Chapter 113: They Forced Me

Lia

I just killed.

Every Circle warrior within reach died in seconds. I moved through them like death itself, my Silvermane power no longer touching bonds but destroying them. Snapping pack connections, severing mate bonds, leaving wolves hollow and broken in my wake.

"STOP HER!" someone screamed.

But I was beyond stopping. Beyond reason. Beyond anything except the primal need to survive.

More warriors fell. More bonds shattered.

I felt Kai through our connection—felt his terror, not for himself but for me, for what I was becoming.

Lia, stop. Please. Come back to me.

His voice was the only thing that penetrated the red haze.

I stopped mid-strike, my claws inches from a young wolf's throat. She couldn't have been more than eighteen, her eyes wide with terror.

"Please," she whispered. "I didn't want to come. They forced me."

I looked at my hands—covered in blood, in death, in everything I'd sworn not to become.

I'd killed at least twenty wolves.

And I'd felt nothing.

"Lia." Kai's voice, physical now. He stood at the edge of the clearing, human again, naked and bleeding from his struggle with the chains. "Put her down. Please."

I released the young wolf. She collapsed, sobbing.

"What did I do?" My voice came out wrong—distorted, layered with the wolf I couldn't fully control anymore.

"You survived," Kai said carefully, moving closer. "You defended yourself."

"I murdered them." I looked at the bodies scattered around me. "I broke their bonds just because I could. Just because I was angry."

"They were trying to kidnap you…"

"And that makes it okay?" I laughed, the sound edging toward hysteria. "I'm a monster, Kai. Everything the Circle says about Silvermane Lunas, it's true. We're too dangerous. Too powerful. Too…"

"You're traumatized and terrified and you defended yourself with the only weapon you had." He was close enough to touch now. "This doesn't make you a monster. It makes you a survivor."

"Tell that to their mates. Their packs. The wolves who'll come home and find these people dead because I couldn't control myself."

Behind Kai, other wolves emerged. Viktor, wounded but alive. Zara, her amber eyes wide with something between awe and horror. And Theron—barely standing, his throat torn but healing, his silver eyes locked on me.

"We need to move," Theron said hoarsely. "More are coming. The facility sent reinforcements."

"How many?" Viktor asked.

"All of them." Theron coughed blood. "We just killed their hunting party. They're sending their army."

I looked at the wolves surrounding me—my allies, my pack, my responsibility.

And I made a choice.

"You all need to run," I said, my voice steadier now. "Get back to Feril territory. Fortify defenses."

"We're not leaving you," Kai said immediately.

"Yes, you are." I met his eyes. "Because if they catch me, they get their prize and leave you alone. But if they catch all of us…"

"No." His voice was absolute. "We don't negotiate with…"

"I'm not negotiating. I'm surrendering."

The words fell like stones.

Kai's face went white. "What?"

"It's the only way to end this. The Circle wants me for study, not death. I go willingly, they leave everyone else alone." I looked at the coalition wolves. "You came here for safety. For hope. Not to die protecting me from my own bloodline's curse."

"This is insane," Zara breathed.

"This is practical." I turned back to Kai. "You asked me to choose—you or the coalition. Well, I'm choosing both. By removing myself from the equation."

"I'll chain you myself before I let you turn yourself in," Kai snarled.

"Then you're no better than they are."

The words hit him like a physical blow.

"You can't ask me to watch you walk into hell," he whispered.

"I'm not asking. I'm telling you." I looked at Theron. "Get him out of here. Use force if necessary."

"Lia…"

"Now, Theron. Before more die because of me."

For once, Theron moved without arguing. He and Viktor grabbed Kai, it took both of them plus three other wolves to drag him away.

His howls of rage and despair echoed through the forest as they disappeared.

And I stood alone in a clearing full of bodies I'd made, waiting for my captors to arrive.

Seraphina emerged first, her expression cold satisfaction. "Wise choice, Silvermane. Saves us the trouble of killing everyone you love."

"If you hurt them…"

"We won't. You have my word." She gestured, and wolves appeared with more chains. "But you... you're going to wish you'd died fighting."

They chained me—wrists, ankles, throat—so much silver I couldn't even think about my power without screaming.

"The facility is three days north," Seraphina said, examining her nails. "Try to survive the journey. We prefer subjects alive, but dead works too."

They threw me into the transport vehicle like cargo.

As we drove away, I caught one last glimpse through the small window—Kai's black wolf running after us, slowly falling behind, his howls of anguish fading into the night.

And I wondered if I'd just made the bravest or stupidest decision of my life.

Probably both.