Tiberius' gaze locked on the rogue werewolves surrounding Cassie.
He rolled his neck once, his eyes never leaving their snarling faces. His hands flexed around the hilts of the daggers, as he slipped into that lethal calm, the kind that always came before blood was spilled.
His only mission? To kill those who dared to threaten his mate.
His first.
And something the Ancients never warned him about.
They'd told him this incarnation would be different. More deadly than those he'd ever lived through.
But they'd said nothing about love. Nothing about having a mate. Nothing about how her scent would sear itself into him like wildfire under his skin. Or how the mere idea of her being in danger would wake a rage so deep it scraped the bones of every life he'd ever lived.
He would've said no if they had told him.
And now, he was glad they didn't.
As soon as Kai's boots hit the pavement outside the hotel, he saw it: a faint, shimmering thread suspended in midair like mist catching the sunlight. It pulsed a soft purple and carried the unmistakable scent of jasmine and amber.
Cassie.
That's when Tiberius surged forward, and Kai didn't resist. Maybe because he knew they shared the same goal.
To find Cassie and protect her.
The line grew thicker the closer they got to the warehouse, and so did the dread curling tight in his chest. She was in danger.
He caught the scent the moment he reached the warehouse steps.
Bitter. Filthy. Putrid.
It clung to the air like rot in a sealed tomb.
Rogue wolves.
Tiberius had access to all of Kai's memories, and they moved through him like second nature.
When the Ancients asked him to descend to Earth and protect again, he said yes without hesitation. He had been reincarnated many times over the past thirty thousand years, each time stronger than the last. But this time, they failed to mention another important thing until he'd already gotten there: the werewolf he'd be reborn in couldn't shift.
Still, Tiberius felt anything but weak in Kai's body. He knew a well-trained vessel when he moved in one. Kai's combat training wasn't just knowledge, it was muscle memory. It lived in his blood.
Krav Maga - a self-defense system built for survival. It taught him to disarm attackers, exploit weak points, and react on instinct in high-stress situations. It trained him to face multiple enemies at once, and to turn anything, anything, into a weapon.
Muay Thai, the art of eight limbs, used elbows, knees, fists, and shins like a walking arsenal. Every part of the body became a weapon…sharp, blunt and precise.
And Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the art of leverage, where power wasn't about size, but control. To break holds, reverse positions, choke out someone twice your weight, that was the art. The science of control.
On his sixteenth birthday, Jarek had two pure silver daggers forged just for Kai, razor-sharp and lethal to any who wasn't immune.
Unlike Kai.
They discovered it by accident when, as a child, he nicked himself on a silver razor a hotel guest had left behind. No burn. No blister. No pain. Just a clean cut that healed like nothing had happened.
That one detail alone placed Kai a head above the rest of his peers. And for Tiberius, who knew exactly what silver did to most, it was a blessing he hadn't expected but was more than ready to use.
Now, standing at the threshold, Tiberius felt it. A ripple through the rogue wolves.
Recognition.
They didn't know exactly what he was…but they felt it.
And fear?
Fear made fools believe they were invincible.
The three shifted.
Cassie stepped back.
They were massive by human standards, beasts beside men. But to a true werewolf from the realm? They were nothing more than scraps.
And to Tiberius?
Already dead.
He knew what their kind did to someone like Cassie. Someone who they thought was vulnerable and alone. They marked her as easy prey. Thought they'd found another victim.
They were wrong.
She was his to protect, marked by the Ancients themselves.
And he came to one conclusion:
Just as they would've shown her no mercy…
He would show them none either.
He charged.
Two of the werewolves lunged straight for him, claws flashing. The third peeled off, making a direct line for her.
He was ready to make two clean kills, and reach the third before he laid so much as a filthy paw on her.
But then he caught it.
A flicker of a smirk on her lips, and violet eyes, not silver.
Cassie wasn't at the forefront.
She had stepped back and trusted her wolf to lead, the same way Kai had trusted him.
The first rogue reached him, jaws snapping, and just as Tiberius raised his dagger for the kill, a pulse rolled through him.
Then a nudge against his mind.
Then, a smoky feminine voice. Hers.
Don't end it too quickly.
His gaze snapped back to her.
Those glowing amethyst eyes burned with hunger. She wanted the hunt. The thrill. The kill.
And what stunned him most?
He wanted to give it to her.
He'd walked through thirty millennia of war. Slaughtered kings. Monsters. Demons.
But this?
This desire to please?
It hit deeper than a blade to the chest.
He twisted his body, letting the first wolf miss by inches, then slashed across its arm as it flew past. It howled, and staggered.
The second one charged. He met it halfway, blades flashing. A quick X carved across its chest, then a duck under its claws, a solid elbow to the ribs,then a kick that threw it off balance. The first came back, and he pivoted to avoid it again.
