Chapter 16 Interrogation

Chapter 16 Interrogation
Clara's POV

"Tell me who sent you."

I watch through the two-way glass as Kael circles the bound wolf. Viktor sits in a metal chair, wrists cuffed with silver that burns his skin. The interrogation room in the basement is cold and bare, just stone walls and the chair where traitors sit.

Damon stands beside me, his face unreadable. After I showed them the passage, they caught Viktor trying to leave through it. He didn't even try to run.

"I have nothing to say to you," Viktor spits. Blood runs from his split lip where Kael hit him earlier.

"You were caught with Bloodfang wolves," Kael says calmly. Too calmly. His voice has that dangerous quiet that makes my skin prickle. "On Shadowclaw territory. Working against your own pack."

"They're not my pack anymore."

"Since when?"

Viktor laughs, the sound bitter. "Since you put a human above us. Since you let your curse weaken everything we've built."

Kael moves so fast I barely see it. One moment he's across the room, the next his hand is around Viktor's throat, lifting him and the chair off the ground.

"Choose your next words carefully," Kael growls. "They might be your last."

"Go ahead and kill me," Viktor chokes out. "It won't stop what's coming."

Kael drops him. The chair crashes back down, making Viktor wince.

"What's coming?"

"Marcus knows everything. About the prophecy, about your precious human, and how the bond is killing you both." Viktor grins despite his obvious pain. "He knows she's the key to breaking your family's curse. And he wants that power for himself."

My stomach drops. Marcus knows about the prophecy? About me?

"How does he know this?" Kael demands.

"Someone told him. Someone close to you."

"Who?"

"I'm just a soldier. They don't tell me everything." Viktor shrugs as much as his bindings allow. "But Marcus has had eyes inside your pack for months. Maybe years. Someone high up. Someone you trust."

Kael goes very still. "You're lying."

"Am I?" Viktor's smile widens. "How else would the Bloodfangs know exactly when to attack your patrol? How else would they know about the secret passages? About Clara's training schedule? About your council meetings?"

Each question lands like a punch. Someone close to Kael has been feeding information to the enemy. Someone he trusts.

"Give me a name," Kael says quietly.

"I don't have one to give. But I can tell you this… whoever it is, they're not doing it for money or power. They're doing it because they believe you're destroying the pack. That the human needs to go, whatever it takes."

"So you're all traitors," Damon says from beside me. His voice carries through the speakers into the interrogation room. "Betraying your Alpha because you don't like his choices."

"We're trying to save the pack," Viktor argues. "You just can't see it yet. When the human dies… and she will die… Kael will be so broken he won't be able to lead. Marcus will take these territories without a fight. Unless we act first."

"Act how?" Kael asks.

Viktor meets his eyes. "By giving Marcus what he wants before it's too late."

"Clara."

"The human for our freedom. Marcus gets his power, we get our Alpha back. Everyone wins."

"Everyone except Clara," I whisper.

Damon squeezes my shoulder. "He won't let that happen."

In the interrogation room, Kael looks like he's fighting not to tear Viktor apart. His hands shake with the effort of control.

"Where are they planning to take her?" he asks.

"Doesn't matter. You can't guard her forever." Viktor leans back despite the silver burning his wrists. "She'll slip up eventually. Go somewhere without protection. And when she does, we'll be waiting."

"We?"

"The Bloodfangs. The traitors in your pack. Everyone who's sick of watching you throw away centuries of strength for a woman who'll be dead in six months anyway."

This time, Kael does hit him. Viktor's head snaps back, and blood sprays across the floor.

"Get him out of my sight," Kael orders. "Lock him in the cells. Silver chains. No visitors."

Two guards enter and drag Viktor away. He's laughing as they haul him through the door, the sound echoing off the stone walls.

Kael stands alone in the interrogation room, his shoulders tight with tension. Then he punches the wall so hard the stone cracks.

"We should go to him," I say.

"Give him a minute," Damon advises. "He needs to process this."

"Process what? That someone he trusts has been betraying him?"

"That, and the fact that Viktor's right about one thing." Damon looks at me seriously. "You are the target now. Not just for the Bloodfangs, but for anyone in this pack who thinks removing you will solve their problems."

The words settle over me like a weight. I'm not just disliked anymore. I'm actively hunted by people who should be protecting me.

Kael finally leaves the interrogation room and joins us. His knuckles are bloody, healing slowly.

"How long has this been happening?" I ask. "The betrayal?"

"Months, if Viktor's telling the truth." Kael's voice is flat, emotionless. But I can feel his rage through the bond, burning just beneath the surface. "Someone in my inner circle has been feeding Marcus information for months."

"Who do you suspect?" Damon asks carefully.

"Everyone." Kael looks at his beta. "Can I even trust you?"

Damon's face hardens. "I've been your beta for twelve years. I've fought beside you, bled for this pack. You really think I'd betray you now?"

"I think someone I trust is working against me. And I don't know who." Kael runs his bloody hand through his hair. "Samuel has access to everything. Helena sits on the council. Thorne leads the elders. Any of them could be the traitor."

"Or it could be someone we haven't considered," I say quietly. "Someone who seems loyal but has been waiting for the right moment."

Kael looks at me, and I see fear in his eyes. Not fear for himself, but fear that he can't protect me. That the enemy is too close, too hidden.

"I need to check everyone," he says. "Question the council, the warriors, anyone with access to sensitive information."

"That'll take time," Damon warns. "And it'll make you look paranoid. Weak."

"I don't care how it looks." Kael's voice goes hard. "Someone in this pack wants Clara dead. I'm going to find them before they get their chance."

After Damon leaves to organize security changes, Kael pulls me close. I feel him shaking, not with fear, but with barely controlled fury.

"I won't let them take you," he whispers against my hair. "I don't care who I have to go through. You're mine to protect."

"I know."

"Clara, if something happens to me…"

"Nothing's going to happen to you."

"If it does," he continues firmly, "go through the passage. Run and don't look back. Damon will help you. He's the only one I'm completely sure about."

"Kael…"

"Promise me."

I pull back to look at him. "I'm not running. We're in this together, remember?"

"You didn't sign up to be hunted by wolves."

"I signed up for you. All of you. Including the parts that want me dead." I try to smile, but it feels weak. "Besides, where would I even go? They're watching the passage. They probably have eyes all over the city."

He cups my face in his hands. "I'm sorry. For bringing you into this. For making you a target."

"I chose this. You didn't force me."

"I should have let you go when I had the chance."

"But you didn't. And now we deal with the consequences together."

We stand there holding each other, and I feel his fear through the bond. He's terrified, not of the Bloodfangs or the traitor, but of failing me. Of losing me the way he lost the others.

But what he doesn't understand is that I'm terrified too.

Not of dying. Not even of the wolves hunting me.

I'm terrified of watching him destroy himself trying to save me.

And I have no idea how to stop it.