Chapter 16 Another Secret
Maya Pov
Marked with fresh bruises.
The young man from the stairs.
His eyes met mine again, and this time I saw the truth in them. The resemblance wasn't coincidental. The connection I felt wasn't imaginary.
"Maya," he whispered, his voice rough like he hadn't used it in days. "I'm Leo. I'm your brother."
The world tilted sideways. Brother. I had a brother. How? When? Why had no one told me?
He glanced down the hallway nervously, then opened the door wider. "You need to leave. Now. Before he finds you here. It's not safe—"
"The blood in the storage room," I breathed. "Was that yours?"
His eyes flickered with pain and something darker. Shame. "You need to go. Please. If Marcus finds out I talked to you—"
"Come with us," I said urgently, reaching for him. "We can protect you. Ryker can—"
"No." Leo stepped back, starting to close the door. "You don't understand. If I leave, he'll—" He stopped, his face going pale. "Someone's coming. Go. Please. Don't let him catch you here."
The door shut in my face. The deadbolt clicked back into place.
I stood there, my hand still outstretched, my mind reeling. I had a brother. A brother who was being hurt. A brother who was locked in my old childhood room, bleeding in storage closets, trapped in the same hell I'd escaped.
Footsteps echoed from the stairs—heavy, multiple sets. Marcus's enforcers, maybe Marcus himself.
"Move," Owen hissed, pulling me away from the door. We hurried down the hallway, ducking into a side corridor just as three large wolves emerged onto the third floor.
I pressed against the wall, my heart pounding, my mind screaming. Leo. My brother. How was that possible? My parents had never mentioned another child. There were no photographs, no memories, nothing to suggest I had a sibling.
Unless they'd been planning to tell me. Unless that was one more thing Marcus had stolen when he killed them.
"We have to help him," I whispered to Kade and Owen.
"We will," Kade promised quietly. "But first we need to tell Alpha Ryker everything. He'll know what to do."
But would he? Could anyone stand up to Marcus in his own territory, especially when it came to pack members Marcus claimed as his own? Leo had called me his sister, but legally, what was he? Another orphaned relative Marcus controlled? Another victim with no rights and no voice?
The enforcers passed our hiding spot without seeing us. We waited until their footsteps faded, then made our way back to the main floor as quickly as possible.
Ryker was waiting in the entrance hall, his expression thunderous. The private meeting with Marcus must have gone badly. When he saw me, relief flooded his features, followed quickly by concern.
"Where were you? I told you to stay in the sitting room."
"We found something," I said, my voice shaking. "Someone. Ryker, I need to tell you—"
Marcus appeared from his office, his smile sharp and cold. "Alpha Ryker, I hope you and Maya enjoyed your tour of my packhouse. But I'm afraid the Council meeting is about to begin. We should all take our seats."
It was a dismissal, a power play. Marcus herding us like sheep toward the meeting room where he'd have home territory advantage.
But I couldn't go sit through a Council meeting. Not now. Not when Leo was locked upstairs, bleeding, suffering, alone.
I looked at Ryker, trying to communicate everything with my eyes. Help him. Please. He's my brother.
Ryker's expression shifted, reading something in my desperation. He gave a tiny nod, then turned to Marcus. "Of course. Lead the way."
As we walked toward the Council chamber, I felt the weight of secrets pressing down on me. The blood in the storage room. Leo locked in my old bedroom. The deadbolt that kept him prisoner. The fear in his eyes when he'd begged me to leave.
And the biggest question of all: how many others was Marcus hurting?
How many more victims were hidden in this packhouse, suffering in silence while Marcus played the role of upstanding Alpha?
The Council chamber doors loomed ahead, heavy oak carved with the Silvercrest pack symbol. Once we went through those doors, we'd be committed to whatever came next. There would be no more sneaking around, no more private investigations.
Everything would become official.
And official meant dangerous.
Marcus held the door open, gesturing for us to enter. "After you, Alpha Ryker. Maya. Let's discuss the future, shall we?"
I stepped through the doorway, and the door swung shut behind us with a sound like a prison gate closing.
On the other side of that
door was Leo, trapped and bleeding.
And I had no idea how to save him.