knew the cost.

Selith’s voice softened. “You have already gone longer than most Vykan without bonding. You were born during the Thinning of the Veil, when the planetary mist weakened and our numbers faltered.”

Her glyphs dimmed, reacting to her tone.

“You are the last-born Vykan,” she continued. “No others have followed. The planet warns us. Change is required—or we will fade into extinction.”

Kyrax’s pulse deepened. “Exactly. Which is why the old laws must adapt.”

Lorvanyr’s voice sharpened. “Adaptation cannot begin with a human.”

“Why not?” Kyrax countered.

Volkaarn’s projection crackled. “Because humans break. They do not survive the full venom. They do not survive the rhythm of the Vykan.”

“She survived the first trace,” Kyrax said.

“Barely,” Selith replied. “Her response was unstable—almost catastrophic. You felt it as we did.”

Kyrax remembered her trembling against him, her pulse racing, her breath breaking.

The heat.

The scent.

The unfiltered response.

He held the memory with a quiet, iron-bound steadiness. “She was overwhelmed, not destroyed. And she resisted.”

“Which makes her dangerous,” Lorvanyr said.

“Which makes her compatible,” Kyrax corrected.

Volkaarn’s mask gleamed like a rising inferno. “You always dissent. Always push boundaries. Born in the Thinning, questioning every law, challenging every decree. But this—this is recklessness.”

Kyrax’s voice dropped to a low, measured resonance.

“This is survival.”

Silence thickened around them.

Selith’s shimmering form drifted closer. Her mask’s glyphs flickered like dying stars.

“If you continue this path, Kyrax Sagarnis, and the human dies, your mind will follow. And when you lose control—when the venom twists inward—we will be forced to end you.”

Kyrax did not look away.

“I am aware.”

“Then relinquish her,” Lorvanyr said. “Return her to the Marak. Break the resonance now.”

Kyrax’s posture did not change.