Chapter 68: The Announcement

~~SERAPHINE~~

Kylie grabbed the remote and flicked on the old flat screen mounted above the fireplace. The signal was fuzzy for a second, crackling with static, then resolved into a live international news broadcast.

The anchor stood in a pristine studio, her expression professionally serious. Behind her was an image of a sleek white yacht cutting through gray ocean water. Beside it appeared a photo of Andrew, taken from one of his corporate profiles. He looked confident, powerful, every inch the Alpha king. The headline scrolling beneath the images made my blood freeze in my veins.

LYCAN KING AND UNKNOWN BRIDE TO HOST GLOBAL PRESS CONFERENCE FROM INTERNATIONAL WATERS

The anchor continued in a measured tone. "Sources confirm that Andrew Smithwood, recently recognized as sovereign Alpha of the Northern Territories, has departed regional borders with a companion identified only as Christina Ashford, heir to the Ashford fortune. The pair are expected to make a joint announcement regarding leadership structure and human cooperation from an undisclosed maritime location within the next twenty four hours."

My heart stopped beating entirely.

The camera cut to a grainy telephoto zoom of the yacht's rear deck, taken from another vessel following at a distance. The image quality was poor, pixelated from the extreme magnification, but unmistakable.

Andrew stood there in a tailored charcoal suit that fit him perfectly. Christina stood beside him in a flowing white dress that caught the ocean wind. Her hand rested possessively on his arm. He looked calm, composed, nothing like a man being held against his will.

And when he reached for her hand in full view of the cameras, she let the world see the ring glinting on his finger.

It was not the one he had given me in the quiet darkness of our chambers.

The mug slipped from my nerveless fingers and shattered on the wooden floor. Hot tea splashed across my feet. I did not feel it.

"No," I whispered. "No, that is not real. She is manipulating the footage somehow."

"It is a live feed," Bella said quietly, her voice filled with anguish. "Multiple news sources are carrying it. International waters mean she can broadcast without regional interference."

Kylie moved closer to the screen, her eyes narrowing as she studied every detail. "His posture is wrong. Too rigid. He is not moving naturally."

"The poison," Natasha said suddenly. "Whatever she has been giving him, it is not just affecting his memories. It is controlling his motor functions, his autonomy. She has turned him into a puppet."

The broadcast cut back to the studio. The anchor continued her report. "Rumors of a mate bond between Smithwood and an unnamed woman from the Northern territories have circulated for months, but no official confirmation was ever released. This appearance with Ashford suggests those rumors may have been unfounded, or that the relationship has recently changed."

"Changed," I repeated, the word tasting like poison on my tongue. "As if love is something that just changes overnight."

The screen split to show a political analyst. "This union could reshape the power dynamics of the entire Lycan community," the man said, gesturing at charts and maps. "The Ashford family's Southern influence combined with Smithwood's Northern territory and industrial empire creates an unprecedented consolidation of resources and authority."

"She is not just stealing him," Garek said, his voice low with fury. "She is using him to legitimize a coup. If she can present herself as his chosen mate before the council can intervene, she rewrites the entire succession."

"What about the baby?" I asked, my hand moving protectively to my stomach. "What about the heir I carry?"

"She will claim it is illegitimate," Kylie said bluntly. "Or that it belongs to someone else. Raymond's petition already planted those seeds. If Andrew himself appears before cameras and denies you, the council will have grounds to question everything."

The room spun around me. I grabbed the arm of the sofa to steady myself. "He would never do that. Even poisoned, even with his memories gone, he would never publicly deny his own child."

"He might not remember there is a child to deny," Natasha said gently.

The broadcast continued. The anchor's expression shifted to something more sensational. "In a surprising twist, sources close to the couple suggest an announcement of a different nature may also be forthcoming. While unconfirmed, speculation centers on a possible pregnancy."

My vision went red at the edges.

"She would not dare," I breathed.

"She would absolutely dare," Kylie said. "If she can convince the world she carries Andrew's heir before you give birth, she undermines everything. Your son becomes the disputed claim. Hers becomes the future."

"She is not pregnant," I said with absolute certainty. "I would know. The bond would know."

"The world does not care what the bond knows," Garek said grimly. "They care what they see on their screens."

The broadcast cut to footage of the yacht from different angles. Security was visible on deck. Armed guards in dark suits. Christina had brought her own private army.

"How do we reach him?" I asked, my voice cracking. "How do we get him back before she makes him say things that cannot be unsaid?"

Bella pulled up a map on her tablet with shaking hands. "The yacht's last known position puts them approximately two hundred nautical miles off the coast. They are heading for the Mediterranean, likely aiming for jurisdictional waters where extradition is nearly impossible."

"We have the shipping contacts," Kylie said, her mind clearly racing through possibilities. "But mobilizing a vessel that can catch them will take time we do not have. By tomorrow night, they could be holding that press conference."

"What about air?" Garek suggested. "A helicopter to a closer ship?"

"Christina will have radar," Natasha said. "She will see us coming and could accelerate or change course. She has planned this too carefully to leave obvious gaps."

I stood abruptly, ignoring the spinning sensation. "Then we do not come from the outside. We come from within."

Everyone turned to look at me.

"She needs him cooperative for the cameras," I continued, my thoughts crystallizing. "Poisoned and controlled, yes, but still coherent enough to speak convincingly. That means she has to keep him relatively lucid. That creates a window."

"A window for what?" Kylie asked.

"For the bond," I said simply. "She can manipulate his memories and control his body, but she cannot sever the mate bond completely. It exists on a level deeper than conscious thought. If I can reach him through it, if I can remind him who he really is, he might be able to fight back from the inside."

Natasha looked skeptical. "The bond is frayed. You said so yourself. Reaching across that distance while he is actively being poisoned would require enormous power."

"Then I will find that power," I said flatly.

"The Moonfire," Kylie said suddenly. "The ancestor told you that next time you stand in its heart, you will not stand alone. What if that is the key?"

"The nearest Moonfire site is three days north," Garek protested. "We do not have three days."

"There is another way to access that power," Natasha said slowly, her healer's mind working through possibilities. "A ritual. Dangerous and untested in modern times, but theoretically possible. The old texts speak of Luna bonds that could reach across continents when the moon was full."