Nathan's POV
My body remained still, breath shallow, limbs slack. I felt the damp stone beneath me, the suffocating weight of the room pressing in, but I didn't move.
Lucas thought I was gone-unaware, helpless.
That was exactly what I wanted.
The small device embedded beneath my skin pulsed lightly against my ribs, picking up every word spoken. Proof. Evidence of his twisted plan, a record of his deception.
Footsteps approached, slow and deliberate.
A mocking chuckle echoed in the silence. "This is what the mighty Alphas have been reduced to?" Lucas scoffed. "Beaten, caged, and now one of them is already out of the game? Pathetic."
I forced my muscles to remain loose, my pulse controlled.
"He's still breathing," Rolex muttered, voice tight with tension. "We need to wake him up."
Xavier's fingers gripped my shoulder, shaking me slightly. "Nathan." A harsh whisper.
I knew they were both barely holding back their rage. Lucas had us exactly where he wanted-or so he thought.
Through the thin slits of my eyelids, I caught the way my brothers' hands curled into fists, their jaws tight. Despite being trapped, despite everything, their first instinct wasn't escape-it was her.
Mia.
Lucas smirked. "You're worried about the wrong thing. He's dead weight now." He exhaled, as if already bored. "You should be worrying about her."
Xavier's entire body went rigid. Rolex inhaled sharply, a storm brewing behind his eyes.
I knew it. Even now, even in this nightmare, she was all that mattered.
Lucas chuckled, pleased by their reactions. "You still don't get it, do you?" He crouched down, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Mia's not just your mate. She's mine now."
The words cut through the air like a blade.
Xavier let out a low growl. "You're delusional."
"Am I?" Lucas feigned innocence, standing up again. "She trusts me. I've gotten closer to her than any of you ever could. She sees me as family, as the only one who truly understands her." His grin widened. "And when the time comes, she'll willingly give me what I want."
I fought the urge to react, to let the fury clawing at my chest take over.
He was manipulating her. Twisting the bond of family into something sinister.
But I couldn't move yet. Not until I had everything I needed.
Rolex's voice came out low, sharp. "What the hell do you want from her?"
Lucas let out a dramatic sigh, as if it should be obvious. "Her heart."
The tension in the room became unbearable.
Xavier's breathing was controlled, but barely. Rolex looked like he was ready to rip through the bars with his bare hands.
"You think she'll just hand it over?" Xavier's tone was laced with venom. "You think she'll let you take it?"
Lucas smirked. "She won't have a choice."
That was it.
That was all I needed.
I cracked one eye open, just a sliver. Xavier and Rolex saw-and didn't react.
They knew.
They understood.
Distract him. Make him talk more.
"That's bold of you," Xavier muttered, leaning back against the cage as if he were unaffected. "You think you're invincible?"
Good, Xavier keep asking him, and let him confess all his deeds.
Lucas stood there, reveling in his own arrogance, completely convinced he had won. He had spilled every sick, twisted detail of his plan, his voice dripping with amusement as he laid out how he would use Mia, manipulate her, take what he needed, and leave her to rot.
He thought he had already won.
I let out a slow, mocking chuckle and stood up, shaking off the fake exhaustion. Lucas blinked, his smirk faltering for just a second.
"What's so funny?" he demanded.
I dusted off my sleeves, stretching as if I hadn't just spent the last hour chained like an animal. "You, Lucas," I mused. "You're a real idiot, you know that?"
His eyes darkened. "Careful how you talk to me, Nathan. You're not exactly in a position to-"
I cut him off with a smirk. "Oh, but I am."
Xavier leaned against the bars, arms crossed. Rolex cracked his knuckles. The three of us stood there, completely relaxed.
Lucas' confidence wavered.
"Something wrong?" I taunted, tilting my head. "You were so sure of yourself a second ago."
"You think you're clever?" Lucas scoffed, stepping forward. "You're nothing. You're all-"
A voice rang through the air, stopping him cold.
"-pathetic, disgusting, and the biggest fool I've ever met."
Lucas' entire body went stiff.
I turned my head, and there she was.
Mia.
She stood at the entrance, eyes blazing, her stance firm. Her presence sucked the air out of the room.
The storm was here.
Lucas blinked, his lips parting slightly in genuine shock. "Mia…"
Her expression was cold, filled with a fury I had never seen before. "You think I'm stupid, Lucas?" she scoffed, stepping forward. "You think I actually believed your lies?"
His face twisted into a smirk, though I could see the slight unease creeping in. "Mia, you don't understand-"
"I understand perfectly," she cut him off, her voice sharp as a blade. "I knew something was off from the moment you hesitated when I asked about my mother."
Lucas faltered.
She stepped closer, voice steady, unwavering. "You didn't know she was dead. You thought she ran away." A cruel smile tugged at her lips. "And that's when I knew you were a fraud."
Lucas' fists clenched. "Mia-"
"You used my mother's name, my family's blood, and thought I wouldn't see through it?" She let out a humorless laugh. "You should have done your research better."
His eye twitched, his composure cracking. "You have no idea what you're doing."
Mia's gaze turned lethal. "Oh, but I do."
Then she moved.
No shifting. No hesitation.
Just brutal force.
She launched herself at the first rogue closest to her, grabbing his wrist and twisting until a sickening snap echoed through the room. He howled in pain, but she was already moving, driving her elbow into his chest and sending him crashing into another.
Rogues surged forward, but she didn't stop.
She ducked beneath a swipe, slammed her knee into a stomach, grabbed a dagger from one's belt, and drove it into his shoulder before twisting it.
The room descended into chaos.
Xavier's eyes locked onto the keys at Lucas' belt. "Now," he muttered.
I didn't hesitate.
As Mia tore through the rogues, I lunged forward, grabbing Lucas by the front of his shirt and slamming him against the bars.
His smirk was long gone.
"Still feeling invincible?" I hissed.
He struggled, but Mia was moving too fast, dismantling his forces like they were nothing.
The White Wolf.
Her power radiated off her, pure dominance spilling into the air.
She turned toward me, her expression unreadable. "Move."
I released Lucas just in time for her to send a sharp kick into his stomach, sending him sprawling onto the floor.
Mia didn't waste time.
She grabbed the keys, tossed them into Xavier's hands, and turned back toward the remaining rogues.
I had never seen her like this before.
She wasn't the same girl we had broken.
She was a force of nature.
Xavier unlocked the cage, and we stepped out just as more footsteps echoed through the corridor.
I expected reinforcements for Lucas. More rogues, more of his men.
Instead-
Warriors.