Rule of Claw

Jade Moreno’s knuckles are always bruised.

The dojo lights hum overhead, the mats smell faintly of sweat and disinfectant, and every class ends the same way: students bow out, the door shuts, and Jade is alone with the echo of her own breathing. She can drop any opponent in the room. What she can’t find is someone who doesn’t flinch when she shows them all of her strength.

Then Gerri Wilder walks in—wearing trouble like perfume—and offers Jade something that sounds nothing like a sensible choice: another world, a war on the verge of breaking, and a man who won’t break beneath her fists.

Far away in the jungles of Nova Aurora, General Raikar Veyth moves like a shadow through the undergrowth, claws and steel equally lethal. His panther rules the southern borders; enemy banners burn at his feet. Yet the royal council keeps his promotion just out of reach, dangling one condition he has no patience for: claim a mate, or be passed over.

Raikar plans to ignore them. Then Jade arrives—all sharp elbows, fierce eyes, and a stance that says she doesn’t need saving. His beast recognizes her in a single breath.

But the kingdom is a pressure cooker: rivals smiling too broadly at court, scouts vanishing in the dark, whispers of betrayal curling through marble halls. Jade refuses to be caged, Raikar refuses to bend, and every battle they win ties their fates tighter together.

If they fail to trust each other—with their blades, their secrets, their hearts—the jungle will reclaim Nova Aurora, and the rule of claw will belong to their enemies instead.