Chapter Eight: The Bond Breaker
1306 Words
Splinters burst from the wall as Kael’s body hit it hard, the impact shaking the entire shack. The structure groaned under the sudden force. Liora stood still and her heart thudded within her chest as she stared at Torin. Then he moved forward, smiling as a predator who has found a victim.
Kael bit his teeth, splashed up, supported himself with shakey legs, his blood flowing down a new gash above his brow. Inwardly sick, he dragged his feet to his feet, and leaned on one hand which was already clenched in guard.
“Stay behind me,” he rasped, pushing Liora aside with one arm.
But she didn’t move. She couldn’t.
Torin entered the room like a smoke, dark, heavy and inevitable. He look alive with cold amusement. And he said, “Look at you, could hardly stand, and yet, playing to be the hero.
Kael growled, putting his teeth together. “You always needed a crowd to feel strong, Torin. No council here. Just you. And me.”
Torin inclined his head with feigned sympathy. "You just don’t understand, do you? I already won. I have the council’s vote, Selene’s backing, and your precious little human?” His gaze snapped to Liora. “She’s a liability. A weapon I don’t even have to swing. The bond is breaking already. You can feel it, can’t you?”
Kael's muscles tightened. Liora observed how his shoulders straightened and the brief glimmer of uncertainty in his gaze. She sensed it as well, that subtle yet enduring unraveling within her chest. The thread that had tied them so tightly now tugged unevenly. Weakening.
Torin moved forward, and Liora reflexively clutched Kael’s hand, gripping it firmly. "Ignore him," she murmured. “He's attempting to make you hesitate.”
But Kael didn’t answer. His eyes never left Torin.
Torin grinned slyly. "You didn't inform her, did you?" he asked, his tone filled with derision. “About the real cost of the bond? About what happens if she doubts you too long? Silence is betrayal, Alpha. And betrayal breaks the bond.”
Liora turned sharply to Kael, eyes narrowing. "Is that correct?"
Kael tried to speak, but no words emerged. His quietness served as proof.
"You weren't truthful," she murmured. “Once more.”
“I didn’t lie,” Kael replied swiftly, moving closer to her, his tone strained. “I was about to inform you—”
“But you didn’t,” she snapped. “You kept it from me like the rest.”
Torin watched them with satisfaction as if he’d already drawn blood. “This is the truth of your Alpha, Liora. He leads with secrets. Commands with fear. He’s no protector. He’s a cage.”
Kael stepped forward, fury rising in his voice. “Get out.”
Torin’s expression darkened. “Make me.”
Kael darted toward him, bared his fangs, and clawed, and even so painfully sclerotic was his body that Torin saw no difficulty in evading him. He stove Kael with an elbow to the ribs, and hurled him with a crash against the fragile-looking hotel-room wall. It is the Wood this time that gave way splinters scattering in all directions like snow.
Liora swung in, seizing a leg of chair, broken at the end, off the floor, and throwing it at Torin, making contact with his right shoulder. Torin sighed, and, turning his blazing eyes upon the traveller, said:
“You seriously believe you have a place in our world?” he snarled as he went to her. “You’re just a shadow. An experiment.”
Liora didn’t retreat. Her voice was quiet but sharp. “So why are you so afraid of me?”
The jaw of Torin sank down, but before he could speak Kael sprang again upon him, with all his remaining strength. they fell into the table, and smashed it up under them. And both men tumbled on the floor, growling and scratching, and trailed blood about the boards.
“Run, Liora,” Kael gasped in the struggle, “run!”
But she didn’t. She picked up the scroll that Rhydian had left behind which was still tightly rolled at the side of the bed. She opened it with shaking hands looking for the line that Rhydian had pointed out to her.
The words jumped off the page like flames.
“The bond may be broken by betrayal, silence, or blood drawn in doubt.”
She looked up, heart thudding. Kael had been silent. He had drawn blood. He had doubts. And she had, too.
The bond wasn’t just weakening.
It was devastating.
Kael pushed Torin against the wall again but Torin fought back by delivering a powerful kick to Kael's chest knocking him off balance. Kael fell to one knee breathing heavily with blood running from his mouth.
Liora hurried over to him and took his face in her hands. "Kael pay attention to what I'm saying. We are more powerful than this. You need to stop keeping secrets from me. However, you must stop keeping things from me. You must have total faith in me.”
The amber depths of his eyes flickered with agony when they met hers. "I didn't want you gone."
"You're already," she muttered.
Kael gasped for air.
Torin brushed dirt from his sleeves and straightened. “Too late.”
Then he reached into his coat and pulled something from the inner pocket.
A dagger.
Its blade shimmered with a dull green hue, etched with runes that pulsed faintly in the dark.
Kael froze. “No…”
Liora stepped in front of him before she even realized what she was doing. “What is that?”
Torin’s eyes gleamed. “A bond breaker. Forged in exile. Blessed by the First Fang. One cut with this… and your connection dies. Forever.”
Kael stood slowly, placing a hand on her shoulder and moving her behind him.
“You wouldn’t dare,” he said.
Torin grinned. “Wouldn’t I?”
He lunged, dagger aimed for Kael’s chest.
But the dagger never reached him.
A blur of motion crashed through the broken window.
Rhydian.
He sent both men sprawling across the floor after tackling Torin in the middle of his strike. The dagger came to a halt inches from Liora's foot after skidding across the wood.
Before Torin could get it back, Kael jumped for it and grabbed it.
Rhydian shoved Torin against the wall, gripping one arm around his throat. He snarled, "Do that once more, and I'll shatter every bone in your body before sunset."
Torin laughed after gasping.
“You’re defending him now? Thought you hated him more than me.”
“I hate cowards more,” Rhydian said, voice cold. “Particularly those who target defenseless females.”
Kael lifted the dagger, its engravings gently glowing in his hand. “We have settled this issue,” he stated.
Torin sneered, spat blood onto the earth, and then stepped back, brushing off his coat as though it were just a light-hearted exchange. "You think you’ve won, but you’ve only delayed the inevitable. I will see you both at twilight. The challenge remains.”
He disappeared into the woods before anyone could intervene.
Silence fell.
Liora stood frozen, her hand pressed to her chest where the bond still pulsed—weak, uneven.
Rhydian turned to Kael. “I told her. She deserved the truth.”
Kael nodded slowly. “I know.”
Liora looked at them both. “And now?”
Kael stepped closer, holding out the dagger. “Now we find a way to end this.”
Yet, as she looked into his eyes, a voice inside her warned that the worst was still to come.
As the wind howled through the crumbling house, a deeper essence stirred in the forest, watching and waiting.
- Writer
