Chapter Thirteen: The Enemy Inside The Bond
1037 Words
The first attack came before sunrise.
Aria woke instantly.
Not from sound.
From pain.
It tore through the bond so sharply she nearly fell out of bed.
Somewhere nearby, one of them was hurt.
Badly.
The connection slammed into her chest like lightning, overwhelming and immediate. Panic—raw and unfamiliar—rushed through her before she could suppress it.
Not mine, she realized instantly.
The emotion belonged to the bond.
Belonged to them.
Aria was already moving before conscious thought caught up.
The palace corridors blurred around her as she followed instinct instead of logic. Guards shouted as she passed, but she ignored them.
She could feel it.
Fear.
Violence.
Blood.
And underneath all of it—
Riven.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” she muttered.
She rounded the final corridor just as a crash echoed through the eastern archive wing.
Stone shattered.
A body hit the wall hard enough to crack it.
Riven.
Aria’s vision flashed red instantly.
Three masked attackers surrounded him, their weapons glowing with ancient silver markings.
Not ordinary weapons.
Bond-breaker steel.
The moment Aria recognized it, rage hit so hard the entire corridor shook.
One attacker turned toward her.
Big mistake.
Aria crossed the distance before he could react.
Her fist slammed into his throat with enough force to lift him off the ground.
The second attacker lunged.
She caught the blade barehanded.
Silver cut into her palm.
Pain exploded—
and suddenly all five bonds reacted simultaneously.
Kael staggered somewhere behind her through the connection.
Dax cursed sharply.
The Prince’s fury ignited so violently she felt it like fire.
And Darius—
Darius was already running toward her.
The attacker smiled beneath his mask.
“You feel each other,” he hissed.
Aria’s eyes darkened instantly.
“You’re about to regret breathing.”
Power burst outward from her in a brutal wave.
The corridor lights exploded.
Stone cracked beneath her feet.
The attacker flew backward hard enough to break through the wall.
The third assailant grabbed Riven, pressing silver to his throat.
“Move,” he warned, “and he dies.”
Riven looked irritated more than afraid.
“This is honestly a very inconvenient hostage situation.”
“Riven,” Aria snapped.
“What? I cope verbally.”
The silver blade pressed harder against his neck.
The bond screamed in response.
Aria froze instantly.
Not because she feared the threat.
Because she felt what would happen if he died.
All of them.
The connection would collapse violently.
And some terrible instinct deep inside her already knew—
she would not survive it either.
Footsteps thundered behind her.
Kael arrived first, breathing hard.
Dax beside him.
The Prince moments later—
and the instant he saw silver against Riven’s throat, something terrifying entered the room.
The temperature dropped.
Not metaphorically.
Actually dropped.
Even the attackers hesitated.
The Prince’s eyes had gone completely silver.
“Release him,” he said softly.
The masked attacker laughed nervously. “Or what?”
The Prince stepped forward once.
The entire corridor groaned.
“You truly,” he said quietly, “do not understand what you touched.”
Aria felt the bond surge violently around him.
Protective.
Ancient.
Possessive in a way that had nothing to do with ownership and everything to do with survival.
The attacker tightened his grip anyway.
Wrong decision.
Aria moved first.
Not physically.
Instinctively.
The bond exploded outward from her chest in a wave of pure force.
Every torch in the corridor ignited white-hot.
The silver blade shattered in the attacker’s hand.
And suddenly all five men reacted simultaneously.
Kael restrained one attacker instantly.
Dax disarmed another with brutal precision.
The Prince crossed the room like death itself.
Riven dropped low, sweeping the hostage-taker’s legs out from under him despite the situation.
And Darius—
Darius caught Aria before she collapsed.
The backlash hit her all at once.
Too much power.
Too much emotional feedback.
Too much fear.
Her knees nearly buckled.
Darius steadied her immediately.
“Easy,” he said sharply.
“I’m fine.”
“You almost detonated the hallway.”
“That means I’m functioning.”
Riven sat up against the wall, touching the shallow cut on his neck.
“Well,” he said breathlessly, “that was deeply traumatic.”
Kael glared at him. “You almost died.”
“Yes, I noticed.”
The Prince stood over the final attacker, silver eyes still glowing faintly.
“Who sent you,” he asked quietly.
The attacker laughed weakly despite the blood running from his mouth.
“You think this ends with one attempt?”
Aria straightened instantly despite Darius still supporting her.
“What does that mean.”
The attacker looked directly at her.
“The bond should never have formed.” His smile widened slightly. “And there are entire bloodlines willing to kill to undo it.”
Silence hit the corridor hard.
The Prince’s expression became lethal.
Dax looked deeply troubled.
Kael swore quietly under his breath.
Riven stopped joking entirely.
And Aria—
Aria finally understood the real danger.
Not the bond itself.
What the world would do to destroy it.
The attacker coughed blood onto the floor.
“You’re all connected now,” he whispered. “That makes you weak.”
Aria stepped forward slowly.
“No,” she said quietly.
The attacker looked up at her.
And for the first time—
hesitated.
Because something in her expression had changed.
Not fear.
Certainty.
Aria looked at every one of her mates in turn.
Riven alive.
Kael steady.
Dax thinking too hard but unharmed.
The Prince vibrating with restrained fury.
Darius still holding her upright without hesitation.
The bond pulsed warmly beneath her skin.
Not weakness.
Unity.
Aria looked back at the attacker.
“You made the mistake everyone always makes,” she said softly.
“And what’s that,” he spat.
A slow, dangerous smile appeared on her face.
“You assumed connection makes people fragile.”
The power in the corridor shifted instantly.
Even the Prince looked at her differently.
Aria’s eyes sharpened.
“But love,” she said quietly, “makes predators terrifying.”
And somewhere deep inside the bond—
something ancient fully awakened.
- Writer
