"Walk," leo ordered.
His voice was calm. The kind of calm that hid storms and sharpened claws.
Amaya followed because she had no choice. Her legs shook, her chest burned with the afterglow of that terrifying light, and she was still reeling from the fact that she could hear his thoughts crisp, heavy, layered like a man who never let his guard down.
If her core destabilizes in the palace…
It could draw every Elder within miles.
I have to contain her. Fast.
She tried not to look at him. He was too tall, too powerful, too commanding for her to process. Snow-white tail flicking behind him, claws glinting at his side, he moved like a storm shaped into a man.
But she couldn't stop the thought that echoed through her:
He brought me with him… why?
They walked through the forest until it broke in front of an enormous cliff of silver granite. Veins of glowing ice pulsed through the rock like living light.
Amaya stared, breath caught.
"What is this place?"
Leo didn't slow. "My territory."
With a single gesture, he triggered an ancient seal. The entire wall of stone shifted, spiraling open like a monstrous gate revealing a world of crystalline blue light.
And then she saw it
The Beastlord Palace.
Vast. Towering. Beautiful and deadly.
Columns of enchanted ice rose to impossible heights. Silver banners with the White Tiger sigil rippled in the cold wind. Stairways carved from moon-stone spiraled upward toward watchtowers glowing faintly with blue fire.
Beastmen patrolled the walls tigers, panthers, wolves, and beasts Amaya had never imagined each armored, each powerful.
The moment leo stepped inside, a ripple passed through the guards.
Chests bowed. Tails lowered. Every gaze snapped toward him.
"Lord leo returns!"
But when their eyes slid to Amaya, the whispers cracked like flames.
"A human?"
"She crossed the border why isn't she restrained?"
"She reeks of… magic."
"No human should walk beside our king!"
Amaya's stomach twisted.
Leo ignored every whisper.
He didn't speed up. He didn't explain. He didn't even glance her way.
But his thoughts were razor-sharp:
They sense her core already.
Damn it. I brought her into a den of predators.
Amaya swallowed hard. She couldn't help it she grabbed the edge of his cloak, fingers trembling.
He stopped.
Slowly, he looked down at her hand.
Her heart froze.
"I I'm sorry, I just" she stammered.
His eyes ice-blue, ancient, unreadable locked onto her. He didn't move. He didn't even breathe.
Then a thought brushed her mind like a cold blade:
She's afraid. Good. Fear keeps her alive.
He didn't shake her off. He simply turned and kept walking, letting her clutch the fabric for comfort she didn't want to admit.
---
Inside the palace, warmth hit her first.
Not heat something else. Something pulsing under her skin, syncing with her heartbeat.
Her core.
[SYSTEM WARNING]
[MYSTIC CORE SURGE: UNSTABLE]
[NEARBY POWER SIGNATURES DETECTED]
Amaya gasped. The world tilted.
Leo moved instantly one arm sweeping behind her waist, catching her before she fell.
His voice dipped low. "Breathe."
Everything in her shook her vision, her pulse, her very bones.
"The palace," she whispered. "It feels… alive."
"It reacts to power," leo said. His grip tightened not gentle, not cruel, simply absolute. "And you're radiating enough to awaken every seal in the hall."
He didn't release her until she regained balance, though his face remained unreadable.
Too fragile. She won't last an hour unless I restrict her core.
Amaya flinched. "I heard that."
Leo lifted a brow. "Then stop reacting to every thought. You'll go mad."
"Easy for you to say," she muttered.
Something flickered in his eyes something like amusement. But it vanished fast, swallowed by his colder instincts.
He led her deeper.
Through corridors of enchanted stone.
Past beastmen who stared with hostility.
Into a grand chamber with a throne carved from glacier crystal.
As soon as leo crossed the threshold, everyone inside froze.
Generals, scholars, mystics every beastman in the hall went silent as their eyes slammed onto Amaya.
The pressure of their stares made her chest constrict.
Leo ascended the steps to his throne, then turned, cloak sweeping behind him.
His voice echoed
"This human is under my protection."
Chaos erupted.
"What?!"
"She's dangerous!"
"Humans cannot be trusted!"
"My lord, that girl reeks of forbidden magic!"
Leo raised one hand.
Silence.
But the fury remained. Amaya felt it like claws scraping her skin.
A panther general stepped forward, dark fur rippling. "My lord, why bring a human here? And one radiating unstable power?"
Leo didn't sit. Didn't relax. His presence was a blade drawn from its sheath.
"She carries a Mystic Core," he said.
Gasps. Panic. Shock.
Mystic Cores were myths.
"Impossible—those died out centuries ago"
"No human has ever"
"Lord Kael, this is a risk to the entire palace!"
Amaya stepped back instinctively… but the movement drew every gaze onto her.
Fear squeezed her lungs.
And then leo's voice cut through everything:
"She will not be harmed."
His authority thundered.
"She will not be touched."
His aura flared, a crushing wave of dominance.
"And anyone who challenges that…" His eyes glowed like frozen stars. "…will answer to me."
The hall fell silent. Not with obedience no, with fear.
Amaya stared at him, pulse racing.
