I pressed Y.
The second bond hit different than the first.
Where Frost had been lightning, sharp, intense, and overwhelming. River was a flood. Energy crashed through me in waves, pulling and pushing, chaotic and wild and somehow joyful despite the seven leopards charging at us with murderous rage in their eyes.
I gasped as River's presence exploded into my consciousness alongside Frost's. Where Frost felt like ice, stone and quiet determination, River was rushing water, laughter and movement that never stopped.
[BOND ESTABLISHED]
[River – Otter Tribe – Bonded Mate #2]
[Ability Unlocked: Water Sense]
[Ability Unlocked: Enhanced Agility]
[Ability Unlocked: Aquatic Breathing]
Knowledge flooded in, how to read currents, how to find water sources, how to move through liquid like I was born to swim. My body felt lighter, faster, like gravity had loosened its grip.
River's head whipped toward me, his amber eyes going wide. "Whoa. WHOA. Did you just—" His grin transformed into something feral and delighted. "Oh, this is going to be fun."
"What's fun about dying?!" I shouted.
"Everything, if you do it right!"
The first leopard reached us.
River moved like water given form, flowing around the attack with impossible grace. His stone blade flicked out, opening a shallow cut across the hunter's arm—not deep enough to cripple, just enough to enrage.
"Kira!" Frost's voice cut through the chaos. "Get down!"
I dropped without thinking. A leopard's claws whistled over my head, so close I felt the displaced air. Through the bond, I felt Frost's frustration, he wanted to protect me but his wounded body wouldn't cooperate.
Stop trying to stand, you idiot, I thought at him. Could he hear me through the bond? I had no idea how this worked.
Apparently yes, because I felt his surprise spike through our connection, followed by grudging acknowledgment.
Two hunters converged on River. He laughed and did something I could barely track with my eyes. A flip, a twist, and suddenly he was behind them, his blade scoring lines across their backs.
"Too slow!" he called cheerfully. "Come on, I know you frozen-tundra cats can move faster than that!"
"Stop playing with them!" I yelled.
"But playing is the best part!"
Kael's roar silenced everyone. "ENOUGH!"
The alpha moved, and it was nothing like his hunters. Pure speed and power, no wasted motion. He closed the distance to River in two strides, claws extended for a killing blow.
River's grin finally faltered. "Oh shhhhit—!"
I felt it through our bond, his sudden spike of genuine fear, the realization that he'd miscalculated, that he wasn't fast enough to dodge this one.
My body moved on instinct.
The Enhanced Agility from River's bond combined with something else, something that felt like it came from deeper than the System. I flowed forward, my hand intercepting Kael's wrist again.
This time I didn't just stop him. I twisted.
Kael's momentum turned against him. Basic physics and anatomical knowledge. his weight, his center of gravity, the vulnerable joints I could feel through my Healing Sense. He went down hard, crashing into the moss with a satisfying thud.
Dead silence.
Seven leopards stared at me. River stared at me. Even Frost, who'd felt the bond form, stared at me like I'd grown a second head.
Kael pushed himself up slowly, his blue eyes locked on mine with an expression I couldn't read. "What. Are. You?"
"Pissed off" I said, and was horrified to hear my voice shaking. The adrenaline was crashing, reality catching up with my body's impossible movements. "And really, really tired of people trying to kill me and my—"
I stopped. What were they? Mates? Partners? Pets? The guys I'd accidentally magically bonded to in another dimension?
"Her bonds" Frost supplied quietly, and I felt his grim satisfaction through our connection. "She's made her choice, Kael. Twice now. That's more binding than any tribal law."
"She bonded with River?" One of the hunters said it like it was a joke. "The exile who can't even hold territory? Who plays in streams all day like a kit?"
"This exile just made all of you look like stumbling cubs" River said brightly, though I could feel his hurt beneath the humour. "Also, playing in streams is relaxing. You should try it. Might help with that chronic tension you're all carrying."
Kael stood fully, and I noticed the other hunters subtly shifting away from him. His authority, I realized. They were giving him space to make the call.
"You've bonded with trash," Kael said, and this time his voice was almost conversational. "A deserter and an exile. Do you understand what that makes you, human? Unbonded to any tribe. Outside the laws and protections. Anyone can challenge you. Anyone can take you."
"Let them try." The words came out harder than I felt. "I'm done with this conversation. We're leaving."
"No." Kael's smile was back. "You're not."
He didn't attack. Didn't move at all. But something in his voice made ice crawl up my spine.
"You see, human, there's something you don't know about bonds." He took a single step closer. "They can be broken. Violently. And when they break, the pain..." His smile widened. "Well. Let's just say most don't survive it with their minds intact."
Through the bond, I felt Frost's shock. Then his horror.
"You wouldn't," Frost breathed. "That's forbidden. Even for you..."
"Forbidden by laws I no longer need to follow." Kael's eyes never left mine. "Because you see, when I kill you, Frost, I become the one who broke your bond. Which means by ancient right, I can claim your mate as recompense."
My blood turned to ice. "That's insane."
"That's tradition. Blood debt." Kael gestured to his hunters. "And once I break your bond with the deserter, I'll kill the River trash too. Two bonds broken. Two deaths. And you, little human, will be mine. Damaged, grief-mad, and completely under my control."
"Over my dead body" River snarled, his playfulness finally gone.
"Yes..." Kael agreed simply. "...That's exactly the plan."