Chapter 81 WARNING
Kael's POV
I walked into the receiving chamber with my jaw locked so tight it ached.
Vance was already there.
He stood near the long table, hands folded behind his back, posture relaxed, as if he were waiting for tea and not standing in the heart of a pack he was not welcome in. He wore dark Star Moon colors, pressed and clean, his hair tied neatly at his nape. No weapons visible. No guards with him.
He turned when he heard my steps.
A slow smile curved his mouth.
“I’d say it’s rude to keep your guest waiting,” he said mildly, inclining his head, “but I’m before the great Alpha Kael Starcrest. I dare not complain.”
I stopped a few steps away from him.
“Speak,” I said. “Say what you came to say and leave.”
His smile widened just a fraction.
“Straight to business. I always admired that about you.”
“You admired nothing about me,” I replied.
“Ah,” he said softly. “There’s that temper.”
I didn’t move. The guards at the door stayed silent, tense, waiting.
Vance turned, gesturing to one of the chairs as if he owned the place. “May I sit?”
“No.”
He paused, then nodded. “Very well.”
He remained standing, unbothered.
“I’m here about the woman you’re harboring,” he said. “Sara.”
I felt my shoulders stiffen.
“We are not harboring anyone,” I said. “She sought asylum. I granted it.”
“She is Star Moon,” Vance replied easily. “And she is wanted.”
“She is afraid,” I said. “And she is under my protection.”
Vance tilted his head. “You’ve always had a talent for romanticizing things.”
I stepped closer. “Be careful.”
He met my gaze without flinching. “She is Adam’s mother.”
The words landed heavy.
I didn’t respond immediately. I watched his face, looking for a crack, a tell, anything that suggested deceit.
There was nothing.
“That is a serious claim,” I said slowly.
“It’s a true one,” he replied. “Sara gave birth to him. We have records.”
“So it's true you experimented on him,” I said flatly.
Vance didn’t deny it.
“We studied him,” he corrected. “There’s a difference.”
“There isn’t.”
He sighed, almost indulgent. “This is exactly why I came in person. You hear cruelty where there was necessity.”
I clenched my fists.
“You took a child,” I said. “You messed him up. You erased his life. You drugged him and threw him among humans like refuse.”
“And yet,” Vance said calmly, “he lived.”
I snarled before I could stop myself. “Barely.”
“He survived,” Vance said again. “Which proves our methods worked.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “You’re insane.”
“No,” he said. “I’m practical. See, I was told you met with Star Moon's Alpha but you were both too hot headed to come to terms.”
Silence stretched between us.
Then he continued, voice lowering, losing none of its composure.
“You know why we did what we did,” he said. “You know what Adam is.”
I didn’t answer.
“You know he was never human,” Vance pressed. “You know his wolf didn't disappear. It's just suppressed, but you convinced yourself he's human so you can live out your fantasy.”
“Enough,” I growled.
“You are hurting him,” Vance said.
The words sliced sharper than any insult.
I took another step forward. “Choose your next words very carefully.”
Vance’s eyes softened, as if he pitied me.
“That’s exactly what I am doing,” he said. “Choosing them carefully. Because someone has to.”
I laughed, sharp and humorless. “You come into my pack, accuse me of harm, and think yourself righteous?”
“I come to stop something that will end in death,” he replied. “Whether you like it or not.”
“You threaten me?”
“No,” he said gently. “I’m explaining reality.”
I felt heat crawl up my spine.
“Adam is failing,” Vance continued. “His body is breaking under strain it was never meant to carry alone.”
“You know nothing about his body,” I snapped.
“I know more about it than you ever will,” he replied without hesitation. “We mapped it. We tested it. We watched it react to suppression, to stress, to proximity to wolves.”
My heart pounded.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not,” he said. “You’re just emotionally compromised. We put him together in the way he is right now, the body and mind you think you know is our craft.”
That did it.
I slammed my hand against the table, the sound cracking through the room. “Do not speak of him as if he is an object.”
“And yet you treat him like one,” Vance said quietly.
“You keep him here,” he went on. “Surrounded by wolves. Flooded with alpha pheromones. Bound to you by a mating bond that his body is not equipped to stabilize on its own.”
“You don’t know that,” I said.
“I do,” he replied. “Because Star Moon was the one stabilizing him. The pills you hate so much? They weren’t cruelty. They were suppression. Restraint. A dam holding back a flood.”
“You poisoned him,” I said.
“We kept him alive,” Vance said. “You are watching him deteriorate and calling it love or whatever mate bonds have you feeling.”
My chest felt tight.
“You think I don’t see his sickness?” I said. “I have eyes and ears everywhere, especially here, and I know he's been vomiting, shaking, bleeding and fainting every now and then.”
I didn't know how to respond to that. Star Moon has a spy in my own pack house and I know nothing of it.
“Those are symptoms,” Vance said calmly. “Of withdrawal. Of awakening. Of a body trying to become something it was forcibly prevented from becoming.”
“And glowing marks?” I shot back. “Is that part of your noble plan too?”
His eyes flickered, just for a second.
Then his expression smoothed.
“That,” he said, “is accelerating the damage.”
I felt my blood run cold.
“And your presence is hurting him,” Vance continued. “You’re a true blood Alpha, your pheromones are what's causing his nosebleed. Without Star Moon’s intervention, his systems will collapse.” That scared me because I've locked away my wolf to keep my pheromones low and it worked because those glowing marks stopped, but that only means my pup is causing the nosebleeds and being pregnant is dangerous for him.
“You expect me to hand him over,” I said slowly, “to the same people who caused him all that.”
“I expect you to stop pretending you can save him alone,” Vance replied. “You are an Alpha. Not a god.”
“I will die before I give him to you.”
Vance studied me for a long moment.
“I believe you,” he said. “That’s the problem.”
I bared my teeth. “Then leave.”
He shook his head. “Not yet.”
“You’ve said your piece.”
“And you’ve refused reason,” he said. “Which means things will escalate.”
I stepped closer until we were face to face. “Is that a threat?”
“It’s a warning,” Vance said. “Star Moon will not stop pursuing what is ours. Adam belongs to us by blood, by creation, by right.”
“He belongs to himself,” I said. “And he chose me.”
Vance smiled sadly. “Did he? Or did his body?”
I lunged forward, stopped only by the guards shifting, ready.
Vance didn’t move.
“You think love changes biology,” he said softly. “It doesn’t. It only makes the consequences harder to watch.”
I breathed hard through my nose.
“You’re done here,” I said. “You will not speak to him. You will not look at him. You will leave my pack and never return.”
He bowed his head.
“As you wish,” he said. “But when his body fails, remember that we offered help.”
I turned away.
“Get out.”
As he walked toward the door, he paused.
“For what it’s worth,” he said without turning, “Sara really is his mother. She never stopped looking for him.”
The doors closed behind him.
I stood alone in the chamber, heart pounding, hands shaking, one truth burning through everything else:
My blood is hurting my mate. And it's impossible to remove the pup without hurting my mate even more.