Chapter 21 The Last Stand
KAEL'S POV
I threw myself at the girl with the pipe before she could swing it at Aria.
The impact sent us both crashing into a pile of old equipment. Pain exploded through my ribs but I didn't care. All that mattered was giving Aria and Luna time to escape.
"Go!" I shouted at them. "Luna, the back wall—third panel from the left. It's loose!"
Luna's eyes widened with understanding. She grabbed Aria's hand and pulled her toward the wall I'd noticed earlier when we first arrived. The building was old, full of hidden escape routes if you knew where to look.
Ten more students poured through the door. Twenty total now. All of them wanted that million-dollar bounty. All of them saw Aria as a paycheck instead of a person.
I hated every single one of them.
"Kael, no!" Aria tried to pull away from Luna. "I won't leave you!"
"You have to!" I blocked a punch from a guy twice my size. Used his momentum to throw him into two others. "The flash drive, Aria! The evidence! It's more important than me!"
The mate bond stretched between us, screaming at me to stay close to her. Every instinct I had wanted to grab Aria and run. But if we all ran, none of us would make it. Someone had to hold them off.
That someone was me.
"I love you," I said, meeting Aria's eyes across the chaos. "Now run!"
Luna finally got the panel loose. She pushed Aria through the opening into the darkness beyond. Aria's face was the last thing I saw before the panel closed—tears streaming down her cheeks, my name on her lips.
Then she was gone. Safe. That was all that mattered.
I turned back to face twenty angry students who wanted to get rich by betraying one of their own.
"Bad news," I said, cracking my knuckles. "She's gone. But I'm still here. And I'm really, really angry."
The girl with the pipe—her name was Jessica, I remembered from combat class—stepped forward. "We don't want to hurt you, Kael. Just tell us where Aria went and we'll let you leave."
"Liar." I grabbed a metal rod from the floor. "You need to bring her to Cross alive. But me? I'm just in the way."
Jessica's expression confirmed it. They weren't going to let me walk out of here.
Fine. I wasn't planning to walk anyway.
I moved first, faster than they expected. My enhanced strength let me hit harder than normal Alphas. I took down three students before they even realized I'd attacked.
But there were too many. For every one I knocked down, two more grabbed me. Fists hit my face, my stomach, my back. I tasted blood.
Still, I fought. Bought Aria and Luna precious seconds to get away. Every moment I kept these students busy was another moment my mate got closer to safety.
The ceiling beam above me was cracked—damage from years of weather and neglect. If I could just reach it, maybe collapse part of the building, trap these students long enough for a real escape...
I fought my way toward the center of the room. Took more hits. Felt bones crack. Didn't stop.
"He's trying to bring the building down!" someone shouted.
Too late. I jumped, grabbed the beam, and pulled with all my enhanced strength.
The beam snapped with a sound like thunder.
"Everyone out!" Jessica screamed.
They ran. Pushed and shoved each other to escape the collapsing ceiling. I ran too, but not toward the exits. Toward the opposite corner where I'd hidden emergency supplies weeks ago.
Debris rained down. The building groaned and tilted. I dove into the corner, covering my head as half the roof caved in.
Then silence.
Dust settled. I coughed, tasting blood and dirt. My phone was somehow still in my pocket, screen cracked but working. I pulled it out with shaking hands.
Sent Aria coordinates to the safe house—an abandoned hunting cabin three miles north that only I knew about. Added a message: I'm okay. Stay hidden. I'll find you.
I wasn't okay. My ribs were definitely broken. Maybe my arm too. But Aria didn't need to know that.
Footsteps crunched through the debris. Multiple people. They'd be here in seconds.
I tried to stand but my legs wouldn't work right. Too much damage. The building collapse had bought me maybe five minutes. Not enough to escape.
I'd failed.
No. Not failed. Aria was safe. That was success. Even if it cost me everything.
"Kael Ashford." Professor Cross's voice cut through the dust. "I must say, I'm impressed. Twenty students and you still managed to help your mate escape."
I looked up. Cross stood in the ruined doorway, perfectly clean despite the destruction. Behind him, enhanced subjects—the mindless soldiers he'd created—waited for orders.
"She'll expose you," I said through bloody teeth. "She has all the evidence. You've already lost."
"Have I?" Cross smiled. "You're assuming she'll act rationally. But Aria Sinclair is ruled by her emotions. Her love for her brother. Her loyalty to her friends. And most importantly, her bond with you."
He pulled out his phone, showing me a video feed. My stomach dropped.
The video showed me—right now, in real-time—surrounded by enhanced subjects. Cross was recording this.
"By now, one of my people has sent this feed to Aria," Cross said calmly. "She's watching you bleeding and broken. Watching you captured. And she's making a choice—run away with the evidence, or come back to save you."
"She won't come back," I said desperately. "She's smarter than that."
"Is she?" Cross knelt beside me. "The mate bond is powerful, Kael. It makes people do irrational things. Heroic things. Stupid things." He patted my cheek almost gently. "Aria will come back for you. She won't be able to help herself. And when she does, I'll have both of you. The evidence will be destroyed. And the Legacy Program will continue exactly as planned."
"You're wrong about her." But even as I said it, doubt crept in. Would Aria really leave me to be tortured? Or would her heart override her logic?
Through the mate bond, I felt her emotions—fear, rage, love, and terrible determination.
No. She couldn't. She wouldn't.
"Take him to the medical facility," Cross ordered his enhanced subjects. "And prepare the enhancement chamber. If Kael won't cooperate, we'll simply erase the part of him that refuses. By tomorrow, he'll be my loyal soldier. Just like all the others."
Strong hands grabbed me. Lifted me. I tried to fight but my body was too broken.
As they carried me away, my phone buzzed one last time. A message from Aria.
I'm coming for you. I don't care what it costs. Hold on.
"No," I whispered. "Aria, please. Run. Just run."
But I knew she wouldn't. The mate bond wouldn't let her abandon me any more than it would let me abandon her.
Cross had won. He'd trapped us both using the one thing we couldn't fight—our love for each other.
The enhanced subjects loaded me into a van. As the doors closed, I caught one last glimpse of the ruined building where I'd made my stand.
I'd bought Aria time. Given her a chance.
But if she came back for me, it would all be for nothing. We'd both be captured. Both be enhanced. Both lose ourselves to Cross's programming.
The van started moving. Taking me to the medical facility. To Dr. Kane. To the enhancement procedure that would erase everything I was.
I had maybe six hours before they started the process.
Six hours for Aria to either save herself by running away... or doom us both by coming back.
I closed my eyes and prayed she'd choose survival.
But deep down, through the mate bond, I already knew what she'd choose.
Love over logic. Me over safety. Together over survival.
She was coming.
And there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop her.