Kade

  There I was laying in bed with my wife and Vorren in his doggie bed on the floor. Lyra just cuddled closer.

  “So, how was it tonight?” She asked voice heavy with sleep.

  “I met a rune weaver that can summon familiars. She summoned a harpy by mistake.”

  Lyra’s head perked up off my chest, eyes narrowing in the dark. “And how old is this rune weaver?” she demanded.

  “Baby, I have no clue,” I said, running a hand over my face. “But Fixer is trying to hack her phone and failing.”

  “Failing?” Lyra repeated, sitting up straighter.

  “Yeah. Says the firewall on her line something about a royal firewall. Either she’s got help, or…” I trailed off.

  Lyra finished for me. “Or she is related to a royal.”

  Vorren lifted his head from the oversized “doggie bed,” letting out a low rumble like he agreed.

  Lyra turned back to me, eyes sharp. “Kade, this isn’t some street artist you stumbled into. If she can summon a familiar—an intelligent familiar—that puts her way past novice level. She’s a threat. Or a target.”

  I reached for her hand, but she pulled away, restless.

  “Then what do you suggest we do?” I asked.

  Lyra’s voice dropped low. “Find out exactly who she is… before someone else does.”

  At least I’m off from work today, but Fox he’s on the clock. I find it crazy, that I’m on the swat team and Fox is just a Cop.

  Vorron tugged on the bond. “Let’s go pay Jade and Ashira a visit.”

  I tugged on the bond, “Vorron I think you stress out Ashira. Watch over the house and greet the boys if I’m not back, by three.”

  I sat up abruptly.

  “Kade, where do you think you’re going?” Lyra demanded, her eyes narrowing. “I have another hour till I’m done with you, Mr.”

  I froze halfway through pulling on my shirt. Gods, only she could make me feel like I’d just been caught sneaking out of class.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “Well, I’m off to see our Rune weaver,” I said, forcing a crooked smile. “Vorren is going to guard the house.”

  Lyra crossed her arms, lips pressed thin. “You always say that. Always another mission, another recruit, another night gone.”

  Her voice cracked on the last word, and for a second she looked less like the woman who could gut me with a glare and more like someone just… tired.

  I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’ll be back before eleven. I promise.”

  She didn’t move, didn’t uncross her arms. “Promises don’t mean much when you’re buried under them.”

  That one stung more than it should’ve.

  Vorren’s tug pulled harder this time, impatient, hungry. “She’s wasting daylight, Kade.”

  I leaned down, kissed Lyra on the lips, and whispered, “Two hours. Then I’m yours again.”

  “One hour.”

  “Fine one hour.” I said before rushing for my motorcycle keys.

  The drive over wasn’t bad. Maven traffic thinned out this early, and Vorren kept low in the bond, quiet but watchful.

  Kolar Vered University loomed ahead, all polished glass, ivy-wrapped brick, and statues no one had bothered to dust since the last board meeting. The kind of place that screamed daddy’s money.

  I parked the bike on the far edge of the student lot, killed the engine, and scanned the campus. Security was laughable—half-asleep guards in windbreakers, cameras that hadn’t been updated in a decade.

  If Jade was really a Rune Weaver… she is untrained and hiding in plain sight. She’s doing a damned good job at it.

  I pulled off my helmet, raked a hand through my hair, and checked the clock on my phone. Forty-eight minutes left before Lyra expected me home.

  Plenty of time to ruin someone’s morning.

  “Jade had to be an art major,” I muttered, swinging a leg over the bike. “I might have to give May a call.”

  Students drifted past, clutching coffees and backpacks, their chatter blending into a low hum. None of them knew the kind of storm sitting in their dorms.

  But I did.

  And in less than an hour, I’d have her name, her bond, and whether she was going to be an ally… or a liability.

  I slid my hands into my jacket pockets and started toward the dorm quad, boots crunching against gravel. The students didn’t even glance my way—too wrapped up in caffeine and deadlines to notice the wolf walking among sheep.

  “Art major,” I muttered again. “Figures. The runes always find the dreamers first.”

  Vorren’s voice brushed the edge of my mind, steady and commanding. “Don’t spook her. She’s young, bonded, and afraid. Push too hard, she’ll bolt.”

  “I know.” My jaw tightened.

  Which dorm would she be assigned and what’s her schedule?

  Out of the corner of my eye, a campus officer came sprinting up, taser drawn and shaking in his grip.

  I turned smooth, drawing my service sidearm and leveling it right between his eyes.

  “Come on, do it,” I dared him, voice cold. “.45 ACP.”

  His boots scraped on the pavement, momentum dying in an instant. His face went pale. He hadn’t expected someone to stand their ground. Definitely not me.

  “Sir—” he stammered, taser trembling. “This is a student lot, you can’t just—”

  “Come on, I’m waiting.” I cut him off, keeping the muzzle aimed right at his brains letting him know this interaction is on my terms. “Lower your damn taser or I will shut this shit down.”

  He placed his taser back in the holster.

  “Now, kindly fuck off.” I snarled.

  He hit an about face walked back to the police station.

  I tugged on our link, “Vorren, I might be late distract my wife please.”

  He tugged right back, “I’m trying." he said voice growing annoyed. "She’s going on about you owe her, her time with you.”

  I exhaled heading for a building.