Chapter 4 The Cell and the Choice
The dungeons are darker than I remember, or maybe I’m just running on fumes of adrenaline and rage.
I move through the corridors like I’ve been here a hundred times, past the empty cells until I reach his. My footsteps echo off the stone walls, announcing my presence to anyone who might be listening. But I don’t care about stealth anymore. I’m past the point of caution.
Kade is already on his feet when he sees me, like he knew I was coming. Maybe he did. Maybe that’s what the bond means, that we can feel each other across distances, know each other’s movements like we’re joined at the soul.
“You came back,” he says, and there’s so much relief in his voice that I almost forgive him for lying to me. Almost. “I wasn’t sure you would. I wasn’t sure you’d believe me.”
“Only to ask you something,” I say, keeping distance between us. If I get too close, I might do something stupid, like touch him, or believe him completely.
“Is any of it true, or are you just manipulating me like everyone else? Using the bond, the mating instinct, all of it to get what you want?”
“All of it’s true,” he says simply, meeting my eyes with a calm that unnerves me. “I’ve been looking for you for two years, Kaida. From the moment I felt the bond, I knew the mate the universe had chosen for me was worth any risk. I knew you were worth burning the world for. Then I caught your scent near the border territories, and I had to see you. I had to know if you felt it too.”
“By invading our land? By attacking our pack? By killing our people?”
“By coming to find you,” he corrects softly. “I didn’t come to fight. I came to warn you, before someone else did. Before they locked you away or executed you or bound your powers like some packs do with hybrids they fear. I came because I could feel you fading, and I couldn’t let that happen.”
I clench my fists. “Then tell me something, Kade. Did you know who my father was before you came here?”
“Yes,” he says after a beat. “I made my findings. I know your father was a dark mage, powerful and feared. That’s why I understood why they’ve hidden you. You’re not just a werewolf, Kaida. You’re something they can’t categorize.”
My throat tightens. “Then what am I really?”
He studies me, eyes steady and honest. “I know you’re a werewolf. That part’s clear. But the other side of you, the one that isn’t wolf… I’m not sure yet. I just know it’s powerful. And I want to figure it out with you.”
I want to call him a liar. I want to tell him that none of this is real, that whatever connection I feel is just biology or a trick of loneliness. But I can’t, because I feel it too.
“Even if I believe you,” I say carefully, “it doesn’t change anything. We can’t be together. The pack won’t allow it. My family won’t allow it. Dante won’t allow it. The laws that have ruled werewolf society for centuries won’t allow it. We’d both be marked for execution if we acknowledge this bond.”
“I know.” Kade steps closer to the bars, and I don’t move away. The connection is electric, alive. “But I can change things, Kaida. I have allies in your territory, people who’ve been waiting for a chance to challenge the old laws. I have power, resources, and the backing of three packs that want to see the hybrid laws overturned. And most importantly, I have you… if you’ll choose me.”
“Choose you over what? My pack? My family? My entire life?”
“Yes,” he says simply. “Choose me over all of it.”
The word hangs between us, simple and terrifying.
“I’m not strong enough for that,” I whisper. “I’m wolfless. I’m a hybrid. I’m everything the world says is weak and wrong. I’m not a warrior or an alpha or anything worth saving.”
“You’re everything,” Kade says, voice steady with conviction. “You don’t understand what you are yet. Hybrids with magical ancestry are rare because they’re hunted, erased from history. But those who survive, they’re not weak. They can bridge both worlds. Command respect from wolves and humans alike. You’re not broken, Kaida. You’re evolution.”
“That’s what they’re afraid of,” I realize, breath catching. “That I might become something they can’t control. That’s why my parents kept it from me.”
“Exactly,” Kade says. “So the question is: are you going to let them define you? Keep pretending to be less so they can feel safe? Or are you going to decide for yourself who you are?”
I look at his hands through the bars, the scars, the calluses, the silver burns.
“If I help you escape,” I say slowly, “everything burns. My family. My position. My entire life. There’s no going back.”
“No,” he says gently, “but you get to build something new. Something that’s actually yours. Where you’re not invisible anymore. Where you matter.”
Footsteps echo down the hall, the night watch moving closer. The sound of change coming whether I’m ready or not.
I have maybe thirty seconds to decide.
I reach into my pocket and pull out the key I stole from my father’s study. My hands shake so badly I almost drop it. This key is the line I can’t uncross — the moment I stop being their daughter and become something else entirely.
“If you hurt me,” I whisper, “if this is some kind of trick…”
“It’s not,” he says quickly. “And if I ever did, you’d have every right to burn me alive. Hybrid fury isn’t something any alpha can survive. You’d have all the power in that bond, Kaida.”
The lock clicks open.
For a moment, we just stand there in the darkness of the dungeon, on either side of an open cell door. On either side of a choice that can’t be unmade.
Then Kade steps through, and the air between us hums with something like destiny.
His hand reaches for mine, and when our skin touches, I feel electricity with a force that nearly drops me to my knees. Everything coming home all at once.
“Run with me?” he asks.
“Yes,” I breathe, my voice sounding older, stronger. “But first, we get out quietly. No fires. No blood. Not yet. We disappear.”
His smile is like sunrise in shadow.
“After you, mate.”