The wind whistles between the rocks.Kael grips Lunaya's hand so tightly her fingers start to tingle.
"They must not find you" he growls.
"Who?"
"The Felids. They are… different."
He glances nervously over his shoulder.
"They don't sense like us. They don't hunt like us. They"
A sharp sound cuts him off.
Clack.
Like falling gravel.Light. Delicate.Intentional.
Kael freezes.
"Too late."
Lunaya slowly turns her head.
A silhouette stands on an elevated rock, perfectly still.The rising sun carves out his lean shape:a lithe musculature, a feline posture, wild black hair falling in loose strands.
His eyes,two golden slits shining like a predator lurking in the dark.
He smiles faintly.
"Oh… so this is the little human everyone's talking about."
Kael growls.
"Stay away from her, Sahr!"
The feline leaps from the rock,without a sound, without effort.He lands before them with an almost unreal fluidity.
"Calm down, wolf."
His voice is warm, velvety, almost caressing.
"If I wanted you dead, you wouldn't have heard me coming."
Kael steps between Lunaya and him.
The feline inclines his head slightly, amused.
"You're trembling, Moon-Fang. Is it fear… or something else?"
Kael bares his teeth.
"I'm warning you, Felid,"
"Silence."
The word drops, soft but commanding.Kael stiffens, startled… as if he obeyed without meaning to.
Lunaya holds her breath.
The feline finally rests his eyes on her.And the world… slows.
No aggression.No primal hunger like Kael.No raw power like Dravik.
No.
Something subtler.More dangerous.
"So it's you," he murmurs, voice low.
His feline tail sways behind him.
"The Resonant."
Lunaya steps back instinctively.He doesn't move.
He just watches her.For a long moment.
"You smell… different."
Kael growls again.
"Don't touch her."
The feline laughs softly.
"I wasn't planning to."
He takes one step forward.Kael blocks him immediately.
The stranger raises both hands in peace.
"You're doing a good job, wolf."
He brushes the ground with his retractable claws.
"But I'm not like you. Her power doesn't affect me."
Silence.
Lunaya tenses.
"What do you mean… "doesn't affect you"?"
He turns to her, smiling slowly.
"Your waves… your Resonance…"
He touches his chest.
"Nothing gets through. As if your power just slips off me."
Kael pales.The shock is clear.
"Impossible. Even, I"
"Even you, yes."
The Felid taps Kael's shoulder like one scolds a stubborn pup.
"But I…"
His golden eyes lock onto Lunaya again.
"…I was born without an instinct to tame."
Lunaya frowns.
"What does that mean?"
He smiles, dangerously.
"It means I'm the only one here… who can look at you without wanting you."
He tilts his head.
"Without fearing you."
Another step closer."Without trying to claim you."
He now stands within arm's reach.
Kael is seconds from pouncing.
The feline studies her as if she were a work of art.
"And yet…"
His voice drops.His smile widens.
"…I still can't look away."
A charged silence falls.
Then the Felid withdraws, agile as a drifting shadow.
"I didn't come for you today, Resonant."
He glances at Kael.
"Only to check… how bad the chaos has gotten."
He climbs the rocks effortlessly.
"I'll return when you're alone, Lunaya."
Kael lunges to stop him,but the Felid is already gone, vanishing into the heights without a sound.
Only the echo of his voice remains.And the wild cat-scent lingering in the air.
Kael turns to her, pale.
"Lunaya…"
He swallows hard.
"The Felids are never drawn.Never bound.Never subdued."
He presses a trembling hand to his forehead.
"If he came back for you…His eyes close."…then your power is far more than I feared."