Chapter 22 What the Cameras Saw
ARIA'S POV
Pain exploded through the mate bond like lightning striking my chest.
I stumbled, grabbing a tree trunk to keep from falling. Luna caught my arm, steadying me.
"Aria? What's wrong?"
"Kael," I gasped. "He's hurt. Really hurt."
We'd been running through the forest for twenty minutes since escaping the maintenance building. My lungs burned. My legs shook. But the physical pain was nothing compared to what I felt through the bond.
Kael was suffering. And I'd left him behind.
"We have to go back," I said, turning around.
Luna blocked my path. "That's exactly what Cross wants. He's counting on the mate bond to make you irrational."
"I don't care!" Tears streamed down my face. "I can't leave Kael to be tortured!"
"And I can't let you throw away everything we've fought for." Luna's voice was firm but kind. "Aria, listen to me. Kael bought us time for a reason. He sacrificed himself so we could survive. Don't make that sacrifice meaningless."
I wanted to scream. To hit something. To run back and tear Cross apart with my bare hands.
Instead, I sank to the ground, sobbing. "It hurts, Luna. The bond. It feels like I'm being ripped in half."
Luna sat beside me, pulling me into a hug. "I know. But we're going to save him. I promise. Just not by walking into Cross's trap."
"Then how?" I looked at her desperately. "We're two people against his entire army of enhanced subjects. How do we possibly win?"
Luna's expression shifted to something calculating. "I might have a way. It's risky and I wasn't sure it would work, but..." She pulled out her laptop. "Remember how I've been hacking Cross's systems for months?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, I didn't just hack his files. I planted surveillance." Luna's fingers flew across the keyboard. "Three months ago, I hid cameras in his office. Tiny things, almost impossible to detect. They've been streaming footage to my private server this whole time."
My heart jumped. "You can see what he's doing right now?"
"If the cameras are still active and he's in his office, yes." Luna pulled up a video feed. "Let me check."
The screen flickered. Then an image appeared—Cross's office, crystal clear.
And there was Kael.
He was strapped to a chair in the middle of the room. Blood dripped from a cut above his eye. His shirt was torn. Bruises covered his face and arms.
But he was alive. Conscious. Glaring at Cross with pure hatred.
"Oh God," I whispered. "Kael."
"The audio works too," Luna said quietly, turning up the volume.
Cross's voice filled the air: "You're a stubborn one, Kael. I've always admired that about you. But stubbornness won't save Aria. She's going to come back for you. And when she does—"
"She won't," Kael interrupted. His voice was rough but strong. "She's smarter than you think."
"Is she?" Cross smiled. "Let's test that theory."
He pulled out his phone and pressed a button. A video call connected, showing a live feed of Kael beaten and tied up.
"I'm sending this to Aria right now," Cross said. "Let's see how smart she really is when she watches you suffer."
My phone buzzed. The same video Cross was sending.
"Don't answer it," Luna warned. "If you respond, he can trace your location."
I stared at my phone, watching Kael's image on the screen. Every instinct screamed at me to respond. To let him know I was okay. To promise I was coming.
But Luna was right. Responding would doom us both.
I turned the phone off with shaking hands.
On Luna's laptop, the interrogation continued.
"She's not responding," Cross said, sounding annoyed. "Interesting. Perhaps she's stronger than I thought."
"I told you," Kael said. "She won't sacrifice the mission for me. She knows what's at stake."
Cross studied Kael for a long moment. Then he pulled out a syringe filled with clear liquid. "Dr. Kane's latest creation. A serum that temporarily blocks the mate bond. Once I inject you, Aria won't be able to feel your pain anymore. Won't know if you're alive or dead."
My blood ran cold.
"That won't change anything," Kael said, but I heard the fear in his voice.
"Won't it?" Cross circled behind Kael. "The bond is what connects you. Without it, Aria will assume you're dead. She'll grieve. She'll move on. And she'll never know that you spent your last days as my loyal soldier, hunting down everyone you once cared about."
"You're insane," Kael spat.
"I'm practical." Cross positioned the needle against Kael's neck. "Last chance to tell me where Aria is hiding. Save yourself this fate."
"Go to hell."
Cross injected the serum.
The mate bond snapped.
