Chapter 36 The Mate Bond's Power
KAEL'S POV
Cross's enhanced subjects charged.
I threw myself in front of Aria as the first one lunged. My broken ribs screamed, but I didn't care. She was my mate. I'd die before letting them touch her.
"Retreat to the control room!" Luna yelled, still frantically typing. "I need more time!"
Asher grabbed Aria's hand, pulling her toward the exit. I covered their escape, fighting despite my body falling apart. Every punch sent agony through my damaged bones. Every kick made my vision blur.
But something strange was happening.
The pain was... lessening. My ribs, which should've taken weeks to heal, felt stronger. My torn muscles moved easier. Even my vision cleared faster than it should.
What the hell?
An enhanced subject tackled me. We crashed through a doorway into a smaller room—some kind of storage space. The door slammed shut behind us, automatically locking.
I was alone with this thing. No weapons. No backup. And my body was still half-broken.
The subject advanced, eyes blank, movements predatory.
Then Aria's voice cut through the door. "Kael!"
Just hearing her voice sent warmth flooding through me. The mate bond pulsed between us, strong and alive. And with it came... energy. Strength. Healing.
My ribs knitted together faster. The pain faded to a dull ache.
The mate bond was healing me.
I'd heard stories about this—how completed mate bonds could share strength, accelerate healing. But Aria and I hadn't completed our bond. We'd kissed, felt the connection, but never finished the mating ritual.
So why was I healing?
The enhanced subject attacked. This time when I blocked, my arm didn't shake. When I punched back, real power drove through my fist. The subject staggered.
I pressed my advantage, fighting with renewed strength. Within seconds, the subject was unconscious.
I opened the door to find chaos. Cross's subjects were everywhere. Asher fought three at once, his enhanced abilities keeping them at bay. Luna had abandoned the computer to defend herself with a metal chair.
And Aria was surrounded by five enhanced subjects, her back against a wall.
Pure rage exploded through me. The mate bond blazed like fire.
"Get away from her!" I roared.
I moved faster than I ever had before. Tore through those subjects like they were made of paper. My injured body moved with impossible speed and strength—all powered by the mate bond's fury at seeing my mate threatened.
Within thirty seconds, all five were down.
Aria stared at me, eyes wide. "Kael, your injuries... you're healing."
"I know." I grabbed her hand, and the bond flared brighter. "It's the mate bond. But I don't understand how—"
"Because you love her," Luna said quietly. She'd given up on the computer and was watching us with sad, knowing eyes. "Real love. The kind that transcends logic. My father once told me that true mate bonds don't need completion rituals. They complete themselves through sacrifice and devotion."
More subjects poured through doors. We were running out of time.
"The control room!" Asher pointed to a reinforced door. "We can barricade ourselves!"
We ran. Crashed through the door and slammed it shut. Asher and I shoved filing cabinets against it as enhanced subjects pounded from the other side.
The room was small. Just us four, surrounded by computers and locked in with Cross's army trying to break through.
"Luna, can you override the system from here?" Asher asked.
"No." Luna's hands shook. "The main controls were destroyed when the amplifier exploded. We're trapped."
The door cracked. The barricade wouldn't hold much longer.
Aria turned to me, and I saw the decision in her eyes before she spoke.
"Complete the bond," she said. "Fully. Right now."
"Aria—"
"Kael, listen." She grabbed my face, forcing me to meet her gaze. "You're already healing from our partial bond. If we complete it, you'll be strong enough to fight our way out. Strong enough to save everyone."
"It's permanent," I said hoarsely. "Once we complete it, we're bonded for life. If I die, you feel it. If you die—"
"Then we die together." Her smile was fierce. "I choose you, Kael Ashford. In this life and whatever comes after. So stop arguing and kiss me like you mean it."
The door splintered. Subjects would break through any second.
I pulled Aria close and kissed her with everything I had. All my fear, all my love, all my desperate hope that this would work.
The mate bond exploded between us.
Energy surged through my body. My broken ribs healed completely. My torn muscles knitted stronger than before. Power flooded my veins—not enhancement like Cross's subjects, but something purer. Natural. Right.
I could feel Aria now. Feel her heartbeat matching mine. Feel her strength flowing into me and mine into her.
We broke apart, both gasping.
"Whoa," Aria whispered.
"Yeah." I looked at my hands. They weren't shaking anymore. Nothing hurt. I felt stronger than I ever had in my life.
The door burst open. Enhanced subjects flooded in.
I met them head-on.
This time, I didn't just fight. I dominated. The completed mate bond gave me speed, strength, and healing that made me nearly unstoppable. Every time a subject landed a hit, the bond healed it within seconds.
Asher joined me, fighting with enhanced power. Together, we cleared the room in under a minute.
"It's working!" Luna's eyes were wide. "The mate bond is actually—"
An alarm blared. Red lights flashed.
Luna checked a computer. Her face went white. "Oh no. Cross activated the building's self-destruct. For real this time. We have three minutes before this entire place explodes."
"The students!" Aria grabbed my arm. "They're still unconscious in the auditorium! We can't leave them!"
I did quick math. Five hundred students. Three minutes. Impossible to evacuate them all.
Unless...
"Asher, how many can you carry with your enhanced strength?" I asked.
"Ten at once. Maybe fifteen."
"I can carry twenty now with the mate bond." I looked at Luna. "Can you wake them remotely?"
"If I can reach the backup systems, yes. But—"
"Do it. Wake them. Tell them to run. Asher and I will carry anyone too weak to move."
Two minutes.
We ran back to the auditorium. Subjects were everywhere, but the mate bond made me unstoppable. I fought through them while Aria and Luna reached the control panel.
Luna's fingers flew. "Waking them... now!"
The students began stirring. Confusion turned to panic as they realized where they were.
"Everybody out!" Aria yelled. "This building is exploding! Run!"
Students stumbled toward exits. Most could walk. Some needed help.
Asher and I grabbed the weakest ones—piling unconscious students over our shoulders and backs. The enhanced strength and mate bond strength combined let us carry impossible weights.
One minute.
We ran. Students flooded through exits. The building shook as explosives armed themselves.
"Almost everyone's out!" Luna counted heads at the exit. "Just ten more—"
Thirty seconds.
I sprinted back inside. Found five students trapped under debris. Lifted the concrete beam off them with strength that should've been impossible.
"Go!" I shoved them toward the exit.
Twenty seconds.
Asher dragged out three more students. Luna pulled another two.
Ten seconds.
Everyone was out. Everyone except—
"Where's Aria?" I spun around.
She was still inside, at the control panel, typing frantically.
"Aria, we need to go!"
"I'm downloading Luna's father's files!" she yelled back. "All his research! If we lose this, Cross can rebuild everything!"
Five seconds.
I ran back inside, grabbed Aria, and dove through the exit.
The building exploded.
The shockwave threw us fifty feet. I twisted mid-air, taking the impact on my back while shielding Aria.
We hit the ground hard. My back screamed, but the mate bond was already healing it.
Aria looked up at me, laptop clutched to her chest. "Did I get the files?"
I wanted to yell at her for risking her life. Instead, I kissed her forehead. "You're insane. And yes, you got them."
Students were scattered across the parking lot. All five hundred. All alive.
We'd actually done it.
Then Cross's voice echoed from speakers we hadn't known were there. Hidden throughout the area.
"Congratulations," he said coldly. "You saved the students. Destroyed my research. But you missed something important."
A video screen flickered to life on a nearby building. It showed another facility. Bigger than the one we'd just destroyed.
Inside, thousands of people lay on enhancement tables. Not students. Adults. Soldiers. Already enhanced and ready.
"Meet Project Omega," Cross continued. "My real army. The students were just a test run. In one hour, I activate them all. And there's nothing you can do to stop me."
The screen showed the facility's location. It was three hundred miles away.
No way we could reach it in time.
"Oh, and one more thing," Cross added. "I have someone you care about."
The camera panned to show a prisoner strapped to a table.
My blood turned to ice.
It was my sister. Mira. The one who'd supposedly died three years ago.
She was alive. And Cross had her.