Chapter thirty seven
The summons came at dawn.
Kai had barely gotten any sleep since the fight with Selene. His body ached from the brutal match, but that wasn’t what kept him awake. It was her words—her smirk, the way she had laughed even after he had pinned her down.
“And now you have his attention.”
He should have known it would come to this.
Two guards showed up at the barracks, their faces expressionless as they loomed over Kai’s cot. The room fell into an uneasy silence as the other recruits stirred, watching without speaking.
“You’re being summoned,” one of them said flatly.
Kai didn’t need to ask who had summoned him.
Orion.
Kieran sat up immediately, his golden eyes flashing with warning. “He’s not going anywhere alone.”
The guards barely glanced at him. “No one said he would be alone.”
Kai swung his legs over the cot, rolling his stiff shoulders. He was aware of the way Anna watched him carefully, how Rhett had gone tense near the doorway. But there was nothing they could do—not without blowing their cover.
Kai exhaled slowly. “Lead the way.”
The walk through the camp felt different this time. Wolves moved aside when they saw him, their eyes flicking between him and the guards escorting him. Some looked curious. Others looked afraid.
The deeper they went, the more controlled everything felt. The air itself seemed heavier, charged with an energy that made Kai’s skin crawl.
Then, he saw the tent.
It was massive, larger than any of the other structures in the camp, reinforced with dark leather and iron stakes. It loomed at the center of everything, its very presence suffocating.
The guards stopped just outside the entrance, exchanging a silent glance before gesturing for him to step inside.
Kai hesitated for half a second.
Then he entered.
The moment he stepped inside, he felt it.
A presence.
The air was thick with it, an invisible force pressing down on his chest, coiling around him like unseen chains.
And then, there he was.
Orion.
He sat in a carved wooden chair, his posture relaxed but commanding. His long dark coat was unbuttoned at the collar, revealing a hint of scars along his chest. His eyes—deep red, unnatural—pinned Kai in place the second he entered.
A slow smile curved his lips.
“I was wondering when you’d come to me.”
Kai forced his breathing to stay even. “You make it sound like I had a choice.”
Orion chuckled. “There’s always a choice.” He tilted his head, studying Kai like he was something fascinating. “Though I have to admit… I expected it to take longer.”
Kai clenched his jaw. “What do you want?”
Orion stood, moving with the kind of fluid grace that set every instinct Kai had on edge. “I could ask you the same thing.”
Kai didn’t move, didn’t let himself step back, even as Orion circled him like a predator.
“I know why you’re here,” Orion murmured. “You’re playing spy, pretending to be one of the lost.” He smirked. “It’s cute.”
Kai swallowed down the unease rising in his throat.
Orion stopped in front of him, looking him over as if seeing through him.
“But you’re not like the others, are you?” Orion murmured. “You’re not here because you’re lost.” His smirk widened. “You’re here because you belong to me.”
Kai’s entire body locked up.
Rage flared in his chest, but Orion’s presence coiled around him like a noose, like something unseen was pulling at him.
Orion leaned in slightly, voice dropping lower. “You feel it, don’t you?”
Kai’s breath hitched.
Because he did.
It was faint, buried deep beneath everything else, but it was there—that pull, that invisible tether that Orion had anchored into him the second he stepped foot into this camp.
Orion’s smirk turned sharper. “That’s the thing about me, Kai. I don’t just claim people. I make sure they never leave.”
Kai’s mind screamed at him to move, to fight, but his body felt like it was drowning under the weight of Orion’s energy.
Orion’s fingers brushed over his wrist, just for a second, just enough for Kai’s pulse to spike.
Then the air snapped.
Kai shoved him back, breaking the invisible hold, his breath ragged.
Orion only chuckled.
“You can resist all you want,” he murmured. “But you’ll see it soon enough.”
Kai’s voice was raw. “See what?”
Orion’s smile didn’t fade. “That you and I? We’re not so different.”
Kai’s blood boiled. “I will never be like you.”
Orion exhaled, almost as if bored. “You say that now.”
The tension in the air was suffocating. Kai’s heart pounded, but he forced himself to stay still, to keep his breathing controlled.
Orion took a step back, shaking his head slightly. “Such a waste.” His gaze darkened. “You could be so much more if you’d just let go.”
Kai refused to respond.
Orion studied him for a moment longer, then sighed. “You can go.”
Kai blinked, caught off guard. “What?”
Orion smirked. “You heard me. Run back to your friends.” He tilted his head. “But next time, you might not be so lucky.”
Kai didn’t hesitate. He turned, walking out of the tent without looking back.
The second he stepped outside, the cold air hit his lungs like a slap.
He didn’t stop moving.
He didn’t trust himself to.
Meanwhile, Kieran and Rhett moved through the outskirts of the camp, keeping their heads low, their footsteps silent.
Rhett had a way of slipping into places unnoticed, and Kieran knew how to navigate danger without making a sound.
They had overheard something earlier.
Something bad.
As they neared a cluster of reinforced tents, they could smell it.
Blood.
Kieran’s gut twisted.
Rhett’s expression darkened. “This isn’t just a normal barracks.”
Kieran exhaled. “No, it’s not.”
They moved closer, crouching near the edge of a torn flap in one of the tents. Inside, the dim light revealed rows of wolves—restrained, unmoving. Some were breathing, but just barely.
Rhett’s breath hitched. “What the hell is this?”
Kieran knew.
His stomach dropped.
Orion wasn’t just building an army.
He was experimenting.
Turning wolves into something… else.
Something bondless.
Kieran’s hands clenched into fists. “We need to get Kai out of here.”
Because if Orion ever got his hands on him for real…
He wouldn’t let him go.