The icy dread that had swept through the dining hall lingered like a foul mist, even after the green flames had vanished and the servants had scrambled to replace the shattered glass. The atmosphere of celebration had been replaced by a suffocating tension. Alpha Michael had immediately ordered the sentries to double the perimeter patrols, but Simon knew that physical walls meant very little against the shadow he had just felt.
"He's not leaving her side, David. Don't even waste your breath," Michael said, his voice weary but firm as the two families stood in the grand hallway outside the guest wing.
Alpha David looked from Michael to Simon, who was currently standing like a stone monument in front of Evelyn's bedroom door. Simon's jaw was set, his turquoise eyes still flickering with that predatory gold light. He hadn't let go of Evelyn's hand since the incident at the table; if anything, his grip had become a permanent anchor.
"It isn't proper," David argued, though his heart wasn't entirely in it. He could see the way his daughter was leaning into Simon, her head resting against the boy's massive shoulder. "They aren't marked. They aren't wed. In the Starlight Pack, the future Luna's chambers are sacred."
"And in the Moonlight Pack," Simon rumbled, his voice vibrating with a primal authority that made the hallway feel small, "the Alpha protects his mate. That shadow didn't come for you, David. It came for the Star. It came for her."
Evelyn looked up at her father, her violet eyes shimmering with a mix of exhaustion and fear. "Father, please. I don't feel safe alone. The Soul-Link... it's the only thing keeping that coldness away."
David sighed, looking at his wife, Roseline. She simply nodded, her hand resting on his arm. "Let it be, David. The Moon Goddess has clearly decided their fates. If the Void is truly stirring, there is no place safer for her than behind the shield of a Tribrid."
Finally, David stepped back. "Fine. But Simon you stay outside the threshold. If I find you in that room before the sun rises, not even your father will be able to stop me from challenging you."
Simon didn't flinch. "I don't need a bed to guard what is mine."
As the parents retreated to their own quarters to discuss the emergence of the Fifth Kingdom's shadows, the hallway grew quiet. The only sound was the distant howl of a wolf on patrol and the soft crackle of the torches on the walls.
Simon opened the door for Evelyn, stepping aside but refusing to break the physical connection until she was safely inside the room. The guest suite was luxurious, draped in silver silks and scented with lavender, but to Simon, it looked like a cage if he wasn't there to protect it.
"Simon," Evelyn whispered, turning to face him at the doorway. The silver moonlight from the window caught the edges of her hair, making her look like a celestial being. "You don't have to stay awake all night. You've had a long day too."
Simon reached out, his thumb grazing her lower lip. The "Bond Spark" flickered between them, warmer and more intimate than before. 'I couldn't sleep if I tried,' he told her through the link, his thoughts a protective hum in her mind. 'Every time I close my eyes, I feel that oily coldness. I won't let it touch you again.'
Evelyn leaned her forehead against his chest, her hands clutching the fabric of his shirt. "It spoke to you, didn't it? In the hall. I felt a spike of pure rage in your mind."
Simon's expression darkened. He didn't want to tell her what the voice had said that she was "convenient" for them. He didn't want her to know she was a target for an ancient, forgotten evil. "It was just a ghost, little star. A ghost that made a mistake by showing itself to me."
He gently guided her toward the bed, pulling the heavy velvet covers back. "Rest. I'll be right here. I'll be in your head the whole time. If you have a bad dream, just call out, and I'll be there."
Evelyn climbed into the bed, looking small amidst the mounds of pillows. She watched him as he backed out of the room, her eyes never leaving his until the door clicked shut.
Simon sat down immediately, his back against the heavy oak wood of the door. He didn't sit like a man resting; he sat like a soldier in a trench. He crossed his massive arms over his chest, his legs stretched out across the hallway, effectively barring entry to anyone friend or foe.
The hours ticked by in a slow, agonizing crawl. For a normal wolf, the boredom of a night watch would have been the greatest enemy. But Simon wasn't a normal wolf.
He closed his eyes, not to sleep, but to expand his senses. He let his consciousness drift. He tapped into the "Lagoon" in his blood, feeling the moisture in the air, the way the dew was settling on the leaves outside the stone walls. He tapped into the "Dragon," feeling the heat of the pack house's central hearth three floors below. And he tapped into the "Wolf," listening to the rhythmic breathing of every living soul in the building.
'Simon?' Evelyn's voice was a soft vibration in his mind. She was awake.
'I'm here,' he replied instantly. 'What's wrong? Are you cold?'
