Page 111 of The Huntmaster

My heart squeezed. I turned to him, cupping his jaw, forcing him to look me in the eyes. "You stay with us, Sky. You belong here now. You're going to be looked after, treated properly... and loved." I squeezed his shoulder gently, gesturing toward the wide-eyed young Vakra who were clinging to each other near the roots. "Go on. Help the younger ones find their feet in their new home. They need someone who knows what it's like."

Sky stared at me, a brilliant, tearful warmth lighting up his eyes before he nodded eagerly and hurried toward the frightened captives.

Kaelen watched him weave through the crowd, a quiet, solemn shift passing over his features. His heavy arm pulled me flush against his hip.

"I made a vow when I thought I had lost you," Kaelen murmured, his voice low, rough, and thick with emotion. "I swore that boy would be like a son. I do not know how to be a father, Lyra... but I will spend every sunrise learning how to be worthy of it for him." He hesitated, his thumb lightly brushing my waist before a faint, dark glint entered his golden eyes. "...though I certainly wouldn't mind practising how to make a few of our own, too."

A sudden, unexpected spike of heat and possessive desire rippled across our link, making my breath hitch.

I turned my head, a quiet laugh catching in my throat despite the exhaustion in my bones. "We don't even know if human-Oru-ka hybrid genetics are scientifically possible, Kaelen." I reached up and smoothed a streak of ash from his cheekbone. "But regardless... we are going to treat Sky like our own. We're going to give him the family he never had."

Kaelen’s chest rumbled, his grip tightening comfortably around me. "We will."

Before we could head toward the healing pavilion, a tall, armoured figure stepped out from the shade of the commander’s archway.

Mara.

Her chest plate was spattered with dark blood, her jaw set tight. The memory hit me sharp and cold: the night she had quietly dismantled the Nest's inner wards, opening the gates to let the dark Vakra slip in and drag me away. She had traded me to the enemy, consumed by the bitter grief and loss she had carried for so long.

Kaelen stopped instantly, his grip on my waist tightening to an almost bruising pressure. The air in the clearing turned freezing cold as his golden alpha eyes locked onto his commander. In the chaos of the caverns, I hadn't even had the chance to tell him how I had ended up in Sila's hands in the first place.

"Mara," Kaelen growled, the sound lethal and cutting. He looked down at me, then back at his commander, sensing the sudden shift in my blood. "Speak. Why do you look at my mate with such guilt?"

Mara swallowed hard. She didn't offer an excuse. Slowly, deliberately, she unbuckled her broadsword, let it drop to the dirt, and sank to her knees, bowing her head completely.

"I broke my oath," Mara said, her voice tight and raw, echoing in the quiet clearing. "I opened the perimeter gates. I let the Vakra take her from her bed. I was blinded by the loss of my kin, twisted by years of mourning, and I thought sacrificing the human would buy peace for the rest of us." She kept her forehead near the soil, exposing the back of her neck in total submission. "My life is yours to take, Huntmaster. I will not fight the blade."

Kaelen’s muscles coiled, his hand dropping to his hilt, his alpha aura flaring violently as the truth hit him. The air pressure dropped so fast my ears popped. He was ready to execute her where she knelt.

"Kaelen, stop!" I commanded softly, placing my hand over his white-knuckled grip on his sword.

"She handed you to Sila!" Kaelen snarled, his golden eyes blazing with untamed fury. "She delivered you to the dark!"

"We are not savages," I said, my voice firm as I stepped slightly in front of him. I looked down at Mara, whose shoulders were shaking against the dirt. "If it had only been me you endangered, perhaps I would have found forgiveness sooner. But because of your choice, people died. You don't get forgiveness today, Mara. But you do get the chance to earn it."

I looked back up at Kaelen, keeping my gaze steady. "She stripped away every ounce of trust we had in her. She doesn't get her command back. But she won't be slaughtered. She will stay in this camp, and she will work every day to prove herself again. That is her sentence."

Kaelen held my gaze for a long, heavy moment, the rage in his eyes warring with his absolute devotion to my word. Finally, with a harsh, frustrated exhale, he let go of his sword hilt.

He turned toward the crowd, his voice echoing across the silent clearing like cracked thunder. "Hear my mate's words! Her judgment is mine. Mara is stripped of her rank. She will work the lower roots with the vanguard, and she will earn every breath you draw on this soil. If she steps out of line again, not even Lyra will stay my blade."

A low, profound murmur rippled through the gathered Oru-ka warriors. Heads turned, eyes widening in shock. The Huntmaster wasn't just showing restraint—he was publicly elevating my command to equal his own.

Mara lifted her face from the dirt, her eyes shining with unshed tears, stunned by the mercy she hadn't earned. "I... I accept."

As Mara picked up her unbuckled blade and backed away, Kaelen stood beside me, watching her go. His golden eyes softened, the lethal tension slowly draining from his broad frame as he looked down at me.

"Watching you stand there..." Kaelen murmured softly, his large hand cupping the side of my neck, his thumb carefully avoiding the tender scar tissue. "Watching you choose mercy after everything they took from you... you have no idea how beautiful you are."

I smiled up at him, opening my mouth to reply—until a sudden, unmistakable wave bled across our bond.

It wasn't violent or dark. It was a thick, heavy pulse of raw desire, territorial possessiveness, and overwhelming relief, leaking straight from his mind into mine. He was trying desperately to suppress it, but the bond betrayed him completely.

I arched an eyebrow, a small, knowing smirk touching my lips. "You're thinking about it."

Kaelen let out a low growl, his jaw tightening as his golden eyes flicked away from mine. "I am thinking about many things, little star. One of them involves carrying you upstairs."

"Kaelen," I chuckled softly, shaking my head as the warmth in my chest eased the last bit of tension from my shoulders. "We have to check on Toren first. Hold it in."