He didn't defend her because he cared.
He defended her because he'd already claimed her fate.
She heard it in his mind:
Until I understand her core…
No one lays a hand on her.
She's mine to control.
Her breath hitched.
Leo noticed.
"We're done here," he said.
He didn't wait for permission. He stepped down from the throne and grabbed her wrist not painfully, but firmly.
Possessively.
He led her through another corridor and into a secluded chamber. A heavy door slammed shut behind them.
Only then did he release her.
Amaya jerked back, clutching her wrist. "You didn't have to drag me."
Leo turned slowly.
His gaze pinned her like claws.
"I did," he said softly, "if you wanted to survive."
Her stomach twisted. "They hate me."
"They fear you," leo corrected. "Fear is louder."
She sank onto a low stone bench, rubbing her temples. "Why bring me here if everything reacts to me? My core… this place… those people…"
Leo's steps were silent as he approached.
"That's exactly why." He knelt in front of her, eye level for the first time. "Your core is too unstable. If your energy erupted in the wild, half the territory would sense it."
He leaned in slightly.
"Here," he murmured, "I can control who learns of you."
Amaya shivered.
"Control," she whispered. "Everything with you is about control."
Leo didn't deny it.
He didn't move away either.
Instead, he studied her like he was analyzing a weapon, not a girl.
"You heard the system's warning," he said. "Your core is close to rupturing. If it does, you will die and take many with you."
Her breath trembled.
"So… what are you going to do?"
Leo's thoughts flickered sharply too fast, too dangerous.
I should restrain her. Bind the core. Force it dormant.
Before it consumes her.
He lifted his hand. His claws glinted inches from her chest but his touch was careful, controlled.
"Don't move."
A thrum of cold energy pulsed from his palm, sinking into her skin. Amaya gasped, arching forward as the heat in her chest sparked violently.
[SYSTEM WARNING]
[CORE REACTING TO EXTERNAL FORCE]
[STABILIZATION ATTEMPT INITIATED]
Her pulse roared. Her vision whited out.
Leo's mind slammed into hers like a frozen avalanche
Too strong
Her resonance is fighting me
Hold still, girl
If you break now
Dammit—BREATHE
Amaya choked on a scream.
"I I can't leo, it's too much!"
His hand shot to the back of her neck, steadying her, pulling her closer until her forehead pressed against his.
His breath was cold against her lips.
"Look at me."
Her eyes snapped open and locked onto icy blue.
Dominant.
Unyielding.
Commanding.
"You will not break," he growled. "Not while I'm here."
The system's chime roared in her skull
[SYSTEM LINK: SOUL RESONANCE SYNCING]
Her core surged.
Leo snarled, tightening his grip. "Don't fight it let the energy flow"
"I I don't know how!"
"Then listen to me," he said. "Follow my heartbeat."
She could hear it not with her ears, but inside her mind.
Steady. Powerful. Containing her wild, thrashing core like it was nothing.
Slowly painfully her energy aligned with his.
[SYSTEM SYNC: 42%]
[67%]
[89%]
"leo…" she whispered, trembling. "It feels like"
"I know," he said quietly. "Don't think. Just breathe."
The final chime rang.
[SYSTEM SYNC COMPLETE]
[CORE TEMPORARILY STABILIZED]
The world fell silent.
Lei exhaled slowly, dropping his hand from her chest. His claws retracted; the glow faded from his eyes.
But he didn't move away.
His forehead remained against hers.
Their breaths mingled in the cold air.
Amaya swallowed. "What… what was that?"
Leo opened his eyes.
The look he gave her wasn't cold.
It was dangerous.
"You synchronized with me," he said. "Soul Resonance. A bond no human should ever have with a beastlord."
His voice lowered to a warning.
"And now… I can feel your core.
Your emotions.
Your fear."
Her pulse raced.
"And you," he murmured, "can feel mine."
She felt it sharp, controlled, buried fire.
A storm locked behind a steel cage.
Her breath hitched. "leo… is this permanent?"
His jaw tensed.
"No," he said. "But the connection will not break easily."
He finally leaned back, separating their foreheads. But he stayed close. Too close.
The unreadable cold in his gaze returned.
"From now on," leo said, standing to his full, dominating height, "you stay within this palace. You do not leave without my permission."
Her mouth fell open. "I'm not a prisoner."
"You are unstable," leo said simply. "And hunted. That makes you mine to protect."
"I didn't ask you"
"No," he cut calmly. "But I decided."
His tail flicked sharply behind him, betraying irritation he didn't show on his face.
He turned toward the door.
But before he could leave
Her voice cracked quietly:
"leo… will this bond hurt me?"
He froze.
His thoughts surged brief, unguarded:
It will hurt me far more than her.
Leo didn't turn around.
"No," he said stiffly. "It won't hurt you."
His claws flexed once.
"But it will change everything."
The door opened.
Cold wind rushed in.
Leo stepped out without looking back.
And Amaya realized
She was no longer just lost in the Beastworld.
She was bound to its most dangerous king.
And the Beastlord Palace…
felt far too much like a cage she wasn't ready to escape.
To be continued.....