I screamed. The sudden emptiness was worse than pain. It felt like dying. Like part of my soul had been ripped away.
"Aria!" Luna grabbed me. "What happened?"
"The bond," I sobbed. "It's gone. I can't feel him anymore. Luna, I can't feel Kael!"
"But he's right there." Luna pointed to the screen. "Look, he's still alive."
She was right. On the screen, Kael was still conscious, still glaring at Cross. But I couldn't feel him anymore. Couldn't sense his emotions. Couldn't tell if he was okay or dying.
The emptiness was unbearable.
"How long does the serum last?" I heard Kael ask Cross on the recording.
"Twenty-four hours," Cross replied. "Plenty of time to complete your enhancement procedure. By the time the bond returns, you'll be someone else entirely. Someone loyal to me."
"Aria will stop you."
"How? She can't even find you now." Cross smiled. "The bond was her tracking device. Without it, you could be anywhere. By the time she figures out where we took you, you'll already be enhanced. Already be mine."
Cross left the office. Enhanced subjects entered and dragged Kael away.
The screen went dark.
"No," I whispered. "No, no, no."
Luna was typing frantically. "The cameras tracked them leaving the office but I don't have surveillance in the rest of the building. I don't know where they took him."
"We have to find him." I stood up, wiping my tears. "Twenty-four hours. That's all we have before they erase everything Kael is."
"But where do we even start looking?" Luna asked. "Cross has facilities all over campus. Kael could be in any of them."
My phone buzzed again. Another message from an unknown number.
I opened it.
A single photograph appeared. Kael strapped to an enhancement table. Dr. Kane standing over him with surgical tools. A timestamp: 18 hours remaining.
Below the photo, a message: Old medical building, basement level three. Come alone if you want him alive. Bring friends and he dies. You have until midnight. - Cross
"It's a trap," Luna said immediately.
"Obviously." I stared at the photo, memorizing every detail. Kael looked so vulnerable. So scared. So unlike the strong Alpha who'd protected me from the start.
"You can't go," Luna continued. "Aria, please. This is exactly what Cross wants."
"I know." I looked at her. "But I don't care anymore. I can't feel Kael through the bond. I don't know if he's in pain. I don't know if he's scared. All I know is that in eighteen hours, they're going to erase the person I love and turn him into a weapon."
"So what do you do?" Luna's voice broke. "Sacrifice yourself? Let Cross enhance you both?"
"No." I pulled out the flash drive—still safe in my pocket. "I'm going to make a deal with the devil."
"What kind of deal?"
I opened my phone and typed a response to Cross's message: I'll trade myself for Kael. Let him go and I'll surrender. You can enhance me, experiment on me, do whatever you want. Just let Kael live free.
"Aria, no!" Luna tried to grab my phone.
Too late. The message sent.
Three dots appeared immediately. Cross was typing back.
His response made my heart stop: Interesting offer. But I have a counter-proposal. You surrender yourself AND give me the evidence. In exchange, I'll let Kael keep his mind. I'll enhance his body but leave his personality intact. He'll be stronger, but still himself. Still in love with you. Still able to suffer watching you become my perfect Omega breeder. Deal?
I stared at the message, hands shaking.
Cross was offering me an impossible choice: destroy all evidence of his crimes and condemn countless future victims to save the person I loved. Or keep the evidence and watch Kael become a mindless weapon.
Save one person or save hundreds.
Love or justice.
Kael or the mission.
"What do I do?" I asked Luna.
She looked at me with tears in her eyes. "I don't know. I honestly don't know."
My finger hovered over the keyboard.
Then my phone buzzed with one more message.
This one from Kael's number: Aria, if you're reading this, I set it to send automatically. Don't trade the evidence for me. Don't give Cross what he wants. I'm not worth more than all those other victims. Let me go. Save them instead. I love you. Always. - K
I read the message three times.
Kael had written it before he was captured. Had set it to send in case something went wrong. Had already decided he was willing to die—or worse—for the mission.
But could I live with that choice?
Could I survive in a world where Kael existed but didn't remember me? Where he'd been turned into Cross's perfect soldier?
My phone buzzed again. Cross: Time's running out, Aria. What's your answer? Your mate or your mission? Love or justice? Choose.
I looked at Luna. At the flash drive. At Kael's final message.
Then I started typing my response.