The moon had drifted past its highest point when the palace shifted.
It wasn't a sound.
Not at first.
More like… a wrongness. A slow, poisoned ripple moving through the walls — as if the shadows themselves had inhaled.
Leo stiffened instantly.
His ears pricked, tail coiling tight, every muscle locking in tension. He'd been awake the entire night, watchful, silent, his body a wall of warmth behind Amaya as she slept curled on the furs.
But this was different.
This was danger.
Predatory danger.
Something is inside the palace.
The thought wasn't his.
Not exactly.
The bond pulsed once — a low vibration through his chest. It wasn't Amaya's conscious mind. More like a reaction from her core, whispering of threat long before sound or sight confirmed it.
Leo's eyes narrowed.
He rose with slow precision, stepping in front of Amaya without making a sound. His claws lengthened with a soft metallic hiss.
The air turned colder.
The crystal lights flickered.
Then—
Then he heard it.
A breath.
But not human. Not beastman.
Thin. Papery. Like a dying whisper.
And it came from the wall.
Leo's fur bristled.
Shadow Devourer.
He recognized the scent the moment it seeped under the doorframe — cold, hollow, hungry. A Mist-creature, born from corrupted cores, feeding on unshielded essence.
Drawn… to her.
Leo's throat rumbled in a low, lethal growl.
They should not exist this deep in the palace. Someone must have summoned it — or opened a passage.
Someone wanted Amaya dead.
"leo…?"
Her voice was barely a breath as she stirred behind him.
The bond jolted — her fear pricking his senses like lightning needles.
"Do not move," he said quietly.
He didn't turn.
He didn't risk breaking line of sight.
The shadow on the far wall thickened, pooling unnaturally, like ink dripping upward instead of down. The crystal light dimmed further. The cold sharpened.
Amaya sat up slowly.
"Wh-what is that?"
A soft hiss slithered through the chamber.
Amaya flinched. Leo's claws fully extended.
"It's hunting you," he said.
"Me?! Why—"
"Your core," leo growled. "It feeds on raw power. And yours is waking."
She went still.
"leo, what do I do?"
"You don't," he said, voice dropping into a deep, dangerous register.
"I do."
The shadow peeled itself from the wall.
It had no limbs. No face. No eyes.
Just a mouth — a jagged tear of shimmering void, lined with teeth that looked like broken quartz.
It made no sound when it moved.
It simply appeared across the room in an instant.
Amaya gasped, stumbling backward.
Leo moved faster.
His body blurred, slamming between her and the creature. Claws slashed through mist — and hit nothing.
The Devourer reformed behind him.
"LEO!"
He spun just in time to block the strike aimed for her chest. But the creature wasn't solid; it passed through his arm like smoke — cold, burning smoke — and Amaya screamed as the shadow grazed her shoulder.
Light exploded from her skin.
Her core flared, wild and panicked.
Leo's heart seized.
"Amaya—!"
The bond lashed between them like a whip. Her fear hit him, her pain hit him, her panic hit him—
—and leo broke.
Not physically.
Not mentally.
Instinctually.
His beast instincts, kept restrained for years, surged forward like a tidal wave. His vision tinted blue-white. His fangs lengthened. His pupils narrowed to slits.
Power roared through him hot and savage.
He didn't hold it back.
Couldn't.
Not with her screaming.
A deep, guttural snarl ripped from his throat — one he had not unleashed in a decade.
The Shadow Devourer recoiled.
Too late.
Leo lunged.
He grabbed the creature by its throat — or where a throat should have been — and slammed it into the wall so hard the ice cracked.
The shadow shrieked — a warping, metallic screech — the walls trembling from the force.
Light poured from leo's hands.
White, blinding, furious light.
The Devourer writhed, trying to seep through the wall.
Leo didn't let it.
He drove his knee into its center, nailing it in place with a crack of force that made the whole chamber quake.
"LEO!" Amaya gasped. "Your hands— they're burning!"
He didn't feel it.
He only felt the bond.
Her fear.
Her pain.
Her trembling breath.
He ripped the creature's form apart — a violent, explosive tear — but the shadow reformed behind him, lunging for Amaya again.
Leo turned with a roar that shook frost from the ceiling.
His claws slashed across the creature's mouth, sending fragments of shattered void scattering like shards of smoke.
Amaya stumbled backward, gripping her shoulder, her breath hitching as her core pulsed dangerously — wildly — confused by the creature's presence and leo's rage.
"L-Leo— your aura— it's too strong—"
He didn't hear her.
Or rather, he did.
Every trembling, terrified heartbeat.
It pushed him further into the frenzy.
Mine to protect.
Mine to guard.
Mine to keep alive.
Mine.
The Devourer lunged.
Leo slammed it into the ceiling this time.
Then the floor.
Then he pinned it with one knee and grabbed it by its shadowy jaws, prying its mouth open with raw, brutal force.
The creature shrieked again — a sound that made Amaya clutch her ears, eyes wide with terror—
And the bond snapped tight.
Leo felt her panic spike.
It stabbed through him like a blade.
He froze.
Just for an instant.
Just long enough for the Shadow Devourer to split its form, half slipping behind him, half rushing for Amaya like a tide of black fire.