'No... just lonely. The bed is too big. The silence is too loud.' He felt a wave of her longing through the link. It was a sweet, sharp ache that mirrored his own.
'Do you want me to talk to you?' Simon asked.
'Tell me a story,' she whispered. 'Tell me about the Moonlight Pack. Tell me what it was like growing up as the 'Metallic Wolf'.'
Simon let out a low, huffed laugh that vibrated through the door. 'My mother didn't call me the Metallic Wolf. She called me 'Simon Peter' whenever I got into her vegetable garden. I used to dig holes near the carrots because the earth was cooler there. I think the dragon in me wanted to burrow, but the wolf wanted to hunt the rabbits.'
He spent the next hour sharing memories the time his father tried to teach him to fish and Simon ended up diving into the water and catching a trout with his teeth, terrifying the Alpha; the time Stella threatened to dye his silver fur pink if he didn't stop track-testing his speed through her clean laundry.
He felt Evelyn's amusement through the link, her laughter a bright, sparkling color in his mind. Gradually, her thoughts began to slow, becoming fuzzy and warm.
'Simon?' she murmured, her "voice" drifting off.
'Yes, Evelyn?'
'I'm glad it was you. I was so scared of the bond... I thought I'd be forced to be with someone who didn't understand the light. But you... you're the first person who feels like the sun.'
Simon felt a lump form in his throat. He leaned his head back against the door, a solitary tear tracing a path through the faint teal scales on his cheek. 'Sleep, little star. The sun is always here for you.'
Around 3:00 AM, the temperature in the hallway plummeted.
Simon didn't need a thermometer to tell him the Void was back. The torches on the walls didn't just flicker; they went out entirely, plunged into a darkness so absolute it felt like being buried alive.
Simon was on his feet in a heartbeat. He didn't shift he didn't want to make enough noise to wake Evelyn but his claws extended, slicing through the air. His eyes erupted in a blinding gold light, cutting through the unnatural gloom like twin searchlights.
"Show yourself," he hissed, the dual-tone of his voice echoing off the stone.
At the far end of the hallway, a shape began to coalesce. It didn't have a face, or a body, or a scent. It was a rip in reality, a smudge of moving ink that seemed to swallow the light around it.
'The bridge is strong,' the voice hissed, vibrating not in the air, but in Simon's very marrow. 'Land, Sea, and Sky... a beautiful vessel. But a vessel can be broken, little Alpha. A vessel can be drained.'
"Touch her," Simon growled, his body beginning to steam. The heat radiating from him was so intense that the stone floor beneath his boots began to crack. "Touch her, and I will show you why the dragons were feared more than the dark."
The shadow moved, drifting closer with a sickening, liquid grace. Simon stepped forward, away from the door, putting himself between the entity and his mate. He felt a surge of power he hadn't known he possessed—a blue-green fire that danced along his claws.
He lashed out.
His claws didn't hit flesh, but they hit something. There was a sound like tearing silk, and the shadow let out a shriek that was purely psychic, a blast of agony that made Simon's ears bleed.
The entity recoiled, its form flickering. 'You carry the ancient fire... but fire needs fuel. We will see how long you burn when the other two are found. We will see who claims the Quad-Bond first.'
With a final, mocking hiss, the shadow dissolved into the floor. The torches sputtered back to life, their orange flames looking weak and pathetic compared to the gold of Simon's eyes.
Simon stood there for a long time, his chest heaving, his claws slowly retracting. The mention of "the other two" sent a chill through him that had nothing to do with the Void. He looked at the door behind him. Evelyn was still asleep, her breathing steady and peaceful. She hadn't felt the attack; he had absorbed the entire psychic blow for her.
He sat back down, but he didn't lean against the door this time. He sat in a meditative crouch, his eyes fixed on the spot where the shadow had been.
The "Mate Fever" was gone, replaced by something much more dangerous: a King's resolve. He realized then that the outline of his life was being written by forces much older than the pack treaties. He had found his first mate, his Star. But the shadow had spoken of two more.
If he was to protect Evelyn, he had to become more than just an Alpha. He had to become the Tribrid the prophecies spoke of. He had to find the strength to hold three queens and a kingdom, all while a dead world tried to pull them into the abyss.
"Let them come," Simon whispered into the flickering light. "I have enough fire for everyone."
As the first hint of grey dawn began to filter through the high windows, Simon didn't move. He remained the silent sentinel, the golden-eyed protector, waiting for his mate to wake up so he could see the violet of her eyes one more time.