He doesn’t even slow down.
One swipe of his massive, clawed hand sends two flying. The third tries to run.
Fire erupts from K’s throat. Not wild. Controlled. The operative’s weapon melts. He drops it with a scream and backs away.
God.
Another operative tries a suppression beam. The hum builds, that same frequency that brought K down before.
This time, he roars.
The sound is physical. It hits like a shockwave, and the deviceshatters. Just explodes into fragments.
The operative staggers back, hands raised in surrender.
More Syndicate forces pour out. Ten. Fifteen. All armed. All moving with deadly intent.
K meets them head-on.
And I watch—transfixed, terrified,awed—as he cuts through them like they barely exist.
Claws that tear through body armor. Heavy arms that send men flying. Fire that melts weapons without touching flesh. Speed that shouldn’t be possible for something his size.
He’s not just fighting. He’sdominating.
This isn’t the gentle protector who carried me when I was exhausted. This is something else. Something that’s been sleeping, waiting, held back by memory loss and uncertainty.
This is what he truly is.
Warrior. Weapon.Formidable.
And watching him—scales gleaming, fire pouring from his throat in controlled torrents—I feel something shift in my chest.
The hollow ache eases.
Not disappears. Butlessens. Like being near him—even at this distance, even separated by fighting and violence—is enough to pull me back from whatever edge I’ve been teetering on.
I press my hand to my ribs. The pain that’s been building since he was taken—fading. The exhaustion—lifting. The sense of being slowly unmade—
Stopping.
“What—?” I whisper.
I feel… better.
The bond Dragana and the others had spoken about feels tangible. Undeniable.
The thought should bother me.
It doesn’t.
Because looking at him now—powerful and deadly and absolutely in his element—I understand.
I’m his. Have been since he pulled me from that wreckage. Since his fire wrapped around me and refused to let me die.
The bond isn’t just emotional.
It’sreal. Physical. Magical.