She screamed.
He moved.
Faster than thought.
He threw himself into its path, taking the brunt of the hit — the shadow punching through his side like frostbite and fire at once. His breath hitched, body jolting.
But he didn't stop.
He grabbed the creature's shifting mass with both hands, ignoring the way it burned his skin with pure void energy, and forced his core outward.
Ice roared through the room — not cold, not gentle, but razor-sharp, crystalline power forged for killing.
"YOU DO NOT TOUCH HER!"
His roar shook the entire palace wing.
The Shadow Devourer shrieked, its form breaking apart like shattered glass under the weight of leo's unleashed aura.
Light exploded.
Amaya threw an arm over her face.
The Devourer disintegrated in a cascading fall of black dust — dissolving into the floor like melting shadows.
Silence hit the room like a hammer.
Then—
Leo staggered.
His knees hit the floor.
Amaya shot forward.
"LEO!"
He didn't move at first. His breath came in harsh, ragged pulls, his aura still raging uncontrolled around him in white-blue flames.
She touched his arm.
He flinched violently.
"Don't—" he rasped. "My aura— it's unstable—"
"I don't care," she whispered fiercely. "Let me see you."
Her voice cut through the frenzy.
His aura faltered.
He lifted his head slowly — and her breath caught.
His eyes weren't blue anymore.
Not entirely.
They glowed with a wild, luminescent silver-white at the center, rimmed with jagged lightning-like cracks.
His beast instincts were still in control.
Barely.
"Amaya…" His voice was not quite his own. Deeper. Rougher. "I told you… staying near me is dangerous."
"You saved me."
He bared his fangs — not in threat, but in pain.
"You are hurt."
"So are you."
His gaze dropped to her shoulder, where the Devourer had grazed her. The skin was darkened, almost frostbitten, with threads of energy beneath.
Leo's breath shook.
"Come here," he murmured.
He lifted a hand — trembling, clawed, still glowing faintly.
She stepped forward without hesitation.
He pressed his palm gently over the wound.
Light flowed.
Warm and cold at once, sinking deep into her skin, stabilizing the wild pulse of her core.
Her breath hitched.
Leo froze.
The bond surged — powerful, bright, intimate — and something between them clicked.
Resonance.
Real resonance.
His aura flared white for a split second — and then sharpened into perfect focus.
His claws retracted.
His eyes steadied.
He inhaled sharply.
"Amaya… what did you just do?"
She swallowed.
"I… I didn't do anything. I just… touched you."
The bond hummed in agreement.
It was stronger now.
Too strong.
"leo," she whispered, "your hands… you're bleeding."
He looked down.
Black scorch marks laced his palms where he'd grabbed the Devourer's void form.
But he didn't let her worry show through the bond.
He pushed to his feet slowly.
His legs trembled — only slightly — but Amaya saw it.
"leo… sit down—"
"I'm fine."
"You're lying."
He didn't deny it.
But he did step forward and wrap a hand around her wrist, pulling her close enough that his forehead rested against hers.
The bond hummed louder.
"I almost lost you," he whispered.
"You didn't."
"I could have."
"But you didn't."
His breath trembled against her skin.
Then—
Boom.
A fist slammed against the chamber door.
"LORD LEO!" shouted a guard from the hallway. "We heard an explosion! Are you—"
"Leave," leo snarled, voice filled with cold fury.
A beat of silence.
Then the guard's footsteps retreated hurriedly.
Amaya blinked. "leo— you can't hide this. The council will know—"
"They can come," he growled. "If they dare."
She touched his cheek.
He froze again.
"leo," she said softly, "what was that creature doing inside your palace?"
His jaw tightened.
"…It was summoned."
"By who?"
He looked away.
"That," he said darkly, "is the question I plan to answer."
His hand tightened on her wrist — protective, possessive, shaken.
"And when I find who opened the way for it…"
His voice dropped to a terrifying whisper.
"I will tear them apart."
Amaya swallowed.
Leo turned back to her — eyes burning fiercely, aura coiling like a storm.
"Stay with me," he said.
Not a command.
Not an order.
A vow.
A plea.
A promise.
"Tonight," he murmured, brushing a thumb over the spot where the Devourer touched her, "you sleep in my arms. And if anything else dares to reach for you…"
His voice became a growl — deep, dangerous, feral.
"I'll kill it."
Amaya felt the bond pull tight again, warm and dizzying.
"…Okay," she whispered.
Leo exhaled — a slow, shaky breath of relief.
He lifted her into his arms, carrying her back to the furs. She curled into his chest without hesitation.
And for the first time that night—
Leo let himself hold her.
Close.
Tight.
Fiercely.
Too fiercely.
His instincts were still burning, still alive under his skin, still humming with the need to protect her.
But she didn't pull away.
And the palace, wounded and trembling from the attack, slowly quieted.
Outside their chamber, guards whispered.
Council members stirred.
Enemies listened.
But inside the Beastlord's private room—
Amaya slept, safe in leo's arms.
And leo did not sleep at all.
Not while shadows still dared to move in his kingdom.
Not while someone wanted her dead.
Not while the bond between them glowed like a heartbeat waiting to awaken further.
Not while she was his to protect.
To be continued…