<h4>Chapter 534: Aymora''s Story - Part 2</h4>


    LET''S CELEBRATE! IT''S MY BIG DAY: A WHOLE NEW BOOK, A WHOLE NEW WORLD, A WHOLE NEW HERO! Check out the excerpt at the end of this chapter (added after the chapter was published so you aren''t charged for the words). I hope you love Zev as much as I do!


    *****


    ELIA


    To Elia''s delight, Aymora''s cheeks pulled wide in a smile and she flushed with the memory.


    "I only stared at him for a long moment, then he leaned down, still holding his hand out to me.


    "He said, "I''m sorry I''ve been blind. How long have you felt the bond?"" Eliaughed as Aymora dropped her voice to a low, deep growl, to mimic the male that she clearly still loved. "I waspletely flustered! I''d always dreamed… but I never thought he''d actually see me. And though my feelings were real, I''d never dared hope it was a True Mate bond. I thought… I thought I just pined for him."


    Aymora went quiet then, her eyes darting left and right as if she watched herself in her memories. Elia barely breathed, not wanting to snap her back into the present.


    "We walked the mes and Smoke a few weekster," she said quietly. "And the months after that were the happiest of my life. We had almost two years before the war began in truth, though there were murmurings of it for some time and towards the end his time was taken more and more by the efforts they made to avoid it. Even with that, even seeing the danger on the horizon, I never imagined…"


    Aymora swallowed audibly and her smile faded. Her grip on Elia''s hand tightened.


    "We were never blessed with offspring. Not forck of trying," she huffed, that smile flickering on her face again. "It pained us both. But I remember, as the war became inevitable, thinking that it was a blessing. That… that I didn''t want to be facing those days, that work, heavy with babe, or caring for a little one. As things became busier and more dangerous, I felt freed by it."


    She turned then to meet Elia''s eyes, her own welling with unshed tears. "I was wrong, Elia. I am… I am so d for you and Reth. So happy. I know the timing has been terrible, and the danger isn''t past. But love this little one. Enjoy them. Take whatever the Creator offers with joy and see the blessing in it. Do not try to… downy the beauty of this. Be grateful for what you''ve been given."


    Elia nodded, her own tears threatening. "I am. Thank you. I am."


    Aymora nodded, then turned her head to stare at the ceiling of the cave again and let herself remember.


    "We were so cocky," she said a momentter, her voice cracked with grief. "So convinced that nothing we did could go wrong. So certain of ourselves and each other… I was twenty-five and the wise women had formally invited me to step into their circle. I was young and wouldn''t be acknowledged for a few more years. But I had been epted.


    "I was a healer, and skilled at it. Even the wise ones came to me for help. I became… overconfident.


    "Drhake was the King''s Captain and… so dashing," she said, her voice singing with her admiration and love for her mate in a way that resonated in Elia''s heart. "Other females envied me for having him and I was petty enough to enjoy that. He was young to hold the King''s Guard, especially as a member of the Pride. But he''d proven to be a master strategist—to rival even the wolves. Reth''s father was right to appoint him. That was never a mistake. The mistake was ours."


    Elia frowned as Aymora began to tense, her grip tightening until her knuckles turned white.


    "Even though… even though I was gaining sess and rising in the hierarchy," Aymora whispered, "he was my whole life. None of the rest seemed important without him.


    "When the war began, of course we were nervous, but cocky, too. I believed in him. I knew he could win any battle. And I believed the King would never allow the bears to ovee us. They were of two minds, Dhrake and Reth''s father. They both sought diplomacy, yearned for it. And I was so certain they were right. That those advising a full assault—to set the bears down—were simply bloodthirsty. I was… idealistic," she said sadly.


    "Then they began to fight and it was a shitshow from the beginning." Her voice was hushed, pained. "The bears… they do not fight like others. They are beyond ruthless. Brutal. They will choose death if they believe they can remove more from their enemy than they give up. They lose their tempers and fly into rage—as a group. They are chaos in battle."


    Aymora''s cheeks dragged down. "You cannot strategize against chaos," she said. "And yet, somehow, Drhake continued to bring them through. Our numbers were lessened with every conflict. But so were theirs. Yet, we could not seem to ever truly gain the upper hand. Three months in, the wounded continued to trickle into the Tree City every day. The fighting would ur in small groups and patrols. But there was a front building where the river divides the northwest region. We could see what wasing—and how the bears might have the advantage.


    "Drhake began to talk with me during the stolen hours we were able to find together. He painted a picture of how they might win the bears back, and I saw it in my mind and in my heart. I encouraged him…" she trailed off, swallowing again. "I truly believed that he had the right of it. That the King''s unwillingness to listen was a mark of his arrogance, rather than a failing of Drhake''s ideas."


    Her free hand sank to her belly, ttening there as if she felt unwell.


    "I was so certain," she whispered. "His role kept him at the center—here in the City, or behind the lines of warriors. Because it was necessary that he lead, that he think, that he point where they go. So even… even when we could see that battle, a real battle, wasing, my concern was that he might take an arrow or… or something along those lines. And if his n, if his thoughts could open the lines ofmunication—if he could bring the bears to the negotiation table…"


    A tiny sob broke in her throat and she let go of Elia''s hand to cover her face. When she spoke, her voice was high and frail, choked with tears. "I thought he would be a hero. I thought he would win the war for us and then everyone would see what I saw—his heart, his strength, his courage. I thought… I thought he was the best male the Creator had ever ced in Anima, and I was just arrogant enough that I wanted everyone else to see it."


    *****


    NEW BOOK OUT NOW! My entirely new character and world is now live! It''s still in the process of being vetted by Webnovel, but you can find it if you search "Rise of the Dark Alpha":


    Zev prowled towards her, all shining, brutal beauty, his chin low and those incredible, piercing eyes fixed on her. He didn''t stop until they were toe-to-toe and he blocked her view of every other male in the circle.


    His eyes dipped to her mouth as he leaned in, his whisper ying on her skin.


    "You. Are. Mine."


    His deep voice twanged in her belly as the howls of the wolf pack rose from behind him to echo across the mountains of Thana, while the other Chimera protested his im.


    Fighting the urge to stroke his broad, bare chest with her shaking hands, Sasha forced herself to tilt her head and raise an eyebrow. "So bold for a pup who just found his fangs."


    The other males hooted withughter.


    Ignoring their taunts, Zev''s eyes sparked and he leaned even closer, the scruff on his jaw tickling her cheek as he smiled. "So bold for a human who already knows the pleasure of gasping my name."


    She shivered when his teeth grazed her ear.


    (SEE THE FULL SUMMARY IN THE AUTHOR NOTE BELOW)