Chapter 73 The Truth Revealed
KAEL POV
Three days. Lira had been gone for three fucking days.
I stood in my office, the room destroyed from my rage. Furniture overturned, walls gouged by claws, papers scattered across the floor.
The bond was there but distant, muffled. She'd walled herself off from me so completely I could barely feel her breathing.
"Any word from the trackers?" I growled at Thomas.
My beta shook his head. "They lost her trail at the neutral territories. She's either gone to ground or someone's helping her hide."
"Someone is." I slammed my fist into the desk, cracking the wood. "That rogue bastard she's been training with."
"Dmitri Blackwood hasn't been seen either." Thomas reported carefully. "Along with Ryn."
Ryn. The gentle omega who'd always been kind to Lira, of course he'd followed her into exile.
"Keep searching." I turned to the window. "She can't hide forever."
"Kael." Thomas hesitated. "Maybe you should let her go. At least for now, give her space to heal."
"She's my mate." The words came out savage. "She belongs here. With me."
"Does she?" His question was quiet but cutting. "Because from where I'm standing, you drove her away."
I whirled on him, alpha dominance crashing through the room. He held his ground, his eyes sympathetic but firm.
"Don't." My voice was deadly. "Don't fucking lecture me about what I did wrong."
"Someone needs to." He crossed his arms. "You chose Mira over her. Repeatedly. And now Lira's gone because she finally realized her worth."
"I was trying to do the right thing." I could hear how hollow that sounded. "For the child."
"What child?" Aria's voice cut through from the doorway.
I spun to face her. She stood there with a leather satchel, her expression cold in a way I'd never seen before.
"What are you talking about?" My stomach dropped. "Mira's pregnant."
"No." Aria stepped into the room. "She's not."
The world tilted sideways. "What?"
"I ran the tests." She pulled out vials filled with blood, labeled with Mira's name. "Multiple times, using different methods. There's no pregnancy. There never was."
"That's impossible." But even as I said it, pieces started clicking into place. "She showed symptoms. Morning sickness, fatigue."
"All easily faked by someone who knows herbs." Aria's voice was cold. "Someone who's studied with healers and knows exactly which plants cause nausea, which teas induce exhaustion."
"Mira studied with you." Thomas said quietly.
"For three years." Aria set the vials on my desk. "She learned everything I taught her, including how to mimic pregnancy symptoms."
I stared at the blood samples, my mind reeling. "When did you figure this out?"
"Two days ago." She met my eyes without flinching. "I wanted to be absolutely certain before I said anything. So I tested her blood against three different pregnancy detection methods. All negative."
"She lied." The words came out emotionless. "She fucking lied."
"She manipulated you." Aria corrected. "Used your guilt and honor against you. Made you choose between your mate and an innocent child that never existed."
The rage that hit me was nuclear. My wolf Fenris howled for blood, for vengeance, for Mira's throat between our teeth.
"Where is she?" I was already moving toward the door.
"In her quarters." Thomas blocked my path. "Kael, wait. Think about this."
"I'm done thinking." I shoved past him. "She destroyed my mate bond. Drove Lira away. For what? Jealousy? Obsession?"
"Yes." Aria followed us. "She's been in love with you since you returned from exile. Convinced herself you'd choose her if Lira was out of the picture."
"She was wrong." I stalked through the packhouse corridors, wolves scattering from my path. "So fucking wrong."
Mira's door was locked. I kicked it off its hinges.
She stood by the window, her hand protectively over her flat stomach. When she saw my face, all color drained from hers.
"Kael." Her voice shook. "I can explain"
"Explain what?" I moved into the room slowly, letting her see the predator approaching. "Explain how you faked a pregnancy? How you manipulated me into abandoning my mate?"
"I did it for us." She backed away. "You were meant to be with me, not some broken girl from a cellar."
"Lira was never broken." My voice dropped to a lethal whisper. "You were."
"I love you." Tears spilled down her cheeks. "I've loved you from the moment you came back. You needed someone strong, someone who understood your darkness."
"I needed my mate." I kept advancing. "The woman the Moon Goddess chose for me, the woman you drove away with your lies."
"She wasn't good enough for you." Mira's back hit the wall. "She was weak, naive, unstable. I would have made you a better Luna."
"She was perfect." The words tore out of me. "And I was too fucked up to see it until you poisoned everything between us."
"Kael, please." She reached for me. "We can fix this. Send Lira away properly, make her reject the bond. Then we can."
My hand closed around her throat.
Not hard enough to kill. Not yet. But enough to cut off her manipulative words.
"You have one chance." I leaned in close. "Tell me the truth. All of it. Every lie, every manipulation. Everything you did to destroy my mate bond."
She gasped against my grip, her eyes wide with terror.
I loosened my hold just enough for her to speak.
"The pregnancy was fake." The confession spilled out in a rush. "I used herbs to fake symptoms. Paid a rogue healer to provide false confirmation."
"What else?"
"The poison at the feast." She sobbed. "I poisoned myself to frame Lira. Made it look like she was trying to kill me out of jealousy."
My grip tightened. "Continue."
"The letter from Darion Nightshade. I forged it to make it look like Lira was plotting with rogues."
"The attack in the cavern?" Thomas spoke from the doorway, his voice hard.
"I tried to kill her." Mira admitted. "With the silver knife. I thought if she was dead, Kael would finally see we were meant to be together."
"We were never meant to be together." I released her throat, stepping back. "You were a warm body when I was broken. Nothing more."
"That's not true." She collapsed to her knees. "You wanted me. You chose me before you marked her."
"Because I was a coward." The admission cost me. "Because I saw something pure and beautiful in Lira and was terrified I'd corrupt it."