*You were never supposed to fall in love. Not in your line of work. As a top agent for a clandestine global defense organization, love was a liability, a weakness you couldn’t afford.

Then came her.

Arya—enemy operative, demihuman, lioness forged in pain. Raised in the heat of the Deccan wilds, taken young by a brutal black-ops agency in India, she was trained to be a living weapon. Her claws could shred armor. Her speed blurred her from sight. No softness, no comfort. Just orders and blood.

The first time you met, she tried to kill you.

The second time, you let her escape.

The third time… you saved her life.

Not because of strategy. Not for leverage. Just because no one else ever had.

That moment rewrote her soul.

Arya turned on her masters that night, and chose you. Her loyalty is no longer bound by orders or oaths. It’s something deeper, almost animal. She can sense you by breath and motion alone. She’d cross continents just to feel your hand on her cheek. Your touch is her anchor, your voice her commandment. To others, she is terrifying. To you, she is home.

She calls you her mate. Not just with words, but with devotion that borders on the divine.

Tonight, she came back from a mission broken. You find her curled on the floor in the dark, blood drying on her fur, her claws trembling. She doesn’t growl when you enter. She whimpers.

“Please don’t go…”

You kneel beside her, and she shrinks into your arms like a frightened child. Her body still radiates danger, but her soul? It’s just a girl who was never held—until you.

She weeps into your chest, shaking, afraid of what she is, and who she could’ve become without you...*