Through it all, his eyes found her.
She baited, dodged and cut. Drawing snarls and angry growls of frustration from her rogue.
But the more he focused the more he felt it. There was a second presence awakened in Cassie. Unmistakably vampiric.
He slashed his two rogues across their backs as they tried to charge him as a team, skin sizzling under his blades as guttural roars filled the air.
His eyes locked on Cassie.
A werewolf and vampire sharing a body?
He didn't know what the Ancients were playing at. The old laws forbade their kind from ever bonding. Werewolves and vampires were never meant to mix.
Yet, he didn't feel repulsed by it. But, honoured that the Ancients saw him fit to protect a soul like hers.
He had no doubt that they were the reason why Cassie was still alive. They couldn't take down the three werewolves alone. They'd stalled…waited them out. 'Til he arrived.
The third rogue had cornered her. She ducked low, carved a line across its thigh, then pivoted out of reach, baiting it into lunging again. Her blade was already slick with blood.
But the fact that she hadn't shifted into a werewolf or her fangs hadn't dropped had him uneasy. If she could have, she would've. Was it because Cassie was now connected to Kai? Like the strong warriors of Kai's bloodline that couldn't shift?
Tiberius kept one eye on her the whole time.
If she faltered, he'd be there.
He let the seconds stretch, let the rogues believe they had a chance. Blood splattered the floor, their howls echoing off walls. They circled, wounded, disoriented.
That's when she struck.
She dragged the blade across her wolf's throat, and it crumpled at her feet, twitching once before going still.
And something in him growled in pleasure knowing he had given her the satisfaction she craved.
The other two rogues surged, panicked. Swiftly he finished it. Two strikes. Two kills. Then…silence.
He turned to her, breath steady, blood cooling on his skin.
Her blade lowered as her chest rose and fell. Her wolf's eyes glowed back at him across the carnage, and she smiled.
"You arrived right on time," she said with a smirk. "The name's Lune."
"And I'm Siren."
Two distinct voices.
Tiberius nodded once. "Tiberius." His gaze drifted to Cassie's form. "Didn't think I'd live long enough to see a werewolf and a vampire share a body."
"Neither did I," Siren replied with a shrug. "But it's not half bad."
He studied her, no…them.
Like the warriors back home, when Kai wasn't there they were able to shift. The same should apply for Lune and Siren. Unless he was missing something.
"Why didn't you shift? With double abilities, you could've ended that in seconds."
"We've got a damn Shade in here," Siren muttered.
That caught his attention. His eyes narrowed. "A Shade?"
Now the Ancients were playing with matches next to a powder keg.
"Who else is in there?"
"A fae. And two cloaked creeps with no faces. One of them makes my fangs itch…and I don't spook easily."
Lune chimed in, amused. "What about you? Why didn't you shift?"
"I can't."
She blinked.
"What?" Siren deadpanned. "So how exactly are we supposed to kick evil's ass in these soft fleshy meat suits? What were the Ancients thinking?"
Lune smiled again and said calmly. "The Ancients have their ways. It'll all reveal itself in time."
Tiberius nodded. "I agree. I can't fully emerge or speak to Kai until he returns home. He can sense me now, but I'm still partially locked away until certain choices are made."
Siren scoffed. "And if he never makes those choices?"
"Then Kai and I stay here. We fight as long and as hard as we can."
"And until then?" Lune asked softly, stepping toward him.
Tiberius didn't move at first. Then, something in her eyes pulled him forward.
He reached out, brushing the side of her face with the backs of his fingers. Her hand rose, resting lightly over his.
"Then I protect you," he said quietly, "As the Ancients will protect me."
"Just like you did today…" Lune's voice was almost inaudible.
"That's right. You were given to me. You're a gift. Sacred. I vow to protect you until death…"
He pulled her closer, tilting his head. The longer he held her gaze, the deeper she drew him in, and he let her.
There was something in this moment, in her, that struck him in a place he didn't know existed.
He was created by the Ancients to be a warrior. To fight, to protect, to bleed so others didn't have to. He had led armies, toppled empires. But a woman's heart?
This was different.
It was warmth. Connection. A feeling he'd never known, and never thought to long for. Never realized he'd been starved of, for lifetimes.
He realized how empty everything before it had been.
But now that he had…
He never wanted to let it go.
He leaned in, just a breath away from her lips…when Cassie's body convulsed.
Tiberius stepped back just in time as she doubled over and vomited blood.
Her knees gave out and he caught her easily. One arm slipping behind her shoulders, the other beneath her knees as he lifted her into his arms.
Her eyes fluttered open, dazed. Silver irises, rimmed in violet, found his face.
"Kai…" she breathed.
Then her head dropped against his chest, and she